Talk:List of unusual deaths/Sourcing issues

This is a holding tank for content requiring additional sourcing, either because the given sources do not refer to the death as "unusual" (or some synonym thereof), or because the death has only one source and requires a second. Per WP:STALEDRAFT, any content not sourced within 6 months from addition should be removed. If proper sourcing can be found, please add to the main page and remove from the holding tank.

When adding to this page, please place the death under the appropriate header for ease of sorting.

Antiquity

Name of person/s	Image	Date	Details	Notes
Menes		c. 3200 BC	According to Manetho, the Egyptian pharaoh and unifier of Upper and Lower Egypt was carried off and then killed by a hippopotamus.
Teti		c. 2323 BC	According to Manetho, the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt was mysteriously killed when he was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards. Other sources say he was killed by Userkare, who would then succeed him. His odd death is the earliest-known assassination but is still the subject of speculation.	Per discussion on talk page, being the first person to die by a certain method is not enough for inclusion. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 05:40, 27 September 2024 (UTC)
Tiberinus Silvius		c. 914 BC	It is said that the legendary king of Alba Longa drowned while crossing the Albula river, which became known as the Tiber. This is usually known as the earliest case of someone drowning.	I mean, really? Drowning? If anyone finds enough sources for this one, I'll eat my own shoes. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 05:40, 27 September 2024 (UTC)
Terpander		7th century BC	The Greek poet and citharode, considered the father of Greek music and lyric poetry, reportedly choked to death on a fig thrown at him during one of his performances.
Charondas		c. 612 BC	According to Diodorus Siculus, the Greek lawgiver from Sicily issued a law that anyone who brought weapons into the Assembly must be put to death. One day, he arrived at the Assembly seeking help to defeat some brigands in the countryside, but with a knife still attached to his belt. In order to uphold his own law, he committed suicide.
Pythagoras of Samos		c. 495 BC	Ancient sources disagree on how the Greek philosopher died, but one late and probably apocryphal legend reported by both Diogenes Laërtius, a third-century AD biographer of famous philosophers, and Iamblichus, a Neoplatonist philosopher, states that Pythagoras was murdered by his political enemies. Supposedly, he almost managed to outrun them, but he came to a bean field and refused to run through it, as he had prohibited beans as ritually unclean. Since cutting through the field would violate his own teachings, Pythagoras simply stopped running and was killed. This story may have been fabricated by Neanthes of Cyzicus, on whom both Diogenes and Iamblichus rely as a source.	Most of the sources which clepe his death unusual (that I've found so far, anyway) are low-effort listicles from probably unreliable websites. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 05:40, 27 September 2024 (UTC)
Themistocles		c. 459 BC	The Athenian general who won the Battle of Salamis actually died of natural causes in exile, but was widely rumored to have committed suicide by drinking a solution of crushed minerals known as bull's blood. The legend is widely retold in classical sources. The early twentieth-century English classicist Percy Gardner proposed that the story about him drinking bull's blood may have been based on an ignorant misunderstanding of a statue showing Themistocles in a heroic pose, holding a cup as an offering to the gods. The comedic playwright Aristophanes references Themistocles drinking bull's blood in his comedy The Knights (performed in 424 BC) as the most heroic way for a man to die.	Same as above. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 07:46, 29 September 2024 (UTC)
Democritus of Abdera		c. 370 BC	According to Diogenes Laertius, the Greek Atomist philosopher died aged 109; as he was on his deathbed, his sister was greatly worried because she needed to fulfill her religious obligations to the goddess Artemis in the approaching three-day Thesmophoria festival. Democritus told her to place a loaf of warm bread under his nose and was able to survive for the three days of the festival by sniffing it. He died immediately after the festival was over.
Diogenes of Sinope		c. 323 BC	According to 3rd century biographer, Diogenes Laërtius, he died by consuming raw octopus. His contemporaries, however, claimed he died by holding his breath.
Susima		3rd century BC	The crown prince of the Maurya Empire died when he fell into a pit of "hot embers". The trap had been made by Ashoka when he found out his rival was en route.
Philitas of Cos		c. 270 BC	The Greek intellectual is said by Athenaeus to have studied arguments and erroneous word usage so intensely that he wasted away and starved to death. British classicist Alan Cameron speculates that Philitas died from a wasting disease which his contemporaries joked was caused by his pedantry.
Manius Aquillius and Marcus Licinius Crassus		1st century BC	The late Roman Republic-era consul was sent as ambassador to Asia Minor in 90 BC to restore Nicomedes IV of Bithynia to his kingdom after the latter was expelled by Mithridates VI of Pontus. But Aquillius encouraged Nicomedes to raid part of Mithridates' territory, which started the First Mithridatic War. Aquillius was captured and brought to Mithridates, who in 88 BC had him executed by pouring molten gold down his throat. According to one story, Marcus Licinius Crassus, a Roman general and statesman, who was very greedy despite being called "the richest man in Rome," was executed in the same manner by the Parthians after they defeated him in the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, in symbolic mockery of his thirst for wealth. However, it has been disputed as to whether this is how Crassus met his end.
Licinius Macer		66 BC	At the end of his trial by Cicero for extortion, the Roman annalist and politician suffocated himself with a handkerchief, thus nullifying his conviction.
Porcia Catonis		June 43 BC to October 42 BC	The daughter of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis and second wife of Marcus Junius Brutus, according to ancient historians such as Cassius Dio and Appian, killed herself by swallowing hot coals. Modern historians find this tale implausible.	So far, could only find one that contains the magic words which already happens to be cited on the list (#12 if y'all wondering), but their description of her death is phrased similarly to WP's that I didn't add it due to worry of citogenesis. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 06:40, 28 September 2024 (UTC)
Tiberius		16 March 37	The Roman emperor died in Misenum aged 78. According to Tacitus, the emperor appeared to have died and Caligula, who was at Tiberius' villa, was being congratulated on his succession to the empire, when news arrived that the emperor had revived and was recovering his faculties. Those who had moments before recognized Caligula as Augustus fled in fear of the emperor's wrath, while Macro, a prefect of the Praetorian Guard, took advantage of the chaos to have Tiberius smothered with his own bedclothes, definitively killing him.
Bartholomew the Apostle		69 or 71 AD	St. Bartholomew, an apostle of Jesus Christ, died after either being knocked out and thrown into the sea or being skinned alive and beheaded in Armenia.
Antipas of Pergamum		68 or 92 AD	Antipas was burned alive inside the brazen bull for supposedly casting out demons who were worshipped in Pergamum.
Simon the Zealot		1st century AD	According to an ancient tradition, the apostle of Jesus was sawn in half in Persia.
Saint Lawrence		258	The deacon was roasted alive on a giant grill during the persecution of Valerian. Prudentius tells that he joked with his tormentors, "Turn me over—I'm done on this side". He is now the patron saint of cooks, chefs, and comedians.	Last source doesn't even mention St. Lawrence at all, only a river and a university named after him. WTF. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 06:40, 28 September 2024 (UTC)
Marcus of Arethusa		362	The Christian bishop and martyr was hung up in a honey-smeared basket for bees to sting him to death.

