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Strange Deaths

There's a similar story in the FT book of strange deaths (or possibly the book of MORE strange deaths - both like what i got with my subscrition the other day). Does the story have a date? Is there the possibilty it might be a UL? News people i woulnda trust to look after my cat accurately...
 
I always wondered what would happen in a house like that if there was a fire:eek!!!!:

"quick, to the windows, oh no, they're locked! to the door, er, its locked in 17 places!, to the ARRRRRRRRRGGGH! who left that tripwire there!"

I read once about someone who starred in a program showing how he'd put all these burglar alarms and stuff in his house and then got burgled by someone who'd watched the program, made a note of all the precautions and avoided them. :nooo:
 
Faggus said:
There's a similar story in the FT book of strange deaths (or possibly the book of MORE strange deaths - both like what i got with my subscrition the other day). Does the story have a date? Is there the possibilty it might be a UL? News people i woulnda trust to look after my cat accurately...

This was published in the READER'S DIGEST compendium FACTS & FALLACIES:

On March 21, 1947, the 122nd Street police station in New York City received a call from a man claiming that there was a dead body at 2078 Fifth Street Avenue.

The police knew the house, a decaying three-story brownstone in a run-down part of Harlem, and its inhabitants, Langley and Homer Collyer, two eccentric recluses.

No one could recall having seen Homer for years. There were even rumors that his dead body was in the house. Langley was seen only when he went out on furtive sorties, usually after midnight. He earned himself the nickname of "the ghostly man." The day after the call, patrolman William Barker broke into the second-floor bedroom. What he found there took his breath away.

The room was filled from floor to ceiling with objects of every shape, size and kind. It took him several hours to cross the few feet to where the dead body of Homer lay, shrouded in an ancient check bathrobe. The autopsy revealed that Homer had not eaten for several days and had died of a heart attack. There was no sign of Langley, and the authorities immediately began to search for him. It took 3 weeks to shift through the estimated 136 tons of junk with which the house was filled. The bizarre collection of objects included 14 grand pianos, two organs, and a clavichord; human medical specimens preserved in a glass jars; the chassis of a Model-T Ford; a library of thousands of medical and engineering books; an armory of weapons; the top of a carriage; 6 U.S. flags and one Union Jack; a primitive X-Ray machine; and 34 bank deposit books with the balance totaling $3,007.18.

Gradually the story of the Hermits of Harlem unfolded, and the presence of some of the contents of the house began to be explained. Homer Lusk Collyer and Langley Collyer were born in 1881 and 1885 respectively. Their father, Dr. Herman L. Collyer, was an eminent gynecologist and their mother, Susie Gage Frost Collyer, a well-born lady noted for her musical abilities. The family set up home at 2078 Fifth Avenue in then-fashionable Harlem. But around 1909 Herman left. When he died in 1923, all the furniture, medical equipment, and books that he had collected over the years were taken back to Fifth Avenue and crammed into his wife's house. Langley had been trained as an engineer; Homer became a lawyer. Both were eccentric in innocuous ways - increasingly so when left to fend for themselves after their mother's death in 1929. Langley apparently never had a job, but was always tinkering with inventions, such as one for vacuuming the insides of pianos, and attempting to make the Model-T engine run via electricity. In the 1930's Homer became blind, crippled with rheumatism, and progressively paralyzed. Langley devoted the rest of his life to caring for him.

Distrustful of doctors, but with access to his father's extensive medical library, Langley devised odd "cures" for his brother's illness, subjecting him to regimes as a diet of 100 oranges a week, black bread, and peanut butter. The house was already cluttered with the content of two large homes, but Langley stuffed it with yet more objects picked up on his nightly excursions. After all windows were boarded up, and the gas, electricity, and water cut off, one small oil stove served all their cooking and heating needs; Langley collected water from a standpipe four blocks away. On more that one occasion thieves tried to break in to steal the fortune that was rumored to be kept in the house. Langley responded by building booby traps, intricate systems of trip wires and ropes that would bring tons of rubbish crashing down on any unwary burglar.

A honeycomb network of tunnels carved out in the mountains of junk enabled Langley to grope his way to where Homer sat. As the world's newspapers revealed the secrets of 2078 Fifth Avenue, there was a final, grisly twist. On April 8, Artie Matthews, one of the workmen commissioned to clear the place, raised a pile of newspapers, tin boxes and other debris near a spot where Homer has been found.

