Greatest Deaths Ever

[Guest Dead Funny]

Not necessarily great, but a little out of the ordinary. Always had a good laugh at Bill Huskisson, run over by Stephenson's Rocket tootling along at about 5mph.

[Monoclinic 39]

These aren't exactly greatest nor funniest just a little strange.

 

van Gogh: Walks into field, shoots himself in the chest, thinks oh buggar not dead so goes back home. Then suffers a slow death due to fatal internal injuries he was unaware of, caused of cause by the gunshot to the chest.

 

Attila the Hun: (could be fiction) Bled to death from a nosebleed sustained on his wedding night.

 

Al Capone: Syphilis related illness

 

Nicolae Ceauşescu: Who needs a camera phone and youtube? Just move to Romania where they show live executions* on TV. (*They did his wife too).

[VSBfromH 74]

The composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk was a fascinating character. He was born in New Orleans, the son of a Jewish businessman from London and a white Creole Haitian.

 

He was a supporter of the Union cause in the American Civil War, and was reputed to have played his piano on the battlefields!

 

He spent a lot of time in South America. In 1869 in Rio de Janeiro, having recently contracted malaria, he collapsed during a performance, having just played one of his own compositions called "Morte!!" (Death), and died 3 weeks later.

 

Another composer who died a slightly less spectacular was Charles-Valentin Alkan, who "died following being trapped beneath a falling port-parapluie (a heavy coat/umbrella rack)". A popular myth was that it was a bookcase and he had been reaching to get a copy of the "Talmud", which would have been a little more noteworthy!

[in eternum+ 22]

I think that, to date, my favourite death is that of Alexander Scriabin, who was an early 20C Russian composer. He was a megalomaniac and believed that he was going to bring about the end of the world with his composition Mysterium: Preparation for the Final Mystery, which involved (among other things) bells hanging from clouds (if I remember correctly from my undergrad days, which I do).

 

He died at a young age, when a spot on his lip turned septic after he cut himself shaving. That's what you get for harbouring delusions of grandeur, I suppose.

[Guest Guest]

This thread has got me browsing weird and wonderful deaths. Seems like 27 is the average age in the Rock world according to some university maths web page.How old is Pete Doherty again? :fingerscrossed:

[Olveres 8]

Quit horsing around

 

Apparently the horse was having sex with him. Ouch!

[Monoclinic 39]

Weird science:

 

The curse of the iceman

 

Just one drop can kill

 

To get back to researchers who are household names then Marie Curie. Discovered radiation, carried around isotopes in her lab coat, put them in her drawer amazed at the light they admitted. Died of aplastic anemia caused undoubtedly from her exposure to high energy radiation.

 

Boltzmann commited suicide due to lack of acceptance of his ideas which shortly afterwards were to be proved right via experimentation. Bummer.

[Twelvetrees 10]

I think that, to date, my favourite death is that of Alexander Scriabin, who was an early 20C Russian composer. He was a megalomaniac and believed that he was going to bring about the end of the world with his composition Mysterium: Preparation for the Final Mystery, which involved (among other things) bells hanging from clouds (if I remember correctly from my undergrad days, which I do).

 

He died at a young age, when a spot on his lip turned septic after he cut himself shaving. That's what you get for harbouring delusions of grandeur, I suppose.

 

Or the famous case of composer Jean-Baptiste Lully who, when conducting a work celebrating the recovery of Louis XIV from illness, succeeded in stabbing himself in the foot with it, dying of an infection two months later.

[Twelvetrees 10]

Or the famous case of composer Jean-Baptiste Lully who, when conducting a work celebrating the recovery of Louis XIV from illness, succeeded in stabbing himself in the foot with it, dying of an infection two months later.

 

Sorry, edited myself too zealously. Stabbed himself in the foot with a staff as he was beating time.

 

How about Major General John Sedgwick, at the battle of Spotsylvania in the US Civil War in 1864. His last words were evidently "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..."

[VSBfromH 74]

One of my favourites from the Darwin Awards (probably already featured on our pages, but worth repeating):

 

"Some men will got to extraordinary lengths to prove how macho they are. Frenchman Pierre Pumpille recently shunted a stationary car two feet by headbutting it. "Women thought I was a god," he explained from his hospital bed.

