Morbid as it may seem but eventually all of us will come to pass yet there are some who did go the unique or bizarre way. These are just some of these unique or extremely rare circumstances of death recorded throughout history and noted as being unusual by multiple sources.
Ancient Times
Eleazar Avaran
According to 1 Maccabees 6:46, the brother of Judas Maccabeus thrust his spear in battle into the belly of a king's war elephant, which collapsed and fell on top of Eleazar, killing him instantly.
Date of Death: c. 163 BC
Manius Aquillius and Marcus Licinius Crassus
The late Roman Republic-era consul was sent as ambassador to Asia Minor in 90 BC to restore Nicomedes IV of Bithynia to his kingdom after the latter was expelled by Mithridates VI of Pontus. But Aquillius encouraged Nicomedes to raid part of Mithridates' territory, which started the First Mithridatic War. Aquillius was captured and brought to Mithridates, who in 88 BC had him executed by pouring molten gold down his throat. According to one story, Marcus Licinius Crassus, a Roman general and statesman, who was very greedy despite being called "the richest man in Rome," was executed in the same manner by the Parthians after they defeated him in the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, in symbolic mockery of his thirst for wealth. However, it has been disputed as to whether this is how Crassus met his end.
Date of Death: 1st century BC
Porcia Catonis
The daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis and second wife of Marcus Junius Brutus, according to ancient historians such as Cassius Dio and Appian, killed herself by swallowing hot coals. Modern historians find this tale implausible.
Date of Death: June 43 BC to October 42 BC
Claudius Drusus
According to Suetonius, the eldest son of the future Roman emperor Claudius died while playing with a pear. Having tossed the pear high in the air, he caught it in his mouth when it came back, but he choked on it, dying of asphyxia.
Date of Death: c. 20 AD
Tiberius
The Roman emperor died in Misenum aged 78. According to Tacitus, the emperor appeared to have died and Caligula, who was at Tiberius' villa, was being congratulated on his succession to the empire, when news arrived that the emperor had revived and was recovering his faculties. Those who had moments before recognized Caligula as Augustus fled in fear of the emperor's wrath, while Macro, a prefect of the Praetorian Guard, took advantage of the chaos to have Tiberius smothered with his own bedclothes, definitively killing him.
Date of Death: March 16, 37 AD
Simon Peter
The apostle of Jesus was crucified upside-down in Rome, based on his claim of being unworthy to die in the same way as his Saviour.
Date of Death: Between 64 - 68 AD
Simon the Zealot
According to an ancient tradition, the apostle of Jesus was sawn in half in Persia.
Date of Death: 1st century AD
Saint Lawrence
The deacon was roasted alive on a giant grill during the persecution of Valerian. Prudentius says that he joked with his tormentors, "Turn me over —I'm done on this side". He is now the patron saint of cooks, chefs, and comedians.
Date of Death: 258 AD
Marcus of Arethusa
The Christian bishop and martyr were hung up in a honey-smeared basket for bees to sting him to death.
Date of Death: 362 AD
Valentinian I
The Roman emperor suffered a stroke which was provoked by yelling at foreign envoys in anger.
Date of Death: November 17, 375 AD
19th Century
Victims of the Thanksgiving Day Disaster
During the 1900 The Big Game American football match between the California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal in San Francisco, a large crowd of people who did not want to pay the $1 (equivalent of $40 today) admission fee gathered upon the roof of a glass blowing factory to watch for free. The roof collapsed, spilling many spectators onto a furnace. Of the hundreds of people on the roof, at least 100 people fell four stories to the factory floor. 60 to 100 more people fell directly on top of the furnace, the surface temperature of which was estimated to be around 500 °F (260 °C). Fuel pipes were severed as a result of the roof collapse, spraying many victims with scalding hot oil. The fuel also ignited, setting many bodies on fire. Twenty-three people were killed, and over 100 more were injured. The disaster remains the deadliest accident at a sporting event in U.S. history.
