Post by Graveyardbride on Mar 22, 2014 12:11:10 GMT -5
22 Bizarre Deaths
Can there be a weirder way of meeting your maker than being wedgied to death? The lifeless body of one Denver St. Clair, 58, was found with the waistband of his underpants wrapped around his neck. Police believe soldier Brad Davis (above), 33, suffocated his stepdad during a boozy row by pulling the elastic of his underwear over his head in an “atomic wedgie.” The bizarre manner of death astonished Oklahoma City investigators, but people have shuffled off this mortal coil in much stranger ways:
Whiskered Away. Austrian Hans Steininger was famed for having the world’s longest beard, which measured 4½ feet. But one day in 1567, there was a fire in his hometown of Braunau and in his haste to escape, he forgot to roll up his beard (which he normally stuffed into a leather pouch), tripped over it, broke his neck and died.
Moon Liver. In the year 763, starry-eyed poet Li Bai, 63, who wrote a poem called “Alone and Drinking under the Moon,” tried to kiss the reflection of the moon in the water next to his boat, fell overboard and drowned.
Serves Him Bite. In 92 BC, Sigurd the Mighty, second Viking Earl of Orkney, decapitated his enemy, Mael Brigte, and placed his head on his horse’s saddle as a trophy. But the teeth grazed his leg as he rode, causing an infection from which he died.
Sticky End. The Boston Molasses Disaster of 1919 killed 21 people and injured 150 when a tank holding more than a million gallons of the stuff exploded. The blast sent a sticky wave through the city at a speed of 35 miles-per-hour.
Fatal Flambé. Charles II of Navarre was wrapped in brandy-soaked linen when he fell ill in 1387. But the servant sewing him in forgot her scissors and used a candle to cut the thread. When it all went up in flames, she fled the scene, leaving him to burn alive.
Casket Case. In 1982, French undertaker Marc Bourjade died when a stack of coffins in his workshop fell on him. He was buried in one of the falling caskets.
Dying for a Wee. In 1601, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe died at age 54 in Prague. In those days, leaving the table during a banquet was a breach of etiquette and Brahe held it until his bladder burst and he died shortly thereafter.
Dying for a Wii. In 2007, Jennifer Strange (above), 28, of California, died of water intoxication after attempting to win a Nintendo Wii console in a radio contest. Called “Hold Your Wee for a Wii,” contestants had to drink as much water as possible without relieving themselves. Following the woman’s death, her family filed a lawsuit and the jury came back with a verdict of $16.5 million.
Clowning Around. When William Snyder of Cincinnati died at the age of 13 in 1854, his death certificate indicated he was “killed by being swung around by the heels by a circus clown.”
Sparked Out. Convicted murderer Michael Anderson Godwin escaped the electric chair, but was electrocuted nonetheless. In 1983, while serving a sentence of life in prison, he attempted to repair his TV headphones while sitting on a steel-rimmed toilet in his South Carolina jail cell, bit into a wire and was instantly electrocuted.
Ass the Way to Go. In 207 BC, the Greek philosopher Chrysippus died laughing after getting his donkey drunk on wine and watching it try to eat figs.
Unlucky Strike. In 1981, Paul Gauchi, 41, of Malta, made himself a mallet by welding an old tin can on to a metal pipe. The can turned out to be a wartime butterfly bomb, which exploded and killed him.
Ecky-Slump. In 1975, Alex Mitchell of King’s Lynn, Norfolk, laughed so hard at the Ecky-Thump episode of the hit BBC comedy The Goodies that he died of heart failure. His widow later wrote to the stars of the show to thank them for making her husband’s last minutes of life so enjoyable.
Dead Winger. In 2001, Roger Wallace was flying his radio-controlled toy airplane when he lost sight of it in the Arizona sun. He died when the plane smashed into his head at a speed of 40 miles-per-hour.
Pigged Out. In 2012, Oregon farmer Terry Vance Garner, 69, went out to feed his pigs – but they ate him instead. Nothing other than his dentures and a few pieces of his body were recovered. Investigators believe he fell into the pen and passed out, possibly from a heart attack.
Fatal Four-play. Five of Nigerian polygamist Uroko Onoja’s six wives brandished knives and sticks and forced him to have sex with them one after the other. He managed to accommodate four of them, but collapsed and died before the fifth.
Jaws of Disaster. In 2010, 20 crew members and passengers died in a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo. One traveler was smuggling a crocodile in a sports bag, but it freed itself in mid-air and everyone panicked and ran toward the cockpit. The small Filair plane became hopelessly unbalanced and went into a terminal dive, despite the lack of any technical failure. Only one passenger survived ... and the crocodile.
Eave of Destruction. Lovebirds Brent Tyler and Chelsea Tumbleston, both 21, fell 50 feet from a rooftop in South Carolina while in the throes on passionate lovemaking in 2007. A taxi driver found their nude bodies in the road.
Splurger King. Adolf Frederick (above), King of Sweden, ate himself to death in 1771, gorging on lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring and champagne, plus 14 servings of pudding in hot milk.
Barking Sad. A dog fell from a 13th floor window in Buenos Aires and killed a 75-year-old woman. Several onlookers were hit by a bus and one woman was killed from the impact. Also, a man at the scene died of a heart attack.
Scales of Justice. In 1995, Joe Buddy Caine, 35, died in Anniston, Alabama, when he and a friend got drunk and played catch with a rattlesnake. The snake bit them both, but Caine was the only one who died.
Sources: Facebook, The Daily Mirror, Strange Deaths, and Weird Ways to Die.
