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Chrysippus -

The famous Greek philosopher might have spent a whole lot of time thinking about serious matters, but he reportedly died laughing!

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Chrysippus -

The story goes that Chrysippus saw a donkey eating a fig. He found the scene so hilarious that he laughed until he lost consciousness and eventually died.

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Li Po -

The famous Chinese poet's death is said to have been equally poetic. Li Po was on a boat when he saw the Moon reflected on the water. Po apparently tried to hug it, fell off the boat, and drowned. Sad, but poetic nonetheless.

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Clement Vallandigham -

American politician and lawyer Clement Vallandigham is known to have died in a peculiar way: he shot himself in court, trying to prove a point during the defense of a murder suspect.

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Clement Vallandigham -

Vallandigham was trying to show that the victim could have shot himself accidentally. Except, when exemplifying so, the weapon was loaded and he fatally shot himself in the bladder. The suspect was acquitted though!

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Tycho Brahe -

Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe seemed to have died of...politeness. It was first suspected that he had died following a banquet in which he was poisoned. But an analysis in 2010 revealed something else.

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Tycho Brahe -

Brahe died because he apparently held his bladder until it burst. Because, you know, it's impolite to leave the table...

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King Adolf Frederick -

King Adolf Frederick of Sweden liked to eat. A lot. He allegedly suffered from gout, which his over-indulgence didn't help.

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King Adolf Frederick -

One night he really went for it and ate caviar, lobster, an array of meats, and drank champagne. If that wasn't enough, he ate 14 traditional sweet rolls called semla. Adolf Frederick died of severe digestion problems shortly after.

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Jean-Baptiste Lully -

Jean-Baptiste Lully was a famous Italian-born French composer, who worked in the court of Louis XIV of France. He died performing his job: conducting.

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Jean-Baptiste Lully -

Lully hit himself in the foot with his conducting staff. The wound got infected and he was advised to amputate his leg. Lully refused because he wanted to still be able to dance! Needless to say, the infection spread, and he danced with the Grim Reaper instead.

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Attila the Hun -

This great ruler was the Romans' worst nightmare. He didn't actually die in battle though, nor was he assassinated. Instead, Atilla got pretty drunk while celebrating his latest marriage, so when his new wife, Ildico, joined him in his tent, she was reportedly scared and avoided him.

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Attila the Hun -

Atilla then chased her and might have fallen or hit something, because the story goes that he had a nosebleed and choked to death on his own blood.

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Hans Steininger -

An Austrian mayor named Hans Steininger was known for his 4.5 ft- (1.37 m-) long beard. One version of how he died says that his beard caught fire and he burned to death. Another version says that he was escaping a fire, tripped on his beard, fell, and died.

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Hans Steininger -

Either way, he was killed by his own beard. The 450-year-old beard of Steininger is still held in the District Museum Herzogsburg in Branau. Yes, really!

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King Martin of Aragon -

And then we have this Spanish king, who died of both too much food and too much laughter. So, what you do after you eat an entire roast goose on your own? You go to bed, of course.

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King Martin of Aragon -

But then the King's jester, Borra, walked into the room and reportedly told him a joke. The king found it so funny that he fell off his bed laughing, and died.

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King Martin of Aragon -

What was the joke? “In the next vineyard, where I saw a young deer hanging by his tail from a tree, as if someone had so punished him for stealing figs.” Another story of a four-legged creature and figs ending a life...

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Félix Faure -

The former President of France died in some unusual circumstances involving a sexual act with a young woman named Marguerite Steinheil.

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Félix Faure -

Faure is believed to have had a seizure while Steinheil was performing o r a l sex in the presidential office. La petite mort, indeed!

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George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence -

The duke was executed for treason in the Tower of London in 1478. How? He was drowned in wine!

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John Sedgewick -

John Sedgewick was a Union Army general who was killed during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Nothing unusual here. Except that his alleged over-confidence/arrogance was what got him killed.

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John Sedgewick -

Sedgewick is said to have told his troops to stop flinching because the enemies "couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” Except they did, and shot him fatally in the face.

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James Betts -

Student James Betts died from asphyxiation after his love Elizabeth Spencer tried to hide him in a wardrobe at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, England. She was the only child of Dr. James Spencer, the master of Corpus Christi College, who was against the romance.

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James Betts -

Elizabeth Spencer reportedly took her own life shortly after. The couple are said to haunt the college grounds to this day.

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Gareth Jones -

British actor Gareth Jones died of a heart attack during a play that was being broadcast on live TV in 1958. Bizarrely, the character he was playing was also supposed to suffer a heart attack.

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Lamplighter -

A lamplighter came up with an innovative idea in the 1880s in Flatbush, New York: he invented an alarm clock comprising of a clock, a wire, and a stone.

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Lamplighter -

It seemed promising, until he moved his bed one night and forgot to put it in the right place. The result? He was crushed by his own device the following morning!

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Killer bird -

In 2011, a man died during an illegal cockfight in California. The owner had apparently strapped a knife to the bird's leg, so the cockerel  accidentally stabbed the man fatally.

Sources: (History of Yesterday) (History Things 1 and 2) (Afterlife Funerals) (Taking on the World)

See also: Bizarre celebrity deaths you've probably never heard of

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