The 13 Most Horrifying & Ridiculous Deaths Ever

1. Gyorgy Dozsa Szekely

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One of the most horrible deaths ever is the death of Gyorgy Dozsa Szekely, a Hungarian man-at-arms and a peasant’s revolt leader. He was condemned to sit on a red-hot iron throne with a red-hot iron crown on his head and a red-hot scepter in his hand by Hungarian landlords in Transylvania in 1514. To make things worst, while Dozsa was still alive, his partially roasted body was served to 6 of his fellow rebels who had been starved for a week. Oops, don’t throw-up!

2. Franz Reichelt

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Franz Reichelt or the Flying Tailor, an Austrian born French tailor and inventor, met his horrific death with his own invention – the coat parachute. In 1912 while testing his invention he fell to his death off the first deck of the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

3. Grigori Rasputin

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I think this next horrifying death is yet to be verified. According to some account, the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin or the Mad Monk was reportedly poisoned while dining with a political enemy, shot in the head, shot three more times, stabbed and then thrown into a frozen river in 1916.

4. Harry Houdini

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Would you believe that Harry Houdini, who was born Erik Weizs, died because of his boastfulness? Houdini boasted that he could withstand any blow to his body above his waist, excluding his head. In 1926, although he managed to escape death many times, this famous American escape artist was punched in the stomach by an amateur boxer named J. Gordon Whitehead, a McGill University student, and days later, Houdini died of ruptured appendix.

5. William Kogut

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The death of William Kogut, an inmate on death row at San Quentin, California, is quite bizarre. In 1930, William committed suicide in the most unusual way. He used pieces of several packs of playing cards with red ink which contained nitrocellulose and stuffed them into a pipe. He covered one end of the pipe tightly with a broom handle and poured water into the other end to soak the card pieces. He then placed the pipe on a kerosene heater next to his bed and placed the open end firmly against his head. The heater turned the water into steam and eventually enough pressure built up inside the pipe so that when it burst, the explosion shot out bits of playing cards with enough force to penetrate Kogut’s skull, killing him. Brilliant, isn’t it?

6. Collyer Brothers

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Hoarders beware! Compulsive hoarding kills. In 1947, the Collyer Brothers were found dead in their home in Manhattan, New York, USA. The younger brother, Langley, died by falling victim to a booby trap he had set up, causing a mountain of objects, books, and newspapers to fall on him crushing him to death. His blind brother, Homer, who had depended on Langley for care, died of starvation some days later. Their bodies were recovered after massive efforts in removing 130 tons of debris that they had amassed over several decades.

7. Thich Quang Duc

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During the Middle Ages, burning at the stake is a common form of death punishment but the death in 1963 of the Vietnamese Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc, in protest of President Ngo Dinh Diem’s administration for oppressing Buddhism, is horrific. He sat down in the middle of a busy intersection in Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon), bathed himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire, burning himself to death.

8. Kurt Godel

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Kurt Godel, one of the most significant logicians of all-time, died of starvation in 1978 when his wife was hospitalized. This Austrian/American mathematician who was suffering from “extreme paranoia” refused to eat food prepared by other people. He was only 30 kg when he died.

9. Robert Williams

Believe it or not, robots kill! In 1979, the first verified human killed by a robot is Robert Williams, a worker at a Ford Motor Co. plant. He was hit in the head by the arm of a one-ton factory robot.

10. Vladimir Smirnov

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This one really hurts. In 1982 during the World Championship in Rome, the Olympic champion in fencing Vladimir Smirnov died of brain damage when his opponent Matthias Behr’s (West Germany) blade broke during a match. The foil penetrated his mask, pierced his eyeball and entered his brain. He died 9 days later.

11. David Allen Kirwan

Dying for man’s best friend? In 1981, David Allen Kirwan, a 24-year-old tourist, attempted to rescue a friend’s dog after it fell into Celestine Pool, a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park in Utah, USA. He dove headfirst into the pool but was unable to save the dog. Although he managed to swim back to shore, 100% of his body suffered third-degree burn and had also blinded him. He died the next day.

12. Jimmy Lee Gray

The death of Jimmy Lee Gray could have been easy and painless but because his executioner was drunk, he had to die the hard way. He was scheduled to be executed in 1983 at Mississippi’s gas chamber but the gas failed to kill him. He was left in agony and gasping for 8 minutes. He died banging his head against a metal pole behind the chair that he was strapped into. He was convicted for murder of a 3-year-old girl after kidnapping and sodomizing her.

13. Australian Man

In 1995, a 39-year old Australian man committed suicide in one of the strangest ways. He is truly committed and 100% decided to end his life. He shot himself 3 times with a pump action shotgun. His first attempt was unsuccessful; the shot just passed through his chest and went out the other side. The second attempt was also unsuccessful, he shot his throat and part of his jaw but he is still alive. He reloaded once again, held the gun against his chest with his hands and operated the trigger with his toes. This time the shot entered the thoracic cavity and demolished the heart, at last, it was a success.

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