Middle Ages

Name of person/s	Image	Date	Details	Notes
Constans II		15 July 668	The Byzantine Emperor was assassinated with a bucket according to Theophilus of Edessa.
Popiel		830	According to legend, after the wife of the dissolute Polish ruler poisoned his uncles to prevent them from deposing him, a horde of rats and mice swarmed out of the uncles' bodies, which had been cast into Gopło, pursued Popiel and his wife to a tower in which they had taken refuge and ate them alive.
Ragnar Lodbrok		c. 865	The semi-legendary Viking leader whose exploits are narrated in the Ragnars saga loðbrókar, a thirteenth-century Icelandic saga, is said to have been captured by Ælla of Northumbria, who had him executed by throwing him into a pit of snakes.
Abu Nasr al-Jawhari		1003 or 1010	The Kazakh Turkic scholar from Farab died after a failed aviation test. It is said he used two wooden wings and rope. He leaped off the roof of the Nisābūr Mosque and then died on impact. His death was most likely caused after he had delusions of being a bird. al-Jawhari is said to be the first person killed by an aviation invention.
Victims of the White Ship disaster		25 November 1120	While carrying intoxicated nobles across the English Channel, the ship was crashed into a rock by the also-intoxicated helmsman and began sinking. A lifeboat was launched, but William Adelin, the son of Henry I, jumped into and capsized it. All aboard died.
Henry I of Castile		6 June 1217	The 13-year-old king of Castile was killed by a tile that fell from a roof.
Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth		1 March 1244	The first-born son of Llywelyn the Great died while attempting to lower himself from the Tower of London in an escape attempt. The rope, made out of sheets and other fabrics, snapped, and his neck was broken in the fall, according to English monk and chronicler, Matthew Paris.
John of Bohemia		26 August 1346	After being blind for 10 years, the Bohemian king died in the Battle of Crécy when—at his command—his companions tied their horses' reins to his own and charged. He was slaughtered in the ensuing fight.

Renaissance

Name of person/s	Date	Details	Notes

Early modern period

Name of person/s	Image	Date	Details	Notes
Bhai Mati Das, Bhai Sati Das and Bhai Dayala		11 November 1675	The trio are revered as early Sikh martyrs. By order of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Bhai Mati Das was executed by being bound between two pillars and sawn in half, while his younger brother Bhai Sati Das was wrapped in cotton wool soaked in oil and set on fire, and Bhai Dayala was boiled in a cauldron full of water and roasted over a block of charcoal.	As the three sources are not online, there is no clear evidence that any were described as "unusual". Await check of print copies or alternative source(s). Martinevans123 (talk) 14:35, 4 September 2024 (UTC) I used Google Books' "search inside" feature on all three sources, looking first for the martyrs, then the specific pages mentioned, and then for "unusual", "strange", etc. None of these were described as such; the sources are actually quite matter-of-fact about the incident. I'd prefer to have physical copies of the books so I can check more thoroughly, but by local library and its lending partners don't have any of these available. NekoKatsun (nyaa) 17:31, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
Col. John Stewart		March 1783	A former Revolutionary War colonel and prisoner of war was killed in a similar manner to Barber. Stewart was riding home after a dinner with George Washington along with several other officers. Stewart's horse fell, throwing Stewart into a ditch and fatally dislocating his neck.

