1. Francis Bacon (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) [Britannica]

Manner of death: Stuffing snow into a chicken

Francis Bacon (1st Viscount St Alban) was one of the most influential English minds of the late 16th century. A statesman, a philosopher, a writer, and a scientist, he was even rumoured to have written some of Shakespeare’s plays.

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 bought a chicken from a nearby village, killed it, and then, standing outside in the snow, attempted to stuff the chicken with snow to freeze it. The chicken didn’t freeze, but as a result of the experiment, Bacon caught pneumonia. Despite attempting to extend his fading lifespan by consuming the fowl that had caused his illness, he died.

2. Horace Wells (January 21, 1815 – January 24, 1848) [Britannica]

Manner of death: Used anesthetics to commit suicide

Wells was an American dentist who pioneered the use of anaesthesia in dentistry, specifically nitrous oxide (or laughing gas).

While in Europe, selling anesthesia for Morton and acting as an European expert on the subject, Wells became addicted to chloroform. In January 1848, Wells self-experimented with chloroform for a week. He became increasingly deranged. One day, delirious, Wells rushed out into the street and threw sulfuric acid over the clothing of two prostitutes. He was committed to New York’s infamous Tombs Prison. As the influence of the drug waned, Wells’ mind started to clear. In despair, he realised the horror of what he had done. Wells then committed suicide, slitting an artery in his leg with a razor after inhaling an analgesic dose of chloroform to blot out the pain.

3. Tycho Brahe (December 14, 1546 – October 24, 1601) [Britannica]

Manner of death: Didn’t get to the toilet in time

Brahe was an important Danish astronomer of the 16th century. His ground breaking research allowed Sir Isaac Newton to come up with the theory of gravity.

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 strained, killing him slowly and painfully over the next 11 days (this view was verified by Johannes Kepler). There is modern speculation that his bladder may not have burst but that he died of hyponatremia (low levels of sodium in the blood) or mercury poisoning.

Note: this is very similar to an event in which a lady died recently in a competition entitled “Hold Your Wee for a Wii”. She died of hyponatremia.

4. Attila the Hun (406 – 453) [Britannica]

Manner of death: He got a nosebleed on his wedding night

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.

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.

5. Aeschylus [Α?σχ?λος] (525 BC/524 BC – 456 BC) [Britannica]

Manner of death: An eagle dropped a tortoise on his head

Aeschylus was a Greek playwright. Many historians consider him the father of Greek tragedies.

There is no disgrace in an enemy suffering ill at an enemy’s hand, when you hate mutually.

In 458 BC, he returned to Sicily for the last time, visiting the city of Gela where he died in 456 or 455 BC when an eagle (or more likely a Lammergeier), mistaking the playwright’s bald crown for a stone, dropped a tortoise on his head (though some accounts differ, claiming it was a stone dropped by an eagle or vulture that likely mistook his bald head for the egg of a flightless bird).

6. King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (May 14, 1710 – February 12, 1771) [Britannica]

Manner of death: Eating too much pudding

During his whole reign (1751-1771) Adolphus Frederick was little more than a state decoration, the real power being lodged in the hands of an omnipotent riksdag, distracted by fierce party strife.

On February 12, 1771 after having consumed a meal consisting of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring and champagne, which was topped off with 14 servings of his favourite dessert: semla served in a bowl of hot milk, he died of digestion problems. He is thus remembered by Swedish schoolchildren as “the king who ate himself to death.”

7. Grigori Rasputin [?????´??? ???´????? ?????´???] (January 22, 1869 - December 29, 1916) [Britannica]

Manner of death: Drowning after being poisoned, shot, stabbed, and bludgeoned

Siberian peasant and mystic whose ability to improve the condition of Aleksey Nikolayevich, the hemophiliac heir to the Russian throne, made him an influential favourite at the court of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra.

Rasputin was poisoned while dining with a political enemy, and supposedly he was given enough poison to kill three men his size. When he did not die, the assassin snuck up behind him and shot him in the head, and while checking Grigori’s pulse the mystic grabbed him by the neck and strangled him. He proceeded to run away, while the other assassins chased. He was caught up to, lying on the ground having been hit with three shots during the chase. The pursuers bludgeoned him then threw him into a river (in Russia in the winter). When his body washed ashore, an autopsy showed the cause of death to be drowning.

8. Isadora Duncan (May 27, 1877 – September 14, 1927) [Britannica]

Manner of death: Strangulation and a broken neck

Born Dora Angela Duncan in San Francisco, California, she is considered by many to be the mother of Modern Dance. Although never very popular in the United States, she entertained throughout Europe.

Duncan died of accidental strangulation and broken neck when her scarf caught on the wheel of a car in which she was a passenger. The brutally honest New York Times obituary read:

“The automobile was going at full speed when the scarf of strong silk began winding around the wheel and with terrific force dragged Miss Duncan, around whom it was securely wrapped, bodily over the side of the car, precipitating her with violence against the cobblestone street. She was dragged for several yards before the chauffeur halted, attracted by her cries in the street. Medical aid was summoned, but it was stated that she had been strangled and killed instantly.”

9. Christine Chubbuck (August 24, 1944 – July 15, 1974) [Wikipedia]

Manner of death: Suicide on live TV

During the first eight minutes of her program, Chubbuck covered three national news stories and then a local restaurant shooting from the day before. The restaurant was the Beef and Bottle Restaurant at the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport on U.S. 41. The filmreel of the restaurant shooting had jammed and wouldn’t run, so Christine shrugged it off and said:

“In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first: an attempted suicide.”

She drew out the revolver and shot herself behind her right ear. Christine fell forward violently and the technical director faded slowly to black.[10] Camerawoman Jean Reed later recalled that she thought it had been an elaborate prank, and it wasn’t until she saw Chubbuck’s twitching body that she realized it was genuine. The station quickly ran a standard Public Service tape and then a movie. Some television viewers had phoned 9-1-1, while others phoned the station to inquire if the shooting was faked.

10. Sharon Lopatka (September 20, 1961 – October 16, 1996) [Wikipedia]

Manner of death: Volunteered to be tortured and murdered

Sharon was a female Internet entrepreneur in Hampstead, Maryland, United States, who was killed in a case of apparent consensual homicide.

Using the Internet, where she also advertised pornography related to unusual sexual fetishes, Lopatka searched for a man who would torture and kill her. After contacting several people who turned out not to be serious, she finally found someone willing to fulfill her request. Glass and Lopatka exchanged many e-mails until they met in North Carolina, where Glass strangled Lopatka using a nylon cord after torturing her for several days. Glass was later convicted of voluntary manslaughter for the act. He was also found to be in possession of child pornography.