# Anyone remember news story about boy who ate an apple stem and died from it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220 "2005-06-06T23:03:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/1 "2005-06-06T23:03:29Z")
This _was_ a real news story, not an urban legend or story I heard; you won’t find it on snopes, or for that matter, [cnn.com](http://cnn.com), google, or by asking on [able2know.com](http://able2know.com) either. 😃 I’m pretty sure it happened between like 95-96, if not 97-99, and that it was national news; that I’m convinced of. What happened was that a young boy ate an apple in its entirety, stem and all, and somehow the stem went into his back area and killed him. Now, I know that something that goes down the esophagus goes only to the stomach, so this kid must’ve had something wrong?.. 😕 Anyone remember this? ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/2 "2005-06-06T23:07:20Z")
Let’s not get into the details of anatomy right now- can we just restrict this to whether one has heard of this/similar story, not a discussion (just for the sake of specialization, all respect). ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/3 "2005-06-06T23:12:35Z")
But really, I do know how much you’ll want to tell me about the ridiculousness of this concept; I asked on the other site, ‘what if he had a hole in his esophagus?’, and one guy said the only way the stem would’ve gotten to the spinal area is if it had a laser guide and propellers or something :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/4 "2005-06-07T04:14:20Z")
I don’t recall it being reported in California (the S.F. Bay Area). ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/5 "2005-06-07T04:33:52Z")
I just Googled it and got nothing. Are you absolutely certain this was a legit news story? ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/6 "2005-06-07T17:58:05Z")
ageless6 and others: NO GOOGLING THIS 😃 I did that _quite_ well, believe me. You cannot google it better than I did. Sorry. Don’t do it. Please. Don’t waste your time. Also, don’t look here: [list][li][cnn.com](http://cnn.com)[/li][li]snopes[/li][li]google news, their archived news[/li] No, I’m not sure it was leg. news at all. I was prob. 12 at the time, and although I think I distinctly remember a fatal newspaper story, I admit that human memory is utterly flawed and unreliable; but there was, I would bet money on, a basis for this memory, a real story of a boy who did die in the news from eating an apple stem. I just checked the archives of the local newspaper where I lived then, The Virginian Pilot; nothing. I’ll ask my mom and sister later; besides that it seems over. ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/7 "2005-06-07T18:25:18Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > ageless6 and others: NO GOOGLING THIS 😃 I did that _quite_ well, believe me. You cannot google it better than I did. Sorry. Don’t do it. Please. Don’t waste your time. > > Also, don’t look here: > [list][li][cnn.com](http://cnn.com)[/li][li]snopes[/li][li]google news, their archived news[/li] > No, I’m not sure it was leg. news at all. I was prob. 12 at the time, and although I think I distinctly remember a fatal newspaper story, I admit that human memory is utterly flawed and unreliable; but there was, I would bet money on, a basis for this memory, a real story of a boy who did die in the news from eating an apple stem. I just checked the archives of the local newspaper where I lived then, The Virginian Pilot; nothing. I’ll ask my mom and sister later; besides that it seems over. Gosh, I’m sorry. Please excuse me and anyone else who might have tried to help. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/8 "2005-06-07T18:28:03Z")
I don’t remember this story at all, but the only way I can think he could have died would have been from choking on the stem/core. There’s the slight possibility of poisoning, since apple seeds have cyanide in them, but I’m fairly certain even the amount in a whole apple is nowhere near enoughto kill a child. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/9 "2005-06-07T18:42:18Z")
> [@ageless6](#): > > Gosh, I’m sorry. Please excuse me and anyone else who might have tried to help. No good deed goes unpunished. 😉 I read, while looking this up, that you’d have too eat 100 apple’s worth of seeds before you ran into a cyanide problem. Nice trivia. 😃 I think I heard once Johnny Appleseed killed himself by bonging about 500 seeds, anyways, so there ya go. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/10 "2005-06-07T18:56:48Z")
Searching on the terms “apple stem” in the Lexis-Nexis database turns up about 210 hits, none of which refer to your story. If it made the major media, it should have turned up in this search. ---
**Author:** ![Cillasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Cillasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cillasi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/11 "2005-06-07T19:11:38Z")
Never heard the story, but the only way I can think something like that could happen is for the stem to have punctured something causing peritonitis. If this happens in the upper GI tract, would it be possible for peristalsis to force the object through the tissue? ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/12 "2005-06-07T19:15:50Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > I’m pretty sure it happened between like 95-96, if not 97-99, and that it was national news; that I’m convinced of. During the time that you remember hearing this story were you free to come and go at will at the place you were living? ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/13 "2005-06-07T19:16:23Z")
Are you sure it was an apple stem and the kid died? Because this story came out around the same time you’re asking about: > [@](#): > > 1996 – In December, surgeon Isam Felahy removed an inch-long tree sprig from the right lung of 16-year-old Tracy McIntyre in Stockton, Calif. Tracy had apparently inhaled it in 1980 from the family Christmas tree. The sprig, which was still green, was apparently also the source of Tracy’s notoriously bad breath. Source: [Chuck Sheppard’s News of the Weird](http://www.newsoftheweird.com/) ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/14 "2005-06-07T19:17:45Z")
Thanks for looking and for a good academic resource. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-remember-news-story-about-boy-who-ate-an-apple-stem-and-died-from-it/307220/15 "2005-06-08T15:00:48Z")
Whoops- that last post was intended to refer to the Lexis-Nexis resource, not the Wierd News resource; no sarcasm intended. No, the tree sprig one isn’t it, but it certainly is interesting, isn’t it? 🙂 Nope, I wasn’t crazy at the time, just 12 years old prob. I’m gonna send some letters to the newspapers; this isn’t driving me crazy, this is fun. 😉