Scary washing machine sells for over $5000

A “scary” 25-year-old washing machine with a reserve price of 39p has sold on a New Zealand online auction site for more than £2,000. Its buyer, a chain of appliance stores, is now considering taking the whiteware monster on a national tour.

Scary Washing Machine — as the Fisher & Paykel was dubbed by its owner, Mark Whittaker — was sold on the TradeMe online auction site for $5,160 (£2,020).

Mr Whittaker said that the mid-1980s model, ironically named "Gentle Annie" and which still washed clothes well, once shook so violently that it sounded like something from a horror movie.



On heavy duty spin cycle it sort of sounds like the tortured howls of 1,000 undead writhing in the sulphury pits of Hell mixed with a train with carriages full of scrap iron sliding down the road with no wheels, on fire, into a bell factory,” Mr Whittaker wrote on the TradeMe site.

The online auction attracted more than 800,000 views, fifth of the New Zealand population. An official website – scarywashingmachine.com – has been set up and is selling T-shirts, and the Scary Washing Machine Facebook page has more than 15,000 fans.

Mr Whittaker plans to spend some of the money from the auction on a honeymoon and give the rest to charity.

You can see and hear the scary washing machine in action here.