10 of the Most Unusual Accidental Deaths in American History

These tragic deaths remind us that life often trumps fiction

Benjamin Franklin reminds us that nothing can be considered certain in this world except death and taxes.

Therefore, the certainty of mortality and the uncertainty of the hour of death are often an existential burden throughout our lives.

In this article, I will look at some of the most astonishing and unusual accidental deaths in the history of the United States.

1. Death by tongue-biting

Allan Pinkerton was the founder of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He died after tripping on the pavement and severely biting his tongue, which became infected with gangrene.

At the time of his death, he worked on a system to centralize all criminal identification records, a database now maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Pinkerton is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. He was buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

2. America’s unluckiest lawyer

Clement Vallandigham was a politician and renowned lawyer who led a faction of antiwar Democrats during the American Civil War.

On June 17, 1871, he defended a man accused of murder. Vallandigham arrived at the courthouse feeling he was going to win the case.

Thomas McGehea had been accused of killing a man during a fight in Hamilton, Ohio. The defense’s argument was simple: the victim, Tom Myers, had accidentally shot himself while drawing his pistol from his pocket and standing up.

Clement Laird Vallandigham always went very deep for the causes he believed in. This time, he wanted to demonstrate in court that the alleged victim could have killed himself unintentionally.

Clement had a plan. The idea was to use an unloaded pistol to set up the crime scene and support the argument. The plan seemed bulletproof, but the attorney himself wasn’t wearing a vest.

He took a gun to the court that he thought was unloaded, put it in his pocket, and staged the events that happened on that fateful night.

However, when Vallandigham pulled the loaded pistol out of his pants, the gun went off, and he was hit right in the stomach. He was taken to the hospital but died the next day of acute peritonitis.

Clement had proved his point, and the defendant was acquitted and released from custody at the price of the lawyer’s life.

3. Death by UFO

In 1948, an unidentified object (UFO) was detected flying over the sky of Madisonville, Kentucky.

A US Air National Guard commander ordered Captain Thomas Mantell to investigate the object described as circular, measuring about 90 feet in diameter.

The pilot’s job was to follow the object with his P-51D Mustang fighter plane, but by exceeding 7,600 meters in height, his aircraft went into a spin and took a nose dive.

Air Force researchers claimed that the pilot was confused by hypoxia upon reaching a very high height and died from lack of oxygen.

The unfortunate pilot was the first person known to have died in a sighting of a UFO. The object remