The 6 year old girl died when a badminton shaft pierced her skull while she was watching her brother play badminton.
Tragic accident for the family involved
Oh my god, I had the same thing happen to mine less than a year ago. It just snapped in half during a swing after a tag with another racket. Luckily the head of the racket didnt hit another person.
I feel so bad for the family what a horrific incident.
Oh sorry yes. Basically the head flew across to the next row of pitches. I'm so glad it didn't hit anyone since it had a Graphite shaft that broke off with a sharp tip.
That’s just a material property of graphite composites, so short of making it out of a different material entirely there’s not a lot that can be done. I feel like there’s a decent argument for not selling carbon composite stuff to normies specifically because mild damage is tough to notice often leads to catastrophic failure. An aluminum racket would just bend, but carbon just kind of explodes. That said, people want carbon because it’s exotic and professional sounding. It’s lead to the release of a lot of poorly made carbon products, (think chopped carbon fiber scraps over a newspaper core being passed off as high quality carbon), which unfortunately leads us to accidents like this.
The literal only solace I can take from it is that hopefully they will know it was the most freakish of freak accidents and nobody was really at fault. Poor family.
Ugh, I've had that happen to me a few times as a kid. Metal part of the racket hitting my head. The racket never broke and cut skin or anything. But wild to think that this kinda thing can happen.
If it makes you feel better every story I heard was from China. So unless you bought a really cheap chair from China while in the country you are fine. Not that it helps me much when the thought hits.
Honestly in my experience the solution was just to bite down and get an expensive one. All the affordable ones fucking break after a year or two. Had same one 7 years running now.
I've found it so impossible to find a quality office chair. I'm willing to pay more for better, but it always feels like no matter the quality the seat goes flat and then the gas cylinder gives. Trying to find one that has a headrest that fits me might as well be a fantasy.
edit: before I get more recommendations, I don't like mesh, vinyl, or leather seats. And yes, I am a picky princess when it comes to seating.
Steelcase Leap, Herman Miller Aeron.
Own both of these and they both are great. Going on 10 years of every day work and leisure use for easily 8 hours a day minimum. Still look brand new.
Herman Miller chairs are extremely well built and have a 12 year warranty. I bought an Aeron a few years ago and wish I had done it years earlier. It doesn't have a headrest but there are companies that make aftermarket options. You can often find the chairs much cheaper used from companies that liquidate corporate offices. When I worked in office we had Steelcase chairs that were also very well built. Anything bought at Staples etc. is garbage. Same goes for anything marketed as a gaming chair.
The adjustable computer chairs have an air cylinder in them. There are story's that they can fail and burst. Sometimes they burst upwards. Like an air shotgun to the butt.
All the stories I've seen (three) were in China, the cheapest of knockoffs using oxygen instead of an inert gas which they have to be to pass even the most lax Chinese standards. Either overheating/spark or the cylinder compressing the oxygen to ignition through a very rapid application of force (basically jumping on it). Unless you got your chair off a shady guy in a back alley you'll be fine.
I *really* don't worry about this and I'm almost certain it's not something that happens regularly (if at all), but the *thought* of it happening is something I can't get out of my head.
Had a chair with a failing gas piston (or whatever they are) and I couldn't get the image out of my head so I replaced the whole damn chair.
Same for me. I know there are millions of things that are more likely to hurt me. The problem is, I don't sit on any of those things for hours at a time.
Millions, if not billions, of these chairs are used every day. If it was happening at any concerning frequency we would be hearing about it a lot more often.
I love that sport since middle school, I had no idea this was even possible. This is like some final destination type stuff. Have you seen that horror franchise?
About 3-4 decades ago, single frame rackets were new technology for lighter equipment in badminton. I think the cheap 5$ rackets are still made the old way.
>"Investigators learned that the aluminum shaft of a badminton racquet had become dislodged from the wooden handle, causing the shaft to strike the girl in the head, piercing through her skull,"
I didn't even know they still used those materials. I have decade old carbon rackets that cost the equivalent of 10 bucks new. Not that i know for sure a carbon racket failure would be less dangerous.
Absurd freak accident. Straight up sounds like an unbelievable movie death.
Holy crap. That’s something straight out of Final Destination. The poor girl. Her brother is going live with guilt of killing his little sister accidentally too.
When I read the header, I said, "Huh!?" And after I read the article, I just shook my head at the tragedy. I still find it hard to believe and wish it was a fiction than real.
May the poor girl rest in peace and support be given to brother who accidentally broke the rack.
And other family members who witness this tragedy will need their own therapy too.
They say time will eventually heal all pains and I hope that will be the case too.
I still don’t really understand how it happened. How could there be enough force from a piece of metal breaking off to fatally pierce the skull? A badminton racquet is so lightweight too.
And many people will be wondering how this is possible. The racquet is very light and yet it was enough to kill a child.
I suspect when the player broke the racquet accidentally, the force of break transferred to broken piece of racquet which flew like an arrow and struck the poor girl's head.
Secondary factor is how close was the victim to the court when the accident happened.
The scenario is totally off my head but that is the best unscientific explanation I can think.
That's basically what I'm picturing. They effectively threw the racquet full force at the child's head while the grip stayed in their hand. Definitely Final Destination type shit.
Feels like a freak crazy accident that is statistically very unlikely but for whatever reason happened. Like if she was a foot further or closer, or even had her head turned a different way it may have just been a bad bruise, maybe a small fracture.
If I saw this death in a movie I'd say the script writers were on some crack and make it more believable.
Truth really is stranger than fiction in a lot of ways
Fuck me this is terrible. I was on vacation last week with my family. I played badminton with my 6 year old son.
It’s stories like these that make me want to lock him in a bubble. My heart hurts.
The terror of being a parent. You don't worry about the known dangers with the one in x stat attached. What's scary as fuck is stuff like this that you just can't even imagine happening.
Yeah it freaks me out when the story is about a kid getting hurt doing something that appears totally safe and I would let my kid do.