19th century

Name of person/s	Image	Date	Details	Notes
John Cummings		March 1809	After seeing a circus knife-swallower, seaman John Cummings began actually swallowing knives. On one occasion, he swallowed four knives, and quickly passed three with no ill-health. He later swallowed 14 knives, and after some days with abdominal pain, he passed all of them. He finally swallowed 20 knives and a clasp knife case, but after a few days, he had only passed the case; he died after four years in pain. On autopsy, a knife blade and spring were found in his intestines, and between 30 and 40 fragments of metal, wood, and horn in his stomach.
William Huskisson		15 September 1830	The 60-year-old British statesman, financer, and MP was crushed to death by the Stephenson's Rocket after a failed attempt to put the locomotive in reverse.
Unknown man		3 April 1838	A horse keeper was killed when a blood horse bit him in the jugular vein.
Unknown slave		16 August 1841	A young slave of Pierre de Puerto was fishing in the bayou of New Orleans and fell asleep while the fish line was wrapped around his leg. The next day his body was found on shore, drowned, with the hook of the line in the mouth of a 6-foot (1.8 m) long alligator gar, which was also dead.
George Yugle		16 March 1860	A young charcoal burner sustained a serious hip injury while drunk. He repeatedly stated that he was going to die, which Mr. Schardin, the proprietor of a billiard saloon where Yugle was resting, said that it would be impossible for Yugle to do. In response, Yugle made a bet with Schardin, which Schardin accepted, that he would die in 15 minutes. Schardin and others returned to the room 40 minutes later and found Yugle dead.
John Sedgwick		9 May 1864	In the midst of battle, the Union officer said, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance," before being shot and killed by a Confederate sniper.
Unknown woman		1869	A woman in a village in Lincolnshire, England, became severely ill and later died after consuming her own hair for 12 years.
Two Iranian maids		1870	In Iran, a wealthy woman's house was set ablaze while her cats were still inside. The woman sent two maids to retrieve her cats, who proceeded to kill the two maids.
Henry Taylor		November 1872	The pallbearer at Kensal Green Cemetery, in London, was crushed by the coffin he was helping carry after he tripped on a stone. The widow of the man in it reportedly "nearly went into hysterics".
James Alfred Dagwell		9 July 1874	While in a state of delirium tremens, the 23-year-old member of the Victorian Artillery Corps jumped out of a window and hit a lamp, falling 20 feet (6.1 m). The impact of the fall fractured his skull.
Unknown French man		Summer 1879	Two Frenchmen made a bet that they would fast for a day, then drink 17 glasses of wine and walk from Pamplona to a village 6 miles (9.7 km) away. The younger man carried 16 pounds (7.3 kg) of dirt, one pound for each year by which he was younger than his friend. The older man died and his friend "escaped death only by the skin of his teeth".
Joseph Huebner		1882	The Austrian immigrant had been drinking whiskey, and accidentally drank a bottle of kerosene, after which he collapsed. The people who found him could not tell if he had died or just passed out; regardless, he was buried and is now said to haunt the house he collapsed in.
Louisa Cruikshank		July 1882	The 18-year-old girl in Brooklyn committed suicide by ingesting Paris green paint, which is arsenic-based. Cruikshank "frequently expressed a wish to die" and ultimately bought the paint at a hardware shop, instead of buying arsenic at a pharmacy, which would have raised questions. The next day, Cruikshank was playing the piano when she fell ill because of the paint. Her last words were reportedly, "Mama I may as well tell you. I have taken Paris Green. I have done what I said I would do."	This had two sources, but the first source was for a completely different person. NekoKatsun (nyaa)
Mrs. O'Reilly		30 September 1883	The 36-year-old servant from the West Clive Hotel in New Zealand was found on the side of a road by a boy carrying milk. It is said that O'Reilly had been walking in the middle of the night in the rain until she could not go on any longer and decided to wait for a man named Hall. O'Reilly died half an hour later.
Allan Pinkerton		1 July 1884	The founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency tripped on the pavement and severely bit his tongue, which became infected with gangrene.
Julian Smith		23 September 1887	The patient at the Kew Asylum died after swallowing a silver dinner fork in February 1887. An autopsy revealed that the fork's handle was in Smith's stomach, with the prongs embedded in his liver; part of a needle was also in the body.
Andrew Westlake		27 May 1890	The wealthy rancher from Golden, Colorado, was riding in a buggy with his friend Nicholas Keating. Westlake's horse bucked the men into a ditch with the buggy on top of them after being frightened by a passing train. The train stopped, and its crew got Keating out of the ditch, but Westlake's head had been pinned under one of the buggy's wheels, and he drowned in 1 foot (0.30 m) of water.
Three members of the Building family		21 April 1891	The 6-person family was traveling from Tipton, Tennessee, to Texas. While camping in Boone County, Arkansas, the mother and 2 of the children died from drinking coffee made with water that had been contaminated with a large centipede. The father and 2 other children survived.	There are multiple instances of people being lethally poisoned via centipede coffee; pretty sure I'll be able to find another source for this one. NekoKatsun (nyaa)
Walter Cowle		November 1893	In Soho, London, Cowle made a bet with one of his friends that he could fit a whole billiard ball inside his mouth and close his lips around it. However, when he attempted to do so, Cowle choked on the ball. One of his friends tried to hang him upside down and slap him on the back to get it out, but without success. Cowle later died from suffocation.
Count Andrassy A. Bokros		1 October 1893	The Hungarian count was killed in Budapest when he was looking out of his window and fell into the street.
James Wilson		23 January 1894	The man in Bloemfontein, South Africa, died when he fell off his horse. He was buried in the same coffin that he had playfully tried out for size the day before.
George Howell		7 September 1895	A mechanic from Florida died in a hospital of starvation because he was unable to eat or drink due to an injury caused by a peach pit.
Dominick Abbanez		November 1895	In Columbus, Ohio, an Italian painter called upon a physician named Dr. J. H. Kistler to examine his arm due to an unnatural growth that had appeared. Dr. Kistler claimed that it was most likely a cancerous tumor, although this could not be confirmed. Abbanez died of his mysterious illness soon afterward. The coroner found that the temperature of Abbanez' corpse was 109 °F (43 °C), and the body turned red soon after death. The coroner believed the cause of death to be uremia, but Abbanez' widow refused an autopsy for him.
Isaac Woods		30 January 1896	The 55-year-old well digger was working inside a 25-foot (7.6 m) deep well in Randolph County, Georgia, when a layer of dirt and sand spilled into the well, burying him alive.
Thad Jackson		6 June 1896	A 19-year-old man was plowing a field when he received a serious blow to his stomach from the plow's handles and died of internal injuries.
Louisa Maria Langridge		Spring 1898	The wife of a horse-keeper died when she moved a bottle of ammonia which burned her face. The doctor who treated her, Dr. Edward Fish, claimed that the bottle exploded because of its close proximity to a hot fire. Langridge died of bronchitis due to inhaling the ammonia vapors.
Michael Schwab		29 June 1898	The German-American labor organizer and supporter of the Haymarket Square Incident died of starvation induced by tuberculosis in Chicago, Illinois.
Joseph Gril		29 July 1899	According to The Anaconda Standard, a saloon keeper named Joseph Gril was electrocuted by 102 volts of electricity and died in his bar in Anaconda, Montana.
Unknown Pennsylvania farmer		October 1899	A unknown man fell from an apple tree and broke 2 of his ribs. A splinter pierced his heart, and he died.

