What a Way to Go Trivia

31. This prolific author ended his life just before his 62nd birthday with a shotgun blast to the head. Apparently for him, the sun also sets. Who was he?

From Quiz Done In...By Themselves!

Answer: Ernest Hemingway

Ernest's wife Mary claimed that he was cleaning the weapon, and it accidentally discharged. That's hard to believe, though, seeing as Hemingway was said to have been a hunter and a gun expert. He was judged to be mentally incompetent at the time of his suicide, so he was allowed a Christian burial in Ketchum, Idaho. According to Wikipedia, Hemingway may have purchased the shotgun at Abercrombie & Fitch, which used to be an outdoor sports store. The last part of the question was a reference to one of Hemingway's most famous novels, "The Sun Also Rises".

From Quiz A Sleep with the Fishes

Answer: stones

Virginia Woolf met her maker on 28th March 1941. She committed suicide due to an overwhelming depression not unlike the ones she had previously suffered. She filled the pockets of her coat with stones and walked into the River Ouse, to be discovered three weeks later.

From Quiz Life is Short, Death is Long

Answer: Terri Schiavo

Terri Schiavo was put into a persistent vegetative state after collapsing in her house from a cardiac arrest that caused severe brain damage. She lived for a few years before her husband asked to have her removed from life support, but her parents opposed the idea. This led to extensive US media coverage, and a hotly debated political issue. However, on March 31, 2005, she was taken off life support and died from dehydration.

From Quiz Weird Ways to Meet Your Maker: Part 3

Answer: A tortoise

Aeschylus was an ancient Greek playwright who was born about 525BC and died about 456BC. He wrote about 70 plays, only seven of which survive. The story goes, and I make no claims for its authenticity, that he died after an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head. History does not record what became of the tortoise. Note: Some other sources suggest it was an oyster that was dropped.

From Quiz Weird Ways To Meet Your Maker: Part 1

Answer: He drowned embracing the moon

The eighth century poet Li Po was well known for his love of liquor. One night he fell from a boat into the Yangtze River while trying to embrace a reflection of the moon in the water. [Main source for all questions: 30 Strangest Deaths in History, 'Neatorama Only', 2007, and verified from other sources].

From Quiz Unusual Deaths

Answer: Rasputin

The assassins first laced tea cakes and wine with cyanide. This apparently had no effect. He was then shot several times and they thought he was dead, but he opened his eyes. Next they beat him, bound him, and dumped him in the river. These events are probably both real and exaggerated since the accounts came from the murderers. Hypothermia and drowning were probably the coup de grace. Rasputin aroused jealousies as it was believed he had too much influence on the Russian royal family.

From Quiz A Revenge of the Llamas Quiz : The Darwin Awards

Answer: Once the cable was severed, the elevator's counterbalance was released to crush the burglar.

It must have seemed like a good idea as the burglar approached the grainery near Zatec about 40 miles from Prague. There was plenty of good quality steel cable capable of being sold on at a high price. Unfortunately for him, the counterbalance moved virtually silently as it accelerated downwards. http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2008-08.html

From Quiz They Went That-A-Way Part II

Answer: decapitation by a falling helicopter

Morrow died on the set of "Twilight Zone: The Movie", during early morning filming (about 2:30 am) on July 23, 1982. The scene called for Morrow, while carrying two small children (5 year old Renee Chen and 7 year old My-ca Le) to cross a small river, rescuing them from a wartime gunfight between opposing military troops, near their small deserted village. The scene started with Morrow crossing a small river while carrying the kids through the knee deep water. A pyrotechnic device used as special effects, fired into the air and accidentally severed the tail rotor of a helicopter that was hovering about 25 feet above the actors. The helicopter then spun out of control and crashed into the river, with the right skid of the helicopter crushing Renee to death, and the main rotor severing the head of Morrow, and severing the head, shoulder and an arm of My-ca. The six occupants inside the helicopter suffered only minor injuries. Following the gruesome accident, the set director, John Landis, reportedly yelled through a loud speaker, "That's a wrap", the standard words used to end the days filming. The scene and that portion of the storyline were deleted from the movie. Prior to the beginning of the filming, the parents of the two children were each given an envelope by a production assistant, containing $500.00 dollars in cash as payment. The children were not officially part of the cast as it would have been illegal for children to work at that hour. The accident led to both civil and criminal legal actions against Landis and the production company. The accident also led to massive reforms in U.S. Child Labor laws and safety regulations on movie sets.

From Quiz Famous People in Aircraft Crashes

Answer: Dag Hammarskjold

Dag Hammarskjold was the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. The plane in which he was travelling crashed into the jungle. There were rumours at the time that a bomb exploded, and even that some of the victims were shot prior to the crash. All 16 passengers and crew were killed.