His horrified gaze fell first on a foot, then the remains of a body. It had been gnawed by rats, but there was no doubt that it was Langley Collyer. Langley had died some time before his brother, suffocated under the garbage that had cascaded down upon him when, he had sprung one of his own burglar traps.

Homer's death was now easily explained. Blind and paralyzed, and totally dependent on Langley, he had died of starvation and shock. The house was gradually emptied and its more valuable contents sold at auction. But despite the Collyer brothers lifelong hoarding, the 150 items raised only $1,800. The house too has now gone.

Condemned as a health and fire hazard, number 2078 Fifth Avenue was razed to the ground.

Today it is now a parking lot.


The article turns up word for word at this site: http://www.theplan.com/dmi/collier_story.htm
with no credit given to the original source, and with a copyright affixed. Also, the web owner demands $650.00 to read any e-mail you send him.
 
FT books of strange deaths:
KENNETH SUTHERLAND'S PLAN went terribly awry. The 38 year old autoworker from Sumpter township, Michigan, had a nice little sideline growing marijuana plants in his garage. The only trouble was, the local teenagers occasionally broke in and stole his plants, so sutherland decided to rig up a booby trap. He nailed a shotgun to a chair and ran a wire from the trigger to the outer screen door, so the gun would go off if the door was opened. One day in june 1993 something went wrong, and he seems to have forgotten his own trap. The shotgun blasted him in the thigh, and though he managed to drag himself 60 feet to the house and dial the emergency services,he was then unable to say anything. He bled to death before help could arrive.
it has many elements of UL
 
Ogopogo said:
The article turns up word for word at this site: http://www.theplan.com/dmi/collier_story.htm
with no credit given to the original source, and with a copyright affixed. Also, the web owner demands 0.00 to read any e-mail you send him.
Not quite - the first one is free!
Your failure to heed these specific rules will cost you dearly in time and dollars and grief should you send more than one UCE. Unsolicited Commercial Email.
Could be a legal minefield. They'd have to prove they'd actually read my emails (and not just deleted 'em)... :D

Most people dislike spam, but these characters seem pretty paranoid about it!
 
For what we aren't about to receive . . .

http://www.modestobee.com/local/story/4828184p-5841435c.html

Wife's bites cause death, police claim

Pratt October 17, 2002 Posted: 05:45:14 AM PDT


By TY PHILLIPS
BEE STAFF WRITER
Modesto police said Kelli Pratt wanted her feeble 65-year-old husband to have sex with her the night of Oct. 7.
When Arthur Pratt refused, police said, his 45-year-old wife held him down and bit him repeatedly during a savage attack that ultimately killed him.
Arthur, whose skin was riddled with more than 20 deep tooth marks, died Sunday at Doctors Memorial Center in Modesto -- six days after the attack.
Detective Sgt. Al Carter said Wednesday that Dr. Jennifer Rulon, a Stanislaus County forensic pathologist, believes that the case will be ruled a homicide and that the bites are the likely cause of death.
"He was able to dial 911 that night," Carter said. "We have a tape recording of him screaming while she was biting him. When officers arrived, he was screaming that he'd been assaulted. She fought with the officers and tried to bite them, too."
Arthur Pratt, who had been released from a hospital several days before the attack, suffered from diabetes, heart and circulation problems, and other health issues. While those ailments weakened his system, apparently they are not what killed him, Carter said.
An official ruling will have to await toxicology tests. Those tests, which are not expected back for at least several weeks, could reveal additional details about Pratt's death, such as whether the bites caused an infection that proved fatal.
Carter said he believes Pratt already was in a weakened condition and this put him over the edge. "His death was a direct result of being bitten," Carter said.
Kelli Pratt was booked the night of the attack on charges of elder abuse, domestic violence and assault on a police officer, Carter said. Wednesday, she was being held at the Public Safety Center with bail set at $50,000. A homicide charge is pending the toxicology results.
The Pratts lived in the 2700 block of Park Place. Carter said the county's Adult Protective Services had a file on Arthur Pratt, perhaps indicating some history of abuse, but those records were unavailable Wednesday.
"I've seen cases where dogs have bitten kids, and blood loss or infection led to death," Carter said. "I've never heard of anyone being bitten to death before."
Bee staff writer Ty Phillips can be reached at 578-2331 or [email protected].
 
