1Escape rooms
In 2019, 5 teenagers died after a fire in escape rooms in Poland. Poland’s interior minister then ordered fire safety inspections at more than 1,000 escape room locations across the country. Previously, there was no official requirement for fire safety certificates at such locations.
2. American singer John Denver's death was caused by his inability to switch fuel tanks during flight. The selector valve handle should have been located between the pilot's legs, but the builder put it behind the pilot's left shoulder. The fuel gauge was behind the pilot, not visible to him.
3. Tennis player Vitas Gerulaitis died at the age of 40, while visiting a friend's home in Southampton, New York. An improperly installed pool heater caused carbon monoxide gas to seep into the guesthouse where he was sleeping, causing his death by carbon monoxide poisoning.
4. Attila the Hun died of a nosebleed. On his wedding night, he drank heavily and passed out in his bed. He then had a severe nosebleed and choked to death on his own blood.
5. In 20 A.D., Claudius Drusus died while playing. He threw a pear up into the air, and when it came back down, he caught it in his mouth, but he choked on it, and died of asphyxiation.
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6Dorian Corey
When legendary drag performer Dorian Corey died, in her belongings they found a preserved body with a gunshot to the head, that she had kept for around 15 years.
7. Shortly after English comedian Benny Hill died in 1992, grave-robbers dug up his grave under the mistaken belief that he was buried with copious amounts of gold and jewelry. He was re-buried with a 1-foot thick slab of concrete on top to prevent future disturbances.
8. In 2015, a basketball player named Shanice Clark was found dead in her bed, the cause of death was ruled to be falling asleep with gum in her mouth and breathing it into her lungs.
9. Singer Kirsty MacColl died a hero. While in Mexico, a speedboat was heading right at her and her son. She managed to push her 15-year-old son out of the way just in time but was run over in the process. She was killed instantly.
10. Elvis Presley died while trying to poop in his toilet: he had an enlarged colon, which makes this activity harder. Due to rigor mortis, his body was found still in the seating position, but fallen forward on the floor, head down.
11Teenage wrestler
A 19-year-old wrestler died after losing 9 pounds in 8.5 hours by exercising vigorously in a hot environment wearing a vapor-impermeable suit under a cotton warm-up suit. He resumed exercising 2 hours after the weight loss and died from cardiac arrest an hour later.
12. Queen Elizabeth's grandfather, King George V, was euthanized by his physician. The physician wrote in his journal that he euthanized the King so that his death would be announced in the morning newspapers, rather than the "less appropriate evening journals."
13. PFC LaVena Johnson was found dead in 2005 at a base in Balad, Iraq. Initially ruled a suicide, an autopsy revealed she had a broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns from corrosive chemicals on her genitals. The Army has refused to reopen the case.
14. When William the Conqueror died his funeral was delayed for several days. By the time they laid him to rest his body was too bloated from decay to fit in his tomb. They tried to force it in and he exploded.
15. George Washington died when his doctors tried to cure his epiglottitis (i.e. inflamed throat) with bloodletting. He lost more than half his blood before they stopped the treatment, and died just hours later.
16Jermaine Fuller
Jermaine Fuller, the singer of Peanut Butter Jelly Time died in an 11-hour police standoff during which time his brother-in-law Snoop Dogg attempted to calm him down and surrender.
17. In 1924, a Russian scientist named Alexander Bogdanov started blood transfusion experiments, hoping to achieve eternal youth. After 11 blood transfusions, he claimed he had improved his eyesight and stopped balding. He died after a transfusion with a student suffering from malaria and Tuberculosis (The student fully recovered).
18. Pope John XII was the only Pope who was ever beaten to death by a jealous husband for sleeping with his wife. He was also accused of turning the papal palace into a brothel, sleeping with his niece, toasting the devil, ordaining a 10-year-old boy, and misusing papal funds to pay gambling debts.
19. Hours after Nintendo announced the death of their CEO, Satoru Iwata, a rainbow appeared over their headquarters in Kyoto, Japan. It was dubbed "The Rainbow Road to Heaven."
20. When George Washington died in 1799, the British Royal Navy was ordered to lower their flags to half mast. The London Morning Chronicle opined that ‘The whole range of history does not present to our view a character upon which we can dwell with such entire and unmixed admiration.’
21Mother and wife
Theodore Roosevelt's mother (Martha Bulloch Roosevelt) died at age 49 and less than twelve hours later, his wife Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt died from what was diagnosed as acute kidney disease. In his diary that night, the 26-year-old Theodore placed a large X, along with the simple words “The light has gone out of my life.”
22. Rasputin's autopsy showed no signs of poisoning, no water in his lungs, and in-tact genitalia. He simply died from three bullet wounds and the popular story of his incredible survivability is likely completely inaccurate.
23. When the famous pirate Henry Morgan died, an amnesty was declared so pirates and privateers could come and pay their respects without fear of arrest. He was also given a state funeral in Port Royal, and buried with a 22-gun salute.
24. When Pablo Picasso died at the age of 91, he left more than 45,000 works. In 1980 the Picasso estate was appraised at $250 million, but experts have said the true value was actually in the billions. Picasso did not leave a will so the division of his holdings took six years among seven heirs.
25. When he was 26, Pete Maravich said "I don't want to play 10 years in the NBA and die of a heart attack at age 40" in an interview. He went on to play 10 years in the NBA and died of a heart attack at age 40.
