by James Proud
The ancient Greek Aeschylus is one of the very few people in history to have been killed by a tortoise. The celebrated Athenian playwright had heard a prophecy that he would be killed by a 'falling house', and therefore spent most of his time outdoors. One day while walking under a clear sky, an eagle carrying a tortoise flew overhead. In an attempt to crack the reptile's shell, the bird dropped the tortoise on to the head of unsuspecting Aeschylus – and cracked his skull in the process.
BAD PUBLICITY
JINTARO ITOH
D.O.D. 17 September 1979
Businessman Jintaro Itoh was thinking of running for office in the Japanese general election, and he planned a risky PR stunt to gain sympathy from the public. He was to stab himself in the leg outside his home in a fake robbery then declare his candidacy as a hero from his hospital bed. When Itoh jabbed the knife into his thigh, he severed an artery and bled to death on the street.
OLD SOULS
LUANG PHO DAENG
D.O.D. 1973
When Thai Buddhist monk Luang Pho Daeng knew he would soon die, he decided to become a spiritual example to others. He began meditating and undertook a strict starvation diet to dry his body out, effectively mummifying himself before death. When he finally died – while meditating – he was preserved sitting in the lotus position, and he has been on display in the Wat Khunaram temple in Koh Samui ever since.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Russian writer Nikolai Gogol became increasingly eccentric in later life. The author of Dead Souls and The Government Inspector grew so delirious with obsessive prayer and religious fasting that he died of hunger in 1852 at the age of 42, having burned a manuscript he had been working on for five years.
SIX FEET UNDER
JOE BURRUS
D.O.D. 31 OCTOBER 1990
American magician Joe Burrus planned to escape being buried alive in a tribute to Harry Houdini. He had achieved the feat a year previously, but this time he went one step further by using cement instead of soil. The event took place on Halloween at an amusement park in Fresno, California, before an excited crowd. Burrus was handcuffed, chained and placed in a transparent coffin that was lowered into a freshly dug grave. As the cement was poured in, witnesses heard a muffled crack as the plastic coffin broke under the weight, and Burrus was crushed to death.
UNUSUAL BURIALS
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When horror film legend Bela Lugosi died in 1956, he was buried in full Dracula costume.
In 1977, the Texan socialite Sandra West was buried behind the wheel of her Ferrari 330 in a San Antonio cemetery.
In 1992, some of the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry were taken into space on a space shuttle and returned to earth. Then in 1997, a portion of his ashes was launched from a rocket to orbit around the earth.
In 2008, the ashes of Fredric J. Baur of Cincinnati were buried in a Pringles tube – he had designed the packaging in the 1960s.
In 2014, Billy Standley of Ohio was buried on the back of his 1967 Harley-Davidson motorcycle. His embalmed body was propped up on the seat inside a transparent coffin.
The ashes of Italian tycoon Renato Bialetti, who popularised the Moka stove-top coffee maker, were interred in a giant version of his iconic coffee pot in 2016.
HEY PRESTO?
GILBERT GENESTA
D.O.D. 9 November 1930
Gilbert Genesta was a magician from Kentucky who regularly performed the famous milk-churn escape trick. He would lower himself into a container filled to the brim with water and secured with six padlocks, leaving him 2 minutes to escape before he drowned. One night, Genesta failed to appear in time and began banging frantically to be freed. By the time helpers had forced it open, Genesta was unconscious, and he died later in hospital. The secret of the trick was a fake lid that Genesta could easily lift off, without having to undo any padlocks, when hidden from view behind a curtain. What the magician didn't know was that the milk can had been dropped by stagehands earlier in the day. The accident had damaged the fake lid, jamming it shut for real.
YOU'RE FIRED
WILLIAM ELLSWORTH ROBINSON
D.O.D. 24 MARCH 1918
The signature trick of the illusionist William Ellsworth Robinson, who performed as Chung Ling Soo, was to catch the bullets fired from two guns – with fake barrels – in his teeth. Onstage in London one night, he fell to the floor when the guns were fired, crying, 'I've been shot! Lower the curtain!' He died the next day. Robinson hadn't cleaned the guns properly, and powder build-up in the fake barrels had ignited and fired real bullets.
DEAD LINE
JASON FINDLEY
D.O.D. 21 May 1985
Seventeen-year-old Jason Findley was found dead lying next to the telephone in his bedroom in New Jersey. His death was a mystery for months, until it was revealed that he had died from a lightning strike, despite the lack of visible burns on his body or damage in his room. The lightning had struck the phone line outside the house and delivered a fatal shock to his brain via the telephone receiver without leaving even a trace on the line.
PROFESSIONAL PRIDE
AMERICO SBIGOLI
D.O.D. January 1822
The Italian tenor Americo Sbigoli died during the performance of a Pacini opera. In attempting to match the first – more powerful – tenor, Sbigoli sang so hard that he burst a blood vessel in his neck and died shortly afterwards.
