Has anyone ever literally died laughing?
Forgive the paraphrasing and extracting of chunks of text, but in The Book of Lists 2 (Wallechinsky, Wallace I, Wallace A, & Wallace S -Corgi 1981) there is a section devoted to deaths where excessive laughter appeared to be at least the primary cause. These included Zeuxis, a fifth century BC Greek painter who laughed so hard at a painting he'd done of an old woman, he choked to death; the Greek poet Philemon who died in 263BC laughing at one of his own jests; and Chrysippus, a Greek (are we seeing a pattern here?) philosopher in the third century BC who died laughing at the sight of a donkey eating figs (I guess one had to be there).
Then there was Pietro Aretino, an Italian author (1492 -1556) who, laughing at a bawdy story, fell backwards and died; and Mrs Fitzherbert, an English widow who laughed so hard at a production of The Beggar's Opera in 1782 that she eventually expired the next day, still laughing.
Finally, Alex Mitchell (1925-75), a bricklayer of King's Lynn, laughed so hard at the TV show The Goodies (the episode featuring 'Ecky Thump") that he succumbed to a heart attack. Allegedly, his widow bore no grudge and wrote to The Goodies thanking them for making her husband's last moments so happy.
David Newell. Leeds
My grandma. Elsie Robinson, died in 1953 from a heart attack while . laughing in the cinema during a showing of Doctor in the House. Sadly there wasn't one.
Graham Robinson, Hexham, Northumberland
It doesn't quite qualify, but the day after my appendix was taken out I got a fit of the giggles and split the stitches (ie, my side) laughing.
(Ms) Paddy Long, Plzen, Czech Republic
