[personal profile] archerships
Via memepool. This reads like a grisly Marx brothers routine:

"...On July 26, 1989, five farm workers died after consecutively entering a manure pit on their farm. The pit measured 20 by 24 feet and was 10 feet deep. The victims were a 65-year-old dairy farmer, his two sons aged 37 and 28, a 15-year-old grandson, and a 63-year-old nephew. The younger son initially entered the pit to replace a shear pin on an agitator shaft. (NOTE: Agitation of the manure, which is required to facilitate transfer, causes a rapid release of the gases formed during decomposition.) While attempting to climb out of the pit, the initial victim was overcome and fell to the bottom. The grandson then entered the pit to attempt a rescue. He too was overcome and collapsed. The nephew, the older son, and the dairy farmer then entered the pit one at a time, attempting to rescue those already overcome. Each was overcome and collapsed in turn. A carpet installer working at the farm house then entered the pit to attempt a rescue. He too was overcome but was rescued by his assistant and subsequently recovered. Finally, the owner of a local farm implement business arrived on the scene with two of his workers and, using a rope, extricated the five victims from the pit. When the local emergency rescue squad arrived on the scene approximately 20 minutes after the incident, they immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The nephew was pronounced dead at the scene. The remaining four victims were transported to the local hospital. The farmer and his younger son were pronounced dead on arrival, and the older son died an hour after reaching the emergency room. The grandson was transferred to a major trauma center by helicopter but he died approximately 6 hours after his removal from the pit. Reports of the medical examiner cite methane asphyxiation as the cause of these five deaths [NIOSH 1989c]...."

Date: 2004-07-08 04:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] urbanape.livejournal.com
When life gives you poop...

Make poop-juice.

Date: 2004-07-09 03:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crasch.livejournal.com
I thoughts that what you did when life gives you amoebic dysentery.

Date: 2004-07-08 04:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] visgoth.livejournal.com
The risks of farm work can be some serious shit.

Date: 2004-07-08 04:51 pm (UTC)

Date: 2004-07-08 05:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ernunnos.livejournal.com
No shit. The dangers of the manure pit are second only to combines and exploding silos. Glad I did part of my growing up on a farm, glad it wasn't more than it was.

Date: 2004-07-08 07:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] visgoth.livejournal.com
When I was about 5 years old, the neighbor's silo exploded in the middle of the night. They were about 1/2 mile away and it woke us up. The top of the silo landed on the barn and the barn caught fire, killing most of the cows.

Date: 2004-07-08 04:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladytabitha.livejournal.com
Sounds like a D&D campaign from ages back, actually.

Date: 2004-07-09 03:00 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crasch.livejournal.com
You were all killed by a manure pit?

Date: 2004-07-09 12:35 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ladytabitha.livejournal.com
Naw.  We'd found a secret passageway underneath a toad god altar, and when we opened it, voila, money and jewels!

Except the first two people to leap in passed out due to the ancientness of the air.  And the next two.  Thankfully, we were smarter than those in your story, there.

Date: 2004-07-08 09:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kittles.livejournal.com
Believe it or not, this sort of thing was actually covered in my classes when I was getting my Animal Science degree, along with silo dangers.

Date: 2004-07-09 02:58 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crasch.livejournal.com
"Silo Danger" would make a great band name.