5 Weirdest Darwin Award Winners

In 1993, molecular biologist Wendy Northcutt for fun launched website DarwinAwards.com. Its visitors began to collect the strangest cases of death or self-mutilation.

The most prominent individuals who do something stupid and reckless and as a result die or become unable to leave offspring are still awarded a virtual anti-prize to this day. Its name refers to the idea of ​​natural selection proposed by Charles Darwin. And here are some of its notable owners.

1. 2007 Award: Michael Warner and the Alcohol Enema

Michael Warner, a 58-year-old machine operator, was a drunkard. But due to a sore throat, he could not drink alcohol in the usual way. Michael came to the conclusion that nothing prevents him from enjoying his favorite drinks on the other hand, and became addicted to alcohol enemas.

And so, on May 21, 2004, at his home in Lake Jackson, Texas, Warner rolled up a real party and made himself an enema from the contents of two bottles of sherry, 1.5 liters each.

When ordinary people drink by mouth, they either get drunk and stop drinking, or pass out. But the rectal mucosa can not stop sucking alcohol even if its owner passes out. Michael died when his blood alcohol content reached 0.47%, almost six times the level at which a person becomes unable to drive.

Morality: Alcoholism in any form is not good.

2. 1997 Award: Wayne Roth, Cobra, and Excess Courage

In 1997, in the town of Jenkins, Pennsylvania, a 38-year-old man named Wayne Roth went on a visit to his friend Roger Kroto and saw a cobra in a terrarium. Roth reached into it and grabbed the snake for a closer look. The cobra, of course, bit him, because reptiles do not like to be grabbed from above.

Roger demanded that Wayne immediately seek medical attention. He himself was bitten by a cobra three times, and he knew how important it was to be on time. administer an antidote. But Wayne bravely replied, “I don’t need to go to the hospital. I’m a man, I can handle it,” and went to a bar with friends.

There he drank and boasted of snake bite marks, flaunting his masculine courage and stamina.

Unfortunately, Wayne didn't know that cobra venom was slowly an active toxin that affects the central nervous system. After some time, Roth lost consciousness, but his friends did not have time to take him to the hospital. He died on the way.

Morality: toxic masculinity is sometimes as deadly as cobra toxin.

3. 2002 Award: Louis Kids and a house full of traps

Louis Children was an elderly engineer. His wife left him, and his children and grandchildren cut off all contact with him. In addition, Louis' mother bequeathed the house he built with his own hands, albeit at her expense, to one of his daughters, with whom the old man had a particularly bad relationship.

Children hated their relatives and decidedthat the house should not go to them under any circumstances. And in order to take revenge on his wife and children, he used his engineering skills.

The 79-year-old engineer who sets the shotgun traps is just the real-world embodiment of John the Creator Death Kramer from the Saw movie.

Louis installed 19 traps throughout the house, consisting of loaded shotguns that were discharged if the victim hit the fishing line. He attached fishing lines to completely innocent things, such as plates, chests of drawers, beer cans and a TV remote control. If heirs came to pick up the house, they would have been in for an unpleasant surprise.

But Louis' memory, deteriorating with age, played a cruel joke on him. He himself activated one of his traps and shot himself. It took the police three weeks to defuse all the other traps in the house with the help of sappers.

Morality: Don't dig a hole for someone else, you'll fall into it yourself.

4. 2018 Award: John Allen Chau and the Failed Missionary Expedition

John Allen Chau was a 26-year-old preacher from Alabama. He decided alone bring the light of civilization and the faith of Christ to the most isolated tribe on Earth, living on northern Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.

John was worried that the members of the local tribes, who have inhabited this island for at least 30,000 years, never converted to Christianity, and therefore are deprived of the chance of eternal life. He called the island the last stronghold of Satan on Earth.

Chau has been preparing for his mission for a long time. He learned local languages, he was vaccinated as best he could and persuaded six fishermen to take him to the forbidden island.

He took gifts for the Sentinelese with him: scissors, a soccer ball and, of course, a Bible.

The fishermen landed John at a safe distance, and then he sailed on his own in a kayak. Witnesses said that as he approached the island, an arrow pierced his Bible. In the end, the natives shot the missionary himself with bows, dragged him ashore and immediately buried the body by the sea. Obviously, they did not dare to accept the gifts of civilization.

Morality: no need to impose salvation on those who do not ask for it.

5. 1993 Award: Harry Hoy and the Safety Glass

Canadian lawyer named Harry Hoy have worked in Toronto at Holden Day Wilson, lectured to law students and was known for his unusual behavior. Hoy made a bet with the students that the glass in the office building of the Toronto-Dominion Center complex, where they were located, was impenetrable. Harry would then throw himself through the window to prove himself right, and bounce off the glass each time.

Why did Hui do this? Apparently, he had such a strange sense of humor.

Once, during another excursion for students, he decided, as usual, demonstrate their trick and rushed out the window. The glass held up this time as well, but the frame did not. And Hoi along with window took off from the 24th floor.

Structural engineer Bob Greer, who commented on the incident, said: “I don’t know of any construction code in the world that would allow a 73-kilogram person to collide with glass, and glass is withstand". It's a pity that Harry didn't consult him before demonstrating his bravery to the students.

The firm where the lawyer worked lost its reputation and closed, because it has become associated only with the incident with Harry.

Morality: making stupid bets is dangerous.

Do you know even more original Darwin Award winners? Share their stories in the comments.