Date of Death: November 29, 1900
20th Century
1901 - 1960
Isadora Duncan
The American dancer broke her neck in Nice, France when her long scarf became entangled in the open-spoked wheel and rear axle of the Amilcar CGSS automobile in which she was riding.
Date of Death: September 14, 1927
Arnold Bennett
The British novelist was dining in Paris with his partner, Dorothy. He drank two glasses of tap water during the meal, scoffing at Dorothy's claims that the water in Paris was not properly treated to be safe to drink. Within two days, he contracted typhoid fever and died two months later.
Date of Death: March 27, 1931
Eben Byers
The American socialite and industrialist died after drinking excessive quantities of radium. He had developed persistent pain after a fall in 1927, for which he was prescribed Radithor, a patent medicine that contained 1 microcurie each of isotopes 226Ra and 228Ra. He drank a total of around 1400 doses, which concentrated in his bones, continually irradiating him. By 1931, his bones were reportedly disintegrating and his jaw had been removed; he died the next year.
Date of Death: March 31, 1932
Mary Emma Busch James
The wife of the Los Angeles barber Robert James died from drowning in a fishing pond after being bound and thrust into a den of rattlesnakes. The Los Angeles Police Department later arrested a 38-year-old night manager of a nearby nightclub, who said that he was the one who bought the snakes from a Pasadena farm and took them to James's La Crescenta home.
Date of Death: May 2, 1936
Fred Clapp
A 77-year-old farmer from Clark County, South Dakota died after being dragged by a bundle of horses while being tied to the harness.
Date of Death: May 28, 1937
Nicholas Comper
The aviator and aircraft designer was attempting to light a firework in Hythe, Kent when a passerby enquired what he was doing; Comper replied that he was an IRA man planning to blow up the town hall. The passerby knocked down Comper, who hit his head on the curb.
Date of Death: June 17, 1939
Sherwood Anderson
The American writer died of peritonitis after accidentally swallowing a toothpick.
Date of Death: March 8, 1941
Clarence Stagemyer
The 32-year-old was watching a Cleveland Indians-Washington Senators doubleheader in Griffith Stadium when an errant throw by Senators' third baseman Sherry Robertson struck him in the forehead. Despite appearing uninjured afterward, he heeded the Senators' team physician's entreaties to go to the hospital, where he died the next day of a fractured skull. Stagemyer was the first fan in Major League Baseball history killed by a ball leaving the field, and the only such fatality to date to have been struck by a thrown ball.
Date of Death: September 29, 1943
Thomas Midgley Jr.
In 1940, the 51-year-old contracted polio, which left him severely disabled. He devised an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys to lift himself out of bed. In 1944, he became entangled in the device and died of strangulation.
Date of Death: November 2, 1944
Thomas Mantell
The P-51 Mustang fighter pilot crashed while in pursuit of an unidentified flying object near Franklin, Kentucky, thus becoming the first person known to have died as a result of a UFO sighting. Officially, the object remains unidentified, though the most likely explanation is that it was a US Navy Skyhook balloon.
Date of Death: January 7, 1948
Mary Reeser
Found by the police in her St. Petersburg, Florida home almost totally cremated where she sat, while her apartment was relatively damage-free. Some speculate that she spontaneously combusted.
Date of Death: July 2, 1951
Margaret Wise Brown
The 42-year-old author of Goodnight Moon was hospitalized for an ovarian cyst. To prove how healthy she was after treatment, she kicked her foot in the air, dislodging a blood clot in her leg. The blood clot quickly traveled to her brain, and she died in emergency surgery.
Date of Death: November 13, 1952
Gareth Jones
The British actor died of a heart attack between scenes of a live television play, Underground on the ITV network. Other members of the cast improvised lines, such as, "I'm sure if So‑and‑so were here he would say...", to compensate for his absence. Coincidentally, his character was scripted to die of a heart attack in a later scene of the play.
