Despite our best efforts, Death, in all its myriad and weird forms, is constantly lurking around the corner. But who knew a toothpick could be so dangerous? Or that one’s trademark scarf, draped so dramatically around your neck, could be conspiring to kill you?
Here, adding to the list of things one should worry about — cellphones causing cancer, the probability of a car accident, the potential for being struck by lightning whilst enjoying a game of pick-up soccer on an unfortunately situated field — is a long list of the strange deaths of interesting people. Take heed and keep an eye on those toothpicks.
1. King Adolf Frederick of Sweden ate himself to death in 1771: His last meal included lobster, caviar, cabbage, smoked herring, and Champagne, followed up by 14 servings of his favorite dessert, semla in hot milk.
2. Allan Pinkerton, founder of the Pinkerton detective agency, died from an infection incurred after he bit his tongue.
3. Jack Daniel, purveyor of fine whiskey, died from an infection sustained after kicking his safe and busting his toe.
4. Isadora Duncan, an early 20th century modern dancer, was killed by her trademark scarf while riding in a convertible car. The long scarf blew back and wrapped around a tire axel, breaking Duncan’s neck.
5. Vic Morrow, lead actor from the television series Combat!, was decapitated by a helicopter blade during a stunt for The Twilight Zone: The Movie gone way bad. Two Vietnamese children also died in the accident, prompting the film industry to institute stricter child labor laws.
6. Tycho Brahe, 16th century Danish nobleman and astronomer, supposedly died of a bladder infection after holding it way, way too long during a banquet. Good story, but not true: A 1996 report showed that though Brahe did become ill after the banquet with symptoms similar to a bladder infection, he actually died of mercury poisoning. Brahe and his assistants frequently used mercury in alchemical experiments, however, how the mercury got into his system in such a concentrated dose remains a mystery.
7. Tennessee Williams, longtime alcoholic and author of some of the most enduringly bleak plays of the 20th century, choked on an eyedropper bottle cap in 1983.
8. Sherwood Anderson, author of Winesburg, Ohio, died of peritonitis – an infection of the lining of his stomach, suffered after he swallowed part of a toothpick.
9. Norman “Chubby” Chaney, one of the original Little Rascals, died as a result of a glandular disorder at the age of 21. Evidently, what made him a popular character on the show – his weight, which at one point topped 300 pounds on his 4-foot 7-inch frame – was actually contributing to his death.
10. Attila the Hun died of a nosebleed on his wedding night – he passed out drunk and drowned in his own blood,
11. Sir Francis Bacon died after trying to preserve a chicken in snow; the famous scientist contracted pneumonia after the successful experiment and died a few months later.
12. Aeschylus, Greek playwright, died after an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head. The tortoise reportedly lived.
13. Chrysippus, Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of laughter after getting his donkey drunk and watching it attempt to eat figs.
14. A bug allegedly flew into Roman emperor Titus’s nose and, for the next seven years, happily ate at his brain. According to the Babylonian Talmud, it was the size of a bird when he died.
15. Keith Relf of the Yardbirds was electrocuted by his own electric guitar.
16. According to Karl Shaw’s book 5 People Who Died During Sex and 100 Other Terribly Tasteless Lists, Emperor Claudius of Rome choked on a feather he’d been using to induce vomiting during a banquet in 54 AD. Other historians say he was poisoned by his wife, Agrippina.
17. Playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was perhaps better known in his day than even contemporary Shakespeare, died in 1593 after a fatal argument in a tavern over a bill – he was stabbed in the eye.
18. King Henry I died in 1135 of food poisoning after overdosing on lampreys, a parasitic eel-like marine animal popular in British cuisine during the Middle Ages. Because he died while in France, his remains were sewn into the hide of a bull and shipped back to England for burial.
19. Bobby Leach cheated death when he made the historic (and historically stupid) trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel, the second person to do so, but he wasn’t so lucky on dry land. The stuntman slipped on an orange peel and fractured his leg – which then became infected. Despite the amputation of the gangrenous limb, Leach still died only two months later.
20. Draco, Greek lawmaker whose stringent legal code gave rise to the word “draconian,” died somewhere in the 7th century BCE, supposedly after particularly masterful speech: He suffocated under the mounds of hats and cloaks thrown upon him by admiring Greeks, as a show of appreciation.
Comments (17)
Comment
- subscribe /
- give a gift /
- terms of service /
- about /
- contact us /
- write for us /
- ad info /
- subscriber services /
- press /
- privacy policy /
- rss /
© 2012 Mental Floss Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mental Floss is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.
Disclaimer: All submissions made to mental_floss become the property of Mental Floss Inc and may be used without further permission by the submitter and without compensation to the submitter. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not submit anything to mental_floss.
You seem to have the Roman Emperors all wrong.
Modern historians do not consider Claudius to have been debauched. He was an able administrator and died poisoned by his wife Agrippina, the mother of the psychopath Nero.
Titus was known as a good emperor and a smart statesman. He died of a fever after two years as emperor.
posted by jmchez on 2-25-2009 at 12:49 pm
#13 is awesome. i would probably die of laughter if i got a donkey drink and fed it figs.
