by James Proud
DEADLY ACCESSORY
ISADORA DUNCAN
D.O.D. 14 September 1927
Isadora Duncan was a flamboyant American dancer who found fame in Europe during the early twentieth century. One night, when travelling as a passenger in an open-topped car in the south of France, the long, colourful silk scarf she was wearing blew out of the cabin and became entangled in the wheels, dragging Duncan from the car and breaking her neck.
AWKWARD GUEST
JEROME I. RODALE
D.O.D. 8 June 1971
American publisher and writer Jerome I. Rodale, who advocated organic foods and healthy living, was a guest on The Dick Cavett Show in 1971 alongside journalist Pete Hamill. During filming, Rodale told the host that he had 'decided to live to be a hundred', and that he had never felt better in his life. When he started to snore and slump in his chair, Hamill thought Rodale was joking, but he wasn't – he was dead at the age of 72. The episode, due to be aired that night, was cancelled.
DEATH METAL
KAREN WETTERHAHN
D.O.D. 8 June 1997
Karen Wetterhahn was a chemistry professor working on the effects of toxic metals. While studying the deadly compound dimethylmercury, she accidentally spilled just one or two drops of the liquid on her rubber gloves. She removed the gloves after finishing the job, but – unknown to her – the poison had already permeated the latex and been absorbed into the skin. Wetterhahn had suffered a lethal dose, but the nature of the compound meant that the poisoning took some time to take effect, and it was several months before she realised anything was wrong and linked it to the spillage. Wetterhahn was eventually admitted to hospital with acute mercury poisoning, but treatment failed, and she died ten months after exposure.
BLADE OF GORY
VLADIMIR SMIRNOV
D.O.D. 28 JULY 1982
At the 1982 World Fencing Championships in Rome, the West German Matthias Behr was challenging the reigning champ Vladimir Smirnov of Russia. During the bout, Behr's foil snapped as he jabbed the Russian's face protector, and the jagged blade went straight through the mask, pierced Smirnov's eye socket and penetrated his brain. He was declared dead nine days later.
BLOOD SPORT
JOSÉ LUIS OCHOA
D.O.D. 30 January 2011
Cockfighting is illegal in the USA, but underground fights still take place – and it's not just the birds that are in danger. Thirty-five-year-old José Luis Ochoa suffered a fatal injury when police raided a cockfight in California in 2011. As Ochoa fled the scene, a rooster kicked him with a razor-fitted foot and sliced his leg open. Doctors were unable to stem the bleeding when he was taken to hospital, the timing of which may or may not have been delayed by the illegal nature of the activity, and he died from loss of blood.
CATA-FAULT
DINO YANKOV
D.O.D. 24 November 2002
Nineteen-year-old Dino Yankov belonged to the Oxford Stunt Factory, an unofficial dangerous sports society at Oxford University. In 2002, he volunteered along with five others to be launched from a trebuchet, a giant medieval catapult. The siege weapon used a one-ton counterweight to fling people 30 metres through the air into a large net, and had reportedly done so successfully on 50 previous occasions with only one accident. The first four people hit the net safely, but bystanders were worried that they were landing too close to the edge. When Yankov was launched, their fears were realised. He clipped the edge and fell heavily to the ground, suffering multiple injuries. He died later in hospital, and the human catapult has not been used since.
DEADLY INVENTION
VALERIAN ABAKOVSKY
D.O.D. 24 July 1921
Valerian Abakovsky was the Soviet inventor of the Aerowagon, a car-like train powered by an aircraft engine coupled to a giant propeller, capable of more than 60 miles per hour. Its maiden journey from Moscow to Tula went without a hitch, but on the return leg the contraption derailed at high speed, killing seven of the 22 passengers, including Abakovsky himself. He was given the honour of being buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
TRASH CANNED
ANASTASIO FIGUEROA
D.O.D. 14 FEBRUARY 1994
Guards at a Florida prison noticed that one of their inmates was missing soon after a bin lorry had visited the facility. Lifer Anastasio Figueroa had spotted a risky opportunity to escape and jumped into the back of the truck, with predictable consequences. His crushed body was tracked down at a landfill site, and identified by his fingerprints.
BLOOD COMRADES
ALEXANDER BOGDANOV
D.O.D. 7 April 1928
Alexander Bogdanov was a Russian science-fiction writer, doctor and revolutionary, who pioneered blood transfusion during the early twentieth century. He thought sharing blood would help the workers literally bond together and extend their lives. Bogdanov gave himself several blood transfusions and claimed numerous benefits, including the prevention of baldness. When one such self-experiment used blood from a student suffering from malaria and tuberculosis, the benefits ceased.
MORE UNUSUAL METHODS OF EXECUTION
* * *
The sack (ancient Rome) – people who had killed their parents or other close relatives were flogged and sewn into a sack with various live animals – including snakes, roosters and monkeys – then thrown into the sea.
Burial (Europe) – during the Middle Ages, mothers guilty of infanticide were entombed while still alive.
Hung, drawn and quartered (Europe) – in a practice used as late as the eighteenth century, criminals were dragged through the streets, hung until near death, often disembowelled, then chopped into four pieces.
Death by cannon (India) – from the sixteenth century and continuing under the British empire, victims were strapped to the end of an artillery barrel and blown to pieces.
