Man Attempts Underwater Pumpkin Record

A scuba diver who also owns a pumpkin patch said he hopes he broke the world record for underwater pumpkin carving with a stunt he successfully completed Sunday.

Mike Frantz wrestled underwater with 1,028-pound pumpkin near this eastern Iowa town in an attempt to break a Guinness World Records title.

The 28-year-old Walcott man squeezed into scuba gear and carved the mammoth pumpkin under 17 feet of water at a rock quarry. Frantz thinks he broke the current record, which he said was set when a 955-pound pumpkin was carved underwater last year.

There was one glitch, however. The pumpkin’s newly carved jack-o’-lantern face caved in when it emerged from the water.

“It’s kinda ugly looking,” Frantz said. “The pumpkin was so far destroyed it went back in the water for the fish to eat.”

But he still thinks he made the record.

“As far as I’m concerned it was completed and completely carved underwater,” he said.

Frantz, who owns Mike’s Giant Pumpkin Patch, got the idea from the Internet.

“I kind of heard through the pumpkin vine there that someone had attempted this last year,” he said. “Being a scuba diver, I thought that if I could get a hold of a bigger pumpkin I would try it myself.”

He did get his hands on a colossal pumpkin, which was donated by Dan Carlson of Clinton.

Frantz said it took about 18 men to haul the pumpkin onto a trailer at Carlson’s farm and take it to the quarry. He had a crew of seven people to help with Sunday’s attempt.

About three dozen people came to watch, said Frantz, an assistant manager at a steel plant in Montpelier.

The pumpkin carver had one break in his attempt: the seeds in the pumpkin were removed before it was plunged into the 58 degree water. Because it was buoyant, it had to filled with a half-dozen sandbags to keep it underwater, he said.

Using sharp knives and saws, Frantz said he created the design – two triangle eyes, a circle nose and a grin with one tooth.

Guinness Book World Records officials will be given a videotape of the underwater stunt.

—-

On the Net:

Guinness World Records: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/