# Man tries to dig out boulder and gets crushed. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 27, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690 "2014-08-27T21:46:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/1 "2014-08-27T21:46:25Z")
I can easily imagine this guy coming in from work every day. Changing clothes and digging away under this huge ass rock. Until he finally succeeds in removing all the supporting dirt. :smack: He should have thunk this through a bit better. Perhaps a Darwin Award nominee? \*\*Archimedes \*\*_Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the earth._ Yeah, but will it crush you afterward? 😃 > **[N.H. Man Crushed To Death In His Yard By 6,000-Pound Boulder](https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/n-h-man-crushed-to-death-in-his-yard-by-6000-pound-boulder/)** > > Police in New Hampshire say a man who tried to dig around a 6,000-pound boulder in his yard became pinned under the rock and died. > [@](#): > > RAYMOND, N.H. (CBS) – A New Hampshire man was killed when a 6,000-pound boulder crushed him in his own backyard. > > Paul Comeau, 47, a father and martial arts instructor, told his neighbors he was digging up the huge boulder against his home because it was creating a path for water to run into his basement when it rained. It was a project he had been working on for a couple of months. > > “When it’s that big, you would think you would ask for help,” said Cara Maurice, one of his neighbors. “There’s plenty of neighbors around here that we do that on a daily basis. We go up to neighbors’ houses and help them out.” > > This was one huge rock, though — about three tons and five feet wide. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/2 "2014-08-27T22:09:22Z")
I thought the whole point of the Darwin Awards is that they are given to people who remove themselves from the genepool before having reproduced? Your article says: > [@](#): > > Paul Comeau, 47, a father and martial arts instructor So… ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/3 "2014-08-27T22:13:02Z")
Good point. He’s disqualified for the Darwin Award. Too bad. He certainly worked for several months to earn one. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/4 "2014-08-27T22:15:52Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I can easily imagine this guy coming in from work every day. Changing clothes and digging away under this huge ass rock. Until he finally succeeds in removing all the supporting dirt. :smack: He should have thunk this through a bit better. Reminds me of the Darwin Awards metal thieves who tried dismantling a metal tower from the bottom up. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/5 "2014-08-27T22:24:57Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Good point. He’s disqualified for the Darwin Award. > > Too bad. He certainly worked for several months to earn one. The “Wile E Coyote” Award may be more appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/6 "2014-08-27T23:33:57Z")
As a rock solid martial arts instructor, he trained to anticipate crushing defeat while trying to bury his adversary. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/7 "2014-08-28T01:28:29Z")
Here’s what I don’t understand - what was he going to do with it?! Let’s say the boulder was now loose and he survived. You’re not putting that thing in a wheelbarrow. You’d have to lift it to get it out of the hole. You’d need a heavy-duty vehicle to move three tons. If you have to bring in cranes and tractors anyway, why not bring them in early enough to do the digging with? Maybe he just didn’t do the math on how big the rock was to start with, but after a few months of digging, I’d be thinking “If a cubic yard of water weighs a ton…” On the other hand, I know several martial arts instructors. They have many admirable qualities, but thinking things through is not usually one of them. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/8 "2014-08-28T01:41:42Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Here’s what I don’t understand - what was he going to do with it?! Explosives! Or he was going to break it up by hand. After all, it’s really just a big brick. ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/9 "2014-08-28T02:11:51Z")
It looks like by digging the hole the boulder could be moved away from the home then just covered back up with dirt - no dis-assembly required. Not a bad idea, sans the getting crushed part. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/10 "2014-08-28T14:50:02Z")
To add insult to injury, they used a tow truck to safely move the boulder to recover the body. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/11 "2014-08-28T15:25:45Z")
If something like this happens to me, please make sure it doesn’t get in the papers! ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/12 "2014-08-28T18:19:21Z")
> [@2gigch1](#): > > It looks like by digging the hole the boulder could be moved away from the home then just covered back up with dirt - no dis-assembly required. Not a bad idea, sans the getting crushed part. That does make a little bit of sense, at least. I’m still not sure that it qualifies as a good idea, though. The odds of getting the boulder to roll the way you want it to, and of you not being in its vicinity at the time seem very small. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/13 "2014-08-28T18:46:51Z")
It’s a classic trench digging mistake. Dirt doesn’t want to stay in place when you cut it vertically - especially if it’s under load from a massive rock. Trenches tend to collapse. Trenches with a 2 ton rock on their brink, doubly so. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/14 "2014-08-28T18:48:02Z")
I think the guy just didn’t realize how hard it is to push a heavy boulder. Its even harder (maybe impossible) to stop a rolling boulder. Think about a car. I can push a car (that won’t start) and get it moving on flat ground. But if the car is rolling towards me there’s no way I can stop it. It’ll run me down just because of its weight and momentum. That’s what happened here. The momentum of that rock was too much for even three guys to stop. One guy never stood a chance. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/15 "2014-08-28T19:22:04Z")
Didn’t anybody warn him, that boulder was part of a terminal moraine. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/16 "2014-08-28T20:40:18Z")
Boulder 1 to boulder 2 “Did you plant a garden this year?” Boulder 2 “Just some squash” ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/17 "2014-08-28T21:17:09Z")
> [@2gigch1](#): > > It looks like by digging the hole the boulder could be moved away from the home then just covered back up with dirt - no dis-assembly required. Not a bad idea, sans the getting crushed part. Yeah, this is probably right. I live in a place where giant stray buried boulders are fairly common and the standard procedure for dealing with one is to dig a hole next to it and roll it in. I’ve watched them do it with a backhoe (both for the digging and the rolling), but I hear that back before the days of ubiquitous power equipment they used to do it by slowly digging out the underlying material until they could roll the thing in with prybars. If they followed the normal safety rules for digging a trench and were methodical about removing the underlying material, it was a tedious but not particularly dangerous job that probably could be done by one person if necessary. I agree with **Mangetout** ’s suspicion that his mistake was probably _not_ following the trenching rules. Digging a proper sloped hole would add a bunch more work to an already ridiculously labor intensive job so that’s probably an easy corner to cut. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/18 "2014-08-28T22:42:46Z")
Most fatal stupid mistakes are made on the spur of the moment, and you can sorta understand the lack of planning. Comeau, though, had been snuggling up to this rock “for a couple months.” ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/19 "2014-08-28T22:45:58Z")
It’s sad, because now this boulder is going to have to live with this on it’s conscience for the next several million years, until it is eroded away into tiny particles. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690/20 "2014-08-29T00:24:00Z")
Since I grew up in that town, I’m just relieved it wasn’t someone I knew. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-tries-to-dig-out-boulder-and-gets-crushed/696690.md?page=2)