Nasty. Sexual frustration's a powerful thing when a woman's in her prime, but everyone knows it's dangerous to bite a diabetic.
 
the human bite is one of the most dangerous in the world. with the bacteria we have in our mouthes, it would be like having someone stick you with a syringe that's been lying on the bottom of a septic tank. people who have been severely bitten by other people became sick very quickly and died soon after without the proper treatment.

so, yeah, we've still got one natural lethal defense left hehe
 
beakboo said:
but everyone knows it's dangerous to bite a diabetic.

True. I remember the time a clegg bit my diabetic gran on the arm, and the clegg just fell off her arm, dead as a doornail. Seriously. Nobody swatted it or anything: it just died.
 
I meant it's dangerous for the bitee not the biter, as you well know. :rolleyes:
 
Just proves what I keep telling you. Women go crazy after 30!
 
beakboo said:
everyone knows it's dangerous to bite a diabetic.

I suppose you're now going to tell me you're diabetic. Don't believe a word of it ;)
 
synthwerk said:
the human bite is one of the most dangerous in the world. with the bacteria we have in our mouthes, it would be like having someone stick you with a syringe that's been lying on the bottom of a septic tank.

Are you sure? I recall the New Scientist writing a couple of years back (can't find a quote sorry) that the instinct of parents to kiss their child on a cut or graize when they've injured themselves somehow is because saliva contains loads of beneficial enzymes which act in a coagulating and antiseptic fashion, helping to clean and clot the wound? :confused:
 
Why is it dangerous to bite a diabetic? A hemophiliac I could understand :confused:

As for the question of good/bad bacteria in the human mouth - I also remember reading in NS that kissing a wound helps it to heal.

Jane.
 
You're better off using urine on a wound than saliva.
 
No, Adrian I'm not diabetic, but I do know that diabetics do not heal well, and limb amputation is an "occupational hazard" for them.
And I can assure you Lutzman, I went crazy long before I reached 30. :tongue: :yabba:
 
It's about time we had a thread on this. Here's one to start:
Sunbather killed by falling car
A holidaymaker sunbathing on a beach was crushed to death when a motorist reversed her car through a sea wall.

The car was on the Shanklin Esplanade on the Isle of Wight when it struck a another vehicle and crashed through the sea wall on to the beach.

A 58-year-old man was lying on the beach reading a book, when the accident happened just before 1800 BST.

The 59-year-old car driver was injured and taken to St Mary's Hospital.

The Esplanade was closed and the beach was cleared.

The area was then re-opened at 2215 BST.

A Hampshire police spokesman, said :"The man was a holidaymaker and he will not be identified until his next of kin have been informed."
 
You mean like this:

A veteran skydiver accidentally crashed into a veteran hangglider at about 4,000 feet, killing both men (Brackley, England, June). [The Sun, 6-13-03]
 
A 64-year-old electrician from Berlin died in his new home in Malaga, Spain, while wired up to a home-made gadget. He told friends that his "orgasmatron" - named after a sex-machine in Woody Allen's film Sleeper - was better than a woman and a lot cheaper. It had a vibrating mat, massage pads and electrodes to attach to his manhood. "Unfortunately there seems to have been a power surge while he was watching a film called Hot Vixen Nuns," said a police spokesman. "And the flat was damp." The cause of death was electrocution. Glasgow Herald - 28 March 2003.
 
There was a remarkably similar incident in the 1980's in Bavaria, documented in either The Book Of Erotic Failures or More Erotic Failures (I forget which).

It was under the heading of 'Least Dignified Exit', and told of a man who had customised an electric potato masher into a masturbation machine (think about the mashing action!) only to be using it one day while sat on the toilet when he went to pull the chain an inadvertently earthed himself fatally.

Actually I could churn out stories like this one all day, there is an excellent medical textbook on the subject called Autoerotic Fatalities which deals exclusively with, well, errm, autoerotic fatalities.

Marie
 
There's some brilliant stuff Mildly Amusing. A selection from the 2000 Darwin Awards leap out at me:-
A 22-year-old Reston man was found dead yesterday after he tried to use occy straps (the stretchy little ropes with hooks on each end) to bungee jump off a 70-foot railroad trestle, police said.

Fairfax County police said Eric A. Barcia, a fast-food worker, taped a bunch of these straps together, wrapped an end around one foot, anchored the other end to the trestle at Lake Accotink Park, jumped .....and hit the pavement.

Warren Carmichael, a police spokesman, said investigators think Barcia was alone because his car was found nearby. "The length of the cord that he had assembled was greater than the distance between the trestle and the ground" Carmichael said. Police say the apparent cause of death was "major trauma."

