Lists of unusual deaths
This is a list of unusual deaths. This list includes unique or extremely rare circumstances of death recorded throughout history, noted as being unusual by multiple sources. Some of the deaths are mythological or are considered to be unsubstantiated by contemporary researchers. Oxford Dictionaries defines the word "unusual" as "not habitually or commonly occurring or done" and "remarkable or interesting because different from or better than others."[1]
Some other articles also cover deaths that might be considered unusual or ironic, including List of entertainers who died during a performance, List of inventors killed by their own inventions, List of association footballers who died while playing, List of professional cyclists who died during a race and the List of political self-immolations.
Antiquity
- c. 620 BC: Draco, Athenian law-maker, was smothered to death by gifts of cloaks and hats showered upon him by appreciative citizens at a theatre on Aegina.[3][4]
- 564 BC: Arrhichion of Phigalia, Greek pankratiast, caused his own death during the Olympic finals. Held by his unidentified opponent in a stranglehold and unable to free himself, Arrichion's trainer shouted "What a fine funeral if you do not submit at Olympia!" Arrichion then kicked his opponent with his right foot while casting his body to the left, causing his opponent so much pain that he made the sign of defeat to the umpires, while at the same time breaking Arrichion's own neck as the other fighter was still strangleholding him. Since the opponent had conceded defeat, Arrichion was proclaimed victor posthumously.[5][6]
- 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][9]
- 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.[10][11]
- 270 BC: Philitas of Cos, Greek intellectual, is said by Athenaeus to have studied arguments and erroneous word usage so intensely that he wasted away and starved to death.[12] British classicist Alan Cameron speculates that Philitas died from a wasting disease which his contemporaries joked was caused by his pedantry.[13]
- 210 BC: Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, died after ingesting several pills of mercury in the belief that it would grant him eternal life. His eunuch courtiers concealed the death while they plotted the succession and used carts of fish to disguise the smell of the corpse. He was then buried in a fantastic tomb which is still being excavated. His artifacts and treasures include the famous Terracotta Army which was created for him to rule from his grave.[14][15][16]
- 206 BC: One ancient account of the death of Chrysippus, the 3rd century BC Greek Stoic philosopher, tells that he died of laughter after he saw a donkey eating his figs; he told a slave to give the donkey neat wine to drink to wash them down with, and then, '...having laughed too much, he died' (Diogenes Laertius 7.185).[17][18]
- 258 AD: The Christian clergyman Saint Lawrence was roasted alive on a giant grill during the persecution of Valerian.[19][20] Prudentius tells that he joked with his tormentors, "Turn me over — I'm done on this side".[21] He is now the patron saint of cooks and firefighters.[22]
-
Greek intellectual Philitas of Cos, said to have studied arguments and erroneous word usage so intensely that he wasted away and starved to death.[12]
-
Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China who sought immortality but died an untimely death which was concealed by his courtiers using smelly fish.
-
The martyrdom of Saint Lawrence by Titian. This painting so impressed Philip II that he commissioned another one for his basilica in El Escorial.
-
Hypatia painted by Charles William Mitchell in 1885.
Middle Ages
- 1327: Edward II of England, after being deposed and imprisoned by his wife Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, was rumoured to have been murdered by having a horn pushed into his anus through which a red-hot iron was inserted, burning out his internal organs without marking his body.[23][24] However there is no real academic consensus on the manner of Edward II's death and it has been plausibly argued that the story is propaganda.[25]
Renaissance
- 1567: Hans Steininger, the burgomaster of Braunau, Austria, died when he broke his neck by tripping over his own beard.[26] The beard, which was 4.5 feet (1.4 m) long at the time, was usually kept rolled up in a leather pouch.[27]
- 1601: Tycho Brahe died from complications of a burst bladder after refusing to leave a dinner table to relieve himself because it would have been a breach of etiquette.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34]
- 1660: Thomas Urquhart, the Scottish aristocrat, polymath and first translator of François Rabelais's writings into English, is said to have died laughing upon hearing that Charles II had taken the throne.[35][36]
- 1667: James Betts died from asphyxiation after being sealed in a cupboard by Elizabeth Spencer, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in an attempt to hide him from her father, John Spencer.[37][38][39]
18th century
- 1771: Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden, died of digestion problems on 12 February 1771 after having consumed a meal of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring and champagne, topped off with 14 servings of his favourite dessert: hetvägg served in a bowl of hot milk.[40] He is thus remembered by Swedish schoolchildren as "the king who ate himself to death."[41]
