Uncommon Ends: 50 People Who Died in Strange Ways – Part 3

John Cummings started swallowing knives after watching a circus knife-swallower. He swallowed 4 knives, then later 14 knives, passing them with abdominal pain. He swallowed 20 knives and a clasp knife case, but could only pass the case. He died in 1809 after 4 years of pain. Autopsy found a knife blade and spring in his intestines, and 30-40 fragments of metal, wood, and horn in his stomach.

27. In 2018, Ateef Rafiq, 24, died from cardiac arrest in a movie theater in Birmingham, England while looking for his dropped mobile phone. His head became wedged under the electronic footrest of a seat.

28. In 2016, 17-year-old Julio Macías González, from Mexico City, died from a stroke caused by an embolus formed on a neck hickey.

29. In 2019, a man from Massachusetts died after consuming a bag and a half of black liquorice every day for a few weeks. This caused his potassium levels to drop so low that his heart stopped. Black liquorice contains glycyrrhizinic acid which interferes with the body's potassium levels, leading to a condition known as pseudohyperaldosteronism in cases of overconsumption.

30. In 2013, a Brazilian man named João Maria de Souza was crushed to death when a cow fell through his roof and landed on top of him. The cow was unharmed.

Ancient sources do not agree on how the Greek philosopher Pythagoras died. A legend suggests that he was assassinated by his political opponents while trying to escape. According to the legend, he stopped running when he came across a field of beans, which he hated and considered unclean. Since cutting through the field would violate his own teachings, Pythagoras simply stopped running and was killed.

32. Darren Hickey, a 51-year-old wedding planner from Horwich, England, died from asphyxiation in 2019 after eating a scorching hot fishcake at a wedding. His autopsy revealed symptoms similar to those of victims who have inhaled smoke during house fires, and the pathologist noted that the case was "extremely rare."

33. In 2018, Rajesh Maru, aged 32, died at Nair Hospital in Mumbai after bringing a metal oxygen tank into an MRI scanner room. The magnetic field pulled both him and the tank inside, pinning his hand and causing the tank to release liquid oxygen. He died from pneumothorax due to inhaling liquid oxygen.

34. Jeffery Bush, a 37-year-old man from Tampa, Florida, was killed in 2013 while he slept in his bedroom when a giant sinkhole measuring 15 feet wide and 20 feet deep opened below and swallowed his entire bedroom. His body was never found.

35. George Millet, an American teenager who worked as an office boy at an insurance company in the Metropolitan Life Building in New York City, died in 1909 while fleeing from six young women stenographers who were chasing him to give him kisses for his 15th birthday. He had an ink eraser in his breast pocket, and as he fell forward while trying to evade the women, the eraser's point pierced his heart, killing him.

In 2011, Jose Luis Ochoa, aged 35, died after being stabbed in the leg at an illegal cockfight in Tulare County, California, by a rooster with a knife-like spur attached to its leg.

37. Michael Scaglione died in 1982 after smashing his golf club against a golf cart. The club's head broke off and impaled him in the throat, severing his jugular vein.

38. Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada, a 25-year-old supermarket employee from Council Bluffs, Iowa, is believed to have fallen into an 18-inch (460 mm) gap between a cooler and a wall and became trapped. His body was discovered ten years later when the cooler was moved.

39. In 2005, two sisters, Mildred Bowman (62) and Alice Wardle (68), died in Benidorm, Spain, after becoming trapped for four days when their fold-up Murphy bed collapsed.

40. In 1904, Melissa Tiemann, aged 50 and from Los Angeles, California, fell from a streetcar and hit her head on the ground. The teeth of an aluminum comb she was wearing drove into her skull, causing her death.

Kenneth Pinyan, a Boeing engineer, died in 2005 after being injured during anal sex with a stallion, leading to the passing of a bill in Washington state prohibiting bestiality and the filming of such acts.

42. Abigail Taylor, a 6-year-old girl, died in 2008 after sitting on a pool drain at a golf club and suffering injuries. The pool's suction ripped out part of her intestinal tract. Despite receiving transplant surgery for new organs, she died later due to complications.

43. In 1988, a poodle named Cachy fell 13 floors in Caballito, Buenos Aires, and hit Marta Espina, 75, causing both of them to die instantly. Edith Solá, 46, who witnessed the incident, was fatally struck by a bus. An unidentified man who saw her death also had a heart attack and died on his way to the hospital.

44. In 1988, an entire football team of 11 players in Eastern Kasai, Democratic Republic of the Congo, died after being struck by lightning while playing. Local investigators blamed the incident on witchcraft, while the other team remained unharmed.

45. In 1912, Franz Reichelt, a tailor and inventor, died after jumping off the Eiffel Tower wearing a parachute of his own invention made from cloth. Despite being advised to use a dummy for the experiment, Reichelt declined, stating that he wanted to prove the worth of his invention. He is known as the "Flying Tailor."

Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident writer, was assassinated on a London street in 1978 via a micro-engineered pellet containing ricin, fired into his leg from an umbrella wielded by someone associated with the Bulgarian Secret Service. At the time, this secret police force was affiliated with the KGB.

47. Lourdes Maria da Silva of Caxias do Sul, Brazil, died in 1980 after tripping while carrying a Pyrex glass and falling on the shards, cutting an artery in her neck while climbing stairs.

48. In 1987, Paul G. Thomas, a co-owner of a wool mill in Thompson, Connecticut, suffocated after falling into a machine winding yarn between spools, becoming wrapped in approximately 800 yards (730 m) of yarn.

49. Tina Christopherson died in 1977 after consuming 4 US gallons (15 litres) of water per day to combat stomach cancer.

50. In 1939, Nicholas Comper, an aviator and aircraft designer, was attempting to light a firework in Hythe, Kent, when a passerby enquired what he was doing. Comper for fun 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.