# Can Someone Acutally "Will" Themself to Death? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379 "2004-08-11T16:38:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/1 "2004-08-11T16:38:10Z")
I was watching Six Feet Under on HBO over the weekend and one of the premises of the show was that an elderly man had driven himself to the funeral home and then somehow “willed” himself to die. It didn’t look as if he had taken anything to hasten death, or had rigged the car to fill up with exhaust, he just decided to die right there and then. In the story I think he was supposed to be 80 years old. I know this is pure fiction, but is there any recorded account of an otherwise healthy person saying I’m going to die now and then just die for no apparent reason? Can someone know they are going to die in say the next half hour? I don’t think this has ever happened, without someone actually committing suicide, but I really don’t know. I googled but couldn’t find anything… Steve ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/2 "2004-08-11T16:52:18Z")
Jainism reportedly has a series of ascetic practices that allows very spiritually advanced practioners to hasten their own deaths, but it does involve taking action beyond simply willing it, like fasting. Speaking of which, lunchtime! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/3 "2004-08-11T17:35:36Z")
I know a number of terminally ill patients who made up their minds to “let go” and then died within a few hours or days, but they were in bad shape to start with. I don’t know of an otherwise healthy person who could wish it and then die almost immediately. I suppose I could accept the premise that someone had a _premonition_ they would die, and then had a heart attack or pulmonary embolism, but that isn’t the same as willing it. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/4 "2004-08-11T17:42:33Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Can someone know they are going to die in say the next half hour? [Sometimes](Can someone know they are going to die in say the next half hour? ) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/5 "2004-08-11T17:44:36Z")
Fixed busted link: > [@dolphinboy](#): > > Can someone know they are going to die in say the next half hour?/QUOTE] > [Sometimes](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_056.html) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/6 "2004-08-11T18:45:23Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I know a number of terminally ill patients who made up their minds to “let go” and then died within a few hours or days, but they were in bad shape to start with. I don’t know of an otherwise healthy person who could wish it and then die almost immediately. Viktor Frankl wrote something similar in _Man’s Search for Meaning_ about his fellow Auschwitz inmantes; sometimes you could tell when a man had decided to die by the fact that they simply lied down and smoked any cigarettes that they had hoarded. These people could generally be predicted to die very soon. I’ve heard similar stories of people entering nursing homes whose health and mental functioning would rapidly deteriorate for no one discernable reason other than the fact that they were placed in a nursing home. Maybe people don’t will themselves to die so much as some people in a distressed state decide they will no longer will themselves to live. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/7 "2004-08-11T19:25:59Z")
People have in the past developed sudden illnesses or serious conditions for no reason other than “hysteria.” For example people have suffered from sudden, unexplainable blindness due to psychological hysteria. I don’t think someone could just die like in this situation but something could happen. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/8 "2004-08-11T19:31:32Z")
My mother (bless her heart) always talked about how sick she was. One day she did get sick (stroke) and it was downhill from there. Did her mental condition cause the stroke? Probably not, but her lack of recovery might be linked to her attitude ---
**Author:** ![Avumede](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/avumede/32/7235_2.png) [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/9 "2004-08-11T21:06:18Z")
This has been covered before here, but I can’t seem to find it right now. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/10 "2004-08-11T21:37:30Z")
I seem to remember hearing an anecdote about the great mathematician Leonhard Euler saying “I die” and doing just that… Ahh, [here we go](http://www.geocities.com/ilian73/euler.html): > [@](#): > > After having amused himself one afternoon with calculating the laws of ascent of balloons, Euler dined with Lexell [a mathematical colleague] and his family. ‘Herschel’s Planet’ (Uranus) was a recent discovery. Euler outlined the calculation of its orbit. A little later he asked that his grandson be brought in. While playing with the child and drinking tea he suffered a stroke. The pipe dropped from his hand, and with the words, “I die,” Euler ceased to live and calculate. > (E. Bell, _Men of Mathematics_) ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/11 "2004-08-11T21:40:55Z")
My mother and father-in-law were a devoted couple for many years. He died in Sept 1995 after a long illness. At this time she was in good health, but she was never the same … eight months later she went rapidly downhill and died within three weeks from kidney failure. We’ve always said she willed herself to die and be with him again. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/12 "2004-08-11T21:53:38Z")
For a few years in high school I worked at a nursing home. Occasionally we would get married couples being admitted together. Of course these were elderly people who were either ill enough or not cognizant enough to live alone anymore. Almost every time when one spouse died, it was usually a matter of weeks, if not less, when the other would pass on. Until then I never believed it was possible to die of a broken heart. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/13 "2004-08-12T00:11:43Z")
My grandmother developed pancreatic cancer and during her illness my grandfather, who was previously healthy, suffered from senility rather suddenly. After a waiting period, he went to a nursing home. Two weeks after entering the facility he died. My grandmother, hospitalized at the time, was not told of her husband’s death. She died on the day of her husband’s funeral. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/14 "2004-08-12T00:24:00Z")
I thought in the SFU episode, he just knew to the minute when he’d die. His family was saying how meticulous he was, he knew every last detail of everything. ---
**Author:** ![legion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/15 "2004-08-12T00:39:03Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I know this is pure fiction, but is there any recorded account of an otherwise healthy person saying I’m going to die now and then just die for no apparent reason? Can someone know they are going to die in say the next half hour? IANAD, but, I have never noticed a “game over”, “exit” or “quit” button anywhere on anyone. However, I haven’t closely examined _that_ many people. ~sigh~ ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/16 "2004-08-12T02:38:05Z")
In her stage show/movie “God Said ‘Ha’”, Julia Sweeney tells that her brother with very advanced cancer got so far along that the family finally wished he would die for his own sake. His 30-year old (or whatever) heart and lungs just kept going, though. A counselor went in and told him to imagine jumping on a trampoline, and then just jumping off to one side and letting go of the process. He died that day. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/17 "2004-08-12T04:10:45Z")
My stepfather’s father was sent to a nursing home because he was having balance problems and couldn’t take care of himself too well. He did fine for a few weeks and his mental facilities were perfectly fine. His wife continued to live at home. One day, she decided that she wanted to move into the nursing home too and get taken care of. She moved in to the same room. My stepfather got a call from his father that night and was told that it was terrible having his mother in the same room because she wouldn’t shut up and kept nagging him. He said that he couldn’t take it. The next morning, they found him dead in his bed. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/18 "2004-08-12T04:11:48Z")
Of natural causes I should add. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/19 "2004-08-12T05:12:13Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > I don’t think this has ever happened, without someone actually committing suicide, but I really don’t know. > > I googled but couldn’t find anything… As did I. “‘Funeral home’ death car ‘obscurestore’” turned up nothing relevant … but I am pretty sure this was a real news item a year or two back; an old man drove himself to the funeral home and died just as he pulled into the parking lot. Surely it ws discussed here … anybody?? Stories of spouses who died within months, weeks, or days of their loved ones’ death are quite common, I think. But driving oneself, on one’s last breath, to the morturary – that’s unusual. ---
**Author:** ![fabelone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/13edae/32.png) [@fabelone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fabelone)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379/20 "2014-09-14T06:36:00Z")
I know this thread is old, but Masonic and dolphinboy you just need to improve your googling skills - (or, come to think of it, perhaps Google has improved its googling skills since the time of this post). I googled masonites words «old man drove himself to the funeral home and died» and found this: [Man, 80, drives himself to funeral home and dies](http://tinyurl.com/kvdo7vs). Quite a story actually. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-acutally-will-themself-to-death/259379.md?page=2)