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
Showing posts with label scopes monkey trial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label scopes monkey trial. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Bitchy Obituaries... Really Bitchy!
Since I write about murder mysteries and unfortunate deaths, a quick look at some obituaries seems like a good idea. These obits are anything but warm and fuzzy, though.
H.L. Mencken on William Jennings Bryan (Scopes Monkey Trial) "To Expose a Fool"
They say it's not nice to speak ill of the dead, but that didn't stop Mencken from saying:
"His last days were spent in a one-horse Tennessee village. The man felt at home in such scenes. He liked people who sweated freely, and were not debauched by the refinements of the toilet.... He was, in fact, a charlatan, a mountebank, a zany without any shame or dignity."
Hunter S. Thompson clearly didn't shed any tears over the death of Richard Nixon "He was a Crook". Thompson comments on the bonds of hatred:
"Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.... If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president."
Rufus Wilmot Griswold on Edgar Allan Poe "The Ludwig Article"
It makes sense to finish off this posting with the obituary of the father of mystery fiction.
"Edgar Allan Poe is dead. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it... Irascible, envious--bad enough, but not the worst, for these salient angles were all varnished over with a cold, repellant cynicism, his passions vented themselves in sneers. There seemed to him no moral susceptibility; and, what was more remarkable in a proud nature, little or nothing of the true point of honor."
Ouch. R.I.P.
H.L. Mencken on William Jennings Bryan (Scopes Monkey Trial) "To Expose a Fool"
They say it's not nice to speak ill of the dead, but that didn't stop Mencken from saying:
"His last days were spent in a one-horse Tennessee village. The man felt at home in such scenes. He liked people who sweated freely, and were not debauched by the refinements of the toilet.... He was, in fact, a charlatan, a mountebank, a zany without any shame or dignity."
Hunter S. Thompson clearly didn't shed any tears over the death of Richard Nixon "He was a Crook". Thompson comments on the bonds of hatred:
"Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.... If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president."
Rufus Wilmot Griswold on Edgar Allan Poe "The Ludwig Article"
It makes sense to finish off this posting with the obituary of the father of mystery fiction.
"Edgar Allan Poe is dead. This announcement will startle many, but few will be grieved by it... Irascible, envious--bad enough, but not the worst, for these salient angles were all varnished over with a cold, repellant cynicism, his passions vented themselves in sneers. There seemed to him no moral susceptibility; and, what was more remarkable in a proud nature, little or nothing of the true point of honor."
Ouch. R.I.P.
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