Bizarre Deaths

History is remiss with strange circumstances under which people have died. This article is not intended to make light of the unfortunate ways the following people met their end. But, readers may find it difficult not to suppress a snicker or two after reading these examples.

· A woman from Chambers, Nebraska, was killed after a 75-foot Taco Bell sign fell on top of her pickup truck. She was parked underneath the sign in North Platte, Nebraska awaiting a couple who were to meet her there to buy a pair of dogs. The sign pole snapped at a welded joint about 15 feet above the ground during high winds. The local Animal Control Division took the two dogs to the shelter. No, they weren’t talking Chihuahuas. They were Yorkshire Terriers.

· A dance instructor in Spain tangoed his way into oblivion while teaching his class. He was demonstrating how the dance should be done, backing up towards a third story window and fell to his death.

· A woman in Barcelona intent on committing suicide jumped out of an eight story window and killed a 50 year old man out for a stroll with his wife. The Woman died immediately upon impact. The man, a Ukrainian, died several hours later in a hospital.

· In 1975 a 50 year old Englishman, died laughing while watching The Goodies, a popular comedy show. After watching something he found extremely funny he laughed nonstop for over twenty minutes and died from heart failure.

· An employee at a chocolate factory in Camden, New Jersey, slipped and fell into a large chocolate melting tank. He was knocked unconscious by one of the mixing paddles. It took 10 minutes for coworkers to pull him out, at which time he was declared dead.

· All 11 members of a soccer team were killed by a bolt of lightning and about thirty spectators received burns during a match in eastern Kasai Province. The home team players were unharmed.

· In 1991 a 76-year-old man, died shortly after his unattended ambulance stretcher rolled downhill and overturned. The attendants were preoccupied consulting with a staff physician. The old-timer was being taken from his nursing home to a doctor’s appointment.

· An Italian stag party was ruined when the 23 year old girl inside the huge cake failed to jump out. She had suffocated after an hour of waiting for her cue.

· An American 13-year-old hockey fan, died two days after being struck in the head by a hockey puck. The incident, which occurred at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, was the first fan fatality in NHL history.

· A 50-year-old man was stung to death at a funeral by a swarm of honeybees while cremating his wife. The bees were disturbed after flames from the funeral pyre engulfed their nest.

· An irate teenage golfer from New York was killed after throwing his club against a bench. The force broke the shaft, part of which bounced back and pierced his heart.

· A crashing Bell 206 helicopter killed a 23 year old Kenyan student when it fell on him as he walked along a residential street.

· An inebriated twenty one year old from Marietta, Georgia, drove nearly 12 miles with the headless corpse of his 23 year old friend in the passenger seat. The intoxicated driver parked the car in his driveway and went to bed without giving his friend a second thought. His friend had leaned his head out the car window and it was decapitated by a telephone pole support wire. The police were called when the body was spotted by a neighbor.