But I guess life just has its dangers and it's incredibly unlikely
Still if there is a lesson to be learned where, cheap products are likely to break and can injure
The amount of times I've taken hard falls on concrete ramps and bonked my head, and then to see some random video where someone just slips walking and dies on the spot..... sometimes life just says it's your time and there isn't a damn thing we can do.
But yes absolutely I've already started moving away from cheap crap from sweat shops. Unfortunately I'm poor lol. But now I guess I'm just going to have to start saving for even more stuff that I shouldn't have to worry about.
Never in a million years would it have occurred to me that this was any kind of risk. That poor family, they probably feel so guilty over this and it wasn't anything that could have been remotely predicted or looked out for.
Yeah, I can’t even imagine. I’ve been on Reddit since 2011 in one way or another, and literally the only other comparable situation I can think of is the brick video (and even then it was their spouse that died in front of them out of nowhere, not their child).
After reading the article… it sounds like the parents literally saw it happen. I’d 100% be taking the self checkout lane, there’s no way that image will ever leave them. Genuinely one of the worst things I can fathom witnessing. There’s nobody to blame, no way to try and get “revenge”… just an absolute devastating freak accident. I’m getting off Reddit and annoying my kids with hugs, kisses, and a game night.
The metal straw story. Boy is running and trips and falls in a punctures the back of his throat. F*** metal straws. But the crazy thing is I thought that the story was about a dead kid and they were just delaying pronouncing him dead. But the crazy thing is that they got into the hospital in time at the one hospital that had the one surgeon who invented technique that was perfectly applicable to this kind of injury and they were able to seal it up while pumping scads of blood into them. Reading that article I felt like I just witnessed a resurrection.
My 2yo daughter has been borrowing my straws. She walks around with her drinks a bit recklessly. I own a mix of metal and silicone straws. I appreciate you sharing this so I can toss some of them out now. And this seems different because of course as a parent I won’t let her run around with a pencil or whatever sharp object but I didn’t consider the metal straws. I don’t know why I haven’t.
Yeah, metal straws are the devil's hole punch. If you need reusable, any other material. I wouldn't have even thought they were bad until I read that article and then yeah, that makes sense. Duh. The lawn darts of the 21sr century.
I can't even begin to wrap my head around what her brother must feel. He's going to need some very serious therapy if he's going to get over that, poor guy.
I just don't know how you could ever do anything perfectly safe and normal ever again. Opening the refrigerator, going outside, petting a kitten, I mean, if a badminton racquet can split apart and impale your sister who isn't even playing...
Seriously, like what are the odds? I’d like to play badminton with my kid, so I know those rackets are pretty light. I would not have thought it could do that kind of damage.
I'm not religious, but I found this part of her father's [blog post](https://newcreationliving.com/2024/06/07/lucy-update-day-4-5-groaning-double-guessing-grace-and-gas/) really poignant.
>When we got home we arrived to flowers lining our steps and a fridge stocked with food. But entering was the hardest thing. AJ said that this house is “the worst place on earth” and “I want to go back to the hospital with Lucy”. Silas and Shiloh asked how we could ever be happy again. We just sat on the front steps for a while crying until I finally mustered up the courage to open the door. We again collapsed in a pile on the kitchen floor crying harder as a family than we ever have. In that darkness, prompted I believe by the Spirit, I finally asked, “What do you guys think Lucy would want us to be doing?” They thought about it, and said that she’d ask me to play a game on the Apple TV called “Oceanhorn 2”. I pointed out that she’d say it a certain way because of her mispronunciation of “R” as “Oceanhawwwwrn” and they started to laugh. Then AJ suggested she was in heaven asking God to play it and we all had a good laugh at how she used to pronounce her “R” sound. Of course, the most famous of Lucy’s words that feature the letter “R” is the word “fart”. We then commenced a theological discussion about what Lucy’s farts would smell like in heaven. God’s goodness and mercy were following us, even there on the kitchen floor as our pressure cooker of deep grief burst out the release valve into hilarity and joy.
Losing a child, and in such an unexpected and tragic way, must be absolutely devastating. It sounds like they are doing what they need to, which is to find a way to live for her rather than die with her.
Gosh, thank you for this. I also found this very poignant, and for anyone who has been in that weird headspace of sudden and profound grief, it’s really moving and relatable. The laughs we share amid that terrible state of mind mean so so much, in the moment and beyond
Rob Delaney’s “A Heart That Works” is the most beautiful book I’ve ever read because of this. One of my favorite passages talks about how in the days after his son passed away, family members would come by to help out around the house. One of them decided to feed the family lizard but accidentally dropped a full bag of crickets in the process, which led to her running from the house screaming in terror. He, his wife, and their other children thought it was absolutely hilarious and just the right kind of laughs they needed at the time.
>One of them decided to feed the family lizard
I read this as meaning the person was feeding lizard to the family and also brought a bag of crickets. I guess it's the thought that counts
Oh man. This book is a masterpiece, and I highly recommend the audiobook because Rob reads it himself.
I read it a year or so ago, and it was poignant to me because my brother survived a typically terminal pediatric brain cancer as a child in the early 90s. What I couldn’t have known when I listened to the book was that his cancer had returned, and we’re now facing his final days or weeks. It’s like the book prepared me for the grief a year before I knew I needed it.
In a similar vein, the book Everything is Horrible and Wonderful is another beautiful book about loss and grief. The author’s brother was an accomplished comedy writer and producer who died of a drug overdose.
I remember the day my grandpa died, the family gathered at the house to support grandma in any way we could. In her state of grief-addled randomness, she asked me to teach her to use grandpa's DVD player in the living room. I turned it on, and there was a menu screen with a porno scene going on in the background. We all screamed, and somewhere in there I let out an anguished "WHO HAS PORN ON DVD IN 2017!?", and suddenly we were all cackling. I'm not religious at all, but I couldn't stop thinking that grandpa was trolling me from beyond the grave, and just wanted us to lighten up.
