Bobby Leach (1858 -1926): Death by Orange Peel
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Leach, an English circus performer, was no stranger to danger as he was the second person and the first male ever to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel in 1911. He was able to earn a decent living giving an account of his harrowing experience in vaudeville shows and posing for pictures with his barrel. During a promotional tour in New Zealand in 1926, Leach slipped on an orange peel, severely injuring his leg in the process. The injury became infected and subsequently turned gangrenous, necessitating the amputation of his leg. In spite of the radical procedure, he still died of complications that developed afterwards.
Alexander Bogdanov (1873 - 1928): Death from Obsession for Eternal Youth
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In 1924, Bogdanov, a Russian philosopher, revolutionary, author and physician, started playing with the idea of achieving eternal youth or at least partially reverse the aging process through blood transfusion. After undergoing about a dozen transfusions himself, Bogdanov was pleased to note the positive changes occurring in his body, such as better eyesight, less falling hair and improved skin tone. A friend even commented to his delight that he looked ten years younger after the procedure. He lost his life in 1928 when he was transfused with blood of a student suffering from tuberculosis and malaria.
Henry Winstanley (1644 - 1703): Death from Overconfidence
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Winstanley was an English engineer who built the very first Eddystone lighthouse to help protect sea vessels from the treacherous Eddystone Rocks near Plymouth. So great was his confidence in the soundness of his lighthouse design that he even went to the point of wishing to be inside it during "the greatest storm there ever was." Well, he got what he wanted. Winstanley perished along with five other occupants when the tower completely collapsed on November 27, 1703, during the Great Storm of that year. He was visiting that very night to do some repairs.
Kurt Gödel (1906 - 1978): Death from Paranoia
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Gödel, Austrian-born American mathematician and philosopher, suffered frequent bouts of mental illness and instability in later life. He had an abnormal fear of being poisoned, and would not eat of his food unless his wife Adele first tasted them. So when his wife was hospitalized late in 1977 for six months, he refused to eat in her absence and eventually starved himself to death. He weighed only 65 pounds when he died.
Vic Morrow (1929 - 1982): Death by Helicopter Rotor Blades
Morrow was an American actor and director best known for his work on the 1960's hit television series "Combat." Morrow died on the set of "Twilight Zone: The Movie" while shooting the scene wherein he and two children were running from the pursuing helicopter. The special firework explosions caused the helicopter to spin out of control and crashed on three of them. Morrow and one of the children were decapitated by the blades while the other child was crushed beneath the helicopter's landing skid.
Ray Chapman (1891 - 1920): Death by Baseball
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Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was struck dead by a baseball pitch. In those days, baseball pitchers purposely misshaped the ball by dirtying, scratching and cutting it before it was thrown it at the batter to render it difficult to see. On August 6, 1920, Carl Mays of the New York Yankees pitched such as ball so hard smashing it into Chapman's skull, which created a sound so loud that Mays imagined it hit the end of Chapman's bat, so he fielded the ball and tossed it to first base. Chapman died 12 hours later in a hospital.
Horace Wells (1815 - 1848): Death by Anesthesia
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Wells was an American dentist who pioneered the use of anesthesia, particularly nitrous oxide (or laughing gas), in the field of dentistry. Wells became increasingly addicted to chloroform while testing various gases for their anesthetic properties. One day in 1848, he got himself arrested and put in prison for spraying two women with sulfuric acid in his delirium. As the effects of the drug began to subside, he was told of the gruesome act he had committed. In despair, he committed suicide by slashing a major artery in his leg after anesthetizing himself with chloroform to block the pain.
Martha Mansfield (1899 - 1923): Death by Matchstick
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While working as the lead actress on the film "The Warrens of Virginia," the 24-year-old Mansfield suffered serious burns to her body when her Civil War costume of hoopskirts and ruffles was accidentally set on fire by a lit matchstick thrown away by a smoking cast member. Her leading man, Wilfred Lytell, threw his topcoat over her to put out the fire while her chauffeur got his hands badly burned in his attempt to remove her blazing clothing. Despite the efforts to save her, she died less than twenty four hours after being rushed to a hospital.
Jim Fixx (1932 - 1984): Death by Jogging
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Fixx, the author of the 1977 best selling book "The Complete Book of Running," was credited for popularizing the sport of running/jogging. He emphasized the health benefits of regular physical exercise and how it can significantly add to a person's longevity. Even though he lived what he preached, Fixx died at the relatively young age of only 52 from a massively fatal heart attack during one of his daily run. An autopsy revealed that one of his coronary arteries was almost 100% clogged, a second 85% obstructed and a third 70% blocked; and that he had three other attacks in the week prior to his death.
Allan Pinkerton (1819 - 1884): Death from Tongue Bite
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Pinkerton, a Scottish detective, was best known for establishing the very first detective agency in the United States, the Pinkerton Agency, and for introducing innovative investigative techniques still very much in use today, such as "assuming a role" (undercover work) and "shadowing" (suspect surveillance). In June 1884, Pinkerton bit his tongue as he stumbled on a sidewalk in Chicago, but did not immediately sought treatment. His tongue injury developed into an infection that caused his death a week later.
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