Florida Man Throws Turkey In Pool To Thaw Every Thanksgiving

We’re all for crazy holiday traditions but you’ll have to file this one under “that’s so Florida” – one Clearwater native says it’s become a yearly routine to thaw their thanksgiving turkey in the pool. While plenty of folks have their own way of preparing turkey, Mark O’Donnell says thawing his bird in the pool has been a Thanksgiving tradition for a generation.

“One Thanksgiving we realized we forgot to take the turkey out of the freezer, and our uncle was here from up north. And we just said, ‘hey let’s throw it in the pool,’”, O’Donnell told reporters.

Each year, a different cousin in the family is chosen to hurl the turkey into the pool in order to defrost it.

“Honors to chuck it in the pool are kind of the ridiculousness of it,” O’Donnell said.

Uncle Chuck received the award last year in 2020.

Bullock stated, “I threw it in the water and let it fly.”

The previous year, Aunt Mary Frances had the honor in 2019.

“And that ladies and gentlemen is how you thaw a turkey,” you can hear in one of their videos.

This is obviously an uncommon practice and one you’re bound to only find going on when searching for this type of content. Don’t judge us, we’re into weird holiday traditions. Whether or not thawing your turkey in the pool is completely safe, O’Donnell seems to think it’s legit and it doesn’t seem to have harmed his family in the 18 years they’ve been doing it.

Should You Thaw Your Turkey In The Pool?

O’Donnell said that folks have a lot of questions about the practice. “The turkeys are sealed and we always check for any leaks. So far in 18 years, we’ve only had one that we’ve had to double bag, so there’s no blood in the pool or chlorine in the turkey.”

While we don’t know if we’ll be thawing our bird quite the same way as Mark, we can certainly say that we were quite amused by their holiday tradition.

“If we made somebody smile, good for us. Hopefully they’ll smile Thanksgiving, too,” said O’Donnell. Their family dinner is bound to create lasting memories. His plans to create his ultimate thanksgiving feast will commence after the turkey has a chance to towel off.

Are We Advising You To Thaw Your Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner In The Pool?

Is this method of thawing your holiday bird FDA approved? Absolutely not! Is it hilarious to watch, it absolutely is. If you’re thinking about making this one your holiday tradition let us remind you that the safest approach to thaw your frozen turkey is to put it in the refrigerator and leave it there for one full day for every five pounds of bird (per the U.S. Department of Agriculture).

Whether O’Donnell and his family will be holding their annual tradition this year, time will tell. Their thanksgiving ritual went viral last year. Guess we’ll all just have to wait for Mark O’Donnell to go live again and find out.

Photo Credits: Mark O’Donnell