20th century

1900–1959

Name of person/s	Date	Details	Notes
Dr. Arthur Calhoun Halbert	15 August 1908	While sitting inside a court house with several other people, a cable in the clock tower holding a 1,200-pound (540 kg) clock weight broke. The weight crashed through two floors before landing on Halbert, killing him instantly. No one else present was killed or seriously injured.	One of the other gentlemen present received a small scratch, and that's all; the odds of that happening must be astronomical. NekoKatsun (nyaa) 18:03, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
Leo Davis	26 August 1912	The harvest hand was holding the brake wheel of a passenger train when air was applied to it. The force of the wheel turning flung him off the train, over a fence, across a road, and through another fence. A blood vessel in his neck ruptured, and he bled to death.	Currently only one source calling it "one of the most peculiarly fatal accidents". Reads like something out of a Final Destination book; I'm hopeful I can find another source. NekoKatsun (nyaa) 18:03, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
A. A. Hudgin	13 November 1913	The 66-year-old rancher died of blood poisoning, which he contracted the previous month when both his eyeballs were slit open by corn leaves as he walked through a cornfield.	I can only find one source calling this unusual (a "peculiar accident", specifically), but given the circumstances I'm hoping to find a second. NekoKatsun (nyaa) 18:03, 5 September 2024 (UTC)
Unknown woman	February 1914	The middle-aged woman was found dead leaning over a copper with her "feet sprawled out in a curious manner" by a butchering establishment in North Sydney. The woman, who had been dead for 12 hours, had apparently choked while vomiting.
Lena and Kathaline Morris	July 1937	The sisters, 6 and 10 years old, were killed by a dirt track motorcycle when the rider, Australian motorcyclist Andy Menzies, was dislodged and the now-riderless motorcycle "careered" 150 yards (140 m) towards them. The sisters saw it and went indoors, but the motorcycle went through the door, striking them and ultimately crashing in a fireplace. Daphne Morris, 11 years old, was injured in the accident.	Second source does not describe deaths as unusual. Also I'm fairly sure the article writer meant "careened", but hey, maybe "careered" was more common in 1937.

1960s

Name of person/s	Date	Details	Notes

1970s

Name of person/s	Date	Details	Notes

1980s

Name of person/s	Image	Date	Details	Notes
Vladimir Chelomey		8 December 1984	The 70-year-old Soviet engineer and missile designer was closing the garage door at his dacha when his Mercedes slipped into gear and crushed his leg. The injury did not seem life-threatening, but Chelomey died in the hospital of a massive thrombosis while on the phone with his wife.