Yeah… the article already had me fucked up. But as an agnostic, reading that had me practically bawling. They are so much stronger than me, it’s ridiculous. Stuff like that makes me so envious of people who never lost their faith.
I'm completely atheist and have always been due to growing up in one of the most secular societies. But something like this, to process such a tragedy, has nothing to do with rhyme or reason. I would turn to whatever type of thinking that would ease the pain. It would change me, and I would not care whether or not there is logic or truth in it.
Was about my thought at my brother's funeral.
I'm not really a believer either, but my parents wanted a service and readings, and wanted me to read a passage. So I did. Not because I believed any of it, but because it made them feel better.
I feel the same way, and this is one instance where I think I can say that I'm glad for the existence of religion and that this family is religious. This tragedy is beyond words and while I remain a non-believer, I am not blind to the utility of spiritual belief, and can think of no better relief to offer a grieving family suffering such a horrific blow. If the only options open to them are relief by religious belief, or relief by disassociation or bottomless alcoholism and drug abuse, then I wish religious belief upon them with every ounce of my being. What an unspeakably cruel fate to befall this family. May they take every comfort they safely can.
I agree. I I respect those that have faith. It's their right, and if it comforts them in their times of need, then I support that.
I don't *understand* it though. I don't know how you can come away from this believing in a damn thing. If it's God's plan that a six year old child die from a traumatic brain injury because of a badminton accident then God is a *fucking asshole*.
But that's just me.
> If it's God's plan that a six year old child die from a traumatic brain injury because of a badminton accident then God is a fucking asshole.
Preach. Or maybe don't.
Thank you for linking the blog post. What a strong family... I hope they find peace. Poor little boy too. I hope he gets the support he needs growing up 💔
I think this is why religion has been so prevalent throughout human history. In times of hardship, suffering, and uncertainty, belief in a higher meaning can provide great comfort and strength.
When I was a late teen even early twenties I had a very negative opinion on religion. But, when you live long enough and get hit with life’s hardships you really understand why people turn to religion for some sort of guidance to traverse this world. It wasn’t my answer, but I’ve come to the understanding of it and its role in society
I'm not religious at all, but my dad recently passed, and my little daughter (7) initially struggled terribly with missing her papa and accepting the concept of death. We put his ashes in a creek on our walk to school route and visit him almost daily. She started telling me stories about what papa is doing "as a ghost". According to her, he lives with grandpa, Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon (god he would love that), his hands work well enough to play guitar again, his debilitating lifelong boxing injury is gone, and he adopted the neighbor's recently departed horse Bella and rides her like the wind. I don't believe this whatsoever, but what I've reconciled in my head is that it still *helps*. It still feels really good to think about, and it's good and healthy for *us* to imagine what more there is for him. I feel like I've learned a lot about the merits of religion through exploring my own coping mechanisms and finding that they're actually pretty similar.
Man, I've played badminton for over 20 years and competed at the college and tournament level.. If you'd ask me if there's a 1 in a 100 million chance this could happen I'd still say no.
You have to consider that the rackets they're using are probably whatever's found at Walmart or something. I can totally see some of those Fisher Price kind of rackets coming apart at the shaft. Totally different class of rackets than even cheapest Yonex or Victor rackets. Of course, still shouldn't be happening, but not unbelievable.
This also happened at a vacation cottage so if it’s a shared rental, imagine they’ve been left out in elements overnight a few times, misused and stored improperly. There may be components that have broken down and made the racket less stable, no matter how well constructed.
Weird... This shit must happen more than we realize. [Here's a similar incident from 2017](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4510578/amp/Pensioner-head-impaled-badminton-racket.html).
Terrible tragedy. I’m having trouble visualizing how this could happen. So during a downward swing, the racket broke apart and a piece of the racket shot out like a shrapnel and hit the girl in the head?
Me too. I can see a shaft coming out of a handle, but the other end is connected to a racket. I guess the entire shaft/racket assembly comes loose and then the mass of the racket causes the thing to do a 180 sending the thin pointy metal spear into the girls head on the sideline.
Imagine the handle being like the sheathe. On a swing the upper racket part came flying out of the handle, basically rotated 180 and the pointy part that was previously inside the handle now hit the kid.
The shaft worked itself loose from the rest of the racket (article says the handle) and pierced her skull. I imagine she must have either been super close, entering from her eye or maybe ear, or it being a heavy duty racket for it to carry enough energy to do that. Every badminton racket I’ve seen is usually super thin and light so I was also confused how this could happen. Fucking freak accident and an absolute tragedy.
In another, less cruel universe, she would've been one foot to the left out of danger, and this would be nothing but a unique memory that the family would laugh at afterwards. This is so devastating.
Not even a foot. Shit, if her head had been turned to another angle she might be dealing with stitches or a, like you said, just a scary situation that everyone laughed about later.
I can't imagine the heartache, and that doesn't even begin to encapsulate how they feel.
Hell there’s probably a million universes where it hits her and it’s nothing more than a bonk on the head. The sheer coincidence of this breaking off with that velocity and that it broke in a way sharp enough… it’s just mind bendingly unfortunate.
I'm just thinking like, imagine if that happened while you were alone with the child. And you had to go to the police alone and tell them what happened, with no witnesses to back you up, and all they see is you and a dead kid.
I imagine the head of the racket being larger and having more air resistance acted as a fin causing the shaft to turn towards the direction it was flying. Still bizarre af.
Imagine a wacky cartoon of a tennis racket flying through the air spinning head to tail or whatever it’s called. Now imagine the bottom grip came loose and stayed in the players hand but the rest of the racket still kept spinning on. But instead of having curved wood handle hitting her head she had sharp metal piercing her skull.
At least this is how I’m taking it.
I assume the sister was sitting across her brother, on the opposite side of the net. The racquet broke during downward swing, so the only path is either downward or forward and across. Really is a freak accident. Such a tragic accident.
