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Quiz about Weird Ways to Meet Your Maker Part 3

Weird Ways to Meet Your Maker: Part 3 Quiz

It seems some people cannot get enough of these strange deaths. I am indebted to Ewokman for his suggestions.

A multiple-choice quiz by darksplash. Estimated time: 7 mins.

Author
darksplash

Time
7 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
308,275

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
4 / 10

Plays
1439

Awards
Top 10% Quiz

Question 1 of 10

1. "Duck" or should it be "eagle"? Either way, the Greek dramatist Aeschylus should have kept his head down. It is said that he died when he was hit on the head by an object dropped by an eagle. What was it? Hint

A rabbit

A rock

A tortoise

A piece of wood

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. William Huskisson was a noted statesman and financier whose interest in rail transport cost him dear. Which locomotive was to be the death of him? Hint

Puffing Billy

The Rocket

The Flying Scotsman

Locomotion

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Question 3 of 10

3. At least some may have died happy. In 1814, nine people drowned in a flood in London. What kind of liquid was involved? Hint

Whisky

Beer

Gin

Irn-Bru

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Question 4 of 10

4. "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that", or so said the acclaimed Liverpool Football Club manager Bill Shankly. What, according to news reports, caused the deaths of an entire African football team? Hint

They were shot by a crazed home fan

They were eaten by crocodiles

They were struck by lightning

Their bus careered off the road

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. In 1919, 21 people died in a US city after a tank of molasses collapsed sending a wave of the sticky, sweet stuff through the streets. In which city did it occur? Hint

Baltimore

Boston

Dayton

Denver

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Question 6 of 10

6. Thomas Midgley Jr was a serial inventor and held over 100 patents. How, though was one of his inventions to be the death of him? Hint

He was overcome by fumes after sniffing Freon

He accidentally choked on a pulley-operated bed

He was poisoned after drinking tetraethyllead 'to prove it was safe'

Electrocuted while demonstrating his patented wireless electricity system

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. When I was young my granny used to tuck me up in bed at night and say "goodnight Splash, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite". Dan Andersson, a Swedish writer, probably wished he had the same kind of granny, for he was killed by bedbugs. How? Hint

Fell out of bed and broke his neck after being bitten by a bed bug

Mistook a powder used to kill bugs for alka-seltzer and poisoned himself taking a hangover cure

Broke his leg while trying to kill a bed bug, contracted gangrene and died

Poisoned by cyanide gas used to kill the bugs

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. Ah the TV talkshow! Who can forget the many highlights, the funny stories, the scandalous secrets, the interviewee who died mid-interview ... That was the fate of Jerome Irving Rodale, but who was in the interviewer's chair that day? Hint

Jay Leno

Tucker Carlson

David Letterman

Dick Cavett

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. Jeff Dailey should probably have listened better when his mother told him to go out and play in the fresh air. Instead he preferred to spend time on his computer. Which computer game was he playing when he died in 1981? Hint

Risk

Dungeons and Dragons

Donkey Kong

Berzerk

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. Tennessee Williams was the hard-living, hard-drinking author of such memorable plays as "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". What normally innocuous item caused his death? Hint

A bottle cap

A toothbrush

A toothpick

A comb

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

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.

2. William Huskisson was a noted statesman and financier whose interest in rail transport cost him dear. Which locomotive was to be the death of him?

Answer: The Rocket

William Huskisson was born in 1770 and met his maker on September 15th 1830. On that fateful day, he was at the official opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. As his train stopped, he was getting out of the door when 'The Rocket', traveling on an adjacent track, pulled him under her wheels.

3. At least some may have died happy. In 1814, nine people drowned in a flood in London. What kind of liquid was involved?

Answer: Beer

On October 17 1814, what later became known as "The London Beer Flood" occurred. More than 300,000 gallons of beer burst out of a brewery in Tottenham Court Road. Many of those who died were trapped in basements that were quickly inundated.

Answer: They were struck by lightning

In October 1998, BBC news reported that 11 players on a visiting team died after lightning struck a pitch in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thirty spectators were injured, but none of the home side was hurt.

Note: Several versions of the Shankly quote exist. The one used here is taken from the Liverpool FC website.

5. In 1919, 21 people died in a US city after a tank of molasses collapsed sending a wave of the sticky, sweet stuff through the streets. In which city did it occur?

Answer: Boston

A further 150 people were injured when the tank containing over 2 million gallons of molasses exploded on January 15th.

6. Thomas Midgley Jr was a serial inventor and held over 100 patents. How, though was one of his inventions to be the death of him?

Answer: He accidentally choked on a pulley-operated bed

The American inventor Thomas Midgley, Jr. was born on May 18th 1889 and was the man who put lead in our petrol and greatly increased the CFCs in our atmosphere. In later life he contracted polio and developed a pulley system to allow others to lift him out of bed. Unfortunately on November 2nd 1944, he became entangled in pulley cords and choked to death.

Answer: Poisoned by cyanide gas used to kill the bugs

Andersson was born on April 8th 1888 and became noted for his poetry, short stories and songs. In September 1920, he was staying at a hotel in Stockholm, however it had not be properly aired after staff used hydrogen cyanide to kill the bedbugs.

Answer: Dick Cavett

Rodale was a pioneering American organic farmer. In 1971 he took part in a recording for 'The Dick Cavett Show' and appeared to fall asleep. When fellow guests tried to wake him, they found he had died of a heart attack. The show was never broadcast.

Answer: Berzerk

Daily was 19 when he succumbed to a heart attack while playing the arcade game Berzerk.

10. Tennessee Williams was the hard-living, hard-drinking author of such memorable plays as "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". What normally innocuous item caused his death?

Answer: A bottle cap

Williams won Pulitzer prizes (in 1948 and 1955) for the two plays mentioned. In February 1983, he was staying at a hotel in New York and died after choking on the cap of an eyedrop bottle. Reportedly, he liked to put the cap in his mouth while he applied the drops to his eyes. An autopsy report suggested he had been drinking.

Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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