There is certainly nothing funny about someone dying, but sometimes the manner of their deaths is strange and in the case of people that died a long time ago, can even bring a chuckle to someone's face. I will tell you what I am talking about, before someone out there thinks that I am some kind of fiend. The ancient writer Aeschylus, was said to have been sitting outside when he died. The method of his death was most unusual. Apparently an eagle was flying high overhead with his prize, which was a turtle and he dropped it. The turtle somehow came crashing down on Aeschylus's head, killing him instantly. You just don't hear of too many cases of death by falling turtle.

One of the strangest stories I heard, was not about how someone died, but how their body almost disappeared. Apparently this poor guy was taking a shower when he had a heart attack and died. The water ran for weeks over his body, eroding it in the same manner that water erodes things like mountains and such. The water company came to the house because the bill hadn't been paid. The idea was to shut off the water. They found what was left of the poor guy. If they had waited much longer, the body would have been gone and no one would have ever know what happened to him, he would have been completely washed down the drain.

There is a story that states that Attila the Hun was a very light eater, but he made an exception on his wedding day and really gorged himself with food and drink. That night he got a nosebleed, but was too drunk to notice. The next day they found him dead. He had drowned in his own blood.

Francis Bacon was a very famous person. Some even credit him with writing some of the Shakespearian Plays. He was also a scientist and he had a brainstorm. He thought that if he stuffed a chicken with snow it would preserve it. I guess he was right since we freeze food today. He bought a chicken and went outside in a snow storm and began to stuff the chicken. He was out there too long and became very sick and died from the cold over the next 11 days. Ouch!

An ancient poet named Philetas of Cos was said to have died from insomnia.

Herod the Great suffered a terrible death. He had fevers, rashes, colon pains, foot drop, inflammation of the abdomen, putrefaction of his genitals that produced worms, convulsions and difficulty breathing.

Valerian, was the emperor of Rome in 260. He was captured by the king of Persia and used as a foot stool. He tried to offer a huge ransom to the Persian King for his release and in reply the Persian king had molten gold poured down his throat. After he died he was skinned and his skin stuffed with straw and dung to preserve it. It was then sent to the Persian kings trophy room.

Tycho Brahe was a famous astronomer that died in 1601. In those days it was considered impolite to leave the table before everyone was finished. Tycho liked to drink a lot and even though he had to go badly, never asked to leave. His bladder burst and he died. This story has other versions and one even states that he was poisoned.

One famous death, in this country, was President William Henry Harrison. He delivered a two hour inauguration speech, in very cold weather, without a coat. Two months later he was dead from pneumonia.

Matthew Vassar, the founder of Vassar College died while giving a farewell speech.

Allan Pinkerton, the famous detective that founded the Pinkerton Agency in the U.S., was minding his own business while walking down the street. He tripped and bit his tongue. He died of gangrene a little while later.

In 1958, Garth Jones, an actor was in a live television play. He died between acts. The director continued the play and worked around the scenes that Jones was supposed to be in. The show must go on!

When a comedian collapsed in front of tv viewers from a heart attack, everyone laughed heartily. They thought he was being funny.

Dick Shawn was a famous comedian. He was on stage doing a play, it was The Producers. He had just announced to the audience that "if elected, I will not lay down on the job," , then he laid down and never got up.

Frank Hayes was a jockey who died on his horse in 1923. The horse went on to win the race and Hayes was the only dead jockey to ever win a horse race.

In 1933, a group of men had taken a life insurance policy on a homeless man. They planned to kill him and collect the money. They tried to poison him several times, but that didn't work. Then they exposed him to the terrible cold and that didn't work. Next they ran him over with a car and still he lived. Finally they gassed him and he died. This must have been one tough homeless guy.

A Soviet General decided to observe a rocket launch. Instead of going into the block house, he set up a chair on the launch pad. His officers, not wanting to look like cowards in front of him, did the same. The rocket blew up and killed all of them, which was about 100 people.

In 1973, the finance minister of Hungary was going on a tour of a steel factory. He tripped and fell into the blast furnace into molten iron.

In 1974 a new reporter in Florida committed suicide on the air by shooting herself.

A man died while watching a comedy on tv. His wife reported that he just kept laughing and couldn't stop. It is said that he laughed for over 25 minutes and finally died.

Tennessee Williams died while chocking on a bottle cap.The story goes that he drank too much to get help.

This can't be proven, but some think that George Allen, football coach, died because of the traditional Gaterade Shower that was given him following a victory. The weather was cold and he got pneumonia.

A lawyer was trying to prove that the glass in a hotel was unbreakable and to demonstrate this, he threw himself against it. The glass broke and he plunged 24 stories to his death. I guess it wasn't unbreakable.

I think we all know about the husband and wife scuba divers that were left behind, by mistake, by their boat. Their bodies were never found.

Then there was the pizza delivery man who robbed a bank. When the police got to him, he had a bomb strapped around his neck. He claimed that people put it there to force him to make the robbery. The police were not able to get it off and later it blew up killing him.

A man who lived with bears for over 13 years, was killed by one and eaten.

A internet game player played one game so long, that he died of fatigue.

A woman who entered a contest to see who could drink the most water, died because she drank too much water. Drinking too much water can cause the electrolytes in your body to dilute too much, thus killing you. By the way, the prize was a Nintendo Wii.