DEADLY INGREDIENT
PENG FAN
D.O.D. AUGUST 2014
A chef at a restaurant in Guangdong, China, was preparing snake soup, the house speciality. He carefully picked the wriggling serpent out of a basket, taking care to avoid its fangs, and cut its head off. Twenty minutes later, as he threw the decapitated head away, he felt a sharp pain in his hand, and to his horror saw two puncture marks in the skin. The dead snake, a highly venomous Indochinese spitting cobra, had bitten him from beyond the grave, and he died before he could be treated. It turns out that the bite reflex of venomous snakes can be triggered hours after death, even if the head has been severed.
LAST SUPPER
BANDŌ MITSUGORŌ VIII
D.O.D. 16 January 1975
Mitsugorō was a Japanese actor, famous for his roles in kabuki theatre. He was having dinner with friends at a Kyoto restaurant when they ordered fugu, or pufferfish, the liver of which contains a deadly neurotoxin. Mitsugorō boasted that the poison would have no effect on him, and demanded four livers, even though the restaurant was breaking the law in serving them. He died a few hours later from the paralysing toxin, for which there is no antidote.
DID YOU KNOW?
There were 176 deaths in Japan from eating pufferfish in 1958. There are still several cases of fugu poisoning every year, with ten deaths recorded between 2006 and 2015.
CHECKING OUT
MILIKA SLOAN
D.O.D. 24 June 1995
A young woman from Cincinnati, Ohio, was killed by her hotel room on her first trip away from home. Milika Sloan was returning to her room, barefooted and wet from a rainstorm, when she was electrocuted as she put her key card in the door. An inspection revealed that a faulty air-conditioning unit was discharging electricity through the concrete floor and into the door frame.
ROUGH LANDING
ROGER WALLACE
D.O.D. 18 May 2002
Roger Wallace was a radio-controlled-model-plane enthusiast whose hobby would cause his death. He was flying his 5-foot-wingspan aircraft in Tucson, Arizona, when he lost sight of it in bright sunlight as it raced towards him. Wallace saw the 3-kilo plane too late to take evasive action and
it struck him in the chest, causing fatal injuries.
COFFIN FIT
JOHN ORAM
D.O.D. 18 JULY 2009
When staff at a care home in Torquay heard one of their residents sneezing particularly loudly, they didn't realise it would be the end of him. But shortly afterwards, pensioner John Oram collapsed and was taken to hospital. He died two days later, and the coroner recorded that he had died from a brain aneurysm brought on by the force of a violent sneeze.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
* * *
'I've had eighteen straight whiskies; I think that's the record.'
Dylan Thomas, poet (1953)
'They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance.'
John Sedgwick, Union Army general, just before he was shot by a sniper during the American Civil War (1864)
'Codeine… bourbon…'
Tallulah Bankhead, actress and hedonist – her last request (1968)
'Pardon me, sir. I did not do it on purpose.'
Marie Antoinette, queen of France, when she stepped on the executioner's foot as she walked to her death at the guillotine (1793)
'I've never felt better.'
Douglas Fairbanks, actor, after suffering a heart attack (1939)
'Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!'
Karl Marx, revolutionary and philosopher, upon being asked by his housekeeper for any last words (1883)
'Tape Seinfeld for me.'
Harvey Korman, actor (2008)
WEIRD SHIT
True Stories to Shock, Stun, Astound and Amaze
Mark Leigh
ISBN: 978 1 78372 069 9 (ePub), 978 1 78372 068 2 (Mobi)
Did you know?
Salvador Dali sometimes wore a perfume of fish glue and cow dung to attract his then girlfriend, Gala.
Have you heard, seen or read about something so bizarre and incredible that it leaves you bamboozled for the rest of the day? No? Then you haven't read Weird Sh!t.
This eclectic and eccentric mix of news stories, events, concepts and conceits reveals a world removed from reality as you know it. Prepare to depart from this seemingly conventional life and arrive at a destination full of downright weird and wonderful shit.
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
A Guide to the World's Most Intriguing Mysteries
Jamie King
ISBN: 978 1 78372 599 1 (ePub), 978 1 78372 598 4 (Mobi)
Did Michael Jackson fake his own death in a bid to escape financial ruin or was he murdered?
Was it aliens that helped to build the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids and what were they trying to cover up?
Is the food industry colluding to make us addicted to sugar?
You'll discover startling evidence on these topics and many more in this compelling compendium of the world's scariest and wackiest conspiracy theories. It leaves no stone unturned as it delves into such conundrums as:
• the mysterious circumstances of Bruce Lee's death
• the alleged withheld evidence pertaining to the 7 July bombings
• the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's rise to power
• the unsolved disappearance of Flight MH 370
Whether you're a sceptic or a self-confessed conspiracy junkie, you'll find a cover-up for every occasion. And remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you…
EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOW IS WRONG
Exposing the Truth Behind Common Myths and Misconceptions
Richard Benson
ISBN: 978 1 78685 717 0 (ePub), 978 1 78685 718 7 (Mobi)
Have you always thought that a goldfish has a 3-second memory span?
Do you think your morning coffee comes from a bean?
Do you believe that those accused at the Salem Witch Trials were burned at the stake?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you've been lied to. But don't worry, this book will set the record straight on all the common myths that most people take for fact, making you the most well-informed smart alec in town. So next time someone proclaims that Napoleon Bonaparte was short, or that shaving causes hair to grow back thicker, you can correct them, and tell them smugly that everything they think they know is wrong.
If you're interested in finding out more about our books,
find us on Facebook at Summersdale Publishers
and follow us on Twitter at @Summersdale.
www.summersdale.com
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