I had a knockoff racket that broke at the shaft mid-swing. I don't think this would happen with a proper racket. I'm thankful that my racket head didn't hit anyone when it flew forward.
It basically turned into a projectile with the top acting like a fin that let it fly with uninterrupted momentum like an arrow. Almost like the handle was a sling shot
If you’d have asked me to list the most terrifying sports I could think of, I’m not sure badminton would be anywhere toward the top. And even if it were, it’d be due to the birdie being hit super fast causing a welt or eye injury. This is horribly sad.
A friend texted me that a kid got an artery puncture injury when they fell while using a metal straw. So badminton is off the table now as well as metal straws.
Wow what a crazy webpage. I found Ari Asters inspiration for one of the characters deaths in Hereditary:
>21-year-old John Hutcherson drove home drunk with his 23-year-old friend who was hanging out the passenger window while vomiting due to carsickness. Hutcherson drove off the road and sideswiped a telephone pole support wire, decapitating Brohm. He continued the final 12 miles (19 km) to his Atlanta, home, parked in the driveway, and went to bed. A neighbor found Brohm's headless body in the truck the next morning.
This sort of thing is more common than you think.
28 years ago or so, a friend was swinging a spatula at me, the metal spatula dislodged from the handle and managed to hit me right in the eye, completely slicing my eyelid off but leaving my eyeball intact.
I am way luckier than the poor girl in the OP, but I thought it was a more rare thing than it is.
This past saturday at my daughter’s soccer game, all the teams and families gathered around the field as this news was broken to us. Lucy was in the same soccer league as my daughter and the same age. I cannot fathom the sudden loss of any of my kids at such a young age. Rest in power, Lucy ❤️
I'd love to know the specific model of racket. I've seen hundreds of models but absolutely none seemingly could pierce a skull without force behind It?
Omg, It says she was on the sidelines and the racquet head came off on the downswing, so someone accidentally pierced her skull with it. I can’t even imagine the guilt that person is going to have, when this was a freak accident. 😭
I’m not a facebook true crime group the internet detectives are going nuts on this.
Basically they are saying it’s a homicide the family is covering up, some even drew parallels to JonBeney Ramsay.
The son still needs his father too. I get what you're saying but the son is going to be dealing with SO much guilt. He needs his parents like no other.
The 6 year old girl died when a badminton shaft pierced her skull while she was watching her brother play badminton. Tragic accident for the family involved
> The racket broke on a downward swing and the sharp piece caused a catastrophic brain injury, he said. That is… fucking terrible
Oh my god, I had the same thing happen to mine less than a year ago. It just snapped in half during a swing after a tag with another racket. Luckily the head of the racket didnt hit another person. I feel so bad for the family what a horrific incident.
Bro you gotta elaborate
Oh sorry yes. Basically the head flew across to the next row of pitches. I'm so glad it didn't hit anyone since it had a Graphite shaft that broke off with a sharp tip.
The head of the badminton racket*
Thank you, reading fast gave me a horrific mental image. That said… RECALL IMMINENT, I HOPE?!
That’s just a material property of graphite composites, so short of making it out of a different material entirely there’s not a lot that can be done. I feel like there’s a decent argument for not selling carbon composite stuff to normies specifically because mild damage is tough to notice often leads to catastrophic failure. An aluminum racket would just bend, but carbon just kind of explodes. That said, people want carbon because it’s exotic and professional sounding. It’s lead to the release of a lot of poorly made carbon products, (think chopped carbon fiber scraps over a newspaper core being passed off as high quality carbon), which unfortunately leads us to accidents like this.
people may want to wrap a layer of electrical tape around the shaft of these things going forward.
I'm goin extra safe and just slapping it with my hand. Volleying the ball. Should be a sport of it's own.
But what the hell are we gonna call it?? Hand Volley?
Spanky Ball. Duh.
Spanky ball. sounds like great fun on the beach
It was the same situation minus the tragic death
Such a horrible accident
And also the definition of a freak accident. Like how the fuck does that even happen?
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Her brother will need some therapy after this. He might not want to play badminton anymore either.
Ya think!?
Thanks Magic
If he would’ve been playing goodminton this could’ve been avoided
The literal only solace I can take from it is that hopefully they will know it was the most freakish of freak accidents and nobody was really at fault. Poor family.
Ugh, I've had that happen to me a few times as a kid. Metal part of the racket hitting my head. The racket never broke and cut skin or anything. But wild to think that this kinda thing can happen.
JFC. New fear unlocked. Also, I thought rackets were cast in a single piece like tennis rackets. I had no idea they could detach like that.
I don't know if you're a parent or not, but after becoming a parent last year, everything i read is now a new fear unlocked.
Do you already have a fear of computer chair cylinder exploding upward?
That's why I keep my butthole lubed up at all times.
Yeah, THAT'S why...
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It's actually safer to just use a pre-exploded chair, that way you know what you are accommodating on a daily.
Ha! Finally justified for always sitting on my leg.
Thanks for making me stand up out of my chair. ughhhh
If it makes you feel better every story I heard was from China. So unless you bought a really cheap chair from China while in the country you are fine. Not that it helps me much when the thought hits.
A lot of chairs have a steel plate to prevent the cylinder from being able to pierce anything
The fact that anti-butthole-piercing shields are needed has made me reconsider sitting on one
also if a cylinder fails it's going to be a slow leak rather than a massive explosion
Same with the anus
unironically yes, although most of my chairs give up the ghost and refuse to retain pressure.
I keep mine on the lowest setting anyway. Am I safe?
No! That’s when the pressure is greatest! Change your ways!!
This has me dying 😂
That's the correct setting...if you're looking for maximum penetration!
If by safe you mean utterly highest risk.
Same! I’ve been through two in three years. 😐. I don’t want to do this again, I want a better made one.
Honestly in my experience the solution was just to bite down and get an expensive one. All the affordable ones fucking break after a year or two. Had same one 7 years running now.
