1.
21 May 2004, Texas | Michael was an alcoholic. And not an ordinary
alcoholic, but an alcoholic who liked to take his liquor... well,
rectally. His wife said he was "addicted to enemas" and often used
alcohol in this manner. The result was the same: inebriation.

The machine shop owner couldn't imbibe alcohol by mouth due to
a painful throat ailment, so he elected to receive his favorite
beverage VIA enema. And tonight, Michael was in for one *censored* of
a party. Two 1.5 litre bottles of sherry, more than 100 fluid
ounces, right up the old address!

When the rest of us have had enough, we either stop drinking or
pass out. When Michael had had enough (and subsequently passed out)
the alcohol remaining in his rectal cavity continued to be absorbed.
The next morning, Michael was dead.

The 58-year-old did a pretty good job of embalming himself.
According to toxicology reports, his blood alcohol level was 0.47%.

In order to qualify for a Darwin Award, a person must remove himself
from the gene pool via an "astounding misapplication of judgment."
Three litres of sherry up the *censored* can only be described as
astounding. Unsurprisingly, his neighbors said they were surprised
to learn of the incident.

2.
2007, India | Increased mining and recent rains in southeast India
have unsettled the wildife. In the past months, MIGRATING elephants
have killed eleven people in southeast India. A team of journalists
decided to interview this herd of rogue elephants.

The four reporters went into the forest in search of the rogues -- on
foot.

Elephants are big, and elephants are fast. As the recent deaths
illustrate, a person can't out-run an elephant. But these intrepid
journalists apparently assumed that a press pass grants immunity.

With a nose for news, the journalists sniffed out the herd. Once
located, it was only natural that they should capture the photogenic
animals on film. Unfortunately, the elephants were camera shy.
Angered by the flash, the irritated herd charged the paparazzi,
miraculously killing only one of the four.

His remains could not be retrieved.

3.
August 2006, Leicester, England | Darren's death was a mystery.
The The 33-year-old was found slumped in the hallway of his house,
bleeding from stab wounds to his chest. Police initially assumed
that an assailant had attacked him, but they could find no supporting
evidence. A year later, the inquest revealed why Darren can stake
his claim to a place among the winners of the Darwin Award.

Darren had called a friend, but minutes after he hung up, rang back
to ask for an ambulance. The front door was ajar, and Darren was
found lying near a bloodstained lock-knife he had purchased whilst
on holiday in Spain. Forensics investigators saw no indication of a
struggle, and the coroner reported that the stab wounds SEEMED to be
self-inflicted. However, Darren had shown no suicidal tendencies.

His wife, who was on holiday at the time of the incident, cleared up
the mystery, and revealed why our subject will go down in history as
a Darwin Award winner. As she was leaving for the holiday, she
remembered Darren wondering whether his new jacket was 'stab-proof'.

That's right. Darren had decided to find out if his jacket could
withstand a knife attack. Did he choose to test his jacket while
it was draped over the back of a chair? No, our man decided that
the best approach would be to wear the garment and stab himself.
Sadly, his choice of armor proved less resistant to a sharp blade
than he had hoped.

The coroner reached a verdict of accidental death by 'misadventure'.

4.
2003, California | John, a Los Angeles real estate attorney, was
skimming leaves from his pool when he noticed a palm frond caught
i the POWER lines. His education had equipped him with sufficient
acumen to become a successful litigator. Yet he was not shrewd
enough to avoid becoming a toasty critter, when he reached up
with the long metal pole and poked at the palm frond.

John was, for once, the path of least resistance.

Perhaps as an homage to his litigation skills, his family sued
both the utility company and the pool supply store, for failure
to disclose the danger of poking a metal rod into the power lines