Claim: Photograph shows a motorcycle accident victim impaled by a wooden post.
Example: [Collected via e-mail, 2004]
OUCH: READ THIS STORY THEN LOOK AT THE PICTURE!!!!!!!! Below is an actual emergency room photo of a gentleman who lost control of his motorcycle on a country road in West Virginia. Troopers believe that he was traveling at a speed of approximately Unfortunately for him, upon striking the ditch and being ejected from the bike, he landed back end first on a fencepost from an old barnyard fenced that was downed on the side of the road. You can probably picture what happened next, but the attached picture really says it all. The good news is that after about |
Origins: The photograph referenced by the above text (which can be found on various sites around the web by searching on phrases such as "gentleman who lost control of his motorcycle") is evidently genuine, although the explanation that now accompanies it is possibly an invented one. This picture first began circulating in
Back in 2004 an informant told us that the photograph originated in the trauma bay of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' (UAMS) emergency room. According to this source, the patient shown in the photo crashed his truck through a fence, causing a large fence post to come through part of the truck's engine and firewall before catching on spring wire in the back of the front seat, impaling the driver in the process. The patient was reportedly treated in the operating room but died a few days later of infection. We have not been able to independently verify these details, however.
In early 2006, the photo was circulated with this as its accompanying text:
Warden's believe that he was traveling at a speed of approximately You can probably picture what happened next, but the attached picture really says it all. The good news is that after about Doctors credited his recovery to the fact that the post lodged itself so tightly that there was little or no blood loss. NOW THAT'S GOTTA HURT!!!!!!"
This is an actual emergency room photo of a fisherman who lost control of his high-speed bass boat in West Virginia.
Last updated: 2 March 2006