It was his second annual sledding party, but the first time an unnamed 62-year-old man tried to build a homemade rocket sled. In theory, the idea was… okay, I’m not going to be kidding anyone here. In theory, the idea was dumb. The man wanted to build a rocket, then attach it to his sled and jet downhill like Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. He took an old muffler (with length of tail pipe) and filled it with gasoline, match heads, and gunpowder. Unsurprisingly, when this concoction was lit, instead of a rocket this guy was sitting on top of a pipe bomb.
When the bomb went off, I imagine the fun stopped. The man received second degree burns to his face and nearly lost his life thanks to his Wile E. Coyote-level dumb idea. Now, in addition to horrible burns and risk of blindness, he could also face criminal charges. I guess the cops would have to stop laughing at him long enough to press charges.
Image: philrickerby
Tags: Oakland County, Michigan, sledding party, party gone wrong, accidents, man blows himself up with homemade rocket, homemade rocket explodes, rocket sled explodes, bad ideas