Strange Deaths

[Trevp666]

Oh hang on - maybe it was like this.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I'm calling this a "strange death" even though I suspect the medical examiner's report will conclude the COD was pretty damned obvious.

More than 100 snakes discovered during wellness check on dead Charles Co. man

First responders in Charles County, Maryland, discovered a scaly surprise while conducting a wellness check Wednesday night on a man who turned out to be dead.

“We discovered more than 100 snakes inside the home,” said Jennifer Harris, the communications officer for the Charles County government. “Various kinds of breeds, both venomous and nonvenomous reptiles were in the home.”

Those breeds included different kinds of cobras and black mambas, as well as pythons and rattlesnakes, according to Harris, who made it clear that keeping venomous snakes was illegal in Maryland. ...

So far, the county hasn’t said whether or not the snakes played a role in the man’s death. The man was 49.

“We didn’t encounter any unsecured snakes at the scene … but we don’t know for certain,” Harris said. “The cause of the man’s death, that’s still few weeks away from being determined after [he was] sent to the medical examiner’s office.” ...

FULL STORY: https://wtop.com/charles-county/202...during-wellness-check-on-dead-charles-co-man/

 

[Victory]

This is distressing footage.

A woman has died in Russia, after jumping through a hole cut into ice above a river.
It was a religious act.

Her husband then jumps in after her!

Video link is dead; it's been removed. Here's the text of a news story about the incident ...

Mum swept to her death after jumping into ice hole cut in river to mark Epiphany​

Anna Uskova, 40, was celebrating Christian Orthodox Epiphany the way many other believers do – by jumping into blessed water to commemorate Jesus’s baptism in the River Jordan.

The Christian Orthodox believe water which is blessed during the annual ceremony has healing powers.

Epiphany fell on Wednesday this year, and Anna did not shy away from partaking – despite the -5°C air temperatures at the time. ...

Footage shows the lawyer standing on the ice in a black swimsuit and crossing herself before plunging feet-first into a rectangular ice hole.

It quickly became clear that something had gone wrong and Anna’s businessman husband Yuri, 50, jumped in straight after her. She was never found. ...

SOURCE: https://metro.co.uk/2022/01/24/mum-...-jumping-into-ice-hole-for-epiphany-15978382/

 

[Gizmos Mama]

This is distressing footage.

A woman has died in Russia, after jumping through a hole cut into ice above a river.
It was a religious act.

Her husband then jumps in after her!

That's my worst nightmare... drowning while being trapped under ice.
How did they not realize she'd be swept away if this is a river?
(Sorry, couldn't watch, too close to watching someone commit suicide for me.)

 

[AgProv]

This is distressing footage.

A woman has died in Russia, after jumping through a hole cut into ice above a river.
It was a religious act.

Her husband then jumps in after her!

This is a very big thing in Russia at this time of year, in fact, anywhere where there is something like a Russian Orthodox Church. it's a sort of festval of ritual purification and hundreds of thousands of people might participate (the Russian Orthodox Church advises against it for people who are not in the best of health) and it becomes something of a big event, a family day out. YouTube footage, as you might expect, appears to be slanted towards younger ladies in bathing costumes and skimpy clinging shifts - there's a lot of that out there - so it took a little while to find a more objective explanatory article. i'm just surprised more people don't die or get ill - looks like not the sort of thing you'd care to do in January in Russia. I'm surprised deaths are so rare - but cutting the ice hole in a river with a ripcurrent underneath does seem to be negligient, and definitely puts a lot in the hands of God.

Also noting that this appears to Christianise a sgnificant event in the life of Jesus - his baptism - by presuming it follows Christian convention and it happened within a few weeks of his birth. I think the dear old Church of England has a much more restrained version, and just confines itself, at Epiphany, to a ritual blessing of the baptismal font and the waters it holds, noting this is too small a space for threefold immersion...

https://russianlife.com/stories/the-russia-file/russians-celebrate-epiphany-in-ice-cold-water/

 

[escargot]

This is a very big thing in Russia at this time of year, in fact, anywhere where there is something like a Russian Orthodox Church. it's a sort of festval of ritual purification and hundreds of thousands of people might participate (the Russian Orthodox Church advises against it for people who are not in the best of health) and it becomes something of a big event, a family day out. YouTube footage, as you might expect, appears to be slanted towards younger ladies in bathing costumes and skimpy clinging shifts - there's a lot of that out there - so it took a little while to find a more objective explanatory article. i'm just surprised more people don't die or get ill - looks like not the sort of thing you'd care to do in January in Russia. I'm surprised deaths are so rare - but cutting the ice hole in a river with a ripcurrent underneath does seem to be negligient, and definitely puts a lot in the hands of God.