1990s

Name of person/s	Date	Details	Notes

21st century

2000s

Name of person/s	Image	Date	Details	Notes
Bliss Scott		4 June 2000	The 7-year-old died after touching an African snail, from which she contracted meningoencephalitis caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis. This is the first reported case of a human fatality linked to the African snail.
Gilbert Tinoso		22 December 2001	The 38-year-old died in Burbank, California, after the spare wheel from an oncoming Mack cement truck in the opposite stretch of the freeway broke loose and struck the cab of his Toyota Tacoma. The other passenger in the Tacoma received minor chest injuries from the crash, and the Mack driver had no injuries.	Second source is a database entry which says nothing about the death being unusual. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 07:11, 20 September 2024 (UTC)
Virginia Graeme Baker		June 2002	The 7-year-old was entrapped underwater due to the suction from a hot tub drain and drowned.	There is only one source provided, which doesn't even refer to the death as unusual. In fact, one source I found stated there were 94 similar incidents throughout the 2000s. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 07:11, 20 September 2024 (UTC)
Kyle McGarity		14 December 2002	After a drunken scuffle, the 25-year-old fell about 15 feet (4.6 m) into a manhole flooded with scalding hot water and filled with steam in Lower Manhattan. McGarity survived the fall without major injuries but was steamed alive, with emergency services unable to recover his body for several hours.
Phillip Quinn		28 November 2004	The 24-year-old from Kent, Washington, was killed when a lava lamp he was heating on a stove exploded, and a shard pierced his heart.	Most contemporary news sources say something to the effect of "it's unknown why Quinn was heating up a lava lamp in the first place..." but I'm unsure on whether that's enough for inclusion. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 06:38, 22 September 2024 (UTC)
Mildred Bowman and Alice Wardle		August 2005	The two sisters, aged 62 and 68 respectively, died in Benidorm, Spain, after becoming trapped for four days when their fold-up Murphy bed collapsed.	Only source provided doesn't call their deaths unusual, only easily preventable. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 08:15, 21 September 2024 (UTC)
Lydia Tsekova		2 February 2008	The Bulgarian teacher, with her husband Georgi and colleague Nadezhda Lyubenova, poured chemical waste into a drain cover in Sofia. The chemicals reacted with the gases in the sewers and caused an explosion. The drain cover decapitated Tsekova, and the blast injured her husband and Lyubenova.
Unknown male		3 March 2009	A 14-year-old boy from Jiaozhou, Shandong, China, was killed when the pneumatic cylinder in his office chair exploded.	All English sources I've found don't call the death unusual, and all Chinese sources are either from unreliable government media or are copy-pasted from the source already provided. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 06:38, 22 September 2024 (UTC)
Diane Durre		3 April 2009	The 49-year-old was killed in North Platte, Nebraska, by a falling Taco Bell sign. The sign was knocked over by high winds, and landed on a pickup truck, killing her and injuring her husband, Mark.
Tony Leigh		13 October 2009	On October 7, 2009, the 47-year-old British gym owner and security guard was weightlifting at a gym in Tilbury when a barbell slipped and fell on his face. Leigh died in hospital 6 days later.

2010s

Name of person/s	Image	Date	Details	Notes
Elizabeth Nass and Rose Mayr		21 August 2012	The 19-year-olds died after more than 20 coal cars (out of 90) from a CSX Transportation freight train derailed in Ellicott City, Maryland, while they were walking alongside the train tracks late at night. Reports said that the two women were found buried in a pile of coal. The derailment was possibly caused by a broken rail according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Ilda Vitor Maciel		28 September 2012	The 88-year-old died in a hospital in Barra Mansa, Rio de Janeiro, allegedly as a result of nursing technicians injecting soup through her intravenous drip instead of her feeding tube.
Palmerina Pires Ribeiro		October 2012	The 80-year-old died in a Rio de Janeiro clinic when an untrained nurse injected coffee in her intravenous drip. The nurse reported the incident had occurred because the blood drip and feed drip were directly next to one another.
Takuya Nagaya		18 January 2013	The 23-year-old from Okazaki, Aichi, Japan started to slither on the floor and claimed he had become a snake. He died after his father spent the next two days head-butting and biting him "to drive [out] the snake that had possessed him".
Jeffery Bush		28 February 2013	The 37-year-old from the Tampa, Florida, area was killed while he slept when a giant sinkhole measuring 15 feet (4.6 m) wide and 20 feet (6.1 m) deep opened below and swallowed his entire bedroom. His body was never recovered.	Neither source refers to his death as unusual. Heck, The Guardian states that over 500 sinkholes had been reported in the county since 1954. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Roger Mirro		30 July 2013	The 56-year-old man in Chicago was crushed by a trash compactor while looking through a dumpster for his phone.	Neither source refers to his death as unusual. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Peng Fan		August 2014	The chef in Foshan, China, was bitten by a cobra's severed head, which he had cut off 20 minutes earlier while preparing soup.	Per WP:NYPOST, the New York Post ain't reliable, which leaves us with one source calling it unusual from the Daily Mirror, which itself is WP:MREL. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Heval Yıldırım		3 October 2014	The 13-year-old from Turkey was killed when a sacrificial goat bought for Eid al-Adha jumped off the roof, over a protective fence, and fell onto him. His father had placed it on the roof of the building where he lived because he could not find another suitable place to keep it.
Peter Biaksangzuala		19 October 2014	The 23-year-old Indian football player from Mizoram state died after sustaining spinal cord injuries while awkwardly landing a somersault, celebrating a goal.	First source does not refer to his death as unusual. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Stephen Whinfrey		1 January 2015	The 50-year-old became trapped and asphyxiated when rabbiting near Doncaster, England, after his head became stuck down a rabbit hole.
Jaylon Rippy		2 July 2015	The 5-year-old was killed by a leaping sturgeon while she was boating with her family near Fanning Springs, Florida. Her mother and brother were also injured and needed facial reconstruction surgery.
Steven Baker		25 October 2016	The 56-year-old British brand manager died when a 100-kilogram (220 lb) bench press machine fell on him in his garage in Leicester, England, compressing his neck and causing a fatal heart attack.
Heidi Fay Taylor		6 April 2017	The 40-year-old mother was stabbed and shot to death by her 14-year-old adoptive son Donovan Austin Nicholas, who claimed that he was influenced by Jeff the Killer, saying, "It was Jeff. Jeff is inside me."	Only one source refers to her death as unusual. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Jasmine Beever		7 September 2017	The 16-year-old from Skegness, England, died of peritonitis brought about by Rapunzel syndrome. She had a long-time habit of chewing and swallowing her own hair (trichophagia) which formed a hairball in her stomach, leading to an infection in her abdomen damaging her vital organs.
Samen Kondorura		15 June 2018	The 40-year-old from the North Toraja Regency of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, was killed after the coffin of his mother fell on him during her funeral. As is tradition, Kondorura and the other pallbearers were carrying the coffin up a bamboo ladder into a temple, when the ladder collapsed beneath them. As everyone fell off, the coffin hit Kondorura in the head. He died on the way to hospital and was buried next to his mother.
Daniel S.		October 2018	A 32-year-old from Morelia, Mexico, died after his microwave exploded while he was making popcorn in it.	Neither source refers to his death as unusual. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Elena Struthers-Gardner		22 November 2018	The 60-year-old from Broadstone, Dorset, England, was carrying a mason jar-style drinking glass when she collapsed. Its 10-inch (250 mm) stainless steel straw entered her left eye socket and pierced her brain.	None of the sources provided refer to her death as unusual. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Zafer Kuzu		2019	The 24-year-old from Erzurum, Turkey, attempted to escape a community service sentence for inflicting injury by getting himself hospitalized. He asked a friend to shoot him in the back with a shotgun through two pillows to reduce the shot's power. He was killed and the friend arrested.	Not only is there only one source, said source is Daily Sabah, which is generally unreliable per WP:DAILYSABAH. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Samuela Cirivakayawa		8 September 2019	The 40-year-old Fijian emigrant to Australia was killed while working as an arborist at Lindfield in the north of Sydney. When his two co-workers left briefly to ask a motorist to move their car, Cirivakayawa, then working alone, was sucked through a woodchipper. Although Cirivakayawa's ex-wife in Fiji later suggested the incident may have been a complication of depression, the coronial report was never released to the public.	Neither source refers to his death as unusual. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 23:39, 17 September 2024 (UTC)
Pamela Kreimeyer		27 October 2019	The 56-year-old from Marion County, Iowa, was killed during an explosion at a gender reveal party. Members of her family filled a steel umbrella stand with gunpowder, intended to emit a shower of sparks. However, the metal pipe failed to contain the overpressure, and the device acted as a pipe bomb instead. Kreimeyer was struck in the head by a metal fragment and was killed instantly.

