Attila the Hun:
One of the most notorious villains in history,
Attila's army had conquered all of Asia by 450 AD-from Mongolia to the edge of
the Russian Empire-by destroying villages and pillaging the
countryside.
How he died: He got a nosebleed on his wedding
night.
In 453 AD, Attila married a young girl named Ildico. Despite his
reputation for ferocity on the battlefield, he tended to eat and drink lightly
during large banquets. On his wedding night, however, he really cut loose,
gorging himself on food and drink. Sometime during the night he suffered a
nosebleed, but was too drunk to notice. He drowned in his own blood and was
found dead the next morning.
Tycho Brahe:
An important Danish astronomer of the 16th century.
His ground breaking research allowed Sir Isaac Newton to come up with the theory
of gravity.
How he died: Didn't get to the bathroom in time.
In the
16th century, it was considered an insult to leave a banquet table before the
meal was over. Brahe, known to drink excessively, had a bladder condition-but
failed to relieve himself before the banquet started. He made matters worse by
drinking too much at dinner, and was too polite to ask to be excused. His
bladder finally burst, killing him slowly and painfully over the next 11 days.
Horace Wells:
Pioneered the use of anesthesia in the
1840s
How he died: Used anesthetics to commit suicide.
While
experimenting with various gases during his anesthesia research, Wells became
addicted to chloroform. In 1848 he was arrested for spraying two women with
sulfuric acid. In a letter he wrote from jail, he blamed chloroform for his
problems, claiming that he'd gotten high before the attack. Four days later he
was found dead in his cell. He'd anaesthetized himself with chloroform and
slashed open his thigh with a razor.
Francis Bacon:
One of the most influential minds of the late 16th
century. A statesman, a philosopher, a writer, and a scientist, he was even
rumored to have written some of Shakespeare's plays.
How he died:
Stuffing snow into a chicken
One afternoon in 1625, Bacon was watching a
snowstorm and was struck by the wondrous notion that maybe snow could be used to
preserve meat in the same way that salt was used. Determined to find out, he
purchased a chicken from a nearby village, killed it, and then, standing outside
in the snow, attempted to stuff the chicken full of snow to freeze it. The
chicken never froze, but Bacon did.
Jerome Irving Rodale:
Founding father of the organic food movement,
creator of "Organic Farming and Gardening" magazine, and founder of Rodale
Press, a major publishing corporation.
How he died: On the "Dick
Cavett Show", while discussing the benefits of organic foods.
Rodale, who
bragged "I'm going to live to be 100 unless I'm run down by a sugar-crazed taxi
driver," was only 72 when he appeared on the "Dick Cavett Show" in January 1971.
Part way through the interview, he dropped dead in his chair. Cause of death:
heart attack. The show was never aired.
Aeschylus:
A Greek playwright back in 500 BC. Many historians
consider him the father of Greek tragedies.
How he died: An eagle
dropped a tortoise on his head
According to legend, eagles picked up
tortoises and attempt to crack them open by dropping them on rocks. An eagle
mistook Aeschylus' head for a rock (he was bald) and dropped it on him instead.
Jim Fixx:
Author of the best selling "Complete Book of Running,"
which started the jogging craze of the 1970s.
How he died: A heart
attack....while jogging
Fixx was visiting Greensboro, Vermont when he walked
out of his house and began jogging. He'd only gone a short distance when he had
a massive coronary. His autopsy revealed that one of his coronary arteries was
99% clogged, another was 80% obstructed, and a third was 70% blocked....and that
Fixx had had three other attacks in the weeks prior to his death.
Contributed by: Carson Bloomberg
Date Added: December 4,
1998