# Bizarre deaths **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 14, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232 "2003-03-14T01:50:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232/81 "2003-06-22T02:12:41Z")
Thought of a few more bizarre deaths I had previously overlooked: Ptolemy XI Alexander II, Pharoah of Egypt (c.105 B.C.E. - 80 B.C.E.) who murdered his wife/half-sister/cousin/stepmother Berenike III soon after their wedding. She had been very popular among the populance, and her death enraged the Alexandrians to the point where a mob descended upon the royal palace, howling for PXIAII’s blood. They broke inside, dragged him off his throne, and tore him limb from limb. Ouch. Prince Federico Napoleone Bacciochi (1810-1833), a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, died after a statue fell on him. Floris I, Count of Holland, was taking a nap under a tree in 1076 when his enemies happened upon him. His skeleton was examined in the 20th century and it was ruled that he had been beaten to death by several men with large clubs. Also a correction to an earlier bizarre death: it was Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Prussia, not his brother Friedrich, who was run over by a tank in 1977. Prince Friedrich is very much alive. .:Nichol:. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232/82 "2003-06-22T02:45:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pugluvr \* > I was looking at snopes this very day for something else, and came across the sad tale of a man who, while being chased by police, jumped from the roof of a building and landed on an iron fence. But he landed in such a way that his head caught on the top of the fence and popped neatly off of his body. Snopes, I suppose feeling they must prove that this is not an urban legend, even posted pictures of the gruesome accident. It was only a year or so ago in Chicago that a man fell off the roof of a 3-story apartment building and landed on top of an iron-picket fence (looks like a bunch of spears welded together). Impaled, of course - but the number and spacing of the “spears” was such that it left a perforated line across his midsection and he tore in half. His upper half stayed stuck on the fence and his lower half and legs landed on the sidewalk. Quite gruesome. ---
**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232/83 "2003-06-22T07:44:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doc’ Trauma \* > \*\*This was told to me as a cautionary tale when I was in EMT class. They gave us handouts, (real photocopies!) so it might be true. > > A man and his 8 year old son while mowing the lawn had taken to tossing the clippings into a unused septic tank with a large opening on top (why, I don’t know). The son leaned over and looked into the hole and was overcome by the methane fumes inside. He fell in. Father dove in after him and was soon quickly overcome. The wife had called 911 and soon police showed up to assist. The first cop climbed in and was overcome by the fumes. A firefighter arrived next and you guessed it. A Second firefighter smartly donned his SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) and climed in. He handed out the child and then while trying to get some of the rescuers out removed his mask so he could see and was overcome. A third firefighter climbed in and didn’t remove his SCBA. Apparently the only one to survive the ordeal was the child and the third firefighter. \*\* It’s certainly feasible; my friend’s dad was a repairman for the local phone company, and his training involved a warning of the dangers of methane fumes in manholes that can lead to sudden death in many cases. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232/84 "2003-06-22T10:48:57Z")
One case which was in our local paper in 2000 or 2001: A hunter from a nearby town (Bad Urach, Germany) was determined to have been shot to death by his hunting dog. Apparently he had put his loaded hunting rifle on his car’s back seat and the dog had enthusiastically jumped on it. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232/85 "2003-06-22T11:12:34Z")
The various “Book of Lists” and maybe their parent “People’s Almanac” have some of these. I can’t remember precisely who, when, where, but the how I do recall. One of the ancient Greeks was killed by a blow to the head of a turtle that had been dropped by an eagle (maybe it was a hawk). And some guy in the “old West” was thrown from his horse and landed head first on a nail that was standing upright in the dirt. I consider that one to be an indication that “his time had come.” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232/86 "2003-06-22T15:08:38Z")
> [@](#): > > I hear that about King Edward II who got a red-hot poker in the ass. Also, he was gay, so it was thought that his manner of execution showed the wit of his executers. The story I heard was that not only that, but his “favourite,” Hugh le Despenser, had been previously killed by being emasculated and being allowed to bleed to death. It seems that Despenser was the top and Edward the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232/87 "2003-06-22T15:24:39Z")
The Foretan Times published several books of bizarre deaths of which I’m ashamed to say I own two. However my favourite’s, not from the books ,are Julius Caesar (not that one but his father) who death is listed in Lempiere’s classical dictionary as simply “died while doing up his shoes” and Eschilus an ancient Greek playright who died when a tortoise was dropped on his bald head by and Eagle, mistaking it for a rock. ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232/88 "2003-06-26T01:57:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Man With The Golden Gun \* > **I hear that about King Edward II who got a red-hot poker in the ass. Also, he was gay, so it was thought that his manner of execution showed the wit of his executers.** That’s the commonly cited story, but seems to be a legend, as none of Edward’s executioners ever talked, and there’s even a suspicion that he escaped capivity and survived for many years after this incident is supposed to have occured. But don’t be disappointed, poker fans! Edward’s brother-in-law, Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, got a ice-cold poker in the same place with the same result in 1322. According to Ian Mortimer’s “The Greatest Traitor”: > [@](#): > > Hereford led the fight on the bride, but he and his men were caught in the arrow fire. Then one of de Harclay’s pikemen, concealed beneath the bridge, thrust upwards between the planks and skewered the Earl of Hereford through the anus, twisting the head of the iron pike into his intestines. His dying screams turned the advance into a panic. Medieval warfare, how chivalrous. .:Nichol:. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bizarre-deaths/161232.md?page=4)