2020s

Name of person/s	Image	Date	Details	Notes
Sergio Millán		14 January 2020	The 59-year-old was alone in his apartment in Torreforta, Tarragona, Spain, when an explosion in a petrochemical plant 3 kilometres (2 mi) away launched a one-ton iron plate into the apartment above him, causing the ceiling to collapse, killing him.
Valentin Didenko, Natalia Monakova and Yuri Alferov		28 February 2020	The trio died while celebrating Didenko's wife's birthday in Moscow. During the party, a guest dumped 25 kilograms (55 lb) of dry ice into the sauna pool, which resulted in a large amount of carbon dioxide being released. Didenko, Monakova and Alferov, along with several others jumped into the pool, only to quickly lose consciousness from hypercapnia. The three deaths came as a result of asphyxia due to lack of oxygen. This was all captured on video.	Sources do not appear to describe this as unusual. Aoidh (talk) 17:53, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
Salman Mirza		June 2021	The resident of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, died after using epoxy resin as a contraceptive instead of a condom, while intoxicated from using the same resin as an inhalant. The man was found unconscious outside a hotel the following morning, but died of multiple organ failure after being hospitalised.	One calls it bizarre, the other does not. - Aoidh (talk) 17:53, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
Tony Eyles		9 September 2021	The 42-year-old died at a McDonald's drive-through in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, after partially opening his car door to retrieve a dropped payment card. His car rolled forward and collided with the restaurant's structure, pinning him between the car door and the vehicle's frame. Despite attempts to revive the victim, he died on scene.
Laila Zahrul Maisaroh		14 January 2022	The 20-year-old late pregnant woman from Banjarmasin, Indonesia, was killed instantly when a concrete barrier from an elevated parking lot fell onto her. A car in the parking lot had collided with the barrier.	Neither source calls this death unusual, and I haven't found any others which do so far (except for the occasional Wikipedia mirror). ZionniThePeruser (talk) 04:12, 14 September 2024 (UTC)
Unknown man		20 February 2022	A 28-year-old man in Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, California, is believed to have been using a knife to mix protein powder into a container of water while driving. He lost control and crashed into a parked car. The car's airbag propelled the knife into his neck, fatally injuring him.
Phen Channy		3 April 2022	The 27-year-old was killed during a workout outside his home in Phnom Penh when a weightlifting bar fell on his neck.
Dolores Olive Boschert		22 May 2022	The 23-year-old paramedic was exercising alone on a Smith machine at a Planet Fitness gymnasium in St. Charles, Missouri, when she was pinned by a barbell due to unknown circumstances. Another patron found her 30 minutes later and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Maya Murmu		20 June 2022	The 68-year-old woman was trampled by an elephant in Odisha, India. Later, at her funeral, the same elephant came back and attacked her corpse by picking up her body and throwing her in the air.
Klil Kimhi		21 July 2022	The 32-year-old fell to his death when a sinkhole opened under a swimming pool he was in at a house party in Israel.	Only one of the sources describes this as unusual, and it's a quote from a paramedic. - Aoidh (talk) 01:51, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Muthukumar		2 August 2022	A 54-year-old man in Tamil Nadu, India, died 4 days after falling into a pot of freshly-prepared porridge that was still boiling, suffering 65% burn injuries in the process. The man had lost his balance and leaned against the pot, toppling backwards into it. His wife claimed he suffered from epilepsy which may have triggered the fall.	New York Post is not reliable per WP:NYPOST, and the India Today article does not describe it as unusual. - Aoidh (talk) 01:51, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Unknown man		7 August 2022	A 65-year-old man was hit in the head by a hammer throw used at a Highland games event in the Netherlands. The thrower lost his balance and the hammer, a metal ball with a stick attached to it, flew over a hedge and struck the man in the head, killing him instantly.
Leandro Mathias de Novaes		6 February 2023	The 40-year-old activist for the right to keep and bear arms in Brazil was assisting his mother in the MRI suite of Cura Laboratory in the central region of São Paulo on 16 January while wearing a registered firearm on his waistband. The gun, affected by the magnet, was pulled away from him and subsequently discharged, shooting him in the stomach. He remained in intensive care for 21 days before dying of his injuries.	New York Post is not reliable per WP:NYPOST, and the second reference does not describe it as unusual. - Aoidh (talk) 01:51, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Shivdayal Sharma		19 April 2023	The 82-year-old was urinating next to a train track in the region of Alwar, India, when a cow was hit by the Vande Bharat express train. The animal was launched 100 feet (30 m) into the air before landing on Sharma, killing him instantly.