BIRDMAN
FRANZ REICHELT
D.O.D. 4 February 1912
Franz Reichelt of Austria believed he could fly. He designed a wing-like parachute suit and decided to test it from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. He secured permission to test his wingsuit on a dummy, but at the last moment decided to take the flight himself. After strapping the parachute to his limbs, he stepped off the edge and plummeted 57 metres to his death.
SILLY SAUSAGE
WALTER EAGLE TAIL
D.O.D. 4 JULY 2014
Forty-seven-year-old Walter Eagle Tail bit off more than he could chew when taking part in an Independence Day hot-dogeating contest in South Dakota. In his frantic attempt to chow down more dogs than the other competitors, the speed-eating athlete stuffed too much into his mouth, choked and suffocated before paramedics could save him.
A BUG'S DEATH
EDWARD ARCHBOLD
D.O.D. 5 October 2012
A Florida reptile shop held a contest in which people competed to eat the most creepy-crawlies in order to win a python. Contestants struggled to chew through piles of cockroaches and worms, but Edward Archbold forced down the most bugs and emerged as the winner. He was unable to claim his prize, however, as he began to vomit, collapsed and died of suffocation after his airway became blocked with 'arthropod body parts'.
DID YOU KNOW?
* * *
In January 1919, a giant tank of molasses exploded in Boston, Massachusetts. The sticky tidal wave tore down buildings and killed 21 people.
Hundreds of Indian children died every year after eating lychees, until in 2017 it was discovered that the popular fruit contains a toxin that is dangerous for small children to consume on an empty stomach.
Several South Koreans have died while trying to eat live octopus. Problems occur when the creature's suckers stick in the throat while being swallowed.
Kites annually kill several people in India – they are often garrotted by kite strings that have been coated with glass in the sport of kite-fighting.
In 2009, businessman Jimi Heselden, who had made a fortune from safety barriers, bought the company that manufactures Segway scooters. A year later, he was riding one around his Yorkshire estate when he apparently lost control and rolled 12 metres over a cliff into a river. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
DRINKY-POO
MICHAEL WARNER
D.O.D. 21 May 2004
Michael Warner of Texas died after a sherry enema. A 58-year-old alcoholic unable to swallow liquids, Warner got his wife to administer his booze from the wrong end, resulting in a blood alcohol
level six times the drink-driving limit in Texas, and fatal alcohol poisoning. According to the police, the danger of such a procedure is that the body will continue to absorb alcohol even after the person loses consciousness. Warner's wife said her husband often took alcohol in such a manner. She was accused of negligent homicide for helping Warner with the procedure, but the charges were eventually dropped.
WATCH THIS
GARRY HOY
D.O.D. 9 July 1993
Garry Hoy was a lawyer at a leading Canadian law firm, based in a 56-storey skyscraper in downtown Toronto with impressive floor-to-ceiling glass windows. One evening, Hoy deployed his party trick while playing host to a group of young lawyers, shoving his body against the windows to demonstrate their strength. He took a run-up and threw his body at the glass, expecting to bounce off as usual. Unfortunately, the window gave way and the guests watched in horror as Hoy disappeared into the street below from the twenty-fourth floor.
GAME OF DEATH
MR HSIEH
D.O.D. 8 JANUARY 2015
A certain Mr Hsieh had settled in for another long session playing online computer games at a Taiwanese internet cafe. Three days later, his fellow gamers noticed him slumped over his keyboard, but this was not unusual – they assumed he was just taking a rest. When staff finally checked on him, they discovered that he wasn't exactly resting – he was dead, and his body had already begun to stiffen. He had suffered a heart attack several hours previously but no one had noticed.
THE X-FIRES
MICHAEL FAHERTY
D.O.D. 22 December 2010
Firefighters were called to an address in Galway, Ireland, after a man reported smoke pouring from a neighbour's home. When they broke in, they discovered Michael Faherty lying dead in his living room. He had burned to death, but despite his charred remains, the only visible damage to the house was to the floor beneath him and the ceiling above. The lack of evidence meant that the authorities could find no explanation for the fatal flames, and the coroner concluded it was a case of spontaneous human combustion.
SWEET SURRENDER
MITHRIDATES
D.O.D. 401 BCE
A soldier in the Persian army who killed a prince, Mithridates was sentenced to death by scaphism – or 'the boats', as it was known. He was tied up between two small boats, one on top of the other, leaving his head and limbs exposed, then force-fed milk and honey so that he would defecate or vomit, and covered in the same mixture. Then he was simply left to fester in the hot sun. Nature took its course, and after 17 days of torment he eventually died of exposure and insect infestation.
HANGING TOUGH
RAINIER HOWE
D.O.D. 4 January 1998
Twenty-year-old Rainier Howe of Melbourne, Australia, played basketball almost every night of the week, and perfected the slam dunk after years of practice. One day, he was playing with his brother and cousin when he slam-dunked the ball and hung off the ring like Michael Jordan. Unfortunately, the ring came down, along with the brick wall it was attached to, and Howe was crushed to death underneath it.
