# Deaths that sort of define a person **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999 "2023-07-13T19:14:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/61 "2023-07-13T22:45:50Z")
Jayne Mansfeld ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/62 "2023-07-13T22:59:23Z")
Sonny Bono: Skied into a tree. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/63 "2023-07-13T23:00:14Z")
All of the Spinal Tap drummers. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/64 "2023-07-13T23:01:30Z")
Anyone in a red shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/65 "2023-07-13T23:03:38Z")
Especially if their father was a friend of Kirk at StarFleet academy. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/66 "2023-07-13T23:04:20Z")
> [@songsoflovetrouble](#): > > Nearly all deaths from things that people don’t actually die of like “autoerotic asphyxiation,” “toxic mold,” “cleaning their gun” etc. are either suicides or drug overdoses, with stories conconcted from family members in denial or people who are afraid of being blamed for supplying drugs or such. I don’t think this is true. There are few deaths more embarrassing than “autoerotic asphyxiation”, I can’t imagine anyone makes that up. Are drugs sometimes involved? No doubt. But it would be called a drug death if that was what actually killed them. And I have a distant relative who killed his girlfriend while cleaning a gun. Both her family and the police believed his story, so I’m inclined to believe it, too. It seems pretty easy to me to accidentally kill someone with a gun, that’s kinda what they are designed to do. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/67 "2023-07-13T23:05:52Z")
[Lupe Velez](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFUmv-0K4a0) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/68 "2023-07-13T23:06:21Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > All of the Spinal Tap drummers. Choked on vomit. It was someone else’s vomit. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/69 "2023-07-13T23:10:20Z")
So did Christine Chubbuck. His suicide can be viewed online; hers, AFAIK can’t. I do not wish to see either. Rebecca Schaefer is far better known for the way she died than for anything she did while alive, and I’m afraid Julian Sands may be too, although his death was probably accidental. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/70 "2023-07-13T23:15:37Z")
Garry Hoy, who tested breakproof glass the hard way. > **[Death of Garry Hoy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Garry_Hoy)** > > Garry Hoy (January 28, 1954 – July 9, 1993) was a Canadian lawyer who died when he fell from the 24th floor of his office building at the Toronto-Dominion Centre in Toronto, Ontario. In an attempt to prove to a group of prospective articling students that the building's glass windows were unbreakable, he threw himself against the glass. The glass did not break when he hit it, but the window frame gave way and Hoy fell to his death. > Garry Hoy was a corporate and securities law specialist for ... I also wish people would stop saying Robin Williams died by suicide. Yes, he chose to end his life, but he also had Lewy Body Dementia, which causes paranoia and depression, and is especially cruel among the dementias because people can live in the terminal phase for a decade or longer. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/71 "2023-07-13T23:17:31Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Gus Grissom was the second American in space and narrowly escaped death at splashdown, but even that was overshadowed by his and his crewmates death by fire in a pre-launch test. There’s a very darkly ironic aspect to this story. In the first case where Grissom nearly drowned because the hatch opened too early and the capsule started to sink, it was assumed that he panicked and triggered the hatch to open too soon, before they were ready to get him. He strongly insisted that the premature hatch opening was a malfunction that he had nothing to do with, but they didn’t believe him. So in the later capsule test, NASA had redesigned the capsule so it could only be opened from outside, _specifically because of the first incident_. Grissom and the others died in a fire because they had no way to open the hatch themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/72 "2023-07-13T23:18:38Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Jayne Mansfeld Sufficated by her own breasts. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/73 "2023-07-13T23:22:27Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Jesus Yeah, that was more than just a publicity move to sell books. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/74 "2023-07-13T23:26:28Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I don’t think this is true. There are few deaths more embarrassing than “autoerotic asphyxiation”, I can’t imagine anyone makes that up. In this case it was pretty much made up. Only Hutchence’s partner Paula Yates suggested it and the media chose to run with it. The coroner specifically stated, “There is no forensic or other evidence to substantiate this suggestion. I, therefore, discount that manner of death”. There was clear evidence of Hutchence’s anger and depression about his circumstances at the time but the myth lives on. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/75 "2023-07-13T23:30:27Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I also wish people would stop saying Robin Williams died by suicide. Yes, he chose to end his life, but he also had Lewy Body Dementia, which causes paranoia and depression, and is especially cruel among the dementias because people can live in the terminal phase for a decade or longer. A lot of things cause depression, I don’t see the point in differentiating the reasons why someone commits suicide. It’s not like there are more righteous suicides than others, with the possible exception of cowards like Epstein. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/76 "2023-07-13T23:31:23Z")
David Carradine for sure. I mean, this scene in Evil Toons will never be the same. > **[Best of the Worst: Halloween 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6kWg15CvSw?t=2200)** > > Booooo it's that time of year again! Time for the gang to drink a deadly amount of alcohol and talk about embarrassing horror movies! This year, the movies f... ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/77 "2023-07-13T23:38:51Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > Yeshua ben Yosef _(aka Jesus H. Christ)_ He got better. Allegedly. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/78 "2023-07-13T23:44:02Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Lupe Velez > **[Lupe Vélez | Death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupe_V%C3%A9lez#Death)** > > On the evening of December 13, 1944, Vélez dined with her two friends, the silent-film star Estelle Taylor and Venita Oakie. In the early morning hours of December 14, Vélez retired to her bedroom, where she consumed 75 Seconal pills and a glass of brandy. Her secretary, Beulah Kinder, said that she found the actress's body on her bed later that morning. A suicide note addressed to Harald Ramond was found nearby. It read: See also, the following section of the article, “Alternative theories and urban legends”: “Vélez’s death was recounted in the 1959 book _[Hollywood Babylon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Babylon)_ by [Kenneth Anger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Anger), and has become [urban legend](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_legend)…Despite the fact that his version of events contradicts published reports and the official ruling, his story is often repeated as fact or for comedic effect…” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2023, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/79 "2023-07-13T23:46:19Z")
[Kitty Genovese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese), She was raped and killed outside her Queens NY apartment building. A number of witnesses saw portions of the assault and heard her screams, although there may have been fewer in reality than was initially reported. Even when her name is recognized her death is the only part of her life that most ever knew. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-that-sort-of-define-a-person/986999/80 "2023-07-14T00:07:13Z")
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