Friday, July 10, 2009

Strange deaths.

Now That's Nifty has done it again. They have a blog post with strange deaths from the last thirty years. Here are just a few entries.

This guy won my heart over...

1981: David Allen Kirwan a 24-year-old attempted to rescue a friend's dog after it fell into Celestine Pool, a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park on July 20, 1981. Despite numerous shouts from bystanders, Kirwan dove headfirst into the pool but was unable to save the dog. After managing to swin back to shore, he was helped out of pool, where his injuries became apparent - the exposure to the 200oF (93oC) water of the hot spring resulted in third-degree burns to 100% of his body and had also blinded him. After being led to the sidewalk, Kirwan reportedly stated: "That was stupid. How bad am I? That was a stupid thing I did." When one of Kirwan's shoes was removed, all of the skin came off with it. He died the next day at a Salt Lake City hospital. Although there have been at least 19 deaths due to scalding at the Yellowstone, this was the only known case where someone died after deliberately jumping into one of the park's hot springs.

I remember seeing a show about this...

1986: Over 1,700 people were killed almost instantly near Lake Nyos in Cameroon when a mass of approximately 100 million cubic metres of carbon dioxide that had collected at the bottom of the lake due to seepage from geothermal sources was suddenly released on August 21, 1986. The gas cloud immediately settled (carbon dioxide is heavier than air) and covered an area of up to 12 miles (20 km) from the lake, killing all oxygen-breathing life almost instantly - although the nearby vegetation, which consumes carbon dioxide and releases oxygen, flourished afterwards.

We all have our wishes...

2001: Bernd-Jürgen Brandes from Germany was voluntarily stabbed repeatedly and then partly eaten by Armin Meiwes (who was later called the Cannibal of Rothenburg). Brandes had answered an internet advertisement by Meiwes looking for someone for this purpose. Brandes explicitly stated in his will that he wished to be killed and eaten.

8 comments:

The Artful Gypsy aka Wendy the Very Good Witch said...

Oh my word....I cannot believe someone would actually choose to be stabbed repeatedly and eaten as their preferred mode of departure from this world. That is my worst nightmare! Just goes to prove that old saying...."different strokes for different folks"!

Bud Weiser, WTIT said...

That was very uplifting... :)

Diane said...

i remember seeing the cannibal thing on tv. what a bizarre request!! even more bizarre that someone was willing!

i'm not sure i could partake in cannibalism, even in the most desperate of situations.

the second story is really weird!! at least they all died instantly.

as for the first, i love animals and stuff. but that was just really dumb! it's amazing he was able to swim back to shore.

permanentcloud said...

the last one just freaks me out...i've heard about it before and there's some more unsavory bits to the story.

i can't imagine when things have gone so bad that you really want someone to kill and eat you. whoa.

Dracenea said...

Wendy - Different strokes for different folks is right!

Bud - Technically the guy that tried to save his friend's dog was doing something positive. :)

Diane - I have a hard time eating animals, which makes me think I'd be okay with eating humans. That goes back to that comment the other day about the severed hand vs. the bunny.

I have to think that the guy who jumped in for the dog was in shock and didn't really realize the depth of what he had done.

Cindy - Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "eat me". :)

Diane said...

@ Bud Weiser - lol!!

Anonymous said...

Weird--I just read something elsewhere about Moby, the musician, and how he likes to talk with friends about how they want to die. Most take the "peacefully-surrounded-by-loved-ones" route--except one. She wanted to be shot in the back of the head by a stranger!

Dracenea said...

Riverwolf - I wonder why she answered that way? Very interesting!