Seven Bizarre Deaths

Insane Fit of Laughter
One should avoid laughing too hard or too long. Whoever told these people that laughter was the best medicine should have been warned them about overdosing. Several historical figures died from an insane fit of laughter. The Stoic philosopher Chrysippus got his donkey drunk and then died laughing at its attempts to eat figs. Italian playwright and satirist Pietro Aretino apparently suffocated due to excessive mirth, and Scottish aristocrat Thomas Urquhart chuckled himself into oblivion upon hearing that Charles II had taken the throne.

Husband's Coffin
On November 10, 2008, a funeral procession was on its way to a cemetery in Brazil. Marciana Silva Barcelos was a passenger in the hearse carrying the body of her husband, Josi Silveira Coimbra, who had died the day before. Suddenly, a speeding car struck the back of the hearse. Dislodged by the accident, Josi's coffin hurtled forward and smashed into the back of Marciana's neck, killing her instantly.

Sex
Sergey Tuganov, a 28 year old Russian who suffered a severe case of death after betting two women he could have sex with them for 12 straight hours. He won the $4,300 bet and then promptly died. Doctors determined that his death was caused by the entire bottle of Viagra pill he ingested before attempting the feat of sexual endurance. At least the last twelve hours of his life were happy hours.

Tuganov isn't the only person to die from having sex. Kenneth Pinyon died from injuries suffered while having anal sex with an Arabian stallion. Pinyon regularly engaged in bestiality and had his performances videotaped and distributed under the name "Mr. Hands." On July 2, 2005, however, Mr. Hands made love to one last horse before succumbing to "acute peritonitis due to perforation of the colon."

Video Games
In 1981, a 19 year old gamer named Jeff Dailey became the first official video game victim. After racking p an impressive 16,660 points while playing the game "Berzerk," Jeff toppled over and died of a heart attack. Less than two years later, 18 year old Peter Burkowski died of a heart attack while playing the same game.

Floods
Usually when we hear "flood" we think "water," and usually we are right to think this. However, there are at least two famous flood incidents that had nothing at all to do with water.

The London Beer Flood occurred in October 1814. Nine people died after a 22 foot high, 130,000 gallon vat of porter burst at the Meux & Co. Brewery. The enormous volume of beer caused other vats to rupture as well, and more than 300,000 gallons of beer smashed its way through brick walls and blasted into the slums of St. Giles, a London parish. The sound of the explosion was reportedly heard up to five miles away.

The Boston Molasses Disaster occurred in January 1919, and resulted in the deaths of 21 people. A 50 foot high storage tank full of molasses exploded and unleashed a crazy wave of sticky death through Boston's North End. The warm weather apparently helped build pressure inside the poorly constructed tank, eventually causing an explosion. Several city blocks were flooded, and the wave was high and strong enough to lift a train off the Elevated Railway tracks.

Wooden Leg
Sir Arthur Aston was an English soldier who supported King Charles I during the English Civil War and was the proud owner of a wooden leg. In 1649, Aston was serving as governor of Drogheda, Ireland. In an attempt to help establish Ireland as a power base for the English Royalist cause, he had joined forces with the Marquis of Osmond, the Commander-in-Chief of Royalist forces in Ireland. In September of that year, Oliver Cromwell and his troops stormed the city and proceeded to massacre most of its inhabitants. When Parliamentary soldiers captured the governor, they had two main priorities: kill Aston and check for gold coins inside his wooden leg. There weren't any coins, but Aston was literally beaten brainless with his own leg in the process of not finding any gold.

Severed Head
Sigurd the Mighty, the ninth century Viking Earl of Orkney, died a particularly ironic death after returning from a successful battle. Having defeated his foe, Mael Brigte, Sigurd strapped the severed head to his saddle and headed home. As he was riding, however, Mael's tooth scraped against Sigurd's leg and caused a sore that later became infected, resulting in his death.