Raccoon Rocket- A Darwin Award

[Michaelangelica]

Raccoon Rocket
Does this remind you of anybody???

1998 Urban Legend

(1998) In rural Carbon County, Pennsylvania, a group of men were drinking beer and discharging firearms from the rear deck of a home owned by Irving Michaels, age 27. The men were firing at a raccoon that was wandering by, but the beer apparently impaired their aim. Despite an estimated 35 shots fired by the group, the animal escaped into a 3' diameter drainage pipe 100 feet away from Mr. Michaels' deck.
rest at
http://www.darwinawards.com/

[Jay-qu]

wasnt this looked into on mythbusters? I beleive that they where unable to recreate the legend

[Dark Mind]

Nice story . Quite amusing.

The link only took you to the home page though, so I edited it to take you directly to the story, hope that's okay .

And Jay-qu, I never saw that episode, did they make any attempt to find Irving Michaels or as the anonymous replier (His friend) said his name was, Michael Irving?

[Jay-qu]

no, they just tried to launch stuff out of a pipe

[Pyrotex]

My father was born around 1910. When he was 12 years old, he and some friends in the rural town of Russellville, Alabama, found an old bicycle hand pump. Dad knew where he could glom some gunpowder. They made a cannon, with the push handle being the projectile. They made a fuse out of heavy twine and backed away several yards. It went bang and the push handle went straight up, out of sight, much faster than anticipated.

One of the boys said, 'how do we know where it will come down?' They all looked at each other in growing horror. As one, the boys turned and scattered as fast as they could. The handle missed one boy by ten feet or so. This scared them so badly, they never repeated the stunt.

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Pyrotex

When he was 12 years old, he and some friends in the rural town of Russellville, Alabama,

i was born much later but how I survived my childhood I'll never know. "Crakers" ie fireworks were our obsession. I remember we did the same thing with a pipe, gunpowder and a large steel ball bearing !!! In all the years we played with these deadly things we only lost one hand and several letterboxes.

On the Darwin award theme. In the Northern Territory now they need to put up signs which say "please do not poke the crocodiles with a stick".These are despite warning signs on every stretch of water. Even if you can't read, the picture of those gaping jaws circled in ominous red make the danger clear and present.
These huge primordial animals make alligators look like Teddy Bears but often people expect them to be as timid

eg

In the Kimberley region of Western Australia a group of young German tourists was swimming in a waterhole and a few small freshwater crocs were sunning themselves on the opposite bank.
A tour guide had told the swimmers not to disturb the locals. And yet, believe it or not, one of the swimmers poked a crocodile with a stick and was bitten.

Never smile at a crocodile - or poke it with a stick.
Some escape other's don't. If they get you in a "death roll" you are finished.

Crocodiles are seen around Cooktown all the time. Last year someone walked into a pub to announce there was a big one under the boat ramp just across the road. No one even bothered to put down a beer to go outside to have a look.

Cooktown locals tell of how a team of university researchers diving on the Great Barrier Reef were interrupted by a beast seizing one of them by the foot. The scientist had the presence of mind to grab it by its front legs to prevent it from swimming and the pair parted company without injury.

There are tragedies, of course, like the fatal attack on a German tourist at Kakadu last October.

There are croc tails and croc tales - www.smh.com.au

[TheBigDog]

I have to be honest, Mike. If I ever come across a crocodile in the wild, and I have the opportunity to poke it with a stick, I am going to do it.

I got a little book for Christmas. "101 things to do before I die" It is on the list. However, I am not going to grab any poisonous snakes by the tail. That is just foolish.

Bill

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

I have to be honest, Mike. If I ever come across a crocodile in the wild, and I have the opportunity to poke it with a stick, I am going to do it.

I got a little book for Christmas. "101 things to do before I die" It is on the list. However, I am not going to grab any poisonous snakes by the tail. That is just foolish.

Bill

You would have more sense!
The German tourist was lucky, they say, the crocodile had just eaten.(!) The bite just "grazed" him but it stil made a bit of a mess of his leg

Most snake bites in Oz happen because a Dawin Candidate pokes them with a stick !
Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how useful you see Natural Selection to the intelligence of the species) deaths are very rare due to good first aid and plentiful anti-venom