Unusual ways to die
“I wouldn’t want to be found dead there.” In my country, people use this expression to state that the place they’re talking about is definitely substandard and it would be embarrassing if they were to be associated with it only in the slightest.
I tend to take the expression way too serious and kind of pity the people using it. I think, aw I’m sorry, please don't think too much about what other people think about you. And on top of that, please realize that this problem of worrying about other people, by definition, will solve itself once you’re dead.
The futility of death
It’s healthy to think about death sometimes. To imagine what it would be like, not from your perspective right now, but at that very moment. Just like it’s healthy to imagine your life ten years from now. I mean, we shouldn’t worry too much about the future, but it doesn’t hurt to imagine what it likely has in store for us.
Whenever you find your mind wandering around the topic of death, I’d like to invite you to doomscroll through this little tool I’ve made for you. It will teach you that if you were to die in the midst of a dance mania or due to a forgotten toothpick inside an olive, that you can take peace in the fact that you weren't the only one.
Scrolling through these unfortunate, silly, and tragic deaths helps me to get on terms with it. More than anything, the facts show me how futile the actual death is, and how pointless it is to worry about the state in which we eventually grow our last bit of moustache (yes ladies, you will also grow a last bit of moustache after your death).
About this collection
All entries are sourced from Wikipedia's comprehensive Lists of Unusual Deaths, spanning from antiquity to the present day. While Wikipedia strives for accuracy, some historical accounts, especially from antiquity, may be apocryphal or exaggerated. These deaths are "unusual" because they're strange, ironic, or noteworthy in some way.
A fair warning at this stage: It’s unhealthy to think about death too much. If you do think about it more than you should, please get in contact with someone. A lot of countries have a hotline where you can talk about death anonymously.
Editorial choices
I’ve excluded cases of minors in recent history. Some cases do tell an interesting story, but I feel it’s a bit insensitive to publish them here. We’re talking about real people after all, and it doesn’t feel right to include the deaths of kids in this matter.
I could’ve done the same for other entries from recent history, because some of them also to me feel quite cruel and unnecessary. However, I couldn’t find the right criteria to do so. And I trust that the Wikipedia community has reviewed these unusual deaths as well.
Why it matters to talk lightly about death
In the end, the accountability for my editorial choices go hand in hand with the purpose of this article. I don’t mean to make a laughing stock out of the deaths of people. Some cases can be humorous of course, but the point is rather to take some of the heavy load off the topic.
All of us have to go at one point. And people tend to be scared of death, mistake life itself for a judicial right, or make a big fuss out of the way they want to be remembered. I think what all those unusual ways to die show us, is that death is out of your control for some part. And we’d better make it a big deal to live well rather than to not die badly.
The utility of life
When we die, we do live on in the works that we’ve done and in the memories of other people whose lives we've been part of. For that matter, we can try to get to terms with death by making sure that we live on as a source of positive energy.
We’d better get on with it and make sure we leave our mark during life. Make sure that our mark is loving, warm, and responsible. That way, we will never have to worry about the place where we’ll be found dead, whether we choked on a fly or fell into the Yangtze River trying to hug the moon’s reflection. Because it won’t matter.
Read more: Random facts from No Such Thing as a Fish