REPTILE REGRET
WAYNE ROTH
D.O.D. 8 NOVEMBER 1997
Wayne Roth was visiting a reptile collector friend who kept several large snakes in tanks when he made the serious mistake of picking up a 6-foot-long cobra, which bit him on the hand. His friend suggested he go to the hospital, but Roth told him, 'I'm a man – I can handle it.' They went to a bar instead, where he reportedly bragged about surviving the bite. He died later that evening from the slow-acting venom before his friend could drive him to the hospital.
DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS
XU WEIXING
D.O.D. 17 November 1999
Bus driver Xu Weixing was part of a convoy of vehicles carrying schoolchildren on a trip through a safari park in Shanghai when a tow rope came loose. Everyone knows that you are not even supposed to put your arm out of the window in a safari park, never mind get out of the vehicle, but apparently 41-year-old Weixing knew better, and he disembarked to reattach the rope in the tiger breeding area. Before he could finish the task, he was attacked by three Siberian tigers. By the time Weixing had been rescued, he was fatally injured, dying soon afterwards in hospital.
UP, UP AND AWAY
REVEREND ADELIR ANTÔNIO DE CARLI
D.O.D. April 2008
Father Adelir Antônio de Carli was a Catholic priest from Brazil who wanted to get closer to the heavens and raise money for charity by flying 600 miles attached to 1,000 helium party balloons. Strong winds blew him helplessly off course as he soared to an altitude of 6,000 metres, and he was last heard from when he was 30 miles offshore over the Atlantic Ocean, afraid that he would crash into the sea. Rescuers found a cluster of balloons near the priest's last known position, but his body was not located for another three months.
ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL SOMEONE DIES
WESLEY MITCHELL
D.O.D. 10 OCTOBER 2001
A group of students at the University of the South in Tennessee were looking for some late-night japes, so they entered the library and decided to slide down what they assumed was a laundry chute. Wesley Mitchell was the first to jump in, and he slid all the way down... into a trash compactor that switched on automatically and crushed him to death. It was not a laundry chute.
RAMMED
BETTY STOBBS
D.O.D. 28 January 1999
Farmer Betty Stobbs of County Durham was riding a quad bike to feed her sheep in a field overlooking a disused quarry. When the hungry flock got wind of the hay bale she was transporting, they surged to the vehicle and started to push it towards the edge of the quarry. Before the farmer could escape, the flock pushed her over the cliff and the quad bike fell on top of her, killing her instantly.
THE UK'S MOST DANGEROUS JOBS
* * *
Occupation Total deaths
2010–2016 Yearly average deaths
2010–2016
Farmer 167 27.83
Builder 101 16.83
Roofer and scaffolder 69 11.5
HGV driver 41 6.83
Carpenter and decorator 28 4.66
Mechanic 26 4.33
Electrician and plumber 26 4.33
Civil engineer 20 3.33
Bin collector 20 3.33
LEAP OF FATE
SERGEI CHALIBASHVILI
D.O.D. 16 July 1983
During the diving competition at the World University Games, the sixth-placed Soviet athlete Sergei Chalibashvili attempted an ambitious reverse 3½ somersault tuck, a dive only recently approved for competition. He leapt into the air from the 10-metre tower, but as he flipped backwards, he smacked his head on the platform and fell into the water. He never regained consciousness and died of heart failure a week later.
UNDER PRESSURE
GEORGY DOBROVOLSKY, VIKTOR PATSAYEV AND VLADISLAV VOLKOV
D.O.D. 30 JUNE 1971
Three Soviet cosmonauts were on board the spacecraft Soyuz 11 after time spent in the Salyut 1 space station. They undocked from the station and told Control they were preparing to return to earth. The spacecraft completed a successful re-entry of the earth's atmosphere and landed safely, but when the hatch was opened, all three cosmonauts were dead in their seats. A valve had opened in space, causing the cabin to rapidly depressurise. They remain the only people to have died in space.
DOOMED FLIGHT
VLADIMIR KOMAROV
D.O.D. 24 April 1967
Soyuz 1 was a Soviet-manned space flight that was beset with problems from the start. The solo pilot was cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, and the backup pilot was his friend, the legendary Yuri Gagarin. All unmanned test flights of the Soyuz craft had failed, and the two cosmonauts and engineers had serious reservations over the safety of a manned mission. However, political pressures meant that their concerns were ignored, and the mission went ahead as planned. According to reports, Komarov refused to back out despite his fears, because that meant sending his friend in his place. As soo
n as Soyuz 1 was launched, issues with a solar panel meant that the ship did not have enough power to manoeuvre and could not communicate fully with earth, crippling the mission. Komarov's fate was sealed when the parachute failed on re-entry into the earth's atmosphere, leaving the craft to plummet to the ground and burst into flames, killing the cosmonaut on impact.