19th century
- 1834: David Douglas, Scottish botanist, fell into a pit trap where he was trampled by a wild bull.[42][43]
- 1871, Clement Vallandigham, a lawyer and Ohio politician defending a man on a charge of murder, accidentally shot himself demonstrating how the victim might have shot himself while in the process of drawing a weapon when standing from a kneeling position. Though the defendant, Thomas McGehan, was ultimately cleared, Vallandigham died from his wound.[44][45]
20th century
1920s
- 1923: George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, died allegedly because of the so-called King Tut's Curse after a mosquito bite on his face, which he cut while shaving, became seriously infected with erysipelas, leading to blood poisoning and eventually pneumonia.[46][47]
- 1926: Phillip McClean, 16, from Queensland, Australia, became the only person documented to have been killed by a cassowary. After encountering the bird on their family property near Mossman in April,[48] McClean and his brother decided to kill it with clubs. When McClean struck the bird it knocked him down, then kicked him in the neck, opening a 1.25 cm (0.5 in) long cut in one of his main blood vessels. Though the boy managed to get back on his feet and run away, he collapsed a short while later and died from the haemorrhage.[49]
- 1926: Harry Houdini, the famous American escape artist, was punched in the stomach by an amateur boxer. Though this had been done with Houdini's permission, complications from this injury may have caused him to die days later, on 31 October 1926. It was later determined that Houdini died of a ruptured appendix,[50] though it is contested as to whether or not the punches actually caused the appendicitis.[51][52]
- 1927: Isadora Duncan, dancer, died of a broken neck when her long scarf caught on the wheel of a car in which she was a passenger.[53]
1950s
- 1958: Gareth Jones, actor, collapsed and died between scenes of a live television play, Underground, at the studios of Associated British Corporation in Manchester. Director Ted Kotcheff continued the play to its conclusion, improvising around Jones' absence. Coincidentally, Jones' character was to have a heart-attack, which is what Jones suffered and died of.[54][55]
1960s
- 1961: U.S. Army Specialists John A. Byrnes and Richard Leroy McKinley and Navy Electrician's Mate Richard C. Legg were killed by a water hammer explosion during maintenance on the SL-1 nuclear reactor in Idaho.[56][57][58][59]
McFadden, Robert D. (4 April 2006). "Barry Bingham Jr., Louisville Publisher, Is Dead at 72". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 May 2010.</ref>
- 1966: Skydiver Nick Piantanida died from the effects of uncontrolled decompression four months after an attempt to break the world record for the highest parachute jump. During his third attempt, his face mask came loose (or he possibly opened it by mistake), causing loss of air pressure and irreversible brain damage.[60][61]
- 1967: Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when the Soyuz 1 space capsule crashed after re-entry on April 24, 1967 due to a parachute failure
1970s
- 1974: Basil Brown, a 48-year-old health food advocate from Croydon, drank himself to death by consuming 10 gallons of carrot juice in ten days, causing him to overdose on vitamin A and suffer severe liver damage.[62][63]
- 1978: Kurt Gödel, the Austrian/American logician and mathematician, died of starvation when his wife was hospitalized. Gödel suffered from extreme paranoia and refused to eat food prepared by anyone else.[64]
- 1979: Robert Williams, a worker at a Ford Motor Co. plant, was the first known human to be killed by a robot,[65] after the arm of a one-ton factory robot hit him in the head.[66]
- 1979: John Bowen, a 20-year-old from Nashua, New Hampshire, was attending a New York Jets football game at Shea Stadium on 9 December. During a half-time show event featuring custom-made remote control flying machines, a 40-pound model plane shaped like a lawnmower accidentally dove into the stands, striking Bowen and another spectator, causing severe head injuries. Bowen died in the hospital four days later.[67][68]
1980s
- 1980: 70 year old mayor Monica Meyers of Betterton, Maryland died when she was checking the sewage tanks, she slipped on a catwalk and fell into the 25 foot tank and drowned.[69][70]
- 1981: David Allen Kirwan, a 24-year-old, died from third-degree burns after attempting to rescue a friend's dog from the 200°F (93°C) water in Celestine Pool, a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park on 20 July 1981.[71][72]
- 1981: Boris Sagal, a film director, died while shooting the TV miniseries World War III when he walked into the tail rotor blade of a helicopter and was nearly decapitated.[73][74]
- 1982: Vic Morrow In the early morning hours of July 23, 1982, Morrow and two children, Myca Dinh Le (age 7), and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6), were filming on location in Ventura County, California, between Santa Clarita and Piru. They were performing in a scene for the Vietnam sequence in which their characters attempt to escape from a pursuing U.S. Army helicopter out of a deserted Vietnamese village. The helicopter was hovering at about 24 feet above them when pyrotechnic explosions damaged it and caused it to crash on top of them, killing all three instantly. Morrow and Dinh were decapitated by the helicopter rotor. Chen was crushed by a helicopter strut.
