Unusual Deaths

Well the autumn is upon is, and so is that nagging feeling that we are being pulled inexorably towards our deaths. Happy coming October!

Here to help you celebrate the ever-shorter days is a list of the most bizarre deaths recorded throughout history thanks to longtime listener, firsttime contributor, Wikipedia. A lot of deaths by laughter (official term: fatal hilarity- no joke) and the first recorded death by robot. See if you can guess the year…

For the complete list, click here. The highlight reel after the jump.

Aeschylus, a Greek playwright, was killed when an eagle dropped a live tortoise on him, mistaking his bald head for a stone. The tortoise survived.

Chrysippus, a Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of laughter after watching his drunk donkey attempt to eat figs.

Arius, the heretical priest who precipitated the Council of Nicea, passed wind and evacuated his internal organs.

Tycho Brahe, according to legend, died of complications resulting from a strained bladder at a banquet.

Félix Faure, French president, died of a stroke while in his office. It is popularly believed that he was “in the arms of his mistress” at the time, perhaps receiving oral sex.

Alan Turing, English mathematician, logician, and cryptographer, was found dead by his cleaner on 8 June; the previous day, he had died of cyanide poisoning, apparently from a cyanide-laced apple he left half-eaten beside his bed. It has been suggested that Turing was reenacting a scene from “Snow White”, his favourite fairy tale.

Robert Williams, a worker at a Ford Motor Co. plant, was the first known man to be killed by a robot.

Bernd-Jürgen Brandes from Germany was stabbed repeatedly and then partly eaten by Armin Meiwes (who was later called the Cannibal of Rothenburg). Brandes had answered an internet advertisement by Meiwes looking for someone for this purpose. Brandes explicitly stated in his will that he wished to be killed and eaten.

Jennifer Strange, a 28-year-old woman from Sacramento, died of water intoxication while trying to win a Wii console in a KDND 107.9 “The End” radio station’s “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest, which involved drinking large quantities of water without urinating.