Lynn Ann Fleming		16 May 2023	The 68-year-old was a passenger in the front seat of a car travelling on the I-75 in Whitfield County, Georgia, U.S., when a cargo winch bar came through the windshield and impaled her. She died at the scene.
Unknown boy		26 June 2023	An 11-year-old boy was killed in Wayne County, Ohio, in a freak accident while riding in a side-by-side, after a dog who was riding in the SSV with him jumped onto the vehicle's accelerator pedal, causing it to accelerate, veer off the road and fly over the edge of an embankment. The boy died at the scene of the accident, while his 12-year-old brother, who was also in the SSV, sustained minor injuries and was admitted to hospital. The driver of the vehicle, an 18-year-old family friend, also survived.
Giacomo Chiapparini		6 August 2023	The 74-year-old died when a shelf in his warehouse in Romano di Lombardia, Italy, broke and crushed him under thousands of wheels of Grana Padano cheese, with each wheel weighing approximately 40 kilograms (88 lb). His body was recovered from the wreckage after 12 hours.	While The Telegraph describes it as a freak accident, the BBC does not appear to call it unusual. - Aoidh (talk) 01:51, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Dorothy Louise Downey		27 November 2023	The 83-year-old woman arrived at her daughter's house in Salem, South Carolina, to visit and assist with a move. As she was walking in the kitchen, Downey broke through a weakened patch of floor, falling 48 ft (15 m) into a hidden well shaft. She was extricated by rescue services, but died from her injuries.	Only one source calls it unusual ("freak fall"). - Aoidh (talk) 01:51, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Yogish		25 March 2024	The 24-year-old Bengaluru man died due to a burst colon after his friend blew air into his rectum with an electric high-pressure blow-dryer used for vehicles. The friend was playfully blowing air at him, and when he turned to shield his face, the force of the air was such that it entered his rectum and severely damaged his colon.
Unknown male tourist		13 April 2024	A 30-year-old tourist was killed in a freak accident at a church in El Pinell de Brai, Tarragona, Spain, during the festival of Santa Magdalena. The tourist, part of a group from Terra Alta, Catalonia, had climbed the church's tower during the celebrations and was killed instantly when the church bell, which was ringing at the time of the accident, swung forward and hit him.	While it's two separate references, they are the same exact article written by the same journalist; the Yahoo! News reference is a reprint of the article in The Standard. - Aoidh (talk) 01:51, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Lucy Morgan		5 June 2024	The 6-year-old girl was with her family on vacation in Limerick, Maine, on 1 June when, whilst playing badminton with her family, her brother's aluminum racket shaft broke and pierced her in the skull. She was taken to the hospital where she died from her injuries four days later.
Tony Knight		7 June 2024	The 54-year-old British comedian died after he was struck by a large tree branch while attending the Rock&Cars festival in Lavaur, Tarn, France.	Both sources are quoting the same source, the family's GoFundMe page. A tree branch falling and causing a fatality is not uncommon or unusual. - Aoidh (talk) 01:51, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Andrew Pontious		14 June 2024	The 53-year-old Los Angeles County firefighter was killed while spraying water on a burning construction vehicle when one of the vehicle's tires exploded.
Unknown woman		18 June 2024	A 22-year-old woman using a treadmill at a gym in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, died after she stumbled off the end of the treadmill and fell through the window behind her, falling three stories to her death. The local police commissioner reported that the gym's safety standards were insufficient, as the glass was not thick enough, while the treadmills were placed too close to the window.
Margherita Lega		4 July 2024	The 41-year-old woman from Trentino, Italy, was killed in a freak accident in Calasca-Castiglione, Piedmont, when she was caught by the cables of a cargo cable car and dragged over the edge of a cliff overlooking the Anzasca Valley. After holding on for a few moments, Lega lost her grip and fell 492 feet (150 m) to her death in front of her family, who were visiting the area with her.
Ayres Sasaki		13 July 2024	The 35-year-old rock singer from Brazil was electrocuted while performing at a hotel in the city of Salinópolis, Pará. Those watching the performance said that a person hugged him with wet clothes. At the time the contact occurred, he received an electric shock and died before being rescued.
Maga		15 August 2024	The 74-year-old woman from Palopo, South Sulawesi, was constricted to death by a 4.5-metre (15 ft) long reticulated python. The python regurgitated her body after being unable to fully swallow her.	The CNN source does not mention it being unusual, and the CBS source says the opposite, giving examples of other similar deaths in the past few months alone - Aoidh (talk) 01:51, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Animal deaths