As for Titus, it has also been speculated that he died of natural causes or he was poisoned, along with the fever and bug stories. But seeing as how it was over 2000 years ago, it’ll be hard to find the truth. I’m gonna go with the bug story because it is funny, weird, and the most interesting of the four. But you can believe what you want.
posted by andy on 2-25-2009 at 1:05 pm
Chrysippus death does not sound very stoic…
posted by Jason! on 2-25-2009 at 2:58 pm
Another odd actor death: Jon-Erik Hexum – star of “Voyagers” (1982)(my favorite when I was a kid) & Cover Up (1984) died at age 26 on the set of ‘Cover Up’ shot himself with a prop .44 and the wadding from the blank fractured his skull.
posted by Steve on 2-25-2009 at 3:08 pm
Rumour has it that Brahe was poisoned by his student, Johannes Kepler in order for Kepler to take over his role as imperial mathematician.
Questionable legitimacy though as the poisonous effects of mercury weren’t known way back in 1601.
posted by Bert on 2-25-2009 at 3:08 pm
Here’s one to add to the list:
French composer Jean-Baptiste de Lully was conducting a performance in honor of Louis XIV. He was beating time by banging a long staff against the floor when he struck his toe. Lully refused to have his toe amputated and gangrene spread, resulting in his death.
posted by catherine ann on 2-25-2009 at 3:10 pm
By the way, Queen Bodicea, one of the most powerful viking queens died of a nosebleed.
Plus, there was a russian spy who died of a poisoned umbrella tip that was shoved into his leg in an “accident” on a bus. Just something you should be aware of on public transport.
posted by Fran on 2-25-2009 at 3:43 pm
man, i thought getting pooped on by a bird was bad, but obviously having an eagle drop a turtle on you is much worse.
posted by chris on 2-25-2009 at 4:20 pm
More: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths
posted by DYMongoose on 2-25-2009 at 5:23 pm
Gosh.. about 10 years ago I stubbed my toe and it got infected. It oozed blood for a few weeks until one day it wouldn’t stop. I finally decided it was time to visit a doctor. I didn’t know you could die from a stubbed toe! If that ever happens again, I’ll be sure to go in a more timely fashion!
posted by CK on 2-25-2009 at 6:13 pm
A strange– and hilarious — death of a probably not-too-interesting person: our small-town Southern paper has a history page with headlines from the same paper a century ago. In 1905 or so, a local died accidentally. He was apparently attempting to beat a squirrel to death with the butt of a LOADED shotgun. After a few good thumps on the ground, the gun (unsurprisingly to anyone but the victim) went off. If you’ve ever wondered what it sounds like when a squirrel laughs, that would have been the moment to find out.
Even dumber, a century later, the EXACT SAME THING happened again, just an hour and a half north of here. Some guy was attempting to beat his estranged wife’s dog, and once again the shotgun went off and killed the guy.
We don’t grow ‘em smart in these parts.
posted by Southern Buddhist on 2-25-2009 at 6:39 pm
I’m lucky i didnt pull a Pinkerton. I was eating pizza a few weeks back and bit the hell out of my tongue. I bit it so hard that it almost went all the way through and it was bleeding for like 15 minutes. I wondered how i could do such a thing, but then realized that i was heavily under the influece…so that makes sense. But it was pretty much a big open wound on my tongue for a few days. Luckily it happened on a friday, so i was able to kill off any infection with a lot of alcohol the next day. It has since healed almost all the way, but there is still a weird little bump on it…and i’m not sure if it will go away
posted by Andy on 2-26-2009 at 10:09 am
I thought Attila the Hun died of an aortic anurism during sex… actually I believe I read it in one of your sources 5 People Who Died During Sex and 100 Other Terribly Tasteless Lists. I could be mistaken but I’m pretty sure it was Attila.
posted by DW on 2-26-2009 at 10:56 am
Andy: I too have seriously bit my tongue. I don’t know how I did it, but the wound was very far back in my mouth. The worst part though was that I must have bit a nerve, because the pain went from my tongue, through my jaw and into my ear. Some of the worst pain I’ve ever had and it lasted for over a day.
posted by Tricia on 2-26-2009 at 11:50 am
Back in 8th grade, I was told that frozen foods inventor Clarence Birdseye died when we got locked into one of his large Freezers. Not sure if that’s true. But, being only 13 at the time, I laughed so hard I was crying.
posted by Tim on 2-26-2009 at 1:30 pm
fran-
if you’re talking about boudicea of the iceni- she was actually irish, and she most likely died in battle against the romans.
and that poisoned umbrella was specially made to inject a pellet riacin (i believe)into the guy. eeech.
posted by em on 2-27-2009 at 2:39 am
These are great, even those with questionable authenticity. Please anyone who injures an extremity, keep a close eye on it. Had a dear friend almost die from a simple cut on his hand that became infected and resulted in blood poisoning. His wife noticed a red line from the cut going up his arm and made him go to the ER. Another 24 hours and he wouldn’t have been around any longer. With all of our exposure to antibacterial soaps and lotions and antibiotics, the germs have become resistant and meaner than ever. Don’t ever think it’s foolish to have an injury checked out, especially if it’s red and tender. Better to be sure and stay alive.
posted by LOVETHISSITE on 8-14-2011 at 11:54 am