AHC: Biggest Tragedy that Can Happen From Punkin Chunkin Contest?

Now, I know what maybe one or two of you may be thinking: "What the hell is a Punkin Chunkin?"

Well, basically it's what happens if a redneck gets an engineering degree and wants to get rid of some of the leftovers from Halloween. The basic idea is to take one of these...

recipe-blog-pumpkin.jpg


And launch it violently as far as possible from a launcher of some sort. It can be by centripetal force, torsion, pressure (air cannon), etc. Now here's where the fun comes in...

What could possibly be the biggest tragedy that can spawn from this? Now this has been around since 1986, so you have from that time until now. The more plausible the tragedy, the better. That also applies to hilarity as well.
 
It may not be the event that takes place in downstate Delaware (in the local parlance, that comes out something like "daownstate Dellwurr") but this is still rather effective and graphic nonetheless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNKVmWj1K4

Speaking of killer pumpkins...

Last I checked, the chunkers use a special type of pumpkin, one with a thinker rind to prevent it from breaking apart as easily.

Oh, and it isn't just in Delaware. It's just that the biggest contest is hosted there.

Maybe one of the pneumatic cylinders explodes killing a couple people with shrapnel?

Possibly.

Speaking of a tragedy, here's on I thought up while looking at some of the machines. The adult Centrifugal Chunker, 'Bad to the Bone' falls apart due to inadequate testing and maintenance while chunking. The pieces of it go everywhere and kills the truck driver from its weight impacting on the roof, as well as a few spectators from impact. The pumpkin also kills a duck from impact.
 
Speaking of killer pumpkins...

Last I checked, the chunkers use a special type of pumpkin, one with a thinker rind to prevent it from breaking apart as easily.

Oh, and it isn't just in Delaware. It's just that the biggest contest is hosted there.



Possibly.

Speaking of a tragedy, here's on I thought up while looking at some of the machines. The adult Centrifugal Chunker, 'Bad to the Bone' falls apart due to inadequate testing and maintenance while chunking. The pieces of it go everywhere and kills the truck driver from its weight impacting on the roof, as well as a few spectators from impact. The pumpkin also kills a duck from impact.

Okay, the duck thing? Now it's tragicomic. :D
 
Let's go totally ASB - a pumpkin chunker is built that's so powerful that the pumpkin is squashed from the acceleration and a low-grade nuclear explosion results! Yeah, that'll show that pumpkin! :D
 

Macragge1

Banned
One chunk flies off and hits FDR in 1933. Thanks to his already shaky health he dies instantly.

Flashforward twenty years and there are swastikas on Mars or something.
 
I was actually hoping to avoid the ASB scenarios to be honest (I would've put this in ASB otherwise).

However...

Is it plausible to have George H.W. Bush or every president afterward get nailed in the face and die from the impact of a wayward pumpkin?

Or how about the Mythbusters (who I think host the Chunkin in Bridgeville), get killed by a faulty machine going off, like one of the air cannons going off like an explosive?

Okay, the duck thing? Now it's tragicomic. :D

That actually happened too in one of the Chunkins. Don't know which one though.
 
For some contructive comment, I suggest you read the rules (http://www.punkinchunkin.com/docs/punkinchunkinrulesv10.pdf). Maybe you can see a weakness in the current rules or extrapolate a disaster that could have occurred under earlier iterations of the rules.

Well, basically it's what happens if a redneck gets an engineering degree and wants to get rid of some of the leftovers from Halloween.
The head of the engineering department of my last school won in 1993, and he was as far from redneck as I can imagine, despite his last name being Hicks. As best I can tell, team name was Under Pressure, distance of 1,024 feet, went on the David Letterman Show after, and was the first pneumatic cannon competitor.

Or how about the Mythbusters (who I think host the Chunkin in Bridgeville)
Did not know that. 2010 was their first year.

That actually happened too in one of the Chunkins. Don't know which one though.
2001, Bad to the Bone.

I'd give the crappy references I found, but Explorer crashed on my first post.
 
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