Posted by Five incredible but true deaths: logician Kurt Gödel, who died of malnutrition because he only ate what his wife cooked; Houdini, killed by peritonitis possibly linked to a student’s punches; lawyer Garry Hoy, who fell from the 24th floor while showing that the windows were unbreakable; politician Clement Vallandigham, who shot himself in court; and driver Tom Pryce, hit by a fire extinguisher at 270 km/h.
Death can take you by surprise and sometimes arrives in the strangest ways. Here are some examples of bizarre deaths.
1) Kurt Gödel
Kurt Gödel was an Austrian-born American logician, mathematician and philosopher, considered along with Aristotle and Frege one of the greatest logicians in history. In the last years of his life he suffered from serious mental illness and severe paranoia, which worsened after the murder of his mentor, philosopher Moritz Schlick.
He was terrified of being poisoned and would eat nothing that had not been cooked by his wife Adele.
In late 1977, however, Adele had a stroke and had to stay in hospital for months. Kurt refused to eat and on January 14, 1978 he died at Princeton Hospital, aged 71. He weighed just 29 kilos. His death certificate cites “malnutrition and inanition caused by personality disturbance”.
2) Houdini
Many people think that Houdini, the most famous illusionist and escape artist in history, died during one of his acts. In reality he died of peritonitis, probably linked to appendicitis, but perhaps also to punches he had received a few days earlier.
On October 22, 1926, in his dressing room at the Princess Theatre in Montreal, a McGill University student, J. Gordon Whitehead, asked him whether it was true that he could withstand any punch to the stomach.
Houdini was lying on a couch with a fractured ankle and, as soon as he said yes, Whitehead began hitting him violently in the abdomen, before he could get up and brace himself. Houdini gestured for him to stop.
That evening he performed anyway, despite severe pain, and for two days he could not sleep, but refused to call a doctor. When he finally did, he had a fever of 39°C and acute appendicitis, and the doctor advised immediate surgery. Houdini ignored the advice and on October 24 went on stage at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, with a fever of almost 40°C, for what would be his last show.
He died in hospital on October 31, 1926, on Halloween night, aged 52.
3) Garry Hoy
Garry Hoy was a Canadian lawyer, a partner at the firm Holden Day Wilson, whose offices were on the 24th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Centre, a skyscraper in Toronto. When law students visited the firm,
he had the habit of throwing himself against the large windows to prove they were unbreakable.
He did it again on July 9, 1993, in front of a group of prospective articling students. The first time the glass held, so he decided to try again. Unfortunately on the second impact the glass, without breaking, popped out of its frame and Garry fell, dying instantly. He was 39.
4) Clement Laird Vallandigham
Clement Vallandigham was an American lawyer and politician from Ohio, a congressman and leader of the Democrats opposed to the Civil War, so much so that he was convicted by a court martial and exiled to the Confederacy. In 1871 he was defending a man accused of murder.
He wanted to show that the victim had shot himself accidentally, drawing a pistol from his pocket while rising from a kneeling position. So he took a pistol he believed was unloaded to show the scene to the jury.
He put the pistol in his pocket, knelt down and, getting up, pulled it out, showing how the victim could have pulled the trigger by mistake.
Unfortunately the gun was loaded: Clement shot himself in the abdomen and died the next day, June 17, 1871, in Lebanon, Ohio. According to the story, his client was acquitted.
5) Tom Pryce
Tom Pryce was a Welsh Formula 1 driver, known for his skill in the wet. On March 5, 1977, during the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami, he made a poor start and dropped to the back of the field. But he began to climb back and by lap 22 he was already 13th.
On that very lap his Shadow teammate, Renzo Zorzi, had an engine problem and stopped on the left side of the track. The car caught fire and Zorzi could not get out right away.
Two marshals then ran across the straight to reach him and put out the fire, without being given permission. The second, Frederik “Frikkie” Jansen van Vuuren, was 19 and carrying an 18-kilo fire extinguisher.
At that moment the cars of Hans-Joachim Stuck and Tom Pryce came over the rise. Stuck managed to avoid both marshals, but Pryce, who was behind him and could not see as well, hit young Frederik at about 270 km/h, killing him instantly. His body was so badly damaged that he was only identified after all the marshals were gathered and he was found to be missing.
The extinguisher Frederik was carrying struck Tom Pryce on the head, killing him instantly. His car, now out of control, carried on down the straight until it crashed into Jacques Laffite’s Ligier.
Tom Pryce was 27. In 2009 a memorial in his honor was unveiled in his hometown of Ruthin, Wales.
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