A Carter County property owner got a nasty surprise Sunday when he went to inspect an old well discovered and found himself being thrown by an explosion.
The explosion late Sunday afternoon led to the Stoney Creek Volunteer Fire Department, the Carter County Sheriff’s Office, the Carter County Rescue Squad and Carter County Emergency Management Agency being called to a home on Liberty Hollow Road.
Carter County EMA Director Gary Smith said the property was being rented out and the renters found an old well at the home so they notified the owners of the property.
“One of the property owners said he didn’t even know there was a well on the property,” Smith said.
The property owner was checking out the old well and when he struck a lighter to look inside it an explosion happened.
“It blew the gentleman back away from the well,” Smith said. “He said he was knocked unconscious for a few minutes.”
“Thankfully no one was seriously injured,” Smith added.
A mobile home on the property that was located near the old well was not damaged in the explosion, Smith said.
Reports of the explosion quickly hit social media as posters attributed the explosion to everything from a methane buildup to a meth lab.
“It was neither of those things,” Smith said. “When I got there the smell of gasoline was very strong. Somehow gasoline ended up in that old well.”
“There was some debris in the old well, but there was nothing obvious to suggest that it contained gasoline,” he added. “I don’t know how the gasoline got in there.”