Sep 2 2010You'll Never Be An Exterminator!: Man Blows Himself Up Trying to Kill A Spider For Wife
Because stupid people hurting themselves really tickles my fancy, here's a story about some jackass who blew himself up in the bathroom trying to kill a spider. Come on maine, haven't you ever heard of a shoe?!
The 28 year-old suffered severe burns after attacking the arachnid with an aerosol can at his home in Clacton in Essex.
The man was summoned by his wife to deal with a spider she had seen scuttling behind the lavatory on Bank Holiday Monday. Not being able to reach it, the man decided to kill it by spraying it with the can.However he was unable to see whether it was dead because the bulb in the bathroom light had blown. At this point he turned to a cigarette lighter to illuminate the room, but in the process ignited the gas fumes and caused an explosion.
The blast was so strong it blew the man off his feet and lifted the loft door off its hinges.
He suffered flash burns to his head, legs and torso and was rushed by ambulance to hospital after dousing himself in cold water.
Granted this guy is MENSA material compared to Electric Nips, but still. Haven't you ever heard of masking the smell of a numero dos by lighting a match? And have you ever heard of someone dropping it between their legs before all the gas trapped in the bowl has dissipated? What happened? Exactly, they blasted off like a rocket and fought a towel bar with their face. Been there, done that, six stitches and an Owen Wilson nose, amirite?!
Man blows himself up trying to kill a spider [telegraph]
and
Picture
Thanks to Ash, who kills spiders the old fashioned way: tearing their legs off one by one and then letting them starve to death. WOW. Also, my apologies to anybody who's itching now because of the picture. I couldn't help myself!
Reader Comments
1. Joe - September 2, 2010 6:42 PM
First!!!
2. Tommy - September 2, 2010 6:44 PM
lol yup, thats me!
3. Rod - September 2, 2010 6:47 PM
Wtf? Was he trying to style the spider's hair? That's why you fire up the cigarette lighter and the aerosol spray at the same time, using your homebrew flamethrower to take out the spider.
4. bri - September 2, 2010 6:53 PM
Darwin award anyone?
5. BobbyBrady - September 2, 2010 6:54 PM
Mom always said don't try to kill spiders with explosives in the house...
6. wes g - September 2, 2010 6:58 PM
i wonder if he got the spider..
7. Qwailotim - September 2, 2010 7:15 PM
Ha i'm from Clacton. Will be getting the local paper this week for sure, this has to be front page!
8. no way - September 2, 2010 7:19 PM
Errr, I call bullshit. Even if he dumped 20 cans of hairspray, so much is going to be leaking out of the room and so mixed with the air it's just going to create a small flash of fire, not the "gas" like explosion this seems to be hinting at (gas fumes? Really?). Even if you dump an entire can into an upside down bin, it's just enough to launch the bin off the ground maybe 5cm.
If this IS true, maybe there was an actual gas leak somewhere, or the methane fumes from the toilet had backed up and filled the room?
9. Lunarion - September 2, 2010 7:21 PM
How much bug spray did he think it took to kill one single spider?
10. Lunarion - September 2, 2010 7:23 PM
I agree with #8, if the gas were to ignite with fire it would envelop you instead of throw you away.
source: personal experience
11. Cakeflourz - September 2, 2010 7:33 PM
# 8 is right. I shoot airsoft guns that use Green Gas (propane) as a propellent in a relatively small room with an insence candle burning nearby and the room has yet to explode.
12. JJtoob - September 2, 2010 7:43 PM
It's funny how the word mensa means stupid girl in spanish. Those geniouses didn't have a polyglot among them did they?
13. Dy7lan - September 2, 2010 7:45 PM
Pyro fail.
14. Matt - September 2, 2010 7:53 PM
For a time I lived near to Clacton and visited it once...just once...because it's full of people just...like...him
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16. Beastman AIDS - September 2, 2010 9:07 PM
@ 12
*geniuses* but added points for using the word "polygot" in a sentence.
In other news I had a dream that spiders were crawling out of the tip of my penis and now I can't go to sleep without microwaving my genitals on high for 40 seconds to kill any potential spider eggs first.
17. RDLL - September 2, 2010 9:08 PM
I actually have arachnophobia.. stupid image. But anyway I kill spiders throwing them stuff until they die, or I spray them with insecticide.
18. Black - September 2, 2010 9:11 PM
*UPDATE*
The spider lived!
19. Crack a window - September 2, 2010 9:13 PM
What sort of aerosol was it? I dont know if its possible to fill a room with enough gas to blow a door off its hinges from a single can. It must have been bug spray because deodorant/air freshener wont kill a spider and hair spray wouldnt kill/stop anything but a tiny spider and you'd think the mess hairspray would leave on everything wouldnt be worth the trouble. It had to be bug spray and if he sprayed enough in there to cause an actual fireball i reckon he'd have choked to death on the fumes before he got to light a match. I call BS.