From Quiz The Rest Of My Body, Please!

Answer: Warsaw

Following his death in 1849, Chopin was buried in the Père Lachaise graveyard in Paris. (The same graveyard that Jim Morrison would be buried in 122 years later.) Before he was buried, his heart was taken, according to his request, and was entombed in a pillar in the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, Poland.

From Quiz More Darwin Awards: Part B

Answer: An umbrella

He accidentally pressed the button that opens the umbrella. It sprang open when it was still down his throat, killing him. It must have been interesting to have been in the audience at the time!

From Quiz The Darwin Awards : Part A

Answer: Put a garland of flowers on a tiger

Not a very wise move. The tiger attacked one of them. In order to distract it, the other man kicked its face. So the tiger turned on him, and bit his head off. The other man survived. In case you are a tiger-lover, don't worry! The tiger wasn't destroyed for killing the man. The tiger's name was Shiva, by the way.

From Quiz What a Way to Go!

Answer: Attila the Hun

Attila was not known for his appetite and tended to eat and drink quite sparingly at banquets. At his wedding banquet, however, he rather over-indulged himself on alcohol. During the night he suffered a nosebleed, but was too drunk to notice, and choked on his own blood. He was found dead the next morning - much to the delight of many of his subject peoples.

From Quiz Such a Life, Such a Death

Answer: Isadora Duncan

Born Angela Duncan in San Francisco in 1878, Isadora was as renowned for her flamboyant lifestyle as her revolutionary dance routines. She was described by George Bernard Shaw as "A woman whose face looked as if it had been made of sugar and someone had kicked it."

From Quiz Heroic Lives, Dramatic Exits

Answer: Assassination

Pizarro is remembered for his dramatic adventures with the Inca in Peru. Later, however, his fortunes took a turn for the worse when politics and greed alienated and antagonized the wrong people. Ultimately, he paid the price.

From Quiz 10 Famous Drowning Victims

Answer: Bartolomeu Dias

When Dias reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, making him the first European to reach that point, he named it the 'Cape of Storms'. He proved prescient in 1500 when he drowned off the cape during a storm. This happened while Dias was accompanying Cabral on the mission which had previously reached the coast of Brazil (which Cabral claimed for Portugal). Intended as a negotiatory mission to India, it ran into trouble at the Cape of Good Hope...7 of the fleet's 13 ships were lost.

From Quiz Luck or Fate?

Answer: Illness

She was running a high fever, so she couldn't make the trip. But for that...

From Quiz Strange Ways To Die

Answer: a bluegill fish

This poor man was preparing to remove a bluegill from the hook of his fishing line. He held it up to admire it, dropped it and it got lodged in his throat. The scales and the gills were so tightly stuck that it was impossible to remove. He managed to get home but it was too late. He was killed by a kamikaze bluegill!

From Quiz How Did They Die?

Answer: Shot by jealous husband while enjoying breakfast with a lady.

Ketchel was quite the ladies' man.

From Quiz They Were Murdered

Answer: Bob Crane

Bob Crane had fallen onto hard times in the late 1970s, mainly doing cheap stage productions. He also had a fondness for prostitutes and made a few x-rated home movies. His murder was never officially solved, as the person charged with the crime was acquitted.

From Quiz The Death Quiz: Part II

Answer: Bon Scott

Bon Scott died just after his band's largest success, namely 1979's Highway to Hell album. He was replaced and the embattled band band continues to wow audiences even today.

From Quiz What in the World?

Answer: A cap for eye drops

Tennessee Williams passed away on February 25, 1983. He choked to death on a cap for his eye drops. The press reported that he had been putting in the drops with the cap between his teeth. However, the truth came out some months later that Williams had been using the cap to take barbiturates. Despite Williams' express wishes to be buried at sea, his brother had him interred at the same cemetery in St. Louis where his mother had been buried.

From Quiz Unusual Deaths of Various People

Answer: An entire goose

Martin of Aragon (1356-1410) was the king of that country from 1396 until his death. During his reign, the country was at peace because he worked hard to quell any internal trouble. Worked too hard it would seem. His appetite grew along with his body size and he became very obese, suffering from periodic attacks of chronic indigestion. A goose is approximately four times the size of a hen. It's really quite alarming, particularly up close, if it's in an aggressive mood. Martin of Aragon had no such fear however. One night, after he ate an enormous goose all by himself - the hog - he suffered the consequences of a severe attack of indigestion. Such was his discomfort that he ordered his jester in to entertain him as a form of distraction therapy. The jester, however, did such a good job that the king began to laugh heartily and uncontrollably, and this, combined with the awful pains in his stomach and chest from the indigestion, caused his collapse and death. What a silly goose.

From Quiz How Did I Die?

Answer: A shooting attack and an explosion

Benazir Bhutto was the Chair of the Pakistan People's Party at the time of her assassination. Pakistan was holding parliamentary elections in January of 2008 and Bhutto had been campaigning for her party. She had just returned from an exile in October 2007. During the months between her return and her assassination, there had been a few attempts on her life, all of them similar to the one that did kill her. Bhutto was killed after she was shot multiple times and an explosive device detonated near her. The ultimate cause of death was from blunt force trauma from hitting her head after being tossed in the explosion. Who the culprits were is not clear. Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, an Al-Qaeda leader, claimed responsibility for the attack, while the Pakistani government blamed Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani Taliban leader. The then-President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf was also blamed for the attack for not providing enough security to Bhutto. In 2011, a court ordered an arrest warrant for Musharraf on the grounds that he may have been complicit in the assassination.

From Quiz They Should Have Taken the Train

Answer: Harriet Quimby

Harriet Quimby got her license in 1911, and quickly established that women could fly was well as men. In April of 1912 she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel, flying from Dover to Calais in just under an hour. The feat received little press coverage, because it was only a day after the sinking of the Titanic (an event which also overshadowed the opening of Boston's Fenway Park, as all Red Sox fans know). The accident that caused her death involved the plane tilting sharply for unexplained reasons. She and her passenger both fell out and died from the fall, although the plane itself glided safely to a landing. When they tell you to fasten your seat belts, take the advice!

From Quiz Plane Crash Victims

Answer: Knute Rockne

On the occasion of Rockne's death, President Hoover called it "a national loss." Haakon VII, King of Norway (where Rockne was born), knighted Rockne posthumously and sent a personal envoy to the funeral. Rockne's death resulted in a national outcry demanding, and resulting in, sweeping changes to aircraft design and safety standards.

From Quiz Another One Bites the Crust

Answer: Drinking a large quantity of carrot juice in a short span of time

Some have questioned the truth of this story, but its inclusion on some reputable health websites has been cited as verification. It is said this man drank ten gallons of carrot juice over the course of the same number of days, when ten pints would have been ideal.

From Quiz Bad Timing or Thinning The Herd II - You Decide

Answer: accidentally jumped from the 24th floor of his office building during a demonstration

Garry Hoy, a highly respected attorney in his law firm, died while attempting to demonstrate the strength of the windows on the 24th floor of his office building in a stunt he had successfully performed dozens of times before. Hoy would explain to visitors that the windows were unbreakable, and then fling himself against the window, always bouncing harmlessly off the glass. During a meeting on July 9, 1993, with a group of prospective apprentice legal clerks, Hoy again tried to prove his point, throwing himself at the window and bouncing back. The results were different when he repeated the stunt a second time. True to his word, the window didn't break, but the force of his body hitting the window caused it to pop out of its frame, resulting in Hoy flying out of the window and falling 24 floors to his death. Before becoming a lawyer, Hoy worked as a professional structural engineer, having received an engineering degree. Hoy was well aware of the structural specifications of the building and the shatter-proof windows. Hoy's bizarre death earned him honorable mention in the list of "1996 Darwin Awards" for unusual deaths.

From Quiz Bad Timing or Thinning the Herd - You Choose!

Answer: choked on anthropid body parts after winning a cockroach eating contest

Edward Archbold died on October 10, 2012, after consuming dozens of live cockroaches and worms to win a contest conducted by Ben Siegel Reptile Store, in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Archbold beat 30 other contestants to win the grand prize of a live python. Shortly after winning the contest, Archbold collapsed on the sidewalk in front of the store, and was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The office of the Broward County Medical Examiner ruled the death an accident, the result of "asphyxia due to choking and aspiration of gastric content".

From Quiz Exit With a Flourish

Answer: Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus was famous for two reasons: he put down the slave revolt of Spartacus, and he was the richest man in Rome. In 60 BC, he joined with Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great to form the First Triumvirate. In 55 BC Crassus was named governor of Syria, and he was soon at war with the neighboring Parthians. He was defeated at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, one of the worst defeats suffered by Rome in its entire history. How Crassus met his death is a matter of dispute. Most accounts say that he was killed when he met with the Parthian general, Surena, to discuss a truce (never trust a Parthian). Others say he was killed by his own troops. But one account says that he was captured and killed by having molten gold poured down his throat (an alternative version says that the Parthians first cut off his head, and then did this after he was already dead). There are other reports that the Parthians cut off Crassus' head and used it as a prop in a play put on for the amusement of their king, Orodes II. The story of Crassus' death by molten gold should not be summarily dismissed. Another Roman general, Manius Aquilius, was executed by King Mithridates VI of Pontus in exactly this way in 88 BC, some 35 years before Crassus met his end.

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