Man, dressed as a lamb, saved by friend dressed as Jesus

By Phil Boehmke

File this one under the heading ‘You Can’t Make This Stuff Up.’ The UK Daily Mail brings us the story of a 35 year-old Briton named Peter Buck whose wild night out with friends took a disastrous turn.

Mr. Buck spent several hours gluing cotton balls to his torso to create a costume resembling the British cartoon favorite Larry the Lamb. Buck and several of his costume clad pals then set out for a night of drinking. The inebriated lamb stepped outside of the Drunken Duck pub where the group was drinking to have a smoke and that’s when things got out of control.

With Peter’s permission, a tipsy friend set fire to a loose strand of his costume ‘to see what would happen.’

But the joke went horribly wrong and Peter’s lamb costume burst into flames.

He ran screaming in agony into a busy main road before a driver swerved, narrowly avoiding mowing him down.

Then his friend Paul Bisson-an off-duty firefighter dressed as Jesus-bear-hugged him in a bid to douse the flames.

Buck lost consciousness after the flames were extinguished and awoke 8 hours later in the hospital with severe burns to his hands, arms, stomach, chest and legs. Doctors with the Salisbury Hospital Burns Unit told Buck he is likely facing six months of hospital confinement and may lose two fingers and partial use of his hands.

Buck said ‘I’m not a religious man, but the Lord saved me that day’ he also added ‘I want to remind people to think twice about dressing-up especially with candles and cigarettes around.’ It might also be a wise precaution to avoid getting drunk while wearing a flammable lamb costume.

November 22, 2010

paboehmke@yahoo.com