Name of person/s	Image	Date	Details	Notes
Three cows, three sheep, two sows		1662	Cotton Mather writes how one William Potter was hanged for bestiality, as were the animals involved.	Cracked isn't reliable per WP:RSP and second source refers to Cotton Mather's account of the case as rare, not the case itself. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 07:32, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
Dog		1677	Mary Hicks, a married working-class woman, was brought before the Central Criminal Court of London on the charge of having sex with her dog. When the dog was brought into the court he started "wagging his tail, and making motions as it were to kiss her", which the court took as evidence the charges were true. Mary was subsequently forced to watch the dog be hanged before she was executed herself.	Srinivasin's article doesn't refer to the dog's death, nor any death, as unusual. I've only found two other sources which even mention the death so far (one being a primary [1] and other being some activist blog [2]), and neither of them do so as well. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 07:32, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
Female goat		1758	John Blake, a Royal Marine, was convicted of "buggery upon the body of a she-goat" and both were sentenced to death. Blake, however, was pardoned on grounds of being "next to an idiot". Only the goat was put to death.	Can't verify whether Boys of Sea calls the death unusual. Found scant mentions in reviews for Loving Animals, a book by Joanna Bourke, but no dice regarding its strangeness. Perhaps in the book itself? ZionniThePeruser (talk) 07:32, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
12+ cows and 1 horse		November 1892	In Ohio, a killer nicknamed Jack the Cow Slasher killed a dozen or more cows and one horse, taking meat from most of them.
Cow		January 1932	The Townsville Daily Bulletin, an Australian newspaper, reported an incident where a dairy cow was partially blown up and killed on a farm at Kennedy Creek (near Cardwell, North Queensland). The cow had reputedly picked up a detonator in her mouth while grazing in a paddock. This was only triggered later, when the cow began to chew her cud, at a time when she was in the process of being milked. The cow had its head blown off by the resulting explosion, and the farmer milking the cow was knocked unconscious.
Hilda the elephant		8 September 1938	Hilda, a 7-year-old 2,500-pound (1,100 kg) female Asian elephant, was butted into a 25-foot (7.6 m) deep moat surrounding the elephant enclosure by her 3,600-pound (1,600 kg) mate, Bill. She survived the fall and was derricked out, but x-rays showed that her back had been broken, and she was euthanized.	Managed to find two contemporary sources regarding Hilda [3][4], but they don't call her death unusual. In fact, I found a 1949 source which states it was fairly par-for-the-course [5]. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 07:32, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
Cow		22 May 1957	In New Mexico, approximately 4.5 mi (7.2 km) south of Kirtland Air Force Base, a grazing cow was killed by a Mark 17 hydrogen bomb accidentally jettisoned from a USAF B-36 strategic bomber aircraft. The bomb was not equipped with components necessary for nuclear detonation at the time, but the conventional high explosives in the bomb detonated on impact, killing the cow and causing a crater about 12 ft (3.7 m) deep and 25 ft (7.6 m) wide.	First source calls the cow unlucky; unlucky ≠ unusual. Second source (and all other sources from the time which I've found) mention the cow's death in passing. ZionniThePeruser (talk) 07:32, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
Purzel, Amema and Rosi (hippopotami)		14-15 July 1984	Three hippopotami were killed by an elephant at the Karlsruhe Zoo in Karlsruhe, West Germany. The elephant used its trunk to open a valve, which sent scalding hot water (55 °C / 150 °F) into their pool. The water generated steam that interfered with their breathing, and the hippos (28-year-old Purzel, 27-year-old Amema and their offspring, 1-year-old Rosi) died of shock.	Provided source, alongside all the English sources I've dug up, don't have the u-word or any of its synonyms. Haven't looked at German sources yet, though... ZionniThePeruser (talk) 07:32, 23 September 2024 (UTC)
Bird		24 January 2002	During a Tennis doubles match at the Australian Open, a powerfully struck forehand by French player Michael Llodra hit a small bird that crossed the path of the ball. In response, the players threw down their racquets and knelt down around the bird, in an impromptu funeral. The ceremony had to be ended by a court official, who asked the players to resume the match.
Pigeon		29 May 2009	During a Twenty20 cricket match at Headingley Cricket Ground, Leeds, England, between Yorkshire and Lancashire, Jacques Rudolph of Yorkshire fielded a ball close to the midwicket boundary and threw it to the wicket keeper. The return throw struck and killed a pigeon in flight across the ground.

References