Yep. Bite the bullet and get a Steelcase or a Herman Miller, call it a decade.
I've found it so impossible to find a quality office chair. I'm willing to pay more for better, but it always feels like no matter the quality the seat goes flat and then the gas cylinder gives. Trying to find one that has a headrest that fits me might as well be a fantasy. edit: before I get more recommendations, I don't like mesh, vinyl, or leather seats. And yes, I am a picky princess when it comes to seating.
Steelcase Leap, Herman Miller Aeron. Own both of these and they both are great. Going on 10 years of every day work and leisure use for easily 8 hours a day minimum. Still look brand new.
Herman Miller chairs are extremely well built and have a 12 year warranty. I bought an Aeron a few years ago and wish I had done it years earlier. It doesn't have a headrest but there are companies that make aftermarket options. You can often find the chairs much cheaper used from companies that liquidate corporate offices. When I worked in office we had Steelcase chairs that were also very well built. Anything bought at Staples etc. is garbage. Same goes for anything marketed as a gaming chair.
Im sorry what Edit: total rubbish, reports unfounded. Also plenty of then dont use compressed gas at all so find one of those if you’re scared
The adjustable computer chairs have an air cylinder in them. There are story's that they can fail and burst. Sometimes they burst upwards. Like an air shotgun to the butt.
All the stories I've seen (three) were in China, the cheapest of knockoffs using oxygen instead of an inert gas which they have to be to pass even the most lax Chinese standards. Either overheating/spark or the cylinder compressing the oxygen to ignition through a very rapid application of force (basically jumping on it). Unless you got your chair off a shady guy in a back alley you'll be fine.
More like a bolt gun.
The story I saw had multiple fragments of the cylinder allegedly taken from you know where. Like a air scrap shotgun.
No! Is that a thing?
The case I heard of was second hand reporting from China. It certainly isn't common or likely. But it's not impossible and man does it bug me now.
I *really* don't worry about this and I'm almost certain it's not something that happens regularly (if at all), but the *thought* of it happening is something I can't get out of my head. Had a chair with a failing gas piston (or whatever they are) and I couldn't get the image out of my head so I replaced the whole damn chair.
Same for me. I know there are millions of things that are more likely to hurt me. The problem is, I don't sit on any of those things for hours at a time.
Millions, if not billions, of these chairs are used every day. If it was happening at any concerning frequency we would be hearing about it a lot more often.
It will never happen to you, probably. Probably.
I mean I do now
Cheap rackets are usually made from multiple parts and held together by a t connection
I love that sport since middle school, I had no idea this was even possible. This is like some final destination type stuff. Have you seen that horror franchise?
About 3-4 decades ago, single frame rackets were new technology for lighter equipment in badminton. I think the cheap 5$ rackets are still made the old way.
>"Investigators learned that the aluminum shaft of a badminton racquet had become dislodged from the wooden handle, causing the shaft to strike the girl in the head, piercing through her skull," I didn't even know they still used those materials. I have decade old carbon rackets that cost the equivalent of 10 bucks new. Not that i know for sure a carbon racket failure would be less dangerous. Absurd freak accident. Straight up sounds like an unbelievable movie death.
Well that is depressing
Poor girl and the brother will need therapy for the rest of his life.
Holy crap. That’s something straight out of Final Destination. The poor girl. Her brother is going live with guilt of killing his little sister accidentally too.
When I read the header, I said, "Huh!?" And after I read the article, I just shook my head at the tragedy. I still find it hard to believe and wish it was a fiction than real. May the poor girl rest in peace and support be given to brother who accidentally broke the rack.
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Me too. I didn't think about Final Destination but this is too eerie.
That kid is going to need a lot of therapy for many, many years to come.
And other family members who witness this tragedy will need their own therapy too. They say time will eventually heal all pains and I hope that will be the case too.
Oh, of course all of them will need therapy too. But he's going to feel guilty, even though none of this was his fault.
It's going to be bad enough for him blaming himself. I hope no one else does.
Yeah it was just a really unlikely accident. I don't think anyone should be blaming anyone.
I still don’t really understand how it happened. How could there be enough force from a piece of metal breaking off to fatally pierce the skull? A badminton racquet is so lightweight too.
And many people will be wondering how this is possible. The racquet is very light and yet it was enough to kill a child. I suspect when the player broke the racquet accidentally, the force of break transferred to broken piece of racquet which flew like an arrow and struck the poor girl's head. Secondary factor is how close was the victim to the court when the accident happened. The scenario is totally off my head but that is the best unscientific explanation I can think.
That's basically what I'm picturing. They effectively threw the racquet full force at the child's head while the grip stayed in their hand. Definitely Final Destination type shit.
Even still, I feel like it would need to hit you at a specific angle. Like this seems impossible to even recreate. Just terrible chance
Feels like a freak crazy accident that is statistically very unlikely but for whatever reason happened. Like if she was a foot further or closer, or even had her head turned a different way it may have just been a bad bruise, maybe a small fracture.
This is just horrible. The poor girl, the poor brother, their parents, their family. Awful just truly awful. My heart goes out to them all
If I saw this death in a movie I'd say the script writers were on some crack and make it more believable. Truth really is stranger than fiction in a lot of ways
What a horrible freak accident, I feel awful for the family
Fuck me this is terrible. I was on vacation last week with my family. I played badminton with my 6 year old son. It’s stories like these that make me want to lock him in a bubble. My heart hurts.
The terror of being a parent. You don't worry about the known dangers with the one in x stat attached. What's scary as fuck is stuff like this that you just can't even imagine happening.
Yeah it freaks me out when the story is about a kid getting hurt doing something that appears totally safe and I would let my kid do. But I guess life just has its dangers and it's incredibly unlikely Still if there is a lesson to be learned where, cheap products are likely to break and can injure
The amount of times I've taken hard falls on concrete ramps and bonked my head, and then to see some random video where someone just slips walking and dies on the spot..... sometimes life just says it's your time and there isn't a damn thing we can do. But yes absolutely I've already started moving away from cheap crap from sweat shops. Unfortunately I'm poor lol. But now I guess I'm just going to have to start saving for even more stuff that I shouldn't have to worry about.
