The origin of the Darwin Awards can be traced back to posts on Usenet group discussions as early as 1985. A post on August 7, 1985, describes the awards as being "given posthumously to people who have made the supreme sacrifice to keep their genes out of our pool. Style counts, not everyone who dies from their own stupidity can win." This early post cites an example of a person who tried to break into a vending machine and was crushed to death when he pulled it over himself. Another widely distributed early story mentioning the Darwin Awards is the JATO Rocket Car, which describes a man who strapped a jet-assisted take-off unit to his Chevrolet Impala in the Arizona desert and who died on the side of a cliff as his car achieved speeds of . This story was later determined to be an urban legend by the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Wendy Northcutt says the official Darwin Awards website run by Northcutt does its best to confirm all stories submitted, listing them as, "confirmed true by Darwin". Many of the viral emails circulating the Internet, however, are hoaxes and urban legends.
the origin of the darwin awards can be traced back to posts on usenet group discussions as early as 1985 a post on august 7 1985 describes the awards as being "given posthumously to people who have made the supreme sacrifice to keep their genes out of our pool style counts not everyone who dies from their own stupidity can win" this early post cites an example of a person who tried to break into a vending machine and was crushed to death when he pulled it over himself another widely distributed early story mentioning the darwin awards is the jato rocket car which describes a man who strapped a jet-assisted take-off unit to his chevrolet impala in the arizona desert and who died on the side of a cliff as his car achieved speeds of  this story was later determined to be an urban legend by the arizona department of public safety wendy northcutt says the official darwin awards website run by northcutt does its best to confirm all stories submitted listing them as "confirmed true by darwin" many of the viral emails circulating the internet however are hoaxes and urban legends