Death by Misadventure: 210 Dumb Ways to Die Read Online Free

on the sisters’ porch untouched for two
days, Police forced their way into the women's ramshackle
two story house. Charlotte Robenstein, 83, her older sister,
Marion Seelig, and their cat all died of some combination of
exposure, pneumonia and malnutrition. The bodies were found amid
dusty piles and boxes of cash and valuables estimated to be worth
between 20 and 50 thousand dollars. Miami Herald, December 3, 1982
    54. Dumbster. The crushed body
of Douglas Beatty, 36, a drifter, was found in a Pennsylvania
landfill site. It seems he went to sleep in a dumpster one spring
evening and was accidentally processed like common refuse. Beatty’s
family had been trying to locate him for 9 years to tell him that
he had inherited several thousand dollars. Philadelphia Daily News, May 30, 1990
    55. Hunk Flunk. In 1984,
Jon-Erik Hexum was at the apex of his short career as the star
of Cover Up , a TV
show about international espionage and intrigue. The 26-year-old
Hexum played a Green Beret turned spy that traveled the world as a
male model. Hexum killed himself with a .44 magnum loaded with
blanks. Reportedly, he held the gun to his head and joked, “Let’s
see if I got one for me.” The blast sent a piece of skull into
Hexum’s brain. Doctors declared Hexum brain-dead six days later and
his family donated the young star’s organs for
transplant. Dead before their time,
1996
    56. Maestro Miscue. Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632- 1687) was the “Music Master to the
Royal Family” in Louis XIV’s France. He died as the result of an
injury he sustained while conducting an orchestra. He accidentally
stabbed himself in the toe with the end his conductor’s staff.
Lully did not show the wound to doctors until gangrene had set in
and then refused to let the doctors amputate his toe. When the
gangrene had spread through his leg, he again refused a life-saving
amputation and died a few weeks later. They went that-a-way..., 1988
    57. B-Movie Death. Actress,
Maria Montez, 31, moved from the Dominican Republic to the United
States to become a star. After two dozen forgettable “B” pictures,
Maria is better known for her unusual weight reduction regime and
its tragic results. To keep her weight below 125 pounds, Maria took
3-hour baths daily in steaming hot water and reducing salts. On
September 7, 1951, the young actress drowned after suffering a
heart attack caused by the heat of the
bath. They went that-a-way...,
1988
    58. Fatal Hide-and-Seek. Primula
(Primmie) Niven (1918-1946) had only been in Hollywood a month when
she was killed by the town’s hi-jinks. Primmie and her movie star
husband, David Niven, had just moved from their native England and
were enjoying the hospitality at a party hosted by Tyrone Power.
The guests were playing a game called, “sardines”, where one person
hides, the lights are turned out, and the others must find and join
the hidden person until only one seeker is left. Primmie mistook
the door to the basement for a closet and fell down the stairs. She
died the next day from the resulting head
injuries. They went that-a-way...,
1988
    59. Cleric-al Error. Controversial Episcopal Bishop, James Pike (1913-1969), died
trying to retrace the steps of Jesus of Nazareth. The Bishop and
his wife were determined to pray in the wilderness between
Bethlehem and the Dead Sea where they believed Jesus was tempted by
the devil. They did not follow a road and did not bring water
despite the ruggedness of the terrain and the high temperature (100
F). Their car got stuck in late afternoon and Pike soon collapsed
from exhaustion. Pike’s much younger wife pushed on and found a
work camp early the next morning. Army search teams looked for the
Bishop for six days before finding his body in a kneeling position
at the bottom of a 70 foot cliff. Authorities believed he had
fallen trying to climb the cliff some 3 or 4 days
earlier. They went that-a-way...,
1988
    60. No! Minister. Conservative
Member of the British Parliament,