 

Deity or not, however, Pumpille is a veritable girl's blouse compared to Polish farmer Krystof Azninski, who staked a strong claim to being Europe's most macho man by cutting off his own head in 1995. Azninski, 30, had been drinking with friends when it was suggested they strip naked and play some "men's games". Initially they hit each other over the head with frozen turnips, but then one man upped the ante by seizing a chainsaw and cutting off the end of his foot. Not to be outdone, Azninski grabbed the saw and, shouting "Watch this then," he swung at his own head and chopped it off.

 

"It's funny," said one companion, "when he was young he put on his sister's underwear. But he died like a man." "

 

( From http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-07.html )

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Before this thread goes off at too much of a tangent, could it be stressed that 'Greatest' in the context of this thread title refers to 'important or highly significant' rather than 'favourite', 'humorous' or 'done to death before.'

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,688]

Weird science:

 

The curse of the iceman

 

Just one drop can kill

 

To get back to researchers who are household names then Marie Curie. Discovered radiation, carried around isotopes in her lab coat, put them in her drawer amazed at the light they admitted. Died of aplastic anemia caused undoubtedly from her exposure to high energy radiation.

 

Boltzmann commited suicide due to lack of acceptance of his ideas which shortly afterwards were to be proved right via experimentation. Bummer.

 

BBC4 did a series earlier this year about doctors and scientists who used themselves as guinea pigs, often with predictably disastrous results.

 

Still, gobbling trips like smarties obviously hasn't done Albert Hofmann too much harm and I hope he did a tab of 'evil clown' to celebrate his 100th. I prefer a little DMT (the businessman's lunch trip) myself - pricier, but doesn't f**k off a whole day. And those multi-coloured pixies are so, like, awesome...

[Guest Sixtyten]

Before this thread goes off at too much of a tangent, could it be stressed that 'Greatest' in the context of this thread title refers to 'important or highly significant' rather than 'favourite', 'humorous' or 'done to death before.'

 

Well then it's probably going to be the death of old arch duke Franz Ferdinand - or Martin Luther King, if we're going to be sensible...

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,688]

what are the greatest ever deaths?

 

God, in 1882.

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

Before this thread goes off at too much of a tangent, could it be stressed that 'Greatest' in the context of this thread title refers to 'important or highly significant' rather than 'favourite', 'humorous' or 'done to death before.'

 

Well, actually it also was intended to be deaths that if you heard about it, you'd go, "whoa!". For example, a top 10 (using 20th century onwards as an arbitrary cut-off point) might look something like:

 

1. JFK

2. Diana

3. Anwar Sadat

4. Martin Luther King

5. John Lennon

6. Robert Kennedy

7. Kurt Cobain

8. Yitzhak Rabin

9. Benito Mussolini

10. Ayrton Senna

[Olveres 8]

Before this thread goes off at too much of a tangent, could it be stressed that 'Greatest' in the context of this thread title refers to 'important or highly significant' rather than 'favourite', 'humorous' or 'done to death before.'

 

Well, actually it also was intended to be deaths that if you heard about it, you'd go, "whoa!". For example, a top 10 (using 20th century onwards as an arbitrary cut-off point) might look something like:

 

1. JFK

2. Diana

3. Anwar Sadat

4. Martin Luther King

5. John Lennon

6. Robert Kennedy

7. Kurt Cobain

8. Yitzhak Rabin

9. Benito Mussolini

10. Ayrton Senna

 

Martin Luther King, yet no Malcolm X?

[Monoclinic 39]

Before this thread goes off at too much of a tangent, could it be stressed that 'Greatest' in the context of this thread title refers to 'important or highly significant' rather than 'favourite', 'humorous' or 'done to death before.'

 

Well, actually it also was intended to be deaths that if you heard about it, you'd go, "whoa!". For example, a top 10 (using 20th century onwards as an arbitrary cut-off point) might look something like:

 

1. JFK

2. Diana

3. Anwar Sadat

4. Martin Luther King

5. John Lennon

6. Robert Kennedy

7. Kurt Cobain

8. Yitzhak Rabin

9. Benito Mussolini

10. Ayrton Senna

 

Martin Luther King, yet no Malcolm X?

