Nebraska man breaks world record by floating 38 miles down Missouri River in 800-pound pumpkin

Name: Nebraska farmer claims world record floating 38 miles downriver in massive pumpkin
Uploaded: 2022-08-31T19:47:51-04:00
Duration: 5 min 8 s
Description: Farmer Duane Hansen tells FOX Weather Wild how he managed to grow a 846-pound pumpkin and sail 38 miles down the Missouri River in the giant gourd.

Farmer Duane Hansen tells FOX Weather Wild how he managed to grow a 846-pound pumpkin and sail 38 miles down the Missouri River in the giant gourd.

05:08

Nebraska man breaks world record floating 38 miles downriver in massive pumpkin

Farmer Duane Hansen tells FOX Weather Wild how he managed to grow a 846-pound pumpkin and sail 38 miles down the Missouri River in the giant gourd.

BELLEVUE, Neb. – For most people, fall means pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin patches, but for one Nebraska man, it means floating down a river in a giant pumpkin.

Duane Hansen set out to squash a world record for his 60th birthday Thursday by floating down the river with his homegrown pumpkin.

The pumpkin, named ‘SS Berta,' weighed a whopping 846 pounds and was carved out to float. And who could forget to make a place to hold your drink – a must for any good time floating down a river.

Hansen says he came up with this idea when visiting Ohio and seeing another person attempt to set the 25.5-mile record.

So, after asking members of the Bellevue Mayor's office to serve as witnesses, Hansen set sail around 7:30 a.m. on the Missouri River.

"It wasn't until later in the conversation that we realized that Mr. Hansen would actually be riding in the pumpkin on this journey," the city of Bellevue wrote on Facebook.

Hansen ended up smashing the record, traveling 38 miles to Nebraska City, setting a new Guinness World Record. The trip took him just under 12 hours.

Friends were said to be traveling alongside him for the entire journey, ensuring there were no mishaps along the way.