An autopsy is scheduled for later in the week.
And two that may actually belong in Weird Sex...
A 34 yr. old white male found dead in the basement of his home died of suffocation, police said. He was approximately 6' 2" and 225 lb. He was wearing a pleated skirt, white bra, black and white saddle shoes, and a woman's wig. It appeared that he was trying to create a schoolgirl's uniform look.

He was also wearing a military gas mask that had the filter canister removed and a rubber hose attached in its place. The other end of the hose was connected to a hollow wooden section of bedpost approximately 12 inches long and 3 inches in diameter. This bedpost was inserted into his rear end for reasons unknown, and was the cause of his suffocation.

Police found the task of explaining the circumstances of his death to his family members "very awkward".
..and (gentlemen, cross your legs now)...
A police officer in Ohio responded to a call that was made to 911. She had no details before arriving except that someone was reporting at his father was not breathing.

Upon arrival, the officer found the man face down on the couch, naked. When she rolled him over to check for a pulse and to start CPR if necessary, she noticed burn marks around his genitals.
After the ambulance arrived and removed the man (who turned out to be dead on arrival at hospital), the police made a closer inspection of the couch, and noticed that the man had made a hole between the cushions.

Upon flipping the couch over they discovered what caused his death. Apparently the man had a habit of putting his penis between the cushions, down into the hole and between two electric sanders (with the sandpaper removed for obvious reasons).

According to the story, after his orgasm the .... discharge shorted out one of the sanders, electrocuting him to death.
:eek!!!!:
 
He was also wearing a military gas mask that had the filter canister removed and a rubber hose attached in its place. The other end of the hose was connected to a hollow wooden section of bedpost approximately 12 inches long and 3 inches in diameter. This bedpost was inserted into his rear end for reasons unknown, and was the cause of his suffocation.

-took me a while to work that one out. If you keep in mind that the section of bedpost was no longer attached to the bed, makes it easier to visualise. A little. :confused:

The Minefield of Home-Made Masturbatory Machines- don't try this at home, kids!


:rolleyes:
 
It must be a strange mental journey that takes a person from the vanilla masterbation we all know to the hights of the bizzare, painful, and dangerous home-made devices.

I can only think that this sort of thing happens because most sex education doesn't include masterbation. We're all self taught. We feel our way into it, finding out what's nice and what's not and sometimes getting the two confused.

Cujo
 
More from MildlyAmusing

To quote Harry Hill, what are the chances of that happening?
A 39-year-old Charlottesville man died Thursday in a freak accident involving his washing machine. According to police reports, Samuel Randolph Strickson was doing laundry when he tried to speed up the process. Strickson apparently tried to stuff approximately 50 pounds of laundry into his washing machine by climbing on top of the washer and attempting to force the clothing into the basin. Strickson then apparently accidentally kicked the washing machine's ON button. When the machine turned on, Strickson lost his balance and both feet went down into the machine, where they got stuck.

The machine started its cycle, and Strickson, unable to free himself, started thrashing around as the machine's agitator went into gear. Strickson's head banged against a nearby shelf in the laundry room,knocking over a bottle of bleach, which poured over Strickson's face, blinding him. Forensic reports say Strickson apparently also swallowed some of the bleach. He then vomited, but was still unable to free himself.

Strickson's dog, then apparently came into the laundry room. At about the same time, according to police, a large box of baking soda fell from the shelf, startling the dog, who then urinated. Urine, like vinegar, is acidic, and the chemical reaction between the urine and the baking soda resulted in "a small explosion," according to police reports. The dog, however, escaped unharmed. Strickson remained stuck in the washing machine, which eventually went into its high-speed spin cycle, spinning Strickson around at about 70 miles per hour, according to forensic experts. Strickson's head then smashed against a steel beam behind the washing machine, immediately killing him. A neighbour heard the commotion and called 911, but Strickson was pronounced dead at the scene.
For non-fatal ridiculous accidents, I've started a new thread called..Ridiculous Accidents.
 
The Guardian ran a story recently about the suicide of a B & Q
worker. His unrequited love for a colleague drove him to
kill himself by the nylon rope, car, lamp-post method. The rope
- taken from the store's own stock - did its job all to well and his
head was severed.

He seems to have performed this deed in the store's vicinity as
he was found by a co-worker.

I can't trace the story via the Guardian's Search engine and it
doesn't seem to be on Ananova but I'm sure I didn't dream it.
:eek:
 
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