Unusual causes of death (grandmother, surname, Ireland, hair)

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Not to sound morbid, but what are some of the most unusual causes of death you have found?

There are the more common causes of death, like heart ailments, strokes, accidents.

I have found some weird ones. One guy committed suicide with Carbolic Acid. A baby died of Anencephaly. One guy eventually died (he had it a while) of lead poisoning. He went insane. Died at 76. He was a retired painter.

I don't want to come across as insensitive, or morbid, but what are some odd causes of death you have come across?

[CAVA1990]

My great grandmother died of an ear infection. My favorite from my gggrandmother's brother: "gunshot wounds" (gunfight in front of a Durango, CO saloon).

[bjh]

I recently found a lateral male relative whose cause of death was: Homicide. Contributing factor? Gunshot wound to back.

Makes me wonder what happened. But I haven't been able to locate a newspaper clipping yet, if there is one.

No western saloon, though. He lived in a suburb of St. Louis. This happened in the 1950s.

[heyho]

I had a non-smoking uncle who died of emphysema 1970s--he was our last family farmer, breathing in all that dust.

Our surname is unique, so likely the gentleman is a distant relative but not sure exactly.

First imprisoned then hung. Sometime in the late 1880s in Ontario for 'buggery'.

We have g/l family members. It was a heavy discovery.

[stacylee926]

My husband has a relative that died of a lightning strike while calling in the kids due to an approaching storm.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I had a distant cousin on my dad's side that was executed in the electric chair. He murdered his girlfriend.

[PA2UK]

"Poison" - don't know what kind... just "poison" - but it was a toddler.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I had a young boy that died of a tumor behind his eye. Another was accidentally smothered. One man committed suicide with carbolic acid.

Another one died of Chronic Alcoholism.

[heyho]

Here's a Great-great uncle:

Obit: 1912

XX IS CRUSHED TO DEATH

Well known old resident meets fate in a tragic manner at his farm.

XX, aged sixty-seven years a pioneer resident of CITY was crushed beneath a large door weighing half a ton and was instantly killed Saturday afternoon at his farm in Chocolay Township which he had gone earlier in the day to get a load of wood.

His body was found at a quarter past ten Saturday night by his brother YY and a nephew, ZZ who became alarmed when he did not return to the city at supper time and went to look for him.

He was found lying face down under the door, his chest crushed in and his head injured.

The farm is about ten miles southeast of the city, on the Little Lake Road, and is untenated. The nearest neighbor is AA, living a mile away.

XX had owned the farm twenty-five years, and had worked it from time to time during the summers, but resided with his brother.

He left CITY early Saturday morning and expected to be home at 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. When he had not returned in the evening his relatives became worried. From the indications he had tried to slide back the door almost as soon as he arrived at the farm and it had slipped from it's trolly and fallen upon him.

In the death of XX, CITY has lost one of her oldest residents.

He was born at CITY2, N.Y. in 1845. At the age of seventeen years he came to CITY with his brothers, all older than himself. When old enough for such work he entered the employ of the S.S. Railroad. He was actively engaged in this work until fifteen years ago. He had lived in this city exactly fifty years and leaves scores of lifelong friends who will mourn his unexpected demise.

[Mary Ann789]

My great grandmother's first husband was crushed to death by a cow while farming in Ireland. After she lost her husband, she came over to NYC and started a new life here in America.