- 1982: David Grundman was killed near Lake Pleasant, Arizona, while shooting at cacti with his shotgun. After he fired several shots at a 26 ft (8 m) tall Saguaro Cactus from extremely close range, a 4 ft (1.2 m) limb of the cactus detached and fell on him, crushing him.[74][75][76]
1990s
- 1991: Edward Juchniewicz, a 76-year-old man from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, was killed when the unattended ambulance stretcher he was strapped to rolled down a grade and overturned.[77][78]
- 1993: Garry Hoy, a 38-year-old lawyer in Toronto, fell to his death on 9 July 1993, after he threw himself against a window on the 24th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Centre in an attempt to prove to a group of visitors that the glass was "unbreakable," a demonstration he had done many times before. The glass did not break, but popped out of the window frame.[79][80]
- 1997: Karen Wetterhahn, a professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, died of mercury poisoning ten months after a few drops of dimethylmercury landed on her protective gloves. Although Wetterhahn had been following the required procedures for handling the chemical, it still permeated her gloves and skin within seconds. As a result of her death, regulations were altered.[81][82]
- 1999: Jon Desborough, a physical education teacher at Liverpool College, died when he slipped and fell onto the blunt end of a javelin he was retrieving. The javelin passed through his eye socket and into his brain, causing severe brain damage and putting him into a coma. He died a month later.[83][84]
21st century
2000s
- 2006: An unidentified airline mechanic was sucked into the engine of a Boeing 737-500 at El Paso International Airport while performing routine maintenance on the tarmac.[85][86]
- 2007: Jennifer Strange, a 28-year-old woman from Sacramento, California, died of water intoxication while trying to win a Nintendo 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.[87][88]
- 2007: Humberto Hernandez, a 24-year-old Oakland, California resident, was killed after being struck in the face by an airborne fire hydrant while walking. A passing car had struck the fire hydrant and the water pressure shot the hydrant at Hernandez with enough force to kill him.[89][90][91]
- 2008: David Phyall, 50, the last resident in a block of flats due to be demolished in Bishopstoke, near Southampton, Hampshire, England, decapitated himself with a chainsaw to highlight the injustice of being forced to move out.[92][93]
- 2009: Taylor Mitchell, a Canadian folk singer, was attacked and killed by three coyotes, the only recorded adult person to have been killed by this species.[94][95]
2010s
- 2010: Mike Edwards, British founding member and cellist for the band ELO, died when a large round bale of hay rolled down the hill and smashed his car while he was out driving.[52][96][97]
- 2011: Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, died after being stabbed in the leg at an illegal cockfight in Tulare County, California U.S., by one of the birds that had a knife attached to its limb.[98][99]
- 2012: Erica Marshall, a 28-year-old British veterinarian in Ocala, Florida, died when the horse she was treating in a hyperbaric chamber kicked the wall, released a spark from its horseshoes and triggered an explosion.[100][101][102]
- 2012: Edward Archbold, 32, a man of West Palm Beach, Florida, died after winning a cockroach eating contest. The cause of death was determined to be accidental choking due to "arthropod body parts."[103][104]
- 2013: An unnamed Belarusian fisherman, 60, was killed by a beaver while attempting to take a picture with the animal. The beaver bit the man, severing a large artery in his leg.[105][106]
See also
References
- ^ "Definition of unusual in English". Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
- ^ Ursula Hoff (1938). "Meditation in Solitude". Journal of the Warburg Institute. 1 (44). The Warburg Institute: 292–294. doi:10.2307/749994. JSTOR 749994Template:Inconsistent citations
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(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ EN Gardiner (1906). "The Journal of Hellenic Studies". Nature. 124 (3117): 121. Bibcode:1929Natur.124..121. doi:10.1038/124121a0.
Fatal accidents did occur as in the case of Arrhichion, but they were very rare...
