12 Unusual Ways People Have Died

Throughout history, people have suffered an enormous number of forms of death. The list keeps growing, but here's some of the more unfortunate ways.

1. In 892...

Sigurd the Mighty of Orkney strapped the head of his defeated foe to his horse's saddle. As he rode, the teeth of the decapitated head grazed against his leg and ultimately caused a fatal infection.

2. In 1327...

Edward II of England was murdered by having a red-hot iron inserted into his butt.

3. In 1478...

George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, was to be executed. His request? To be drowned in a barrel of wine.

4. In 1649...

Sir Arthur Aston was beaten to death by his own wooden leg.

5. In 1771...

Adolf Fredrik, King of Sweden, ate himself to death. His last meal included lobster, smoked herring, caviar, sauerkraut, champagne, and fourteen servings of his favorite dessert, semla (a traditional Northern European pastry) in a bowl of hot milk. He is still known in Sweden as "the king who ate himself to death."

6. In 1814...

Nine people were killed in the "London Beer Flood," during which 323,000 imperial gallons of beer from the Meux and Company Brewery "burst out of their vats and gushed into the streets."

7. In 1940...

Marcus Garvey died when he suffered two strokes after reading a premature, negative obituary of himself.

8. In 1947...

The notorious hoarders, the Collyer Brothers, were found dead in their home in New York City. Langley, the youngest, died after accidentally triggering one of his own booby traps, and was crushed by books, newspapers, and various other objects. A few days later, his blind and paralyzed brother Homer died from starvation.

9. In 1960...

Alan Stacey, a professional racer, lost control and died in a crash during the Belgian Grand Prix after a bird flew into his face.

10. In 1974...

Basil Brown, an unstable health food advocate, drank himself to death with carrot juice.

11. In 1998...

An entire football team was killed by lightning during a match in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Everyone on the home team survived.

12. In 2010...

Russian Vladimir Ladyzhensky died during the World Sauna Championships in Finland, after having spent six minutes in a sauna heated to 230 °F (110 °C).