Falling from a great height is already among one of the most common
fears, but it becomes even more awful when you add irony to it. In 1998,
a lawyer was demonstrating the strength of the windows in a skyscraper
when one window gave way sending him to his death.
In a curious case of revenge, a cactus crushed a man to death who had
been using it as target practice. Two men decided to do some shooting in
the Arizona desert in 1982, and chose the local cactus' as their
target. One of the men succeeded in hitting a 26-foot tall cactus but
was then crushed by a large piece that was severed by the gunshot.
The tale of a 24-year-old woman who was beheaded while go-karting could
serve as a warning about proper safety precautions. Allegedly, the woman
had strapped herself into the kart but had the seat belt wrapped around
her neck. Upon losing control of her kart and crashing, the belt
decapitated her.
There may be no scarier scenario than the very earth opening up and
swallowing you, and that very thing happened to an unfortunate man in
Florida last April. Even worse, the sinkhole opened in the man’s bedroom
late at night, likely killing him while he slept and giving him no
chance to react.
On an afternoon in Methuen, MA in 2004, two young girls were playing in a
pile of leaves. Nothing could have prepared the father of one of the
girls when he pulled his pickup truck into his parking spot after
rolling over the leaf pile. Both girls suffered major injuries and died
shortly after.
Everyone knows too much beer can kill you, but they usually don’t mean
like this. In London in 1814, a tank ruptured at a brewery sending 3,500
barrels of beer on a path of destruction. Nine people lost their lives
in the wake of the sudsy flood.
Hot springs seem to be inviting and relaxing but the temperatures these
pools can reach can be extremely dangerous. In 1981, two men and a dog
were traveling through Yellowstone National Park and decided to check
out the hot springs, when the dog got loose and jumped into the spring.
Despite warnings from bystanders, one of the men jumped into the spring
to save the dog. He suffered third-degree burns and died the following
day in the hospital.
....
Normally, sweet molasses is not the bringer of death. But in Boston in
1919, 14,000 tons of molasses flooded the streets when a tank containing
the syrup burst. 21 people were killed in the ensuing chaos caused by
the encroaching sweetener.
In a story that is the definition of "wrong place, wrong time," a man
was killed when struck by a flying fire hydrant in 2007. The hydrant
went airborne when it was hit by a car that swerved off the road due to a
flat tire, and hit a man in the head who was walking nearby.
Death by lawn mower is an especially grisly way to go. Somewhat
thankfully, deaths are more common from crushing than contact with the
blades. Recently, Tennessee saw its third mower death when a man’s
riding mower flipped on him. Still when one hears about lawn mower
related deaths, it’s hard not to think of the worst case scenario.
There are few things eerier than dying without warning but that’s
exactly what happened to those living around Lake Nyos in Cameroon in
1986. Normally the lake is able to contain the release of carbon dioxide
that seeps from the earth below the lake. But due to a large build up
of the gas, the lake released a large cloud of the gas which immediately
suffocated over 1,700 people, most of who were sleeping.
Possibly one of the most embarrassing, along with horrifying ways to die
is by lava lamp. A man was discovered in his trailer with glass
embedded in his chest when his lava lamp exploded. It’s bad enough to
own these kitschy items, but to be killed by one is a different story.
Haunted houses and hayrides are a common activity on Halloween and they
often portray realistic scenes of horror. Unfortunately, sometimes it's
all too real. In 1990, a teen who performed a hanging stunt with a noose
that wouldn't tighten, accidentally hanged himself. And this is just
one of several stories of Halloween stunts gone awry.
It seems like an unrealistic nightmare, but elevator doors can kill. A
doctor in Houston found this out the hard way. The doctor became stuck
in the doors after rushing to catch the closing elevator and was then
decapitated when the elevator ascended. Even worse, a woman in the
elevator witnessed the whole event and was stuck in the elevator with
the remains of the doctor’s head until help arrived.
One of the oldest and most terrifying fates to befall someone is being
declared dead prematurely. History is marked with several instances of
people being entombed alive without the knowledge of the living.
Thankfully, a lot of these cases have ended with the living person being
discovered. People have been killed as well when they were being
prepared for burial while still alive. There have been cases of death
from embalmment and dissection. It’s hard to imagine a worse way to go
than dying after already being declared dead.
