50 Bizarre Facts Surrounding Unusual Deaths – Part 2

In 1967, the Soviet cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov died in an accident on the Soyuz 1 mission, making him the first human to die in a space flight. Komarov was aware of the faulty design of the shuttle and specifically asked the authorities to give him an open casket funeral after the mission.

2. Over the last decade, there have been at least 15 cases of athletes who have died from over-hydration during sporting events. Too much fluid consumption can cause serious health issues by diluting the sodium in the blood, which creates a swelling of the brain and lungs.

3. A woman who successfully underwent a lung transplant went into anaphylactic shock after eating peanut butter. Prior to her transplant she never had problems eating peanuts. She learned that the 12-year-old who had donated the lungs had a peanut allergy and had died from an anaphylactic shock.

4. In 882, Louis III of France mounted his horse in pursuit of a girl who was running to seek refuge in her father's house. He then rode through a low door, hit his head on the lintel and fractured his skull. He died childless. He is one of two French kings to die from hitting a door lintel.

5. King George II of Britain died from his heart bursting from exerting too much pressure while pooping.

In 1926 to overcome grief after the death of his wife, famed sharpshooter Annie Oakley, Francis Butler refused to eat and died of starvation 18 days later at the age of 78.

7. Hungarian nobleman György Dózsa led a peasants’ revolt against the kingdom’s nobility in 1514. After he lost the battle, he was made to sit on a smoldering hot throne with a burning crown on his head to mock his ambitions, followed by more torture that led to his death.

8. Former Vice President Alben W. Barkley suddenly collapsed and died from a massive heart attack during his keynote speech at the Washington and Lee University Mock Convention upon uttering: "I would rather be a servant in the House of the Lord than sit in the seats of the mighty." April 30, 1956.

9. Uesugi Kenshin was a Daimyo (powerful lord) in Feudal Japan who died a controversial death. One account claims that he was assassinated when a ninja hiding in his latrine killed him when he went to relieve himself.

10. Johnny Cash’s brother, Jack, died when he was 14 after getting mangled by a table saw. Johnny, who admired his brother a lot, was heartbroken. According to his sister, Johnny helped dig Jack’s grave.

King Alexander of Greece died after being bitten by a monkey that had attacked his German shepherd. This significantly impacted Balkan history and Winston Churchill later wrote, "it is perhaps no exaggeration to remark that a quarter of a million persons died of this monkey's bite."

12. A 17th century composer Jean-Baptiste Lully died after stabbing himself in his pinky toe with his conducting baton during a performance. The resulting gangrene spread to his leg, which he refused to have amputated, so that he could continue to dance. It eventually spread to his brain, killing him.

13. Charles VIII of France fell in a coma after he hit his head on the lintel of a door while leaving a game of Tennis and died hours later.

14. "Pistol" Pete Maravich, the greatest college basketball scorer of all time, and NBA all-star was born with one coronary artery, while the rest of us have two. He died while playing a pickup basketball game at the age of 40. At death, his heart was scarred and enlarged from oxygen deprivation.

15. Former French president Felix Faure died of a seizure in his office while having sex with his mistress. He was the first French president to die of natural causes while holding office.

Artist Patrick Nagel, known for his influential 80's pop art, died at the age of 38 of a heart attack while completing a celebrity aerobathon to raise money for the American Heart Association.

17. A frail youth named Wei Jie who lived in 3rd Century A.D. in China was considered to be so beautiful that hordes of admirers mobbed him/his home all day, which caused him to die of stress. "Wei Jie died of stares" is now a Chinese idiom describing celebrities who have very obsessive fandoms.

18. Famous French philosopher René Descartes died in Stockholm, Sweden after contracting pneumonia at the cold and draughty castle of Queen Christina where he agreed to teach her 3 times a week at 5 am.

19. 87 men died on the Potomac after two ships collided while searching for John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

20. As many as three US Presidents, and also Abraham Lincoln's son (William Wallace Lincoln), may have died as a result of a contaminated water supply to the White House. Until 1850 there was no sewage system and a field of human excrement called "night soil" flowed freely into the water supply.

“Starvation Doctor” Linda Burfield Hazzard, who wrote the book, “Fasting for the Cure of Disease,” was convicted of manslaughter in 1912 for a patient’s death by starvation. At least 15 deaths are attributed to her “care.” While doing a fasting cure on herself in 1938 she died of starvation.

22. In 1975, a Japanese kabuki actor named Bandō Mitsugorō VIII claimed he was immune to the poison and ordered and ate 4 fugu pufferfish livers in one sitting. He died 8 hours later.

23. The Unfinished Portrait is a watercolor of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that was in progress at the time of his collapse and subsequent death. This portrait was never finished.

24. When former president Teddy Roosevelt died in his sleep in 1919, Thomas R. Marshall, the sitting vice-president, said "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."

25. Despite the widespread success of his song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," Solomon Linda never received a cent of its royalties and died poor in 1962. He didn't even get a gravestone until 18 years after his death.