Strangest Deaths in History 1 - 10

" 30 Strangest Deaths in History"

'Death by Embracing the Reflection of the Moon'

Chinese poet Li Po (701-706) is regarded as one
of the two greatest poets in China's literary history.
He was well known for his love of liquor and often
spouted his greatest poems while drunk.

One night, Li Po fell from his boat and drowned in
the Yangtze River while trying to embrace the
reflection of the moon in the water.

'Death by Beard'

Austrian Hans Steininger was famous for having
the world's longest beard (it was 4.5 feet or nearly
1.4 m long) and for dying because of it.

One day in 1567, there was a fire in town and in
his haste Hans forgot to roll up his beard. He
accidentally stepped on his beard, lost balance,
stumbled, broke his neck and died!

'Death From Holding a Pee In'

Danish nobleman and astronomer Tycho Brahe
was one interesting fellow. He kept a dwarf as a
court jester who sat under the table during dinner.
He even had a tame pet moose.

Tycho also lost the tip of his nose in a duel with
another Danish nobleman and had to wear a "dummy"
nose made from silver and gold, but that's another story.

It was said that Tycho had to hold his pee during one
particularly long banquet in 1601 (getting up in the
middle of a dinner was considered really rude) that
his bladder, strained to its limits, developed an
infection which later killed him!

Later analyses suggested that Tycho died because
of mercury poisoning but that's not nearly as
interesting as the original story.

'Death by Conductor's Cane'

While conducting the hymnal Te Deum for French
King Louis XIV in 1687, Jean-Baptiste Lully was so
focused in keeping the rhythm by banging a staff
against the floor (this was the method before
conductor's baton came into use), that he struck
his toe hard but refused to stop.

The toe developed an abscess, which later turned
gangrenous, but Lully refused to have it amputated.
The gangrene spread and killed the stubborn musician.

Ironically, the hymn he was conducting was in
celebration of the recovery of Louis XIV from an illness.

'Death by Dessert'

King Adolf Frederick of Sweden loved to eat and
died from it, too!

The "King Who Ate Himself to Death" died in 1771
at the age of 61 from a digestive problem after eating
a giant meal consisting of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut,
cabbage soup, smoked herring, champagne and 14
servings of his favorite dessert: semla, a bun filled
with marzipan and milk.

'Death by Jury Demonstration'

After the Civil War, controversial Ohio politician
Clement Vallandigham became a highly successful
lawyer who rarely lost a case.

In 1871, he defended Thomas McGehan who was
accused of shooting one Tom Myers during a
barroom brawl. Vallandigham's defense was that

Myers had accidentally shot himself while drawing
his pistol from a kneeling position.

To convince the jury, Vallandigham decided to
demonstrate his theory. Unfortunately, he grabbed
a loaded gun by mistake and ended up shooting
himself!

By dying, Vallandigham succeeded in demonstrating
the plausibility of the accidental shooting and got
his client acquitted.

'Death from Biting One's Tongue'

Allan Pinkerton (1819-1884, famous for creating the
Pinkerton detective agency and developing investigative
techniques such as surveying a suspect and doing
undercover work, died of an infection after biting his
tongue when he slipped on a sidewalk!

'Death from Stubbing One's Toe'

Famous Tennessee whiskey distiller Jack Daniel
decided to come in to work early one morning in 1911.
He wanted to open his safe but couldn't remember
the combination. In anger, Daniel kicked the safe
and injured his toe, which later developed an
infection that killed him!

Moral of the story? Don't go to work early.

'Death by Orange Peel'

Bobby Leach wasn't afraid to court death: in 1911,
he was the second person in the world to go over
Niagara Falls in a barrel. The daredevil went on to
perform many other death-defying stunts, so his
death is especially ironic.

One day while walking down a street in New Zealand,
Leach slipped on a piece of orange peel. He broke
his leg so badly it had to be amputated. Leach died
due to complications that developed afterwards.

'Death by Overcoat Parachute Failure'

In 1911, French tailor Franz Reichelt decided to test
his invention, a combination overcoat and parachute,
by jumping off the Eiffel Tower. Actually, he told the
authorities that he would use a dummy, but at the
last minute decided to test it himself. It was no
surprise that he fell to his death.
Received on Mon Aug 27 00:20:24 2007