24-year-old Philip Quinn was tinkering with a lava lamp at his home in Kent [US]. His girlfriend and his parents became worried when they couldn't find him and couldn't get him to answer his phone.
Claudia and Bill Quinn drove from their home in Auburn to check on their youngest son. They thought maybe he'd just overslept. They were devastated by what they found.
"I looked around the corner and saw his body slumped there in the corner and just couldn't believe what I saw," said Quinn's father.
"There was glass from the kitchen clear to the living room," his mom told us. "They said it appeared that a piece of glass punctured his heart."
Philip, in a fatal act of experimentation, had placed a lava lamp on the kitchen stove. When used properly and heated only by a small lightbulb, 40 watts in most cases, a lava lamp is essentially harmless: a mix of wax or oil and water sealed in a glass bottle with a small air space at the top of the bottle to allow for the liquid to expand under heat.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Death by lava lamp
Surely a nominee for a Darwin Award?
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2 comments:
ooh perhaps a bit cruel - the Darwin award that is - but one does wonder how a 24 year living on their own could have reached that age without noticing you don't put glass bottles on the gas.
And how unfortunate that the glass should have hit him in just that way. Almost makes you think there might be a motive force behind all this. No? That's a relief.
Anyway, I love my lava lamp and am now inspired to get it out again. Wish me luck.
Don't lots of 24-year-olds live on their own without noticing things like that?
My lava lamp works better now it's used more often. I think it sulks when it's ignored.
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