# People famouse because of HOW they died... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2000, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221 "2000-11-22T02:12:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/1 "2000-11-22T02:12:14Z")
Another spin off thread. My nomination: Rasputin-poisoned, shot, stabbed, clubbed and drowned…all in one night! ---
**Author:** ![OrcaChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47c2d/32.png) [@OrcaChow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrcaChow)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/2 "2000-11-22T02:36:39Z")
**Jon Eric Hexum** , up-and-coming TV action star back in the early 80’s, IIRC. Briefly notorious because he was killed on the set, dicking around with a handgun loaded with blanks. He blew a hole in his head and the blast stuffed some debris into his brain. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/3 "2000-11-22T02:36:58Z")
Francis Bacon - March 1626, decided it was worth experimenting with the effects of very cold temperatures on the keeping qualities of meat, so he bought a fowl, stuffed it with snow, and quickly developed bronchitis, from which he died. Or Henry I of England (1135) dying from a surfeit of lampreys. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/4 "2000-11-22T03:07:53Z")
Brandon Lee, during the making of The Crow. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/5 "2000-11-22T03:11:43Z")
To repeat my nomination from the original… Christa McCauliffe. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/6 "2000-11-22T03:51:31Z")
George, The Duke of Clarence (brother of Edward IV and Richard III) is best known because he drowned in “a butt of malmsey” – in other words, a big wine barrel. Big laughs, but it appears that the barrel probably held no wine, but instead was being used as a bathtub. ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/7 "2000-11-22T03:53:21Z")
Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, Conferderate general who was shot (accidentally) by his own men Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman (repeating from my post to one of the other “death” threads) Jeffrey Dahmer, noted cannibal/serial killer, beaten (or was it stabbed?) to death in prison by another inmate ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/8 "2000-11-22T03:56:01Z")
er, that’s “Confederate” general. None of the **Confer** derates died because they were always going to meetings. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/9 "2000-11-22T04:07:28Z")
The crew of the _Andrea Gail_ I just watched the movie. Them’s some bitchin’ waves. ---
**Author:** ![hypergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/49beb7/32.png) [@hypergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hypergirl)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/10 "2000-11-22T04:30:06Z")
Catherine somebody. She died while attempting to have sex with a horse. ---
**Author:** ![Eo\_Echo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ebca7d/32.png) [@Eo\_Echo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eo_Echo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/11 "2000-11-22T04:58:38Z")
Catherine the great, tsarina of Russia. D.B. Cooper, assuming of course that he is dead by now. I mean, if getting name checked in a Kid Rock song isn’t famous, I don’t know what is. ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/12 "2000-11-22T05:55:24Z")
Wait, I thought we knew what happened to d.b. Cooper, it was just funner to ‘not’ know. Color me silly. “They couldn’t hit an elephant from this dist…” Whoever the hell that was. –Tim ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/13 "2000-11-22T07:18:17Z")
Cecil did a column about [Catherine the Great](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_109.html)’s supposed horse-inflicted death. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/14 "2000-11-22T09:02:22Z")
Edward II – he got that red-hot poker shoved up his bum. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/15 "2000-11-22T09:22:50Z")
R. “Budd” Dwyer, Pennsylvania comptroller - suicided by blowing his brains out during a press conference carried live on television. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/16 "2000-11-22T10:36:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by flodnak \* > \*\*R. “Budd” Dwyer, Pennsylvania comptroller - suicided by blowing his brains out during a press conference carried live on television. \*\* Beat me to it. Yup, how many comptrollers get hit songs written about them? Only a few. ---
**Author:** ![BobSchroeck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@BobSchroeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobSchroeck)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/17 "2000-11-22T13:02:36Z")
Dutch Shultz. Not so much for _how_ he died, exactly (which was in bed), but for his long, rambling “last words” that have turned into something of a legend. – Bob ---
**Author:** ![idiotb0x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@idiotb0x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idiotb0x)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/18 "2000-11-22T13:23:22Z")
There was an army general in either the Boer or Crimean war (I think) who is famous only because his last words were: “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist…” ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/19 "2000-11-22T14:10:39Z")
Ummm…Christ? ---
**Author:** ![idiotb0x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecae2f/32.png) [@idiotb0x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idiotb0x)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221/20 "2000-11-22T14:56:16Z")
Connor: I’m sorry…who? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-famouse-because-of-how-they-died/42221.md?page=2)