Date of Death: November 30, 1958
1970s
Peter Kelly
The British commercial diver died of anoxia due to pure helium being fed through his breathing mask during a bell dive in the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea. The other diver in the bell pulled off his mask before losing consciousness and survived
Date of Death: August 27, 1974
Bandō Mitsugorō VIII
Japanese actor Bandō Mitsugorō VIII claimed to be immune to fugu kimo, a naturally toxic pufferfish liver with a lethal dose of tetrodotoxin. He ate 4 portions in a restaurant with his friends in Kyoto and died 8 hours later.
Date of Death: January 16, 1975
1980s
Harold Penman
Harold Penman, 32, apparently was trying to help a co-worker and died in the process, authorities said Tuesday. Penman was directing a driver who was backing a garbage truck outside a liquor store. As the truck approached a 17-foot sign outside the store Monday, Penman of Faribault sensed danger and ran, said Dorothy Stevens, a records clerk at the Sheriff’s Department. He was hit on the head by a tumbling support pole.
Date of Death: February 20, 1989
1990s
Lori Mae Matthew
A 485-pound (220 kg) umbrella, one of thousands installed in the Tejon Pass of southern California by environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, was swept across a road by strong winds and crushed the 33-year-old against a boulder. The remaining umbrellas were all closed "out of respect".
Date of Death: October 27, 1991
Valerie Olusanya
At 2:30 am, the electronic musician, better known as Kemistry, was a front-seat passenger in a car traveling on the M3 motorway in Hampshire, behind a van that dislodged a cat's eye in the road. The metal body flew through the windscreen hitting Olusanya in the face, killing her instantly.
Date of Death: April 25, 1999
2000s
Unknown Taiwanese Woman
In an attempt to protect herself from SARS during the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak, a 45-year-old woman in Taiwan bathed in 40.5% ethanol. She laid down in the fluid at 11. p.m. and was found dead at 11 a.m. by her family the next day. Her BAC was 1.35% and she most likely absorbed the alcohol through the skin.
Date of Death: 2004
Adelir Antônio de Carli
The Brazilian Catholic priest and skydiver undertook a cluster balloon flight. The intention was to break the previous endurance records for ballooning and to raise funds for charity. However, contact was lost halfway through. The lower part of his body was found floating in the sea eleven weeks later on 4 July.
Date: April 21, 2008
Isaiah Otieno
The student from Cranbrook, British Columbia, was struck and killed by a helicopter that plunged into a residential street he was walking in. The pilot and two other passengers of the helicopter were also instantly killed.
Date: May 13, 2008
David Phyall
The 50-year-old last resident in a block of flats due to be demolished in Bishopstoke, near Southampton, England, decapitated himself with a chainsaw to highlight the injustice of being forced to move out of it.
Date: July 5, 2008
Unknown Female
A 43-year-old Irish woman died of an anaphylactic allergic reaction after having sex with a German Shepherd. Its owner, Seán McDonnell, and the woman met in an Internet chat room for bestiality. McDonnell was prosecuted and added to a sex offender list. The dog was later euthanized.
Date: October 7, 2008
Unknown Male
A 14-year-old boy from Jiaozhou, Shandong, China, was killed when the pneumatic cylinder in his office chair exploded.
Date: March 3, 2009
Diane Durre
The 49-year-old was killed in North Platte, Nebraska, by a falling Taco Bell sign. The sign was knocked over by high winds, and landed on a pickup truck, killing her and injuring her husband, Mark.
Date: April 3, 2009
Mark Fidrych
The 54-year-old former Major League Baseball pitcher of the Detroit Tigers, died while working underneath his dump truck. His clothes became entangled with the power take-off drive shaft, suffocating him.
Date: April 13, 2009
Taylor Mitchell
The 19-year-old Canadian folk singer was killed by a pair of coyotes while hiking in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, in the only known fatal coyote attack on an adult.
Date: October 28, 2009
Vladimir Likhonos
The 25-year-old student of Kyiv Polytechnic Institute from Konotop was killed when his chewing gum exploded. He had a habit of dipping his chewing gum in citric acid to increase the gum's sour taste. On his work table police found about 100 grams (3.5 oz) of unidentified explosive powder which he used for chemistry studies at home. It resembled citric acid, and it is thought that he confused the two, having accidentally coated his gum in the explosive powder before chewing it. The explosive was found to be four times stronger than TNT, and the explosion was possibly triggered either by reacting with Likhonos's saliva, or the pressure exerted by him chewing on the gum and explosive powder.
Date: December 2, 2009
2010s
Shannon Stone
The 39-year-old firefighter from Arlington, Texas, fell 20 feet onto concrete from the stands in Choctaw Stadium. Stone was attending a Rangers game with his 6-year-old son, in hopes of catching a souvenir foul ball. When Josh Hamilton threw a foul ball, Stone rushed over to grab the ball, tripped over the balcony, and fell head-first. Stone died in the hospital from blunt force trauma. The entire incident was captured on film.
Date of Death: July 7, 2011
Jeffrey Bourgeois
The 6-year-old from Salem, Connecticut was killed after being pulled into a woodchipper. Bourgeois, while on a school break, was helping his father with a landscaping job. Bourgeois was inserting a branch into the industrial woodchipper when it instantly pulled him in, while the boy's 39-year-old father, Scott Bourgeois, had his back turned away from the child.
Date of Death: April 10, 2012
João Maria de Souza
The 45-year-old was crushed in his bed by a cow falling through the roof of his home in Caratinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil. It had climbed on top of the house from a steep hillside behind it. Both the cow and his wife (who was in the bed next to him) were unharmed.
Date of Death: 2013
Noah Barthe, Connor Barthe
The brothers, aged four and six respectively, were killed by an African rock python during a sleepover at their friend's apartment in New Brunswick, Canada. The snake had escaped from its inadequate enclosure and moved through ducts that were easily accessible to the reptile, where the snake then fell through the ceiling where the boys slept three meters away. Though the snake suffocated them, it did not attempt to eat them. However, an African rock python would not constrict unless they planned on eating, therefore it is likely that the owners of the python also failed to feed their pet. The python was euthanized.
Date of Death: August 5, 2013
Denver Lee St. Clair
The 58-year-old was asphyxiated by an "atomic wedgie" administered by his stepson during a fight. After he had been knocked unconscious, the elastic band from his torn underwear was pulled over his head and stretched around his neck, strangling him. The stepson was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Date of Death: December 21, 2013
J.R.N.
A 52-year-old Brazilian man, identified only as J.R.N., attempted to commit bestiality with a sow in Tapurah, Mato Grosso, but was attacked by the animals and wounded in the genitals. He died from a cardiac arrest. His arms and face were also mutilated by the animals. Initially, police believed that the man had been murdered and disposed of at the farm, but this was disproven as numerous pieces of evidence showed that the man had drunk alcohol, used a condom, and had been wearing only underwear. The man had worked at the farm for two years.
Date of Death: January 18, 2014
Heval Yıldırım
The 13-year-old from Turkey was killed when a sacrificial goat bought for Eid al-Adha jumped off the roof, over a protective fence, and fell onto him. His father had placed it on the roof of the building where he lived because he could not find another suitable place to keep it.
Date of Death: October 3, 2014
Peter Biaksangzuala
The Indian football player from Mizoram state died after sustaining spinal cord injuries while awkwardly landing a somersault while celebrating a goal.
Date of Death: October 19, 2014
Christophe de Margerie
The French oil executive was killed when his corporate jet collided during take-off with an airport snowplow reportedly driven by a drunk driver in Moscow.
Date of Death: October 20, 2014
Peng Fan
The chef in Foshan, China, was bitten by a cobra's severed head, which he had cut off 20 minutes earlier while preparing soup.
