How do we toughen our children to stand up against a difficult future? By having them prance about merrily in a gentle spray of cool hose water? Of course not. That is why Wham-O invented one of the most dangerous toys to grace the American backyard, “The Water Wiggle”. Most of you know of the Wiggle and have the scars to prove it, but if you have not faced the suburban water serpent, here is what you are missing.
You take a standard garden hose and attached a weighted sprinkler to its end. Picture a Medieval Morning Star, with a goofy face painted on it. Gather the kids around it. Turn on the hose and watch the carnage. Kids will laugh as the Wiggle magically rises into the air and will then be terrified as the aquatic worm lunges at them time and again. Never relenting until it turns them into a crying, moist grass-covered heap.
In 1986 they turned one of these on in Pt. Pleasant, NJ and gathered 100 kids around it. 22 years later one man is still standing in the showery danger zone of this evil hose worm. But he is no longer like the rest of us. They say that when it rains, he can dodge the very drops. One day he will emerge from the Garden State and assume his destiny as King of our land.
You think I am messing around about the dangers of this thing? Not only will it knock you out cold, but you can also drown!
Wham-O stated that the recall is occasioned by the death of a four-year-old child in March 1978. The youngster was playing with some other children in his backyard with a dismantled “Water Wiggle,” one from which the bell-shaped head had been removed or had come off. The exposed aluminum nozzle became lodged in his mouth and he drowned. Wham-O stated that it had no knowledge of how or why the toy was dismantled or how the nozzle became lodged in the child’s mouth.
Read the full article on the recall of 1978 here:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml78/78020.html
I hate you.
http://metalmisfit.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/water-wiggle-from-wham-o/
Sorry MM – Missed that one. Great minds think alike. =)
I was actually a witness (the only one) to the 3 yr old drowning. It was in Baton Rouge, LA. We were both 3 at the time and tragic.
OMG…how in the world does someone get hurt with a water wiggle? Sheesh, My siblings and friends played with them for probably most of the 17 years they were in existence, and none of us were ever drowned or maimed. The only thing that happened to us was that we were forced to have fun.
Is it just me or does that thing look like the end of a penis????
The Wiggle is like a Rorschach test.
The water wiggle getting the blame for a consumer’s ignorance is absurd!
The author of this piece must be biased. We played with one for years and it was not a lethal weapon like a morning star… geez! It was fun and cooled you off just like a slip and slide was fun and cooled you off. Leaving a three year old alone with one until he bites of the end and drowns is the real culprit here. I guess we should ban pencils now too… you wouldn’t believe how many accidents have been caused by those things.
Wham-O Company: PLEASE bring the Water Wiggle back! The accident was NOT the fault of the company or product design. Like the other poster stated…should we ban pencils too due to endless injuries? I realize Wham-O was being respectful of the parents that unfortunately lost their child yet to blanketly ban them makes no sense! I had a water wiggle in the early 60′s Believe me, I was an adventurous little tomboy-always dismantling and exploring things yet not once was I ever injured by a water wiggle! Anyone agree with my posting that Wham-O should put the wiggle back (on our shelves) in our Water Wiggles? Bring them back!!!
This is still the most ridiculous story ever, next to the coffee buyer at McDonald’s getting burned by coffee.
The Water Wiggle? Used it for years. Dangerous? Playing with a flame-thrower is dangerous. Yard darts were dangerous. Drowned? I’ve heard turkeys will look up in the sky when it rains and drown. The only possibility of someone drowning from this toy is ignorance or pure negligence. This is the stupidest post ever. You have a better chance getting struck by a meteor than drowning via a Water Wiggle…
We had a water wiggle for years and never had any problems like what this article says. Our German Shepard loved the water wiggle and would chase it and pounce on it and shake it. Nobody had any problems with it and it never hit anybody knocking them out. Come on. Why would any parent let a 3 year old play with a toy that puts out a lot of water and flies around in the first place. I’m looking on like for one as all our kids are old enough to play with it along with the dogs. Common sense people prevails.
First time I hooked mine up, it went flying across the yard and hit my grandmother (the mean one) in the side of the head. Should have been named the Kharma Wiggle
This is so riddiculous it made me laugh…aside from the sad story about the baby drowning..but where was the parent when a 4 year old is left alone with a toy obviously not intended for that age group?
I loved the water wiggle and yes…there where times it “whacked” me or even tripped me up, but kids were much tougher back then. You got youfself up and let the fun continue.
Childhood obesity was unheard of…now with kids sitting inside all the time on computers, games and other various electronic devices we have so many kids sick from being overweight, not getting enough exercise. Does it mean computer games and the like should be taken off the market? I’m sure that will never happen, but will I call computer games one of the most dangerous toys, to sweep homes, worldwide? No…Again..what about supervision and moderation?