Also noting that this appears to Christianise a sgnificant event in the life of Jesus - his baptism - by presuming it follows Christian convention and it happened within a few weeks of his birth. I think the dear old Church of England has a much more restrained version, and just confines itself, at Epiphany, to a ritual blessing of the baptismal font and the waters it holds, noting this is too small a space for threefold immersion...

https://russianlife.com/stories/the-russia-file/russians-celebrate-epiphany-in-ice-cold-water/

Thank you, great explanation there.
I'd just thought Russians liked showing how hard they are.
Didn't know it was religious.

Loving the cross-shaped ice-hole. Once you saw that you wouldn't DARE chicken out.

 

[escargot]

This is distressing footage.

A woman has died in Russia, after jumping through a hole cut into ice above a river.
It was a religious act.

Her husband then jumps in after her!

I noticed how that frogman wasn't as keen.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Thank you, great explanation there.
I'd just thought Russians liked showing how hard they are.
Didn't know it was religious.

Loving the cross-shaped ice-hole. Once you saw that you wouldn't DARE chicken out.

I blame religion for this!

 

[Xanatic*]

People here in Sweden do the ice hole thing without religion. Not in rivers though.

 

[Mikefule]

How did they not realize she'd be swept away if this is a river?
(Sorry, couldn't watch, too close to watching someone commit suicide for me.)

I'd say it was Darwinism in action, except the poor woman had already passed on her genes.
I did not watch the video for the same reason. It is enough to know that it happened without seeing it for myself.

YouTube footage, as you might expect, appears to be slanted towards younger ladies in bathing costumes and skimpy clinging shifts - there's a lot of that out there - so it took a little while to find a more objective explanatory article.

Ah yes, I also diligently watched 15 hours of footage of young ladies in bathing costumes and skimpy clinging shifts before finally stumbling over the detailed factual analysis I was seeking.

cutting the ice hole in a river with a ripcurrent underneath does seem to be negligent, and definitely puts a lot in the hands of God.

Pedantry alert: just a current, not a rip current. Rip currents are found at beaches where a wave breaks along part of the length of a beach and the water is then funnelled back into the sea by the contours of the beach to form a single narrow, fast and powerful current away from the beach.

I noticed how that frogman wasn't as keen.

Frogman? Last time I saw a "frogman", eggs was fourpence a loaf. It's all yer scuba divers now.

 

[AgProv]

Ah yes, I also diligently watched 15 hours of footage of young ladies in bathing costumes and skimpy clinging shifts before finally stumbling over the detailed factual analysis I was seeking.

Be fair, for every Olga Korbut or Anna Kournikova, there's a tractor-driver or a shot-putter. For every Vasilisa, there is a Babayaga. It isn't all fun on youtube!

 

[escargot]

Frogman? Last time I saw a "frogman", eggs was fourpence a loaf. It's all yer scuba divers now.

Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.

 

[Krepostnoi]

YouTube footage, as you might expect, appears to be slanted towards younger ladies in bathing costumes and skimpy clinging shifts

Industrial analyst Ivan Nikiforovich Rubashechnyi was at a loss to explain the marked uptick in visits to his website examining Post-Soviet shift patterns.

 

[AgProv]

Fron Yakutsk in Siberia, a place where even other Russians consider the locals take it to extremes. I gather everywhere else in Russia considers Yakutsk to be a little bit odd. Ice-bathing is done here at -50, not for religious reasons, but because it is thought to be healthy. YouTube video carefully curated for visual impact.

 

[AgProv]

And this is the religious version, showing an individual who is considered attractive by many, undergoing the epiphany ritual immersion to set a good example, and to honour the Russian God

 

[asparagus]

I was reminded of the description by Casanova in his autobiography one January visiting the River Neva in North-West Russia. A hole was cut in the thick ice over the river, and the priest was baptising newly-born children by immersion. Apparently with his hands getting wet, one unfortunate infant slipped through his fingers and was immediately swept away in the iced-up river beyond hope of rescue. The priest simply shouted “Next!” but what Casanova found strangest of all was the reaction of the parents. Far from being upset, they were joyful that their child, having died at such a holy moment, was certain to have attained heavenly bliss for eternity.

 

[Solexman]

Can you imagine the shock of finding that when you go to your car in the morning?

More of an inconvenience I’d have thought.

 

[AgProv]

I was reminded of the description by Casanova in his autobiography one January visiting the River Neva in North-West Russia. A hole was cut in the thick ice over the river, and the priest was baptising newly-born children by immersion. Apparently with his hands getting wet, one unfortunate infant slipped through his fingers and was immediately swept away in the iced-up river beyond hope of rescue. The priest simply shouted “Next!” but what Casanova found strangest of all was the reaction of the parents. Far from being upset, they were joyful that their child, having died at such a holy moment, was certain to have attained heavenly bliss for eternity.

