For me, the worst Thanksgiving fail was when the man next door burned down his house. On his back porch with a roof, Mike threw a frozen turkey into a boiling deep fryer. The explosion caught the roof on fire. The house completely burned down. Luckily, Mike, his wife and son were not hurt or killed.
We were evacuated by firefighters at 9 a.m. Standing across the street with neighbors, we watched the fire. The house was engulfed. Firefighters pushed us back.
My daughter Claire, 4, was in pajamas. She was crying hysterically, shivering in the cold. I held her, trying to comfort her. A neighbor brought us a blanket and invited us inside.
We felt afraid tall trees in the backyards would spread the fire to our house. We couldn't go inside our home until evening. Thanksgiving dinner was at Denny's.
One year after all the eating was over and done. Football on the TV. My then father in law had a heart attack and died right in the driveway in front of all the grandchildren. My wife at the time was never allowed to cook thanksgiving dinner again
Sure they blamed her and not the football! Poor lady!
@RavenCT To be fair and honest she was a pretty shitty cook anyway and this allowed us to get out of having her cook anymore without telling her that
Unfortunately, I think you win this one. Could have been worse though.
those fryers are dangerous when ppl don't read or know how to use them
that had to be horrible for your family
I bet it was worse for the neighbor. Damn!
My relative does this every year and it's the one food he deep fries - away from the house - supervised by the kids who are now grown - who trained with firefighters in their teens.
The turkey doesn't absorb the oil. The deep frying just seals in the moisture and reduces cooking time.
I still bake mine... Far easier!
Remarkably, Mike was not burned. Using insurance money, they rebuilt the house in the same place.
But his terrible diet (high fat, deep fried) resulted in obesity and heart disease. Mike died of a heart attack before age 50, leaving his wife and 12-year-old son.
@LiterateHiker I'm guessing he had genetic/inherited issues too as that's very young to die of heart disease.
I worked with a young man in his 20s who had wretched cholesterol levels not due to diet but due to genetics. I really felt for him. I think the newer drugs are lifesaving in those instances - if they know to test folks early enough.
He was probably doing it on purpose as a stunt which literally backfired on him.
That year, deep-fried turkey was all the rage with redneck males. After numerous house fires across the nation from deep-frying turkeys, people realized it was dangerous.
My neighbor's terrible diet resulted in obesity and heart disease. He died of a heart attack before age 50.
My then boyfriend's neighbor did the exact same thing. Fortunately he only caught his garage on fire.
Oh my, that's terrible... But the stories in the link are so hilarious!! Self cleaning oven!! Wow!!
Oh yea....frozen turkey in hot grease equals big boom. People shouldn't try things they don't read up on first.
What an idiot. Luckily Mike, his wife and son were not burned or killed.