Unusual Deaths

[Paratus]

If you want to waste some time checkout this Wikipedia article on unusual deaths through out the ages:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unusual_Deaths

455 BC: Aeschylus, the great Athenian author of tragedies. Valerius Maximus wrote that he was killed by a tortoise dropped by an eagle that had mistaken his head for a rock suitable for shattering the shell of the reptile. Pliny, in his Naturalis Historiæ, adds that Aeschylus had been staying outdoors to avert a prophecy that he would be killed by a falling object.[7][8]

258 AD: The martyr Saint Lawrence was roasted alive on a giant grill during the persecution of Valerian.[17][18] Prudentius tells that he joked with his tormentors, "Turn me over — I'm done on this side".[19] He is now the patron saint of cooks and firefighters.[20]

1782: Mrs Fitzherbert died from laughter. On a Wednesday evening she had seen Mr. Bannister at The Beggar's Opera, and laughed with the rest of the audience upon his comical entrance. She was unable to stop laughing, and had to leave the theater. She continued laughing until her death on Friday morning.[54]

 

[MomentsofSanity]

The fu...

2005: Kenneth Pinyan from Seattle, Washington, died of acute peritonitis after receiving anal intercourse from a stallion. The case led to the criminalization of bestiality in Washington state.

 

[lxskllr]

336 AD: Arius, presbyter of Alexandria, is said to have died of sudden diarrhea followed by copious hemorrhaging and anal expulsion of the intestines while he walked across the imperial forum in Constantinople. He may have been poisoned.[21]

Ugh...

 

[Theb]

2004: An unidentified Taiwanese woman died of alcohol intoxication after immersion for twelve hours in a bathtub filled with 40% ethanol. Her blood alcohol content was 1.35%. It was believed that she had immersed herself as a response to the SARS epidemic.[153]

This just... A+ moron.

 

[Paratus]

Ugh...

Check this one out:

401 BC: Mithridates, a soldier who embarrassed his king, Artaxerxes II, by boasting of killing his rival, Cyrus the Younger, was executed by scaphism. The king's physician, Ctesias, reported that he survived the insect torture for 17 days.[9][10]

So what is scaphism?

e intended victim was stripped naked and then firmly fastened within the interior space of two narrow rowing boats (or hollowed-out tree trunks) joined together one on top of the other with the head, hands and feet protruding. The condemned was forced to ingest milk and honey to the point of developing a severe bowel movement and diarrhea, and more honey would be rubbed on his exposed appendages to attract insects. He would then be left to float on a stagnant pond or be exposed to the sun. The defenseless individual's feces accumulated within the container, attracting more insects which would eat and breed within his exposed flesh, which—pursuant to interruption of the blood supply by burrowing insects—became increasingly gangrenous. The feeding would be repeated each day in some cases to prolong the torture, so that fatal dehydration or starvation did not occur. Death, when it eventually occurred, was probably due to a combination of dehydration, starvation and septic shock. Delirium would typically set in after a few days.

Though I'm not sure that's worse than death by horse inter course. :hmm:

 

[Jeff7]

...
So what is scaphism?

The intended victim was stripped naked and then firmly fastened within the interior space of two narrow rowing boats (or hollowed-out tree trunks) joined together one on top of the other with the head, hands and feet protruding. The condemned was forced to ingest milk and honey to the point of developing a severe bowel movement and diarrhea, and more honey would be rubbed on his exposed appendages to attract insects. He would then be left to float on a stagnant pond or be exposed to the sun. The defenseless individual's feces accumulated within the container, attracting more insects which would eat and breed within his exposed flesh, which—pursuant to interruption of the blood supply by burrowing insects—became increasingly gangrenous. The feeding would be repeated each day in some cases to prolong the torture, so that fatal dehydration or starvation did not occur. Death, when it eventually occurred, was probably due to a combination of dehydration, starvation and septic shock. Delirium would typically set in after a few days.

Though I'm not sure that's worse than death by horse inter course. :hmm:

See...this kind of thing is, to me, a sign of a systemic problem in our species, in not only that this sort of thing even occurs in the first place, but that it can be seen as normal, or that great torture and suffering is even held up as a thing of great value.
Our definition of "sanity" carries the burden of needing to be extremely flexible and inclusive.


Interhorse at least has a chance of being consensual.

 

[PottedMeat]

The fu...

good ol' mr hands

2001: Bernd-Jürgen Brandes, from Germany, was voluntarily stabbed repeatedly and then partly eaten by Armin Meiwes (who was later called the Cannibal of Rotenburg). 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.

okay...

 

[Jeff7]

...

2001: Bernd-Jürgen Brandes, from Germany, was voluntarily stabbed repeatedly and then partly eaten by Armin Meiwes (who was later called the Cannibal of Rotenburg). 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.

okay...

Not always, but frequently, the free market works.

 

[Arcadio]

Mental Floss video about unusual deaths (I love Mental Floss)

 

[jagec]

1995: A 39-year-old man committed suicide in Canberra, Australia by shooting himself three times with a pump action shotgun.

 

[lxskllr]

994: Gloria Ramirez was admitted to a hospital in Riverside, California with symptoms originally thought to be related to her cervical cancer. Before she died Ramirez's body released mysterious toxic fumes that made several hospital employees very ill. Scientists still don't agree on any of the theories as to what could've caused this.[135]

Sometimes I release toxic fumes, but I haven't died. Yet...

:^D

 

[Ichinisan]

Steve Irwin. Death by stingray.

 

[Jaskalas]

1995: A 39-year-old man committed suicide in Canberra, Australia by shooting himself three times with a pump action shotgun.

He wanted to prove that the third time's the charm.

 

[dawp]

if you're going to go, might as well do it in style.

 

[OCGuy]

Snu-Snu

 

[John Connor]

I'm a fan of Jack Daniels liquor and I find Jack Daniel's death to be a little unusual. It's why the label is black you know.