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length (help) - ^ J. C. McKeown (2013), A Cabinet of Greek Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the Cradle of Western Civilization, Oxford University Press, p. 136, ISBN 9780199982103,
The unusual nature of Aeschylus's death...
- ^ La tortue d'Eschyle et autres morts stupides de l'Histoire, Editions Les Arènes, 2012, ISBN 9782352042211
- ^ Pliny the Elder, "chapter 3", Naturalis Historiæ, vol. Book X
- ^ Jamie Frater (2010). "10 truly bizarre deaths". Listverse.Com's Ultimate Book of Bizarre Lists. Ulysses Press. pp. 12–14. ISBN 9781569758175Template:Inconsistent citations
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Ctesias, the Greek physician to Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, gives an appallingly detailed description of the execution inflicted on a soldier named Mithridates, who was misguided enough to claim the credit for killing the king's brother, Cyrus...
- ^ a b Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, 9.401e.
- ^ Alan Cameron (1991). "How thin was Philitas?". The Classical Quarterly. 41 (2): 534–8. doi:10.1017/S0009838800004717.
- ^ Wright, David Curtis (2001). The History of China. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 49. ISBN 0-313-30940-XTemplate:Inconsistent citations
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(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Riginos, Alice Swift (1976). Platonica. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition. p. 195. ISBN 90 04 04565 1.
- ^ "St. Lawrence - Martyr" at catholic.org
- ^ "Saint Lawrence of Rome" at saints.sqpn.com
- ^ Nigel Jonathan Spivey (2001). Enduring Creation: Art, Pain, and Fortitude. University of California Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780520230224Template:Inconsistent citations
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(help) p.220 - ^ A red-hot poker? It was just a red herring | General | Times Higher Education
- ^ Phillips, Seymour, Edward II, Yale University Press, copyright 2010. pgs 560-565.
- ^ Hall, Charles Winslow (April 1910). "The Nobility of the Trades: Barbers and Hairdressers". National Magazine. 32 (1): 472.
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- ^ John Tierney (29 November 2010). "Murder! Intrigue! Astronomers?". New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
At the time of Tycho's death, in 1601, the blame fell on his failure to relieve himself while drinking profusely at the banquet, supposedly injuring his bladder and making him unable to urinate.
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(help) - ^ Thoren (1990, p.468–69)
- ^ Terri Pous (17 November 2012). "Was Tycho Brahe Poisoned? According to New Evidence, Probably Not". Time – Bizarre.
a fatal case of politeness.", "Brahe makes a good case for strangest historical death
- ^ "Tycho Brahe's 'murder' investigated". The Guardian. 15 November 2012.
- ^ "Bones of Danish Astronomer Tycho Brahe May Yield Clues to His Death". space.com. 19 November 2010.
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- ^ Megan Gannon (16 November 2012). "Tycho Brahe Died From Burst Bladder, Not Poisoning, Astronomer's Exhumed Body Shows". Huffington Post.
- ^ Marina Belozerskaya (2009). "Rudolf II's Empire of Knowledge". The Medici Giraffe: And Other Tales of Exotic Animals and Power. Hachette UK. ISBN 9780316076425Template:Inconsistent citations
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- ^ The History of Scottish Poetry. Edmonston & Douglas. 1861. p. 539.
- ^ Rackham, Oliver (2002). Treasures of Silver at Corpus Christi College. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81880-X.
- ^ "Corpus Christi Website -Corpus Ghost". Corpus Christi College.
- ^ Guiley, Rosemary Ellen (2000). The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits (2nd ed.). Checkmark books. ISBN 978-0-8160-4086-5.
- ^ The lowdown on Sweden's best buns The Local, February 2007
- ^ Semlor are Swedish treat for Lent Sandy Mickelson, The Messenger, 27 February 2008
- ^ John Moring (2005). Early American Naturalists: Exploring The American West, 1804-1900. Taylor Trade Publications. p. 106. ISBN 9781589791831.
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ John and Mary Gribbin (2008). Flower Hunters. Oxford University Press. p. 160. ISBN 9780192807182.
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ Death of Clement Vallandigham | HistoricLebanonOhio.com
- ^ "Fatal Accident to Mr. Vallandigham: The Western Reserve Chronicle, June 21, 1871, page 2". civil-war-150.com. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
- ^ "The Life of Lord Carnarvon". Touregypt.net. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
- ^ "Carnarvon Is Dead Of An Insect's Bite At Pharaoh's Tomb. Blood Poisoning and Ensuing Pneumonia Conquer Tut-ankh-Amen Discoverer in Egypt". New York Times. 5 April 1923. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
The Earl of Carnarvon died peacefully at 2 o'clock this morning. He was conscious almost to the end.
