Accidents
“Dumbbell Lethal”
Source: The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington) 25 Jun 1960, Sat Page 19
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 30, 2021 -
Comments (3)
Category: Accidents, Death, Hollywood, 1960s
Chair Safety
1999: Due to a spate of "chair-related injuries", the employees in the Seattle Police Department's Identification Unit all had to take a training session on how to safely sit in a chair.
I guess chair safety is one of those things that sounds silly, until you hurt yourself sitting down wrong. Below, Regina Cochrane, "professional accident preventer," offers some chair safety tips.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 07, 2021 -
Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Furniture, 1990s
Trapped 5 days in folding bed
Unfortunately, I can't find any info about how Leon Colby fared after his 5-day ordeal trapped in a folding bed.The situation seems like an absurdist, real-life variation on the premise of Stephen King's Gerald's Game.
Lancaster Intelligencer Journal - Oct 10, 1977
Some googling reveals that, while being trapped in a folding bed may sound bizarre, it's disturbingly common. See here, here, and here.
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 19, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Furniture, 1970s
Sneezing Protected
This is good to know in the pandemic era. I hope coughing is covered as well.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 08, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Law, 1950s, Cars
Pressure Cooker Catastrophes
Source.
Many other gruesome incidents here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 04, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Accidents, Death, Domestic, Appliances
Mining Accident Dolls
In 1922, the Bureau of Mines created a series of educational dolls to illustrate common mining injuries, and how they should be dealt with in an emergency. The dolls were exhibited at various mining centers. According to Popular Mechanics (Sep 1929) the dolls were also "intended to serve as a safety warning.”As far as I know, there's never been a Mining Accident Barbie (or Ken).
Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 10, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Accidents, Toys, 1920s
Joe Wardle’s Emergency Landing
This photo illustrates the more likely intersection of plane and car. But in 1952 a certain Joe Wardle got lucky.
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 09, 2019 -
Comments (5)
Category: Accidents, Air Travel and Airlines, 1950s, Cars
Shake-a Pudd’n
Recipe for disaster.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 07, 2019 -
Comments (3)
Category: Accidents, Food, Advertising, Children, 1960s, Dance
Douglas Bader, the Legless Ace
The Wikipedia page.
Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired against his will on medical grounds.[3]
After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Douglas Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his "Big Wing" experiments.
In August 1941, Bader baled out over German-occupied France and was captured. Soon afterward, he met and was befriended by Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace.[4] Despite his disability, Bader made a number of escape attempts and was eventually sent to the prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle. He remained there until April 1945 when the camp was liberated by the First United States Army.
He even featured in a comic. (Use link for readable copy of image below.)
Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 16, 2019 -
Comments (1)
Category: Accidents, War, Air Travel and Airlines, 1940s, Differently Abled, Handicapped, Challenged, and Otherwise Atypical
Follies of the Madmen #437
1) A bicycle tire confusingly has the same name as a razor blade company.
2) The mascot for the tire is a hyper-dimensional polar bear. These creatures apparently represent all that is desirable in a tire.
3) Even with its magic powers, the hyper-dimensional polar bear does not act to save the victim directly, but makes the human boy do all the work.
4) Moral: buy our tires to avoid snake bites?
Source (page 20).
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 28, 2019 -
Comments (5)
Category: Accidents, Anthropomorphism, Bicycles and Other Human-powered Vehicles, Business, Advertising, Corporate Mascots, Icons and Spokesbeings, Comics
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |