Cask(et)ade

Marc Bourjade, a French undertaker, died when a pile of coffins in his workshop fell on him in 1982. One of those caskets was used to bury him.

Oh, the irony!

In 1989, a guy called Michael Anderson Godwin was waiting in his death row cell for an execution day, as he was supposed to be sent to the electric chair.

One day, his TV broke and the guy decided to try to fix it playing around with the cables, or more specifically, chewing on them while he was on the toilet. The Universe at that point must have decided that the Criminal Justice system was a bit slow, because with the metal toilet as a conductor, Godwin died by electrocution. Oh well, it was going to be a matter of time anyway.

(Please get the Tywin Lannister reference).

The guy who felt the buzz.

The first ever execution by electric chair went horribly wrong: in 1890 a guy named William Kemmler had the “honour” to be the guinea pig for this new execution method.
The warden was pretty nervous himself when the time came for Kemmler to meet his maker, even more than the prisoner himself, whose words of encouragement for his executioner have been recorded: “Take your time; don’t be in a hurry. Do it well; be sure everything is all right,” he told him.
So, at first things seemed going well: the warden flipped the switch, and ten seconds later Kemmler looked pretty dead.
When, a few minutes later, a cut on his hand started bleeding, indicating that he was still alive, the warden panicked and quickly ordered the current to be restarted. This time the procedure went on for a while, and the poor guy even drooled and moaned until he literally started sizzling due to his body being “cooked” to death.

Oh, God.

In 2006, an Azerbaijani guy called Makhmudov was taking a stroll down Kiev Zoo, in Ukraine, when he decided to prove a point regarding the existence of God. He climbed down a lion den where four felines where minding their own businesses, claiming out loud that if God existed, He would have saved him from the lions.
God apparently decided that the moron wasn’t worth the effort, because a lioness attached Makhmudov seizing his carotid artery.

The Black (Friday) Death

Last year in the United States, 7 people died during Black Friday.

Safe and sound

Jack Daniel, and I am assuming I don’t need to explain you who the guy is, died age 61 in 1911. He met his maker as a result of a toe infection after kicking a safe because he forgot the combination. Alcohol may or may not have been involved.

 

(Un)happy hour

London, October 1814. In central Tottenham Court Road brewery, a fermenting vat bursts allowing its content – 1.2 million litres of ale – to flood nearby buildings and causing the death of 9 people, one of which supposedly for alcohol poisoning.

 

A rough awakening

In 2011, a woman died at her own funeral. After Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, 49 years of age, was declared dead in Kazan (Russia), her friends and relatives gathered together to pay their respects. Apparently though she was very much alive, because she woke up hearing people praying for her soul, and it must must have been quite a shock for the lady who died – this time for real – of heart failure 12 minutes later. 

 

Drowning in irony.

1985: Jerome Moody, 31 years old, died drowning at a pool party. The thing is, the party was organised by the lifeguards of New Orleans to celebrate their first season drowning-free. Four of them were on duty.

Don’t kill yourselfie

Since the beginning of August 2014, at least five people died while taking a selfie.