Morbid Trivia...............SmoknJoe

The person who wrote the famous song, "Keep the Home Fires Burning" burnt to death when their home caught fire.

In 1970, television newswoman Chris Hubbock announced, "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of always bringing you the latest in gore and guts in living color, you're about to see another first - an attempted suicide". Then she pulled out a gun and fatally shot herself in the head.

Eric II, King of Denmark, died in 1104. He was known as Eric the Memorable. No one remembers why

Napoleon killed over a thousand people with a cough. In 1799 he was deciding whether to release 1,200 Turkish prisoners of war when he coughed and said, "Ma sacre tough!" (my darned cough) which sounded to officers like "Massacrez tour!" (Kill them all!). So they did.

Mummies were so plentiful when first discovered that they were ground up and sold as fertilizer and put into medicines

The residents of death row in Texas are forbidden to smoke. Guess they're afraid they'd get cancer and die. Perhaps some can enlighten me as to why?

A few months before he got killed in a car accident, James Dean made a driver's safety TV ad in which he said, "Drive safely; the life you save may be mine".

Playwright Tennessee Williams died after choking on the cap of a bottle of eyedrops (one man wrote me to say he knew a woman who knew TW personally and that it had been an aspirin bottle cap). He was a habitual pill-taker and drunk, and in an impaired state he put the cap in his mouth, mistaking it for another pill. It got stuck; The End.

Mark Twain, born on a year Halley's Comet visited us, correctly predicted he would die the next time it came by.

It is a myth that the hair and nails grow after death; the skin shrinks, giving the illusion of their growth

Seven breeds of dog account for 98% of all fatal dog attacks. In order they are: Pit Bull, German Shepherd, Chow, Malamute, Husky, Wolf Hybrids, and the Akita. Mothers-in-Law ranked # 11.

Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, CA is the largest in the U.S. - 1200 acres in four parks.

Crematoria ovens heat typically to 1,100-1,300 F and will completely burn a 180 lb. man in about an hour and a half

The word 'mausoleum' comes from the memorial tomb of Mausolus, ruler of Caria, who died in 353 B.C. When he died his wife had him cremated, mixed his ashes with water, and drank him. Cheers!

The tradition of funeral wreaths originated from the belief that the wreath would encircle the spirit of the dead and keep it at bay.

The Mount of Olives in Israel is the oldest, continually used cemetery in the world.

In 1355, when King Pedro of Portugal was crowned, he dug up his mistress to have her properly honored as queen. Loyal subjects bowed before the decorated corpse and had to kiss her hand. That was nice of him - most women can't even get their husbands to take them out to a simple dinner while they're alive ...

By law, all executed criminals in the U.S. have to have an autopsy to determine cause of death. I guess "He was executed by lethal injection" isn't good enough...

A body decomposes four times faster in water than on land.

Last words of Thomas Grasso, executed in 1995 by electrocution: "I did not get my Spaghetti-O's, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this". Oh, quit whining and have a seat.

If you're planning on being cryogenically frozen, the ideal time to start the procedure is within 10 minutes of death.

The first recorded means of execution is stoning. It was usually a public participation sport, and it was considered bad form to hit the victim in the head. The preferred method was to keep the victim conscious and suffering for as long as possible from internal injuries and broken bones. Think that's horrible? They still do this in some countries. To women. Only. Hmmmm. Makes ya wonder?

Dr. Joseph Guillotin did not invent the guillotine; he just persuaded officials to use it as a means of executions because of it's speed and efficiency. It is a myth that he died by the device.

Henry the VIII executed some 72,000 subjects. His favorite method was boiling people to death .

Only four U.S. States are on record as having never engaged in a lynching - Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

William Kemmler was the first person to be executed in the electric chair in 1890, at Auburn Prison in New York. It was a disaster. The executioner had to administer several rounds of juice while Kemmler kicked, seared, smoked, thrashed and convulsed, finally dying after 8 minutes. An autopsy showed he literally cooked to death, from the inside out.

Lethal injection was first used in 1982. Three separate drugs are used, starting with a barbiturate which knocks the victim out. Was told by someone who works in a Texas prison and who has witnessed this up close that the recipient is not aware that they are "dying" in any way and that, physically at least, it is a painless procedure. Which is a shame. (Yes, I'm one of those people).

When John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, it was not a federal felony to kill a President of the United States.

Utah is now the only state which executes by firing squad

The name of the pilot of the ill-fated TWA Flight 800 which exploded over New York, was Ralph Kevorkian

The first drive-in mortuary was opened in Atlanta in 1968 by Hirschel Thornton. While the deceased rested behind a glass wall, those wanting to pay last respects could drive by without having to get out of their cars. There's "caring' for you, huh? Wonder if they'll have burgers to go, next...

From the 1850s to the 1880s, the most common reason for death among cowboys in the American West was being dragged by a horse while caught in the stirrups. Then I guess someone noticed this and someone else said, "Hey! We ought to be more careful!" So it stopped.

A taphophile is a person who is interested in the history and art of cemeteries, funerals and gravestones

A tip from a friend of mine - if you're going to murder someone and dump their body in water, first wrap the corpse in a tube of metal chain link fence. The weight keeps the body at the bottom of the lake, it keeps large parts from floating to the surface or washing ashore for identification. It allows the fish and other critters to help get rid of the evidence. No, I didn't ask him - didn't want to know....

King Cambyses of Persia (525 BC) marched 50,000 troops into the desert to attack Amun, on the Libyan border. A sandstorm of epic proportions boiled up and buried them all.

The leading cause of death to military personnel in peace time is drunk driving.

Murderers, on average, are 7.5 years younger than their victims.

When a landing party went to Krakatoa after the devastating 1883 eruption, the only thing they found alive on the entire island was a spider - spinning a web. I admire that spider's tenacity.

Funeral directors in Florida get 500 frequent flyer miles for every corpse they ship out of Daytona Beach International Airport.

Japanese factory worker Kenji Urada became the first known fatality 'caused by robot' in July, 1981

It would take more than 2.5 minutes to fall from the top of Mt. Everest. Then you'd go >S P L A T <

It's a myth that there's a "curse of King Tut's tomb" and 'most ' of the people who were present at the opening of the tomb died swift, horrible deaths. Of the 22 present at it's opening, 21 were alive 10 years later

When Anne Boleyn was beheaded, so was her dog, Urian. Guess that showed her.

It's estimated that in one hour, Genghis Khan's army killed 748,000 people. Each of his men was ordered to kill as many people as they could until they dropped from exhaustion, and bring the ears of the victims to the officers for proof.

Union General John Sedgewick was killed during the Battle of Spotsylvania on May 9, 1864 while sitting on his horse and making the comment that the confederate troops were so inept that they "couldn't hit an elephant from this dis - - - "

Almon Strowger was an undertaker in Kansas City in the 1800s and when a friend died, thought it was pretty strange he hadn't been called to take care of the arrangements. There was only one other undertaker in town, and it just so happened the telephone operator that all the city's calls had to go through, was his wife. Hmmm.... Strowger didn't get mad, he got even. He invented the world's first automatic telephone exchange system (and the first dial phone) making it possible for people to dial numbers directly and not have to use operators. Take that.

Interesting stuff picked up from days of surfing..... But in any event thanks for reading and replying.

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