The Neva is the local river for Leningrad/St Petersburg, and is in the same geographical region as that of the lady who immersed herself into the river and never came up again (the one that started ths sub-thread off). Must be something in the water.

 

[Victory]

The benefits of ice bathing and cold exposure in general are expounded by Wim Hof.

https://www.wimhofmethod.com/

But the religious dips must surely be done with minimising risk, most of Russia will be aware of this now.

 

[SimonBurchell]

The benefits of ice bathing and cold exposure in general are expounded by Wim Hof.

https://www.wimhofmethod.com/

But the religious dips must surely be done with minimising risk, most of Russia will be aware of this now.

Having lived abroad, I can say that not every country has the same obsession with risk avoidance that we have in the UK. It's a cultural thing. In places where life is cheap, people take more risks.

 

[maximus otter]

The Neva is the local river for Leningrad/St Petersburg. Must be something in the water.

Rasputin?

maximus otter

 

[Floyd1]

Having lived abroad, I can say that not every country has the same obsession with risk avoidance that we have in the UK. It's a cultural thing. In places where life is cheap, people take more risks.

I once watched them building a second storey concrete floor in Egypt. A young lad, about 12 years old on the ground (wearing flip-flops and a galabeya) was mixing the concrete in a mixer, then he'd tip it into a steel bath and it shot up rails onto the deck of the house for the other guys to spread out. I expected to see arms and legs everywhere when I went back later on.

 

[SimonBurchell]

I once watched them building a second storey concrete floor in Egypt. A young lad, about 12 years old on the ground (wearing flip-flops and a galabeya) was mixing the concrete in a mixer, then he'd tip it into a steel bath and it shot up rails onto the deck of the house for the other guys to spread out. I expected to see arms and legs everywhere when I went back later on.

Back in the late 1990s in Chiapas, Mexico, I took an excursion to some Maya ruins in the jungle. Chiapas was still experiencing Zapatista guerrilla attacks, so the 4WD from the tour company (containing me and 3 other tourists) was accompanied by a police car and an army pick-up. The 4WD ran out of petrol, so a 16-year old army conscript (who looked a very cynical 14) jumped out of the army truck, lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth, grabbed a petrol can and a funnel, and proceeded to fill our vehicle, still smoking. Fiery death hovered nearby but didn't strike. Now it makes me think of that scene in the beginning of Zoolander...

 

[Floyd1]

Back in the late 1990s in Chiapas, Mexico, I took an excursion to some Maya ruins in the jungle. Chiapas was still experiencing Zapatista guerrilla attacks, so the 4WD from the tour company (containing me and 3 other tourists) was accompanied by a police car and an army pick-up. The 4WD ran out of petrol, so a 16-year old army conscript (who looked a very cynical 14) jumped out of the army truck, lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth, grabbed a petrol can and a funnel, and proceeded to fill our vehicle, still smoking. Fiery death hovered nearby but didn't strike. Now it makes me think of that scene in the beginning of Zoolander...

Are you Indiana Jones?!

 

[SimonBurchell]

Are you Indiana Jones?!

I've certainly had my adventures!

 

[Floyd1]

Back in the late 1990s in Chiapas, Mexico, I took an excursion to some Maya ruins in the jungle. Chiapas was still experiencing Zapatista guerrilla attacks, so the 4WD from the tour company (containing me and 3 other tourists) was accompanied by a police car and an army pick-up. The 4WD ran out of petrol, so a 16-year old army conscript (who looked a very cynical 14) jumped out of the army truck, lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth, grabbed a petrol can and a funnel, and proceeded to fill our vehicle, still smoking. Fiery death hovered nearby but didn't strike. Now it makes me think of that scene in the beginning of Zoolander...

Israeli humour (Hebrew not needed);

 

[cycleboy2]

Sleeping British man shot dead through an exterior wall of a hotel after a 'reckless discharge' of a firearm 100 yards away.

Talk about a tragedy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-60109296

 

[escargot]

Back in the late 1990s in Chiapas, Mexico, I took an excursion to some Maya ruins in the jungle. Chiapas was still experiencing Zapatista guerrilla attacks, so the 4WD from the tour company (containing me and 3 other tourists) was accompanied by a police car and an army pick-up. The 4WD ran out of petrol, so a 16-year old army conscript (who looked a very cynical 14) jumped out of the army truck, lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth, grabbed a petrol can and a funnel, and proceeded to fill our vehicle, still smoking. Fiery death hovered nearby but didn't strike. Now it makes me think of that scene in the beginning of Zoolander...

Could the FWD have been diesel-powered? If so, the fuelling-while-smoking process may not have been as dangerous as it looked.

 

[RaM]

Not sure if this is Strange Deaths or WTF.

https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2022-01-24/probe-after-dead-man-taken-to-post-office

 

[Trevp666]

Talk about a tragedy

Talk about thin walls.