Shampoo as suicide prevention

The idea of people who try to kill themselves three ways at once is something that occasionally pops up in weird news. Though I'm not sure if it really belongs to weird news or is more of an urban legend.

Back in 2014, I posted about an attempted 4-way suicide that was reported in 1922. A man tried to torch, hang, poison, and shoot himself simultaneously. But I was also suspicious of that reporting.

Life - Oct 6, 1952

Who We Are
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 forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 25, 2017
Category: Advertising | Suicide | 1950s

Comments

Many, many moons ago (late 1960s?), I heard an autopsy revealed a lethal amount of barbiturates in someone with a bullet in their brain. There was some controversy over whether they'd gotten frustrated waiting for the drugs to work and picked up the gun for a quick finish, or if someone doped them so murder could be staged to look like suicide, or if they'd OD'ed and shot themselves while having some sort of paranoid hallucination. I think it was officially determined to be an accident (the preferred ruling when local Catholics probably offed themselves).

Posted by Phideaux on 11/25/17 at 06:39 PM

If you are Grigori Rasputin it may need several backup plans He was murdered and not a suicide. From what I remember he was poisoned with no result. He was then shot. As the killers were getting ready to dispose of the body, Rasputin got up and they had to shoot him again.

Posted by BMN on 11/25/17 at 10:00 PM

To pick a nit, it's the Formula 9 and not the shampoo that will restore the young lady's will to live. That's apparently some lanolin based conditioner. Although according to this blog, it was actually made of lard and the company was put out of business for false advertising: http://phillips.blogs.com/goc/2006/04/charles_antell_.html

Posted by ges on 11/25/17 at 11:49 PM

In the movie of Rasputin, the film makers apparently got carried away with the legend. They also hung him, stabbed him, and probably bludgeoned him, before Rasputin succumbed.

Posted by Virtual on 11/26/17 at 10:56 AM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.