- ^ Christensen, Liana (2011). Deadly Beautiful: Vanishing Killers of the Animal Kingdom. Wollombi, NSW: Exisle Publishing. p. 272. ISBN 9781921497223.
- ^ Kofron, Christopher P., Chapman, Angela. (2006) "Causes of mortality to the endangered Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuariusjohnsonii in Queensland, Australia." Pacific Conservation Biology vol. 12: 175–179
- ^ "Harry Houdini – Biography". Appleton History. Retrieved 4 August 2009.
- ^ "Death of Houdini". Urban Legends Reference Paces. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
- ^ a b "Mike Edwards hay bale death: celebrities in freak killings". Daily Telegraph. 6 September 2010Template:Inconsistent citations
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- ^ Cited by Gareth Rubin "Live TV drama is resurrected as Sky shrugs off lessons of history", The Guardian, 31 May 2009
- ^ Matthew Sweet Review: "'Do Not Adjust Your Set' By Kate Dunn, The Independent, 20 July 2003
- ^ SL-1 The Accident: Phases I and II U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Idaho Operations Office video (Youtube 1) (Youtube 2)
- ^ Chapter 15 "The SL-1 Reactor" (page 142) 9.5 MB PDF
- ^ Tucker, Todd (2009). Atomic America: How a Deadly Explosion and a Feared Admiral Changed the Course of Nuclear History. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-1-4165-4433-3. See summary: http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0904/2008013842-s.html
- ^ McKeown, William (2003). Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America's First Nuclear Accident. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-562-4.
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- ^ "Unusual death". Star-News. Wilmington, North Carolina. 20 February 1974. p. 28. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
- ^ Staub, Jack E. (2005). "74. Yellowstone Carrot: Daucus carota savicus". Alluring Lettuces: And Other Seductive Vegetables for Your Garden. Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. p. 230. ISBN 1-4236-0829-1. OCLC 435711200.
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- ^ Robot firm liable in death, Tim Kiska, The Oregonian, 11 August 1983.
- ^ Kiska, Tim (11 August 1983). "Death on the job: Jury awards $10 million to heirs of man killed by robot at auto plant". The Philadelphia Inquirer. pp. A10. Retrieved 11 September 2007.
- ^ "Flying Lawnmower Death – Grim Reaper (contains additional references)". Snopes.com. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
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- ^ Hot Springs Death – Help Springs Eternal at Snopes.com
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- ^ Mike Edwards — Killed by a Hay Bale
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- ^ By: Robert Nolin, Sun Sentinel (10 October 2012). "Edward Archbold, roach eating contest death: What really killed the West Palm Beach man?". Retrieved 27 October 2013.
- ^ "Beaver kills man in Belarus". The Guardian. 29 May 2013.
- ^ Jones, Simon (31 May 2013). "Beavers are born to bite wood, not people". New Scientist. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
an event that is both tragic and highly unusual.
Further reading
- Russell Robert Winterbotham (1929). "Curious and Unusual Deaths". Haldeman-Julius, Girard, KansasTemplate:Inconsistent citations
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: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Michael Powell (5 August 2008). "Curious Events in History". Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 9781402763076Template:Inconsistent citations
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: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Nick Daws Daft Deaths and Famous Last Words
- Tracey Turner, Dreadful Fates
- Dale Dreher, ebook Death by Misadventure: 210 Dumb Ways to Die.
- David Southwell and Sean Twist (1 September 2007). "Mysterious Deaths and Disappearances". The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 9781404210813Template:Inconsistent citations
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(help)CS1 maint: postscript (link) - John Dunning Strange Deaths (true crime)
- Strange Deaths: More Than 375 Freakish Fatalities. 1 January 2000. ISBN 9780760719473Template:Inconsistent citations
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Bellamy, John G (1 December 2008). Strange Inhuman Deaths. ISBN 9780750938648Template:Inconsistent citations
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - The Fortean Times Book of Strange Deaths. 2011. ISBN 9781907779978Template:Inconsistent citations
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - The Fortean Times Book of More Strange Deaths. October 1998. ISBN 9781902212029Template:Inconsistent citations
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External links
- Curious and Unusual Deaths Pictures. Discovery Channel.
- Freakish Fatalities Snopes.com