20. Generic Canadian #64 - September 2, 2010 9:17 PM
I think the spider is dead.
21. Lunarion - September 2, 2010 10:05 PM
The spider probably ended up dying of laughter
22. zhangkuan709 - September 2, 2010 10:17 PM
so nice, i like it``
23. lysol <3 - September 2, 2010 11:30 PM
@ 19
Wait, air freshener doesn't work, like Lysol?!!! Omg, it's still alive??!!! I was thinking the spider limped away dying of ultimate toxic pain while being 99.9% germ free.
24. Joe - September 3, 2010 12:07 AM
Check out this humane spider capturing gun from Make
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnKJzCUy9Tw
25. Jimmy Fury - September 3, 2010 12:20 AM
@19, That sir, depends on the hairspray.
Normal hairspray probably won't kill anything, but that crazy ass super hairspray (the stuff that's basically glue and varnish in a spray can) sure as hell will. I've used it plenty of times and I live in florida where our spiders fight back...
Seriously, I hit one with a boot once and that sombitch got up and put his front legs up at me. I had to concede and shoo him outside instead. Gotta respect a bug that's more hardcore than most people.
26. Watch_Mythbusters_Goddamnit - September 3, 2010 12:35 AM
They did this on mythbusters... aaaaaaaaaaaaannnd yeah, that whole story is complete bullshit.
27. Anthemagne - September 3, 2010 1:52 AM
i can't go damn go to this website now because of that picture! dammit!
28. Niro - September 3, 2010 2:42 AM
Yeah, fuck you GW.
I ACTUALLY have arachnophobia, diagnosed by a doctor and all, and this picture scares teh fuck outta me
29. ~*Fancy*~ - September 3, 2010 3:42 AM
I hate you so HARD right now! DX Bleepity Bleepy Bleep, man!
30. Lourens Loki Corleone - September 3, 2010 6:59 AM
Fuck you! I nearly fell off my chair at work! :)
31. SLZY - September 3, 2010 8:03 AM
@7 Oo hai giz me too.
@8 hairspray is sticky and takes a good while to stop evaporating from the patch you've laid down, I know coz I use the stuff to BBQ spiders and wasps regularly, cheaper than bug spray tbh.
32. Johnny - September 3, 2010 8:05 AM
@26 They did do this on mythbusters aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand everything went down exactly as the story claims. In that experiment they were trying to blow up a whole house and that didn't work, but there was a flash fire of enough force to blow out the windows. This dude probably spayed a ton of insecticide in a small space and ignited the fumes, if the door was closed it could have easily been damaged. Doors are very easy to blow around, large surface area to weight ratio. I doubt the guy got blown off his feet though, not literally anyway.
33. dave - September 3, 2010 8:31 AM
@28
arachnophobia; see spider; click link to open full story; read comments; post comments????? dude,
ive blown up areosol cans before, it isnt going to lift you off your feet. minor burns to a moderate portion of your body which you should go to hospital for (due to size and possibility of complications and infections)
but, its quite hard to blow up an areosol, and it doesnt go bang if you ignite the flammable liquid after it has been dispursed, its like burning any other flammable liquid on a surface (metho outside on concrete in dark for awesome lake of blue flame ftw)
the emotional shock will knock you off your feet. if your not used to blowing things up, it will feel like it has thrown you.
in australia, we have wolf spiders which can deal a pretty nasty bite, they're one of the few spiders i kill. (ugly as fuck too)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider
mother carries babies on the back of her abdomen, squish the mother, babies swarm. your best option is to hit it with a deodorant can flame thrower, kills the babies first.
keep calm, or loose control. either full jet or not at all. blow out can as soon as you stop. remember to breath. and theres still a chance you will mess up and the flame will travel down into the can an asplode it (where the shrapnel of the can is more of a concern than the
34. acougara - September 3, 2010 8:55 AM
They did this on mythbusters.
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36. Leftover - September 3, 2010 9:35 AM
I love you GW and I love this picture, so cute. I'm using it as my screen saver.
37. Donk Donkerson - September 3, 2010 9:44 AM
I just won NHL 2K11 because of this story. Thanks GW!!
38. Jim Jones - September 3, 2010 10:14 AM
Did he get the spider, at least?
39. Melanie - September 3, 2010 12:30 PM
Yesterday I killed a cockroach with my flip flop and I AM A GIRL.
40. Shelbon - September 3, 2010 12:45 PM
I'm not normally afraid of spiders that is one of the scariest things I've seen
41. ciao - eating hot fries - September 3, 2010 1:16 PM
this is actually funny, since this is the type of stuff you'll see in those cartoons. Way to go silly man.
I adore spiders, and just release them outside once captured.