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Subscribe to RSSA boulder slammed into a Utah home on Saturday, injuring one woman. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Updated at 1:45 p.m. ET: A Utah woman got a startlingly rude awakening at her hillside home over the weekend: a boulder in her bedroom at 3 a.m.
Wanda Denhalter, 63, was home alone on Saturday when the enormous rock crashed into her room, breaking her jaw and sternum, and leaving a huge gash on her leg, The Salt Lake City Tribune reported. Her husband Scot, who was out of town for the night visiting his son, told The Tribune he estimated the boulder that he returned home to was about 12 feet long, 9 feet high, and 9 feet wide.
"I guess she heard the rumbling as it came down the hill and woke up," Scot Denhalter, 62, told The Tribune. "She rolled away from the oncoming noise to my side of the bed. If she had decided to swing her legs over the side of the bed and get up to investigate, it would have killed her."
Somehow, despite her injuries, Wanda Denhalter managed to get help.
"She stumbled around, probably in shock. She found her phone and called 911,” Denhalter told St. George local media source Spectrum.com. "I feel a bit guilty I wasn't there."
The couple just moved into the rental home in St. George in mid-December, local reports said. No one else was hurt when the boulder came loose. It's unclear what caused it to come rolling down the hill in the first place, but Scot Denhalter said a neighbor told him water appeared to be draining from a home on top of the ridge.
“It might have been a pipe that froze and broke," he told Spectrum.com. "It’s been kind of leaking into the fissures and cracks of the ridge, and I think last night when the water froze, it snapped and down it came.”
While police were not able to pinpoint exactly what sent the boulder rolling down the hill, St. George city spokesman Sgt. Marc Mortensen said Tuesday that no further investigation was planned on the incident, which he described as a "natural occurrence."
"The boulder in the hillside was in its natural state. It evidently broke loose or the soil around it somehow came loose," he said. "In our county and in our city, we have hillsides all over the place. We're very hilly. So this type of occurrence, while not common, it does happen from time to time."
Usually, though, people aren't injured because the boulders are significantly smaller. Police are not concerned about more boulders falling in the area, he added.
Wanda Denhalter has been released from the hospital and is recovering from her injuries, he said.
"What a wake-up call!" Mortensen said of her 3 a.m. ordeal.
Scot Denhalter said he was relieved his wife was alright.
“When we first moved in, my wife said, ‘Don’t you love the backyard?,’ and I did because of the position of the ridge,” he told Spectrum.com. “[But] I said you could have a big boulder snap and come down and come right through the house, but she said that would never happen.”
“I’m greatly relieved she’s OK,” he said.
St. George is a desert community in the southwest corner of Utah, on the border of Arizona.
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Yep, that'll never happen. Can they use that promise in court?
Well at least she is alive and will be able to recover from her injuries. Hopefully their insurance will do the right thing and take care of all the damages. Poor women.
She must be a Gentile. The locals don't look too kindly on "them folk" moving in and tainting their perfect little community.
"As a new user, you may notice a few temporary content restrictions."
How many more years does this "new user" status apply? And what restrictions? Do I get to swear when this status is changed?
probably as long as you post idiotic comments like you did in 1.2! We're Luthern and live in St. George and love the community... I think you're 'tainted'!
Luthern?
At least they are only renters and will not have to deal with explaining this one to the insurance company. can hear that conversation ... "what did you say rolled through the wall?!?!" I just hope that the lady is OK and recovers quickly from her injuries. Their landlord will take care of getting the house fixed.
It was probably water seeping into a crevice and then expanding when it froze at night that broke this huge boulder loose. Things like this tend to happen a lot in the mountains in early spring when it is above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. The snow melt seeps into crevices and then refreezes.
Most people are content with just a normal alarm clock...
This was clearly a poor executed assassination attempt.
"That could never happen" - Famous last words.
The locals? The local American Indian tribes caused the rock to roll down? What other LOCALS do you mean Forest?
I'm glad she's ok. What a freak accident.
I see this in AZ all the time. People build houses right at the base of a mountain or up on the slope. The surrounding area is filled with huge boulders that came down in the past ,but I guess they think those boulders grew there. There have been several houses crushed over the years, but humans are too stupid to learn anything. They think because they are there, mother nature will stop working. Good luck with that line of thinking.
Local news reported witnesses observed Dr. Jones, Short Round and Willie fleeing the scene in a mining cart just before the boulder impacted.
Hey Forest Roamer,
"them folk"?, what, as apposed to "your folk"?
Issues much?
It's called Gravity...
I'd be tempted to leave the rock there and incorporate it into the wall. it would make a nice shield in case another one comes rolling down!
St George Mayor message to outsiders, “I’m tired of people coming from outside the area and bringing their prejudice and hates and dislikes and trying to throw it on us,” he said, ”because that’s never been what Dixie’s all about. If people have a problem, it is a problem they brought with them from elsewhere."
