Most ways to die are far from fun. Heart attack. Stroke. Accidentally hanging yourself while trying to get your rocks off a la David Carradine. But sometimes the Grim Reaper, in all his treachery, still has a sense of humor, sentencing a handful of particularly unlucky folks to a truly hilarious demise.
From flying lawn mowers to drowning at a party with 100 lifeguards, here are 20 times the grim reaper got real, real weird with it.
1
Back in 2011, Chantal Lavigne died while attending a seminar on “Dying in Consciousness.” She passed while undergoing a “detoxification” process that involved being wrapped in cellophane for nine hours.
2
“TIL about Marcus Garvey, a political leader who died from a stroke after reading an obituary of himself that was mistakenly published in a newspaper.”
3
“A man was killed by a 40lb flying lawnmower during the halftime show at a Jets-Patriots game in 1979.”
4
“TIL of a nature lover named Timothy Treadwell who was devoured by a bear. In Grizzly Man, a documentary chronicling the life and death of Timothy, the director listens to an audio recording of the tragedy and later called it ‘the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard in my life.’”
5
“In 1903, William Nelson, a General Electric employee, invented a new way to motorize bicycles. He then fell off his prototype bike during a test run and died as a result of his injuries.”
6
“The first man to survive going down Niagara Falls in a barrel died after slipping on an orange peel.”
7
“TIL about Abu Nasr Al-Jawhari, a Turkic lexicographer who died falling off of a mosque after attempting to use two wooden wings and a rope to fly. It's currently unknown whether he was inspired by the first heavier than air glider flight or if he was under the delusion that he was a bird.”
8
“Henry Winstanley was so confident in the lighthouse's design that he wished to be inside during ‘the greatest storm there ever was’. The lighthouse was completely destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703, killing Winstanley.”
9
“Civil War General John Sedgwick was killed when he stood up behind Union fortifications and proclaimed ‘They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance!!’ and was promptly shot by a Confederate sniper.”
10
“John Kendrick, a captain in the revolutionary war, was ironically killed by cannon fire meant to salute him.”
11
“Michael Anderson Godwin was charged with murder and sentenced to execution by electric chair. After his lawyer had his sentence reduced to just life in prison, Godwin died by accidentally electrocuting himself while sitting on the steel toilet in his cell.”
12
“A Russian woman by the name of Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, died at her own funeral after having a heart attack due to the sight of being buried alive.”
13
“Anti seat-belt advocate, Derek Kieper, once wrote that ‘Uncle Sam is not here to regulate every facet of life no matter the consequences.’ He later died after being thrown from his vehicle while driving without a seat-belt.”
14
“The Greek philosopher Chrysippus of Soli died in 206 BC, at the age of 73, after a laughing fit caused by his own joke. His biographer reports he saw a donkey eating some figs and yelled that it needed to be given a pure wine to wash the figs down.”
15
“Troy Leon Gregg, a death row inmate in Georgia, escaped the night before his execution only to be killed in a bar fight that very same night.”
16
“On December 28 1983, Dennis Wilson, co-founder and drummer of the Beach Boys, drowned at Marina Del Rey after drinking all day and then diving in the afternoon to recover his ex-wife's belongings, previously thrown overboard at the marina from his yacht three years earlier amidst their divorce.”
17
“Jimi Heselden, owner of Segway Inc., died in 2010 after accidentally falling off a cliff while riding his Segway.”
18
“In 1985, a New Orleans man drowned at a pool party attended by over 100 lifeguards celebrating a summer with no drownings.”
