# Weird Celebrity Deaths **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134 "2016-02-25T20:16:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/61 "2016-02-26T18:23:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Right. It could have been a piece of anyone’s brain. They couldn’t \*prove \*it was Crane’s brain; they had no DNA testing in those days. I believe a new trial was held later with some new evidence, but the jury again refused to convict. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/62 "2016-02-26T18:36:32Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Right. It could have been a piece of anyone’s brain. Haven’t you ever heard of giving someone a piece of your mind? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/63 "2016-02-26T18:37:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > They couldn’t \*prove \*it was Crane’s brain; they had no DNA testing in those days. > > I believe a new trial was held later with some new evidence, but the jury again refused to convict. I don’t think it was ever conclusively identified as brain tissue. I’m not saying that it wasn’t, but it’s a big risk to identify a speck as brain tissue from just a photo. There was blood that matched Cranes, type matched Cranes (B-10% of population), but this was years before DNA testing was available to cinch it. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/64 "2016-02-26T20:25:36Z")
Again stretching “celebrity” here, but a local St. Louis weatherman, [Bob Richards](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-03-24/news/9403240180_1_weatherman-tapes-rival-station), had an affair and after it broke off he kept calling and harassing the woman. Local “shock jock” radio DJs got hold of the voice messages he left, and played them on their morning show. Upset over the affair in general and the DJs embarrassing him, he took off in his private plane, and flew it straight into the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/65 "2016-02-26T20:37:15Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Again stretching “celebrity” here, but a local St. Louis weatherman, [Bob Richards](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-03-24/news/9403240180_1_weatherman-tapes-rival-station), had an affair and after it broke off he kept calling and harassing the woman. Local “shock jock” radio DJs got hold of the voice messages he left, and played them on their morning show. > > Upset over the affair in general and the DJs embarrassing him, he took off in his private plane, and flew it straight into the ground. Man, I hadn’t thought about that in a long time. I always thought he was a pretty funny guy. He and Mike Bush (sports anchor at the time) ran some great ads. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/66 "2016-02-26T20:48:07Z")
Professional wrestler Owen Hart died when he was dressed up as the Blue Blazer at a WWF PPV event in 1999. He was being lowered to the ring via cable, and was supposed to make it look like he was tangled up and trying to get loose. He somehow triggered his quick-release mechanism early and fell 78 feet to his death. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/67 "2016-02-26T20:54:48Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Helmut Köllen, bassist and vocalist for the German prog-rock band Triumvirat, died of carbon monoxide poisoning while he was listening to tapes of some studio tracks on his car stereo, in a closed garage with the engine running. Guess how old he was. Yep. 27. :o > **[Helmut Köllen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_K%C3%B6llen)** > > Helmut Köllen (2 March 1950 – 3 May 1977) was a West German bass and guitar player as well as a singer for the band Triumvirat. > Early in his musical career, Helmut Köllen gained experience in various local bands in Cologne, West Germany.\[n 1\] In the seventies, he became the bassist and vocalist for the progressive rock band Triumvirat, after replacing Hans-Georg Pape (who had just got married) the band's previous bass player, who left the group before the completion of one of their most succes... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/68 "2016-02-26T21:00:02Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > The great American baritone Leonard Warren was performing in Verdi’s Don Carlo, and had just sung an aria that began “Morir, tremenda cosa” (to die, a momentous thing) when he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died onstage. In 1995, R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry collapsed onstage with a ruptured brain aneurysm. Incredibly, he made a full recovery. This was a few years after several shows had to be cancelled because he came down with a mysterious disease that was eventually diagnosed as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, probably contracted while he was doing yard work during a few days that he had off at home. In other words, he almost died from a bizarre gardening accident, and then exploded onstage. :smack: And what were his main symptoms when he had RMSF? High fever and intractable vomiting. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/69 "2016-02-26T21:00:53Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Again stretching “celebrity” here, but a local St. Louis weatherman, [Bob Richards](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-03-24/news/9403240180_1_weatherman-tapes-rival-station), had an affair and after it broke off he kept calling and harassing the woman. Local “shock jock” radio DJs got hold of the voice messages he left, and played them on their morning show. > > Upset over the affair in general and the DJs embarrassing him, he took off in his private plane, and flew it straight into the ground. Christine Chubbuck, a newscaster in Florida, committed suicide by shooting herself on-air. Alison Parker and Adam Ward (respectively, a news reporter and videographer), were both shot and killed during a live remote broadcast by a disgruntled ex-employee of the station they worked for. