Standing forever as the example of the ruthlessness Guinness World Record hopefuls will resort to in the course of reaching their goals, an innocent soul lies lost, murdered for scattering 23,000 of over four million dominoes set up to be knocked down in a domino-falling record. The victim: a sparrow, whose bad decisions led it through the open window of a Leeuwarden, Netherlands, Exposition Centre.

Staff from Endemol NV TV worked for weeks setting up their little slabs of immortality—4,321,000 of ’em—with the hopes of breaking their own record of 3,992,397 falling dominoes. Finishing ahead of schedule, all that was left was to wait for “Domino Day,” when their labour would culminate in the world-record-setting task of knocking the bastards down. Then came the bird.

Organizers managed to note the critter’s presence before the ultimate damage had been done, attributing much of their good fortune to a built-in gap system that prevented accidental knockdowns. An exterminator slaughtered the bird with a pellet gun as it tried to hide in a corner.

» Scott Saxon