West Virginia man lights cigarette in outhouse and blows his ass up:
- A man was hospitalized for burns after he lit a cigarette in a portable outhouse and the outhouse exploded.
MECCA said that at about 9:40 a.m. Tuesday, Monongalia Emergency Medical Services responded to a burn call at the Clay-Battelle Community Health Center on the Mason-Dixon Highway in Blacksville.
The spokesperson said a man, whose identity is not being released, was inside a portable outhouse when the explosion occurred.
The methane gases inside the outhouse didn't "take too kindly" to the lit cigarette, the spokesperson said.
A Clay-Battelle Health Center spokeswoman said the man drove himself to the clinic. [Dominion Post]
This reminds me of a story from my youth.
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
When I was about 12 I was very much into pyrotechnics, and living in SoCal, we had easy access to the explosive output of Mexico.
After blowing up everything imaginable with the typical M-80s, M-100s, even the waterproof seal controls used by fishermen to scare the pinnipeds away from their nets, I thought I needed more fire power.
So, brilliantly, I took apart several jumbo firecrackers and poured the expolsive material into a small brass pipe I had purchased at the local hardware store, along with caps for either end. I had also drilled a hole into the center of the pipe BEFORE I started pouring the magic dust into the sucker.
The actual words had no meaning to me at the time, but I was creating a pipe bomb. I also had no idea of how powerful it would be, but I was aware of this lack of knowledge and sought to test it out under controled conditions.
We lived just a few blocks from the cliff above the ocean where San Pedro borders Palos Verdes. There was a vacant lot right at the cliff that had a construction port-a-potty that seemed to scream out "controled conditions" to my youthful ear.
Article comments
1 - Joe
Pfizer ought to get a hold of him to do a commercial for the mother of all Tucks pads.
2 - RJ
You're lucky to still have hands to type this post, Eric... :-/
3 - Eric Olsen
yes, that's why it's called a cautionary tale
4 - CW Fisher
Good story well told. Do more of that; it's good entertainment. Most writers I know only imagine they did that crap. I've met actual people like you, but they usually couldn't write. Whereas you, you... well, Eric, I just take point A, which I'll call, for purposes of coded abbreviation, "The Dead Dead on the Doorstep," and draw a straight line to point B, "The Exploding Port-a-Potty(TM). I know there's something in between, but what, and for how much longer?
5 - Eric Olsen
thanks Curt, I appreciate it - I have to space my stories properly or I will run out of them and have to start making them up, which is much harder
6 - CW Fisher
you're not looking small enough
7 - Eric Olsen
good point