Last week, a freak accident led to two deaths near Luskville, PQ (about 25 miles from Ottawa). A 440 lb. black bear became airborne after being struck by a car. The bear was launched into the path of an oncoming vehicle. It went through the windshield, killing the driver and a passenger in the seat behind the driver. The bear then sailed through the rear window. The person sitting in the passenger seat up front suffered only minor injuries, and the two men in the car that initially struck the bear were unharmed. The bear did not survive.
This is a horrible and unfortunate story and is much stranger than anything I could ever write in a mystery novel. I can imagine the reaction from a publisher if I were to write such a scene in a novel. But the whole thing got me thinking about truth being stranger than fiction.
Here are some other stories of unusual deaths:
Bazooka Joe: In 2009, a Ukrainian student named Vladimir Likhonos died after accidentally dipping a piece of homemade chewing gum into explosives he was using on another project.
Bad Moon Rising: Two years ago a Canadian folk singer named Taylor Mitchell was fatally attacked by two coyotes.
Men will do anything for sex... A horny 28 year old Russian guy, Sergey Tuganov, died after winning a bet. The wager? He bet two women he could have non-stop sex with them for 12 hours. He won the bet but then died of a heart attack, apparently caused by ingesting an entire bottle of Viagra just after he accepted the bet.
Get that Monkey off My Back: A few years ago, the Deputy Mayor of Delhi, India died a a result of monkeys in his home. Surinder Singh Bajwa fell from a balcony as he tried to chase off several Rhesus Macaque monkeys in his apartment. He suffered from fatal head injuries after the fall.
Skin is Porous: An unnamed Taiwanese woman died of alcohol intoxication after she spent 12 hours in a bathtub filled with 40% ethanol. At the time of her death, her blood alcohol content was 1.35%. Apparently, she immersed herself in alcohol in an effort to prevent or ward off the ongoing SARS epidemic.
Source for above - click here.
ALSO (update added July 14, 2013) Death by Cow Falling through Bedroom Roof
See story HERE
You're right -- truth IS stranger than fiction! I think a publisher would laugh out loud (and this reader probably would, too), especially if it were a Carl Hiasson mystery. :D
ReplyDeleteWhat about the man that got eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex while he was sitting on the toilet?
ReplyDeleteDamn it. Just been informed that the dinosaur eating the man on the toilet was fiction.
ReplyDelete