Date of Death: August 2014
Gary Anderson
The 58-year-old from New Jersey was delivering drywall to a construction site and leaned his head into the car of a co-worker while having a conversation. As he pulled his head out, a worker accidentally dropped a 1-pound (0.45 kg) tape measure which plummeted 50 stories, or approximately 500 feet (150 m), when it ricocheted off a piece of metal 10 feet (3.0 m) off the ground and smashed into Anderson's head. He was rushed to Jersey City Medical Center where he suffered cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at 9:52 a.m. Hard hats were mandatory at the site, and it is unclear why Anderson was not wearing one when he was killed.
Date of Death: November 3, 2014
Phillip Hughes
The 25-year-old Australian Test and ODI cricketer was killed by a bouncer striking his neck during a cricket match, causing a vertebral artery dissection.
Date of Death: November 27, 2014
2020s
Joseph Austin Smith
The 30-year-old from Wichita, Kansas, was killed in his pickup truck during a hunting trip when his dog discharged a rifle from the back seat. Smith was sitting in the front passenger seat of his vehicle when his dog "stepped on the rifle", which pulled the trigger and shot him.
Date of Death: January 21, 2023
Leandro Mathias de Novaes
The 40-year-old activist for the right to keep and bear arms in Brazil was assisting his mother in the MRI suite of Cura Laboratory in the central region of São Paulo on 16 January while wearing a registered firearm on his waistband. The gun, affected by the magnet, was pulled away from him and subsequently discharged, shooting him in the stomach. He remained in intensive care for 21 days before dying of his injuries.
Date of Death: February 6, 2023
Shivdayal Sharma
The 82-year-old was reportedly urinating next to a train track in the region of Alwar, India when a cow was hit by the Vande Bharat Express train. The animal was launched 100 feet (30 m) into the air before landing on Sharma, killing him instantly.
Date of Death: April 19, 2023
Unknown Elderly Woman
An 83-year-old woman in New Zealand died just after having been discharged from the hospital; she was dropped from a stretcher in the ambulance loading dock, and thereafter proceeded to fall from a ledge, landing face-first. The stretcher subsequently landed on top of her.
Date of Death: May 12, 2023
Norbert Toth
The 53-year-old association football player-manager from Somogy County, Hungary, died shortly after having scored a goal himself during a game, likely caused by a heart attack from excitement.
Date of Death: May 29, 2023
Mikala Jones
The 44-year-old was killed in a surfing accident in North Sipora, Indonesia after the fin of his surfboard severed his femoral artery.
Date of Death: July 9, 2023
Giacomo Chiapparini
The 74-year-old died when a shelf in his warehouse in Romano di Lombardia, Italy, broke and crushed him under thousands of wheels of Grana Padano cheese, with each wheel weighing approximately 40 kilograms (88 lb). His body was recovered from the wreckage after 12 hours.
Date of Death: August 6, 2023
Adam Johnson
The 29-year-old member of the Nottingham Panthers professional ice hockey team in England died after his neck was cut by a skate during a game between the Panthers and the Sheffield Steelers.
Date of Death: October 28, 2023
Unnamed Korean Male
A robotics company employee was killed by a robotic arm at a pepper sorting plant in South Gyeongsang province, South Korea. The man was checking the robot's sensor operations ahead of a test run when the arm, mistaking him for a box of peppers it was programmed to handle, grabbed and pushed him against a conveyor belt, crushing his face and chest.
Date of Death: November 8, 2023
Dorothy Louise Downey
The 83-year-old woman arrived at her daughter's house in Salem, South Carolina, to visit and assist with a move. As she was walking in the kitchen, Downey broke through a weakened patch of floor, falling 48 ft (15 m) into a hidden well shaft. She was extricated by rescue services but died from her injuries.
Date of Death: November 27, 2023
Sanjay Shah
The 55-year-old CEO of Vistex was celebrating his company's 25th anniversary at a movie studio stage in India. As part of the celebration, Shah and company president Raju Datla were being lowered from the ceiling to the stage in a cage or basket, when a cable broke and both men fell 20 feet (6.1 m), killing Shah and leaving Datla in critical condition.
Date of Death: January 20, 2024