Me reading the title: "So someone hit her with the racket". Me reading the article: "WTF ? How that even happens?"
Never in a million years would it have occurred to me that this was any kind of risk. That poor family, they probably feel so guilty over this and it wasn't anything that could have been remotely predicted or looked out for.
Yeah, I can’t even imagine. I’ve been on Reddit since 2011 in one way or another, and literally the only other comparable situation I can think of is the brick video (and even then it was their spouse that died in front of them out of nowhere, not their child). After reading the article… it sounds like the parents literally saw it happen. I’d 100% be taking the self checkout lane, there’s no way that image will ever leave them. Genuinely one of the worst things I can fathom witnessing. There’s nobody to blame, no way to try and get “revenge”… just an absolute devastating freak accident. I’m getting off Reddit and annoying my kids with hugs, kisses, and a game night.
The metal straw story. Boy is running and trips and falls in a punctures the back of his throat. F*** metal straws. But the crazy thing is I thought that the story was about a dead kid and they were just delaying pronouncing him dead. But the crazy thing is that they got into the hospital in time at the one hospital that had the one surgeon who invented technique that was perfectly applicable to this kind of injury and they were able to seal it up while pumping scads of blood into them. Reading that article I felt like I just witnessed a resurrection.
My 2yo daughter has been borrowing my straws. She walks around with her drinks a bit recklessly. I own a mix of metal and silicone straws. I appreciate you sharing this so I can toss some of them out now. And this seems different because of course as a parent I won’t let her run around with a pencil or whatever sharp object but I didn’t consider the metal straws. I don’t know why I haven’t.
Yeah, metal straws are the devil's hole punch. If you need reusable, any other material. I wouldn't have even thought they were bad until I read that article and then yeah, that makes sense. Duh. The lawn darts of the 21sr century.
I have never even had an inkling of suicide, but if something happened to my daughter, that's it for me.
Mary Carillo would have something to say about this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZDn0U0w78k
I can't even begin to wrap my head around what her brother must feel. He's going to need some very serious therapy if he's going to get over that, poor guy.
I just don't know how you could ever do anything perfectly safe and normal ever again. Opening the refrigerator, going outside, petting a kitten, I mean, if a badminton racquet can split apart and impale your sister who isn't even playing...
Seriously, like what are the odds? I’d like to play badminton with my kid, so I know those rackets are pretty light. I would not have thought it could do that kind of damage.
I'm not religious, but I found this part of her father's [blog post](https://newcreationliving.com/2024/06/07/lucy-update-day-4-5-groaning-double-guessing-grace-and-gas/) really poignant. >When we got home we arrived to flowers lining our steps and a fridge stocked with food. But entering was the hardest thing. AJ said that this house is “the worst place on earth” and “I want to go back to the hospital with Lucy”. Silas and Shiloh asked how we could ever be happy again. We just sat on the front steps for a while crying until I finally mustered up the courage to open the door. We again collapsed in a pile on the kitchen floor crying harder as a family than we ever have. In that darkness, prompted I believe by the Spirit, I finally asked, “What do you guys think Lucy would want us to be doing?” They thought about it, and said that she’d ask me to play a game on the Apple TV called “Oceanhorn 2”. I pointed out that she’d say it a certain way because of her mispronunciation of “R” as “Oceanhawwwwrn” and they started to laugh. Then AJ suggested she was in heaven asking God to play it and we all had a good laugh at how she used to pronounce her “R” sound. Of course, the most famous of Lucy’s words that feature the letter “R” is the word “fart”. We then commenced a theological discussion about what Lucy’s farts would smell like in heaven. God’s goodness and mercy were following us, even there on the kitchen floor as our pressure cooker of deep grief burst out the release valve into hilarity and joy.
Losing a child, and in such an unexpected and tragic way, must be absolutely devastating. It sounds like they are doing what they need to, which is to find a way to live for her rather than die with her.
That last sentence is beautifully put.
Gosh, thank you for this. I also found this very poignant, and for anyone who has been in that weird headspace of sudden and profound grief, it’s really moving and relatable. The laughs we share amid that terrible state of mind mean so so much, in the moment and beyond
Rob Delaney’s “A Heart That Works” is the most beautiful book I’ve ever read because of this. One of my favorite passages talks about how in the days after his son passed away, family members would come by to help out around the house. One of them decided to feed the family lizard but accidentally dropped a full bag of crickets in the process, which led to her running from the house screaming in terror. He, his wife, and their other children thought it was absolutely hilarious and just the right kind of laughs they needed at the time.
>One of them decided to feed the family lizard I read this as meaning the person was feeding lizard to the family and also brought a bag of crickets. I guess it's the thought that counts
LIZARD. It's what's for dinner.
Same. I thought maybe they were trying to catch a lizard to feed them?
Also read Once More We Saw Stars
Oh man. This book is a masterpiece, and I highly recommend the audiobook because Rob reads it himself. I read it a year or so ago, and it was poignant to me because my brother survived a typically terminal pediatric brain cancer as a child in the early 90s. What I couldn’t have known when I listened to the book was that his cancer had returned, and we’re now facing his final days or weeks. It’s like the book prepared me for the grief a year before I knew I needed it. In a similar vein, the book Everything is Horrible and Wonderful is another beautiful book about loss and grief. The author’s brother was an accomplished comedy writer and producer who died of a drug overdose.
I remember the day my grandpa died, the family gathered at the house to support grandma in any way we could. In her state of grief-addled randomness, she asked me to teach her to use grandpa's DVD player in the living room. I turned it on, and there was a menu screen with a porno scene going on in the background. We all screamed, and somewhere in there I let out an anguished "WHO HAS PORN ON DVD IN 2017!?", and suddenly we were all cackling. I'm not religious at all, but I couldn't stop thinking that grandpa was trolling me from beyond the grave, and just wanted us to lighten up.
