Death
Mount Mihara: Japan’s Suicide Volcano
If you really have to do yourself in, suicide by volcano sounds pretty dramatic and exciting.
Original article here.
Wikipedia info here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 20, 2017 -
Comments (4)
Category: Death, Suicide, 1930s, Asia
Hinkle Tablets
In 1915, this nostrum contained a nice little dose of strychnine. One assumes that by the time of the 1956 advert, they had eliminated that ingredient.
Original letter here.
Original ad here (page 13).
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 16, 2017 -
Comments (3)
Category: Death, Advertising, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, 1910s, 1950s
Perky the Duck
It seems like 2016 was a year marked by an unusually high number of celebrity deaths. And among those who passed away was Perky, the duck who wouldn't die, who did, in fact, finally kick the bucket.
Perky was a one-pound, female, ring-neck duck who gained international fame in January 2007 after she survived being shot three times by a hunter, retrieved by a dog, and then stored in the hunter's refrigerator for two days.
By chance, the hunter's wife happened to open the refrigerator (she reportedly rarely looked in it because it was the spare fridge her husband used to store game), at which point Perky lifted her head to say hello. The wife took compassion on Perky and rushed her to a vet.
That wasn't the end of Perky's brush with death. During the surgery to repair the gunshot damage Perky stopped breathing, but the surgeon was able to revive her.
Once she had regained her health, Perky was given a home at the Tallahassee Museum, where she lived for nine years before dying of old age in May 2016.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 03, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Animals, Death, Obituaries
They Died Laughing
[Click to enlarge]
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Dec 22, 2016 -
Comments (5)
Category: Death, Hospitals, 1970s, Goofs and Screw-ups
Fish Chokes Swimmer
One for the weird death file:
Great Falls Tribune - July 20, 1945
GUATEMALA CITY, July 19 (U.P.) — A swim in a river near Esquipulas proved fatal today for Lazaro Perez. An expert swimmer, Perez did not drown. A fish swam into his mouth and he died before it could be removed.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 14, 2016 -
Comments (1)
Category: Death, Fish, 1940s
Sighted Stiff, Sank Same
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Nov 16, 2016 -
Comments (3)
Category: Death, Kludges, Hacks and Duct-tape Repairs, Military, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, 1980s
Zorbing
Home page here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 04, 2016 -
Comments (0)
Category: Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers, Death
Ted V. Mikels, RIP
Obituary here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Oct 19, 2016 -
Comments (2)
Category: Death, Eccentrics, Horror, Movies, 1960s, Blood, Dismemberment, Screams, Grunts and Other Exclamations
Signal 30
In 1959, the Ohio State Highway Patrol produced a 27-minute film showing graphic scenes of fatal traffic accidents. The footage was accompanied by a soundtrack of the cries and moans of the victims. They called the film "Signal 30" — referring to the patrol's radio code for fatal accidents.The film was shown at many high schools, in an attempt to scare kids into being good drivers. Some judges also made people with traffic violations watch it "to atone for their violations." It got some dramatic reactions from viewers. For instance:
Another woman had to be carried from the courtroom and given oxygen after she watched a truck driver burning to death in the color-and-sound film.
The film is now on YouTube, so you can find out how you would react to it. (I actually haven't had the courage to watch it yet.)
Massillon Evening Independent - Jan 20, 1960
Asbury Park Press - Aug 10, 1962
More info: wikipedia.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 05, 2016 -
Comments (8)
Category: Death, Movies, Documentaries, 1960s, Cars
Drank Embalming Fluid
The Lima News - Feb 2, 1919
This 1919 news report of two railroad employees who drank from a barrel of alcohol, not aware that it was being used to preserve two human skeletons enroute to a medical school, sounds a lot like the "corpse in the cask" urban legend.
The legend, which dates back at least to the nineteenth century, played on the fear of accidental cannibalism. As explained by Jan Harold Brunvand in his Encyclopedia of Urban Legends:
In one version of the tale, following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 the body of Lord Nelson was preserved in a barrel of brandy, from which sailors sipped as it made its way back to England, inspiring the expression "tapping the admiral."
Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 04, 2016 -
Comments (3)
Category: Death, Inebriation and Intoxicants, 1910s
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |