Bizarre Deaths in History

Steve Irwin (1962 - 2006): Death by Stingray




Irwin was an Australian wildlife expert and a well-loved TV personality, who gained worldwide fame from his internationally broadcast wildlife documentary program "The Crocodile Hunter," which he co-hosted with his wife Terri. While filming the documentary "Ocean's Deadliest" at the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Irwin swam too close above one of the stingrays with the cameraman directly right in front of it. Threatened by their presence, the ordinarily harmless stingray instinctively responded by flexing upward its razor-sharp, barbed tail which pierced Irwin's chest and into his heart, an injury that brought about his untimely demise at only 44 years of age.
Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626): Death by Stuffing Chicken





One of the leading figures of the English Rennaisance, Bacon was a statesman, philosopher, scientist and author, whose celebrated works "Novum Organum" (1620) and "The New Atlantis" (1626) contributed significantly to the European scientific revolution. During a particularly heavy snowstorm in 1626, Bacon suddenly came up with the thought of possibly using snow to preserve meat. Desirous of finding out, he went to nearby marketplace to buy a fowl and had its internal organs removed. Standing outside in the snow, he immediately began stuffing the fowl to freeze it. However, the fowl never froze, but he did. He contracted pneumonia and died a few days after.
Gregori Rasputin (1869 - 1916): Death by Poison, Gunshot, Beating and Drowning





Rasputin was a Russian mystic and monk who gained considerable influence on Tsar Nicholas II due to his unusual ability to use hypnosis to control the hemophilia suffered by Alexei, the heir to the throne. Rasputin survived being fed cakes laced with potassium cyanide and being shot through the heart. He was shot three more times by his assassins who found him to be alive and struggling to get up as they drew near to his body. He was then beaten with clubs and thrown into the freezing Neva River. When his body was recovered, an autopsy revealed that the cause of death to be hypothermia.
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 - 1687): Death by Conductor's Staff





Lully was an Italian-born French composer who worked most of his life as the appointed musician in the court of Louis XIV of France. While conducting the Te Deum in honor of Louis XIV's recent recovery from sickness, Lully was so deeply engrossed on keeping the tempo by banging his long staff against the floor (as was the custom of the time before the baton came into common usage) that he struck his toe so hard that the would developed into an abscess. He refused to have his toe amputated even if the wound had turned gangrenous and had spread, leading to his death two months after the incident.
Sherwood Anderson (1876 - 1941): Death by Toothpick





Anderson was an American author best known for his collection of short stories "Winesburg, Ohio" (1919) and the novel "Dark Laughter" (1925). He died in Panama of peritonitis that developed after accidentally swallowing a toothpick embedded in a martini olive at a party held on an ocean liner bound for Brazil.
George Allen (1918 - 1990): Death by Gatorade







Allen was an American Football coach, who was showered by some of his Long Beach State players with an ice cold bucket of Gatorade in celebration of their season-ending win over the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on November 17, 1990. Afterwards, he even granted media interviews for some time under the cold weather with a piercing wind and boarded the bus back to Long Beach State still in his drenched clothing. Since then, he acknowledged that he had not been feeling completely well. He finally succumbed to pneumonia on December 31, 1990.
Alexander Litvinenko (1962 - 2006): Death by Radiation Poisoning





Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian State Security Services, who fled his country to the United Kingdom where he was granted political asylum in 2000. Litvinenko was hospitalized on November 1, 2001 when his health unexpectedly deteriorated. It was later discovered that he had been poisoned with significant amounts of the rare and extremely toxic radioactive element polonium-210. He died three weeks later, thus becoming the first known casualty of deliberate radiation poisoning. His murder marked the start of a new era of nuclear terrorism.
Jack Daniel (1850 - 1911): Death from Stubbed Toe







In 1905, Jack Daniel, founder of Tennessee whiskey distillery, had trouble opening his safe early one day at work as he always had difficulty remembering the right combination. He kicked the safe in frustration resulting in a toe injury that later became infected; and eventually died (six years later) from blood poisoning attributable to the mishap. He could have just dipped his toe in his famous whiskey to ward off infection.
Isadora Duncan (1877 - 1927): Death by a Scarf




Duncan was an American dancer, considered by many to be the mother of modern dance. Her extreme fondness for long flowing scarves was the cause of her death in a freak automobile accident in France at the age of 50. Duncan was strangled by her own scarf when it got caught in the rear wheel of a moving car.
Claude François (1939 - 1978): Death by a Light Bulb

François was a French pop singer, best known for writing "Comme d'habitude," which was adapted for the English public by Paul Anka into the celebrated hit "My Way" famously sung by Frank Sinatra. François noticed a broken light bulb while standing in a bathtub filled with water in his Paris apartment. But being a stickler for orderliness and cleanliness, he cannot help but try to change the bulb, resulting in his death by electrocution.

I’m not a look-a-like

Interesting project by photographer Francois Brunelle. A collection of photographic portraits of North American and European look-alikes. Each photo features two look-alikes, who are not related, side by side

Things Leonardo da Vinci did to change the world

Many are known about Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, yet many things still await to be discovered. Widely considered an archetipe of the “Renaissance man”, he was a man whose curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention and talent. Among others, he was a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. Many claim he was the smartest man to ever live, many claim he was the most talented to ever live… one thing’s for sure: he was a one of a kind man.

Scissors

Something as simple yet as important as the scissors had a huge importance in the development of mankind. Who knows how many centuries would have passed without this tool had it not been for the man? Just think about all the tailors… not much of a job left for them, huh?

Parachute

The first parachute had been imagined and sketched by Leonardo Da Vinci in the 15th century. It’s hard to believe something as “modern” as a parachute could be invented over 500 years ago. Leonardo’s parachute design consists of sealed linen cloth held open by a pyramid of wooden poles, about seven metres long. Still, because his ideas were way ahead of his time, the technology was not able to sustain his ideas, thus nobody invented a practical parachute until 1783.


Mona Lisa

Without a doubt the most famous painting of the world, Mona Lisa (or Gioconda) has fascinated people for centuries - and for a good reason. It is said that just the lips took 10 years to make. Also, it has fueled an impressive amount of theories, due to it’s mysterious smile and implicit (for some) sexual hint, but also because of the fact that it also has some man traits, despite having pregnant features. Still, the enigmatic smile is the crowning of a genius.


Anatomy studies



Leonardo’s formal training in the anatomy of the human body began with his apprenticeship to Andrea del Verrocchio, his teacher insisting that all his pupils learn anatomy. As an artist, he grew fond of topographic anatomy, drawing many studies of muscles, tendons and other visible anatomical features. Also, his drawing of the Vitruvian man is iconic: a nude male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square was almost a science fiction topic in 1487. The measurements are those of an average man, surprisingly correct (again, on average).


Engineering


During his lifetime and even after that, Leonardo was valued as an engineer. Still, with his imagination it was hard to remain practical all the time, so some of his inventions were not devisable (at least not at that time). In 2001, a vision of his was ressurected by some engineers who built a small bridge based on his ideas. For much of his life, Leonardo was fascinated by the phenomenon of flight, producing many studies of the flight of birds, including his c. 1505 Codex on the Flight of Birds. Still, what chances would you have of somebody actually building the helicopters and tanks you designed?

Many of his ideas were unpractical, many were just brilliantly aplied, many had to wait hundreds of years before they could be aplied. Also his connection with the masonry is widely known and speculations have always been made. Stay tuned for a list of Leonardo’s more poetic ideas, and speculations that suround his unbelievable life.

Some Bizarre Phobias

Papaphobia: fear of the Pope
Regarded as one of the most benevolent and wonderful individuals in the world, millions flock to him, hoping for his blessing... except for those who suffer "Papaphobia": an abnormal or persistent pathological fear of the pope or the papacy. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, and overall feelings of dread. And it might not be only about the pope himself; a person with papaphobia may also be fearful of the Roman Catholic Church, so keep that popemobil away from them!



Arachibutyrophobia: fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth

Say what? You heard it. Eating a peanut butter sandwich is challenging for people with aracibutyrophobia, as they will freak out if the butter sticks to their mouth.



Trichophobia: fear of loose hairs

If there's a hair in your soup you're fine, but if you see them everywhere, you might be suffering Trichophobia. From Greek Thrix (hair) and phobia (fear), it's the morbid disgust or fear caused by the sight of loose hairs on clothing or elsewhere.



Nomophobia: fear of being out of mobile phone contact

How do you feel when your phone has no network coverage? Can you turn off your mobile for a whole day? Whether you have run out of credit or battery, lose your phone or are in an area with no reception, being phoneless can bring on a panicky symptom in our 24/7 culture, described as "Nomophobia".



Ephebiphobia: fear of teenagers

First coined as the "fear and loathing of teenagers," today the phenomenon is recognized as the "inaccurate, exaggerated and sensational characterization of young people" in a variety of settings around the world. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg has attributed the generation gap and the "increasing segregation of youth from adults in American society" to "adult estrangement and fear of youth." Fear of youth and their rejection is often disguised in a permissive attitude toward them.


Scopophobia: fear of being looked at

Feeling an intense and irrational fear of being looked at or stared at, Scopophobics tend to avoid large public places such as shopping malls and other large gatherings of people. Even simple tasks like driving a car can be very difficult, as the sufferer will experience an acute sense of fear and uneasiness as they irrationally perceive others are staring at them, either from the cars beside them, or from the cars in front or back of them in their rear-view mirrors.



Spectrophobia: fear of mirrors

This kind of specific phobia involves a morbid fear of mirrors and the dread of seeing one's own reflection. Psychoanalyst Sandor Ferenczi attributed it in one case to two main causes: fear of self-knowledge and flight from exhibitionism.


Phagophobia: fear of swallowing

In milder cases a phagophobe eats only soft and liquid foods, and its fear is expressed in various swallowing complaints without any apparent physical reason detectable by physical inspection and laboratory analyses. Phagophobia may lead to (and be confused with) fear of eating, and the subsequent malnutrition and weight loss.



Vomitophobia: fear of vomiting

Vomitophobia is the irrational fear of vomiting, being around others who are vomiting, and/or the vomit itself. In worst case scenarios, people with this particular phobia tend to avoid eating out, socializing and going to parties. They may hardly eat at all and that's why many are often diagnosed as anorexic, but not bulimic as this illness involves being overweight or at a healthy weight.



Triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13

One of the most common fears, but still senseless, even Adolf Hitler was triskaidekaphobic. There a specific fear of Friday the 13th as well, called paraskavedekatriaphobia. Tetraphobia is the fear of the number 4, more popular in China, Japan, and Korea.

Most Bizarre Beards and Mustaches

Every two years, the owners of the world's most elaborate facial hair come together for the World Beard and Moustache Championships. From 1990, the championships feature competition in a variety of categories that include everything from the delicate Dali moustache to the outrageous full beard freestyle. This facial-hair celebration is open to everyone and spectators are welcome. On 2007, Brighton (UK) hosted the championships, and the City of Anchorage (Alaska, USA) will host the next one on 2009.
Meet some of the craziest beards and mustaches we've found at the championships.