Translation: Outsiders are not welcome here.
Build a house in a city below sea level? Check. Build a house in a ditch surrounded by boulders? Check. I won't even buy a house on a gentle slope if I'm not on the top of the slope.
I'd buy that house, like Robin Williams claimed in The World According To Garp, It's Predisastered.
If you're at the top of the slope then your house could wash away during a mudslide. Stuff happens...its not always a person's fault. Okay, repeated building in flood zones is stupid...I'll grant you that but nobody expects their house to get smashed by a giant rock out of nowhere.
Well, it looks like you're not.
I like dan42day idea, that would work for me too. It would be another rock to my collection.
I thought only in California they were building houses in the dumbest locations.
When I worked around Estates Park in the big Thomson canyon This happened to a couple while they slept, accept they died..But why does this happen around three AM, freaky..
"accept they died"? Well, I suppose they had no choice other than to accept it.
Gravity????? RIDICULOUS JUNK SCIENCE! Everyone knows that "gravity" is just another fabrication of the libtard, progressive, socialist, Marxist dumbocrats who are trying to destroy this country and take away all of our rights. Gravity is just another lie being pushed by that illegal alien muslim from Kenya, "Hussein Obummer", who wants to surrender this country to the jackbooted UNITED NATIONS armies and send all REAL AMERICANS to his FEMA Concentration Camps!!!!
But WE know the TRUTH. You libs who believe in GRAVITY will believe ANYTHING!
Gravity, right; Give us a break!!!!
;-)
( There, that ought to prime the pump and stir up the whackadoodles. We certainly don't want them falling into complacency, now that the inauguration is completed. We need for you folks to amuse us and provide us laughter ... for 4 More Years! )
Thanks Robert... I needed the laugh!
"...stir up the whackadoodles..."
Tag. You're it.
Max,
No Max. They build houses in the dumbest places all around the country. They build them in the flood zones of the Mississippi river and when the river overflows its banks and floods the houses they rebuild them right in the same place. They build them in areas that are frequented by tornados and when they get hit and destroyed they go ahead and rebuild them in the exact same place. They build them on the East coast where high waters from storms wash them away and guess what? Yep, they rebuild them in the exact same spot with the exact same materials they used before. But the best stupid spot they build a house is down in the South in a little town called New Orleans. They build them below sea level and fill them with democrats who can't swim and wait for a hurricane to flood them out every few years and then they try to blame the republicans for it.
And they build in California, and after an earthquake, mucslide or wildfire, they build right in the same place.
You cannot get away from nature. Just pick the disaster that's more to your taste and live there. Flood, hurricane, tornado, blizzard, earthquake,.......
Robert,
Zip your pants and stop trolling.
Guess they now have this new [elephant in the room] "conversation piece" in their bedroom! LOL!!
Fortunately, she was too badly injured..
Neighbors heard her for three hours screaming, "Get the rocks off!!", but were too polite to intervene.
rotfl denver bill! Good one!
I keep hearing Queen singing, We will, We will, Rock You!!!!!!
thats the most action in her bedroom in years !
maybe they can ban boulders in Utah !
Never happen....LMAO
If it's possible, it's probable.
Glad no one was injured.
She received a broken jaw and sternum, but you're glad no one was hurt?
While I'm impressed by your screen name, did you pass reading comprehension in third grade?
Well, he did say injured, not hurt.
He most likely meant "killed".
Must read story FIRST, then post comments
I think haikus are really hard. I hope she wins the medal.
Thanks Some Guy,
I did try to correct that typo, but got timed out I see.
Hmm, so the husband just happened to be out of town. Pretty convenient I say. Maybe he loosened the rock.
Your nuts TFNJ... LOL what an absurd statement.
While that is debatable, you never know these days on what evil plans men can make. Notice it hit right where she was sleeping at the right moment. Oh his shock when it wasn't the coroner who called him.
T, why was Blake talking about your nuts?
Maybe he pretended to be a plumber so he could loosen up the pipes in the house on the ridge, knowing that the water would seep into the cracks and cause boulders to fall on his poor, unsuspecting wife.
Maybe he took out a huge life insurance policy on her recently? The plot thickens!
Tony, not sure. I was about to tell the old "show her your nuts" joke, but decided on adding more info to my theory of attempted murder.
Some Guy, exactly. I see you have that keen detective mind just as I do. I say check this man's hands for soot.
Jag, its like playing pool. Not impossible to accomplish for the right person.
TFNJ, ridiculous comment, I bet you have Cheetos in your head rather than brains, eh?
Somebody's watched too many Roadrunner cartoons.
Somebody's just trying to be funny.
Nothing is too ridiculous unless you have all the facts. Convenient he was out of town when it happened. There is always a chance no matter how ridiculous it may seem.