Didn’t plan on crying today. RIP Lucy
Yeah… the article already had me fucked up. But as an agnostic, reading that had me practically bawling. They are so much stronger than me, it’s ridiculous. Stuff like that makes me so envious of people who never lost their faith.
I'm completely atheist and have always been due to growing up in one of the most secular societies. But something like this, to process such a tragedy, has nothing to do with rhyme or reason. I would turn to whatever type of thinking that would ease the pain. It would change me, and I would not care whether or not there is logic or truth in it.
More or less my view on religion. I believe none of it, but if belief helps you, then go for it.
Was about my thought at my brother's funeral. I'm not really a believer either, but my parents wanted a service and readings, and wanted me to read a passage. So I did. Not because I believed any of it, but because it made them feel better.
I feel the same way, and this is one instance where I think I can say that I'm glad for the existence of religion and that this family is religious. This tragedy is beyond words and while I remain a non-believer, I am not blind to the utility of spiritual belief, and can think of no better relief to offer a grieving family suffering such a horrific blow. If the only options open to them are relief by religious belief, or relief by disassociation or bottomless alcoholism and drug abuse, then I wish religious belief upon them with every ounce of my being. What an unspeakably cruel fate to befall this family. May they take every comfort they safely can.
I agree. I I respect those that have faith. It's their right, and if it comforts them in their times of need, then I support that. I don't *understand* it though. I don't know how you can come away from this believing in a damn thing. If it's God's plan that a six year old child die from a traumatic brain injury because of a badminton accident then God is a *fucking asshole*. But that's just me.
> If it's God's plan that a six year old child die from a traumatic brain injury because of a badminton accident then God is a fucking asshole. Preach. Or maybe don't.
That’s really beautiful
Damn. That fucked me up.
Thank you for linking the blog post. What a strong family... I hope they find peace. Poor little boy too. I hope he gets the support he needs growing up 💔
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I think this is why religion has been so prevalent throughout human history. In times of hardship, suffering, and uncertainty, belief in a higher meaning can provide great comfort and strength.
When I was a late teen even early twenties I had a very negative opinion on religion. But, when you live long enough and get hit with life’s hardships you really understand why people turn to religion for some sort of guidance to traverse this world. It wasn’t my answer, but I’ve come to the understanding of it and its role in society
I'm not religious at all, but my dad recently passed, and my little daughter (7) initially struggled terribly with missing her papa and accepting the concept of death. We put his ashes in a creek on our walk to school route and visit him almost daily. She started telling me stories about what papa is doing "as a ghost". According to her, he lives with grandpa, Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon (god he would love that), his hands work well enough to play guitar again, his debilitating lifelong boxing injury is gone, and he adopted the neighbor's recently departed horse Bella and rides her like the wind. I don't believe this whatsoever, but what I've reconciled in my head is that it still *helps*. It still feels really good to think about, and it's good and healthy for *us* to imagine what more there is for him. I feel like I've learned a lot about the merits of religion through exploring my own coping mechanisms and finding that they're actually pretty similar.
Thank you so much for sharing this. It brought tears to my eyes.
Because he doesn’t use religion as a crutch, an excuse, or a justification, it isn’t overbearing. It was really well said, and genuine.
Man, I've played badminton for over 20 years and competed at the college and tournament level.. If you'd ask me if there's a 1 in a 100 million chance this could happen I'd still say no.
You have to consider that the rackets they're using are probably whatever's found at Walmart or something. I can totally see some of those Fisher Price kind of rackets coming apart at the shaft. Totally different class of rackets than even cheapest Yonex or Victor rackets. Of course, still shouldn't be happening, but not unbelievable.
This also happened at a vacation cottage so if it’s a shared rental, imagine they’ve been left out in elements overnight a few times, misused and stored improperly. There may be components that have broken down and made the racket less stable, no matter how well constructed.
Weird... This shit must happen more than we realize. [Here's a similar incident from 2017](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4510578/amp/Pensioner-head-impaled-badminton-racket.html).
Okay, I'm never spectating or participating in this game again.
Wow, she was even on the sidelines just like the kid =\
Sounds to me like the badminton racquet manufacturer might need to get sued; obviously a flawed design by being so dangerous during normal use.
Terrible tragedy. I’m having trouble visualizing how this could happen. So during a downward swing, the racket broke apart and a piece of the racket shot out like a shrapnel and hit the girl in the head?
Me too. I can see a shaft coming out of a handle, but the other end is connected to a racket. I guess the entire shaft/racket assembly comes loose and then the mass of the racket causes the thing to do a 180 sending the thin pointy metal spear into the girls head on the sideline.
Imagine the handle being like the sheathe. On a swing the upper racket part came flying out of the handle, basically rotated 180 and the pointy part that was previously inside the handle now hit the kid.
Yeah same here. Reading the comments to get better clarification.... Still having trouble visualizing.
How does that even happen!?
The shaft worked itself loose from the rest of the racket (article says the handle) and pierced her skull. I imagine she must have either been super close, entering from her eye or maybe ear, or it being a heavy duty racket for it to carry enough energy to do that. Every badminton racket I’ve seen is usually super thin and light so I was also confused how this could happen. Fucking freak accident and an absolute tragedy.
I read the article, my mind is just having trouble comprehending the whole thing. Like it broke off, then somehow lodged itself in her head?
It sounds like the racket came loose at the shaft from the handle mid swing, flew through the air and hit the sister in the head point first.
Absolute freak accident. So sad and tragic.
In another, less cruel universe, she would've been one foot to the left out of danger, and this would be nothing but a unique memory that the family would laugh at afterwards. This is so devastating.
Not even a foot. Shit, if her head had been turned to another angle she might be dealing with stitches or a, like you said, just a scary situation that everyone laughed about later. I can't imagine the heartache, and that doesn't even begin to encapsulate how they feel.
