Death is a strange thing. It’s an inexorable part of life, it’s very close to us and every single living being, yet it’s still incredible mysterious. Under most circumstances, we see death as a tragedy: something to mourn about and to cry for. But then there are also those rare cases where dark humor gets the better of us, and, under very particular situations, we learn to see death with a different face: a lighter, far more illuminating tone that might at least allow us to learn something from other people’s mistakes.
So many have lived and died throughout the many years of human civilization that there are bound to be some deaths that we find… unusual, perhaps even funny or, at least, ironic. Many of these stories serve as cautionary tales; others, as mere curiosities. In any case, they’re worth knowing. Here are the 10 strangest and most unusual deaths in history.
Cows falling from the sky
2013
One seemingly ordinary night, João Maria de Souza was sleeping soundly when, suddenly, a cow fell through the roof in his home in Caratinga, Brazil, and crushed him. Apparently, the cow climbed to the top of the house from a tall cliff that was right behind it, and the roof crumbled under its weight. Though João died, both his wife—who was also sleeping on the bed—and the cow came out of the incident unscathed. Talk about an unforeseen circumstance.
A vengeance from beyond the grave
892
Sigurd the Mighty was a Norse nobleman and the second Earl of Orkney who by the end of the 9th century had defeated and beheaded his foe, Máel Brigte. Sigurd then tied his dead enemy’s severed head to his horse’s saddle, and rode off in victory. While riding, one of Brigte’s protruding teeth scraped Sigurd’s leg, which caused a severe infection that killed the Earl shortly after. It seems Brigte had the last laugh in the end.
Did you know…
the Norse Sagas are ancient stories that narrate the heroic deeds of many Nordic and Germanic warriors, usually Vikings. Sigurd’s life and death is told on the Heimskringla and Orkneyinga sagas.
Dancing Fever
1518
Can you believe dancing oneself to death is a thing? If you don’t, you’re in for a treat. During the 16th century, as many as 400 people suddenly began dancing with no apparent reason in Strasbourg—and they didn’t stop. They kept going until they collapsed from exhaustion, and many of them died from strokes and heart attacks. This was the most famous instance of the so-called dancing mania, or dancing plague, which ravaged Europe from the 14th to 17th centuries, affecting men, women, and even children. This mysterious plague made people dance seemingly against their will, without being able to stop, for weeks upon weeks on end. The whole affair remains unexplained to this day.
A fatally successful demonstration
1871
In the 19th century, a US lawyer & politician by the name of Clement Vallandigham was defending a man accused of murder. Vallandigham’s defense relied on the possibility that the victim could have accidentally shot himself, rather than being shot by his client. So, in order to prove his hypothesis, Vallandigham grabbed a weapon and demonstrated how the mishap could have come about. In doing so, he accidentally shot himself, thus successfully showing how the victim could’ve accidentally shot himself. Though Vallandigham died, his client was in fact acquitted. Silver linings, I guess.
Did you know…
Clement Vallandigham was leader of an anti-war Democratic faction during the American Civil War. He got convicted at an Army court martial for opposing the war and was exiled to the Confederacy. He also served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and even ran for governor of Ohio, but was defeated.
Pushing windows too far
1993
Speaking of fearless lawyers, the story of Toronto’s Garry Hoy is also… unusual. In short, the lawyer wanted to prove that the glass in the windows of an office, located on the 24th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Center, was unbreakable, so he committed to his demonstration for dramatic effect. Hoy threw himself straight into the window. Not a chair, not a fire extinguisher, but himself. And while the glass indeed didn’t break (proving his point), the window did pop out of its frame, plunging the surprised lawyer to his death.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
455 BC
Back in the times of Ancient Greece there were three great Athenian playwrights of renowned tragedies. The eldest of them was called Aeschylus. According to later latin writers, Aeschylus was scared of a prophecy that said he would be killed by a falling object. To avoid this fate, he made it a point to stay outdoors, in wide open spaces, so that nothing could strike him from above. One fine day, as he was taking a stroll in the countryside, an eagle mistook his bald head for a rock to shatter the shell of a tortoise on. The eagle dropped its intended prey onto Aeschylus’ head and killed the famous playwright on the spot.
The definition of irony
1864
During the American Civil War, Union Army general John Sedgwick rose to fame for his rather ironic death—one of the most peculiar ones in the history of war. You see, Sedgwick was probing skirmish lines with his troops in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House when they came under sniper fire on May, 1864. The Confederate sharpshooters were over 1,000 yards away, and their bullets kept flying over the Union soldiers. This caused many soldiers and members of Sedgwick’s staff to duck and take cover, but Sedgwick himself was unfazed. He stood and strolled around in the open, mocking his men for their over-precaution. “Why are you dodging like this?,” he said to them, “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” Shortly after, a sniper bullet hit General Sedgwick in the head, killing him instantly.
Too consistent for his own good
5th century BC
Once upon a time, there was a Greek lawmaker from Sicily named Charondas. Working in the Assembly (the legislative body of his city), Charondas feared anyone could use force to threaten its members into producing an unjust legislation, so, to utterly discourage this, he issued a law which stipulated that anyone who brought weapons into the Assembly must be put to death. One day, after some time passed with the law in place, Charondas went hunting and arrived at the Assembly with a knife still attached to his belt, having completely forgotten that he had it. Since it was his own law that now demanded his death, he saw no other option than to kill himself. That’s a man who stood for what he believed in… right?
Did you know…
Some accounts claim that Charondas was actually a pupil of Pythagoras, the famous mathematician. Aristotle commented on his laws centuries after Charondas’ death.
The Eiffel Tragedy
1912
Austrian-born French tailor, Franz Reichelt, was an enthusiastic inventor who’d sell fashion designs during the day and work on his inventions during the night (or, well, during his free time). His life’s project was a parachute that could allow people to safely land from medium heights—what we now call base jumping. On February 4, 1912, he got permission to test his invention from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Though authorities initially thought he’d use a dummy for the experiment, he surprised audiences when he told the world he would do it himself—he had that much faith on his invention. So, he climbed the tower, dressed up, and jumped. The device didn’t work, so he fell to his tragic death.
Warning: the video below has graphic content.
Death by eternal life
210 BC
The very first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, was a colossal force during his time. He was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the very first ruler to unify the whole of China—which was a huge deal. You know the Great Wall of China and the famous Terracotta Army? Those were his projects. Having accomplished so much in his lifetime, Qin Shi Huang wanted more. Like most, he was drawn to the notion of eternal life, and his alchemists came up with something: they fashioned mercury pills and told the Emperor they were the elixir of immortality. This poisoned him, of course, and ended up killing him soon after.
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