 

If it's a list of assassinations how's about Ghandi, Guevara, Jill Dando?

Or a died too young list how's about Monroe, Peron, Marley...

 

I'm sorry that I am one of the culprits who have taken this off course however I must add that IMHO the impact factor of a death is not great if you weren't born or that you were very young when they died. Hence for me Cobain and Senna are a lot higher than JFK or Lennon.

 

Edit - little titbit for Harry re Guinea pigs. Tasting your newly made compounds was part and parcel in ye olden day chemistry

[Dave to the Grave 11]

Joe Orton's is an interesting one. I wonder if Kenneth Halliwell ever heard the late, great Cloclo sing, 'Si j'avais un marteau'? I'd like to think so.

[Tempus Fugit 214]

.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

Well, clearly, we are moving away from the "Greatest Deaths Ever" which isnt suprising as much of it will be down to personal opinion as to level of fame and how great the Death was etc, etc.

For example, who would have guessed that Rock Hudson pushed brown barges and his utter promiscuity led to his premature death.

Could Jimi Hendrix have done with a girl friend who knew how to use a phone to ring 999 instead of, allegedly, waiting beyond his point of no return?

The death of Jesus is wholly dependent on whether you believe that he actually existed, not the greatest death for me because there is no absolute proof he lived.

JFKs death was before I was born and, as such, its impact shouldnt be as great to me as for those that remember it. Ive seen so many documentaries about him, read so many articles, know all about the conspiracy theories and understand acutely how the world was back in 63 that I actually do understand just how much of an impact his death made.

Lets face it, few people like Dubya, his premature passing would cause shock to a few and relief to many.

JFKs death led to genuine grief around the world. He was seen, at the time, to be Greatness personified.

Despite what we know now, there is no question that he was a Political giant, a world leader that has never been equalled since.

Still the Top trump.

[Octopus of Odstock 2,187]

Maurice Papon, for personal reasons.

 

 

From a personal point of view, hearing of Michele Alboreto's death is the only one that has completely stopped me from what I was doing & just dropping everything & going for a walk to ruminate.

 

Rabin & Senna's was expected to an extent, Diana's was joyous, I'd never heard of Cobain & I'm too young to remember the others.

 

Mind you, River Phoenix's death was one that affected us at school the most, apart from Mr Bather, our chemistry teacher, and his early demise two minutes after our final class of the day.

[CarolAnn 926]

Carol, apparently Vic Morrow died a hero, saving two children from certain death. Correct?

 

 

 

No, they all died in a helicopter crash while making The Twilight Zone - two of them decapitated, the other crushed.

 

Kennedy got shot. What's so great about that?

 

**edit: OK. I misunderstood the thrust here. I still don't see why a mediocre president getting the back of his head blown off should be a #1 death, but hey - I'm only an American.

 

 

 

Anyway, God kept coming back and dying over and over again. Just ask Time magazine.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

Carol, apparently Vic Morrow died a hero, saving two children from certain death. Correct?

 

 

 

No, they all died in a helicopter crash while making The Twilight Zone - two of them decapitated, the other crushed.

 

Kennedy got shot. What's so great about that?

 

**edit: OK. I misunderstood the thrust here. I still don't see why a mediocre president getting the back of his head blown off should be a #1 death, but hey - I'm only an American.

 

 

 

Anyway, God kept coming back and dying over and over again. Just ask Time magazine.

 

Maybe JFK was seen more favourably overseas than at home, bit like Tony "Twat Head" Blair was.

PS: Was it the back of his head? I thought he was shot from the Grassy knoll.

[Youth in Asia 1,086]

Michael Hutchence, Stephen Milligan and others who died w@nking

 

And personally speaking, the bloke in the seat in front of me on a BA flight 1 year ago. I don't know if he was famous or not, but that's the one I'll remember the most probably.

[Handrejka 1,903]

Michael Hutchence, Stephen Milligan and others who died w@nking

 

And personally speaking, the bloke in the seat in front of me on a BA flight 1 year ago. I don't know if he was famous or not, but that's the one I'll remember the most probably.

 

Did he die wanking too?