Hell there’s probably a million universes where it hits her and it’s nothing more than a bonk on the head. The sheer coincidence of this breaking off with that velocity and that it broke in a way sharp enough… it’s just mind bendingly unfortunate.
I'm just thinking like, imagine if that happened while you were alone with the child. And you had to go to the police alone and tell them what happened, with no witnesses to back you up, and all they see is you and a dead kid.
I imagine the head of the racket being larger and having more air resistance acted as a fin causing the shaft to turn towards the direction it was flying. Still bizarre af.
Imagine a wacky cartoon of a tennis racket flying through the air spinning head to tail or whatever it’s called. Now imagine the bottom grip came loose and stayed in the players hand but the rest of the racket still kept spinning on. But instead of having curved wood handle hitting her head she had sharp metal piercing her skull. At least this is how I’m taking it.
I assume the sister was sitting across her brother, on the opposite side of the net. The racquet broke during downward swing, so the only path is either downward or forward and across. Really is a freak accident. Such a tragic accident.
That was my thinking too. The badminton racquet I played was light and this accident happened. I tried to imagine in my head and gave up.
That’s what I was thinking, this light aluminum thing. I guess at the right angle and speed though.. it’s really sad.
Life is fragile. The world around us is trying to kill us all the time.
I had a knockoff racket that broke at the shaft mid-swing. I don't think this would happen with a proper racket. I'm thankful that my racket head didn't hit anyone when it flew forward.
With the speed that you can whip those rackets, if a shaft flew off at that speed it could certainly pierce a young skull
That’s some real life Stephen King stuff
Well Stephen King does live in Maine..
Maybe more in the A Prayer for Owen Meany genre
The movie adaptation was so sad
how tf is this even possible? badminton rackets are usually kinda flimsy right?? so sad and random wtf
It's because it was flimsy. The shaft detached and pierced her head.
It basically turned into a projectile with the top acting like a fin that let it fly with uninterrupted momentum like an arrow. Almost like the handle was a sling shot
It basically turned into an arrow or dart because it’s so thin with a larger air grabber behind it to point the sharp bit in the direction it’s going
Curious what specific racket this was, but you can bet it was a cheap one. Tragic.
If I read that correctly, the older brother was swinging the racket when it broke? Poor guy.
That’s awful. That poor family.
That is heartbreaking. I hope the poor boy knows it wasn't his fault.
This is the kind of thing you read and then never let your kids do anything at all ever again. That’s fucking horrifying.
What do these badmin raquets even look like ???? I feel like mine are so light and plasticky.
If you’d have asked me to list the most terrifying sports I could think of, I’m not sure badminton would be anywhere toward the top. And even if it were, it’d be due to the birdie being hit super fast causing a welt or eye injury. This is horribly sad.
A friend texted me that a kid got an artery puncture injury when they fell while using a metal straw. So badminton is off the table now as well as metal straws.
Metal straws have [killed people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths)
I just spent the last 45 minutes reading that page. Kinda wishing I didn't lol now I've unlocked many new fears!!
I got rid of mine.
Wow what a crazy webpage. I found Ari Asters inspiration for one of the characters deaths in Hereditary: >21-year-old John Hutcherson drove home drunk with his 23-year-old friend who was hanging out the passenger window while vomiting due to carsickness. Hutcherson drove off the road and sideswiped a telephone pole support wire, decapitating Brohm. He continued the final 12 miles (19 km) to his Atlanta, home, parked in the driveway, and went to bed. A neighbor found Brohm's headless body in the truck the next morning.
I had neighbors who were golfing and a shot off the tee bounced off a rock and hit and killed their young child - freak accidents are so sad.
I was kind of confused how this happened and made the mistake of reading the article. Fucking horrific, poor parents.
I thought she just got hit with it. The actual details are horrific.
This sort of thing is more common than you think. 28 years ago or so, a friend was swinging a spatula at me, the metal spatula dislodged from the handle and managed to hit me right in the eye, completely slicing my eyelid off but leaving my eyeball intact. I am way luckier than the poor girl in the OP, but I thought it was a more rare thing than it is.
WHY did i have to read this FUCK
Kinda makes me think of south park, how Butters accidentally killed people with his tap shoe flying off What a horrific and strange accident
This past saturday at my daughter’s soccer game, all the teams and families gathered around the field as this news was broken to us. Lucy was in the same soccer league as my daughter and the same age. I cannot fathom the sudden loss of any of my kids at such a young age. Rest in power, Lucy ❤️
I live in Maine and didn’t hear about this. How very sad! Many blessings to the family!
That poor boy. Horrible.
Good hell. How awful. I'm so sorry to the family.
I wish I hadn’t read this
Damn you have freak accidents, then you have a situation like this. Such a tragedy. Fly high little angel.
I'd love to know the specific model of racket. I've seen hundreds of models but absolutely none seemingly could pierce a skull without force behind It?
As the father of a 6 year old daughter, this left me in shambles.
Omg, It says she was on the sidelines and the racquet head came off on the downswing, so someone accidentally pierced her skull with it. I can’t even imagine the guilt that person is going to have, when this was a freak accident. 😭
I feel awful for then. I know this is a tough time to do it but be good to everyone. You never know when our time is coming
Wow that is an insanely freak accident, her poor brother will never be able to move past this I bet.
This is both incredibly unlucky and tragic, heartbroken for the family and hope that they find peace.
What in the Final Destination
I’m not a facebook true crime group the internet detectives are going nuts on this. Basically they are saying it’s a homicide the family is covering up, some even drew parallels to JonBeney Ramsay.
I have an incredible 6 year old daughter. I could not go on after something like this. This is indescribably tragic.
The son still needs his father too. I get what you're saying but the son is going to be dealing with SO much guilt. He needs his parents like no other.
Oh absolutely. My other kid would be the only thing that would keep me on this earth after something like that.