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/70 "2016-02-26T21:04:28Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Professional wrestler Owen Hart died when he was dressed up as the Blue Blazer at a WWF PPV event in 1999. He was being lowered to the ring via cable, and was supposed to make it look like he was tangled up and trying to get loose. He somehow triggered his quick-release mechanism early and fell 78 feet to his death. There was no tangling bit, it’s not clear what happened, the cable may never have been connected in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/71 "2016-02-26T21:17:09Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Christine Chubbuck, a newscaster in Florida, committed suicide by shooting herself on-air. > > Alison Parker and Adam Ward (respectively, a news reporter and videographer), were both shot and killed during a live remote broadcast by a disgruntled ex-employee of the station they worked for. About 15 years ago, a local TV anchorman (Jim King from WQAD in Moline, Illinois) died very unexpectedly. We had a big snowstorm, and his wife sent him out to use the snowblower on the driveway and sidewalks. After a while, she realized he wasn’t outside, so she went into the garage and he was dead from a massive heart attack. :eek: IIRC, he had some health problems that were normal for a man in his early 60s, but no specific heart disease. He never even made it to the snowblower. (Not a bad way to go, if you ask me.) His son now anchors the news under his real name, Christopher Ketz. I guess I should clarify that Bill Berry is now 57 years old and very much alive. 🆒 I belong to a closed Facebook group, and yesterday, someone posted his wedding picture that appeared in their fan club newsletter, and a picture of him from his HS yearbook, when he was in 9th or 10th grade. And who should post in the wedding thread but… HIS EX-WIFE! Their divorce was final the day before he left the band in 1997. ETA: They did not have any children. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/72 "2016-02-26T21:17:25Z")
Michael Hutchence, singer for INXS, of autoerotic asphyxiation. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/73 "2016-02-26T21:26:07Z")
NBC News anchor Jessica Savitch drowned in a few feet of water when her boyfriend (vice president of the New York Post) made a wrong turn leaving a restaurant and drove into a canal. The car landed upside down and they were both trapped (along with her dog). ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/74 "2016-02-26T21:34:53Z")
Keith Moon died in the same apartment in London where Mama Cass had died 4 years earlier. She died of a heart attack and he died of an OD. They were both 32 when they died. The apartment was owned by Harry Nilsson . He was nervous about renting to Moon because of Cass dying there. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/75 "2016-02-26T21:50:17Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Guess how old he was. > > Yep. 27. :o > [Helmut Köllen - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_K%C3%B6llen) That’s actually how I learned that little bit of trivia. I knew of the band, I had a couple of their albums in college, but wasn’t aware of his death or the circumstances. I think it was around the time Amy Winehouse died, I was scrolling through a Wikipedia page on the 27 Club and his name jumped out at me. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/76 "2016-02-26T21:58:34Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Keith Moon died in the same apartment in London where Mama Cass had died 4 years earlier. She died of a heart attack and he died of an OD. They were both 32 when they died. The apartment was owned by Harry Nilsson . He was nervous about renting to Moon because of Cass dying there. I’m not terribly superstitious, but I would seriously not want to live there now, that’s for sure. ETA: I would have been nervous about renting to Keith Moon too, but for other reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/77 "2016-02-26T22:21:54Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Again stretching “celebrity” here, but a local St. Louis weatherman, [Bob Richards](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-03-24/news/9403240180_1_weatherman-tapes-rival-station), had an affair and after it broke off he kept calling and harassing the woman. Local “shock jock” radio DJs got hold of the voice messages he left, and played them on their morning show. > > Upset over the affair in general and the DJs embarrassing him, he took off in his private plane, and flew it straight into the ground. I still remember a case in Seattle; a reporter for one of the local TV stations, Larry Sturholm, was stabbed to death by a man who thought his girlfriend was cheating on him. Sturholm did a lot of humorous, offbeat stories, so the grizzly death seemed particularly shocking. A Google search turns up that he was stabbed 181 times. If I remember correctly, he had just retired from the station on the day he was killed. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/78 "2016-02-27T14:24:34Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I still remember a case in Seattle; a reporter for one of the local TV stations, Larry Sturholm, was stabbed to death by a man who thought his girlfriend was cheating on him. Sturholm did a lot of humorous, offbeat stories, so the grizzly death seemed particularly shocking. A Google search turns up that he was stabbed 181 times. If I remember correctly, he had just retired from the station on the day he was killed. They sicced a bear on him too? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/79 "2016-02-27T15:01:06Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Sonny Bono skied into a tree. This happened on January 5, 1998. Michael Kennedy, a son of Robert F. Kennedy, died on December 31, 1997 from skiing into a tree. You cannot make that up. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134/80 "2016-02-27T16:26:28Z")
Abba session drummer Ola Brunkert fell through a glass door at his home, cutting his neck.He was able to wrap his neck in a towel but collapsed in his garden trying to get help. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-deaths/747134.md?page=5)