Some of the most amazing discoveries in the world were originally based on ridiculous theories.
It could be that he scoped out a house with a large boulder hovering in the hill above, all in a deadly plan to collect insurance. A little soil loosening, and sudden out of town plans is all it takes. Investigate him.
Sounds like a great plot for a movie. Mr. Donhalter wouldn't be a screen writer, by chance?
Oh I'm sure he has plenty of True Crime genre material, for sure. Next plan involves a piano falling on her head.
TFNJ, if that was true, it'd be another weapon used in a murder besides a gun.
Launch Internet Rumours and Conspiracy theories!
John, its been done before. Its just that usually the stone isn't this large. This is a new and clever twist on his part.
The husband will probably blame her for it and pick a fight with her over it.
Which will then lead to murder?
Willie Coyote fails again! Wait until the insurance company comes after him up in Toontown.
Yes, John, we need Congress to pass more "boulder control" legislation. We can't have just anyone running around with assault boulders.
No Max, not only in California, in New Orleans they build below sea level. People in coastal areas build houses right on the beach, then a big storm or hurricane comes along and washes it away, and they expect us to buy them a new house.
And Tony, I agree, we need to control these boulders with new laws. This kind of thing should not be allowed. But then, only criminals will have boulders... ha ha
I'm glad she was mostly OK though - that would be a terrible shock!
I'll tell you another thing, I'm really going to get suspicious if this lady gets attacked by paper or scissors in the next few days.
Tony, that's it. We need to start making homes out of paper to prevent crimes such as this.
Yeah, you never hear of rice-paper homes in Japan getting smashed by boulders.
This guy must have listened to the song "there must be 50 ways to kill your lover"
Just loosen the boulder Roy
Push on the rock, Jock.
Heave on the stone, Sloane
Dig on the cliff, Cliff (?!?!?)
Works. Definitely works..
Just kick on the pillar, Miller
Roll it down the hill, Bill.
There's your sign.
One witness said they saw Wiley Coyote up on the ridge shortly before the boulder fell. He had his ACME tool box and a large stick for leverage.
Meep Meep
Granny, best comment of the day! Roadrunner and Wiley Coyote cartoons were the best! Thanks!
thanks! I needed a good laugh --
very, very sorry that the woman was injured ... hope she recovers quickly
If her jaw is broken he may have silence for a while. Honestly, I hope she recovers fully and the landlord moves them to a safer place during the repairs.
It's a good thing her husband wasn't home or she would have been killed!
No, he would have been killed. The boulder struck the husband's side of the bed.
No Peridot, it says she rolled over onto his side when she heard the rumble.
This happens to me all the time. No news here. Next.
Glad she will get better and wasn't hurt any worse than that, damage to the house sucks, but property is always replaceable. They didn't say anything about whether they soiled undershorts would survive or not, lord knows I would have shat myself with a big rock rolling on in.
In a later interview, she stated that was the most excitement that has happened in their bedroom since they moved there.
She finally got to see some nuggets.
Looks like there isn't much to slow the wind or big boulders in St. George.
Explanation is easy, "Bush did it".
It's pretty clear that Obama's Socialism loosened the boulder. :/
(Twelve comments before a [political] fool made himself known, wow. This must be a record for the vine.)
However, here in Ohio, just last year about this time, we had a very similar "falling rock" incident. The boulder landed in the garage of a home, and one car got flattened. It was about twice the size of the car. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. This poor lady got banged up pretty bad. I hope she recovers quickly and well.
Papa was a rolling stone..
She got no satisfaction.
Dammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, didn't see that one coming.
They ran this story a few days ago. Reruns are for TV.
Appears she didn't have a gun for protection.
It's Unclear that caused the Boulder to come loose ?
Had to be a Conspiracy. Dumb Broadcast Wording for sure.
It is down right shameful the comments that are made of a tragic event. The fright that this poor lady must of felt.
Shame shame on you.
You tell 'em, Comrade.
What "must of felt" means? Is it something related to compressed wool?
Next time he'll know not to listen to the wife.
The cause was unclear as to why the boulder rolled down the hill into her home? I don't know, I'd say "gravity" maybe?
Gravity sucks.
Gravity pulls
There is no gravity...the world sucks! ( circa 1964 )
Oh gravity...thou art a heartless bitch......
Just a foreshadowing of Obama's economic plan.
I'd like to change my theory above to something that is also very possible. That Global Warming could have had a hand in causing this.
Now there's a woman who will have heck of a hard time getting her 'rocks off'!
OOOPPS! Did I say that out loud?I think the boulder said ACME on the side of it.
No, I checked it out. This one had AJAX on it.
What caused it to roll DOWN THE HILL ??? Are you kidding me ???
HOW ABOUT GRAVITY...and EROSION...Man we are getting dumber dumber all the time...