2003 Honorable Mentions

The stupidity displayed by the participants in the following tales stops short of the ultimate Darwin Awards sacrifice. Nevertheless, we salute the spirit and innovation of their misadventures.

Blowtorch and Gunpowder 2003 Honorable Mention Confirmed True by Darwin (8 July 2003, Moore Township, Pennsylvania) An unidentified 16-year-old boy, and only that boy, was taken by surprise when a bowl of blackpowder blew when it was heated with a blowtorch. At first, he had tried to ignite it with a grill lighter, but when that failed, he decided a blowtorch would do a better job. About that, he was right: the flash was awesome indeed. The blackpowder explosion caused severe burns to his face, and he admitted to some pain after the jarring incident. "He made a foolish decision and suffered the consequences," said the police chief. This was not the lad's first lesson with gunpowder. A neighbor confided, "He lost one finger to a firecracker accident a few years ago." Reader Comments: "The title alone should tell you nothing good will come of this." "Pyromaniacs pay close attention." "This story reminds me of your brother. How is he?" "I think I'll go powder my nose." DarwinAwards.com © 1994 - 2008 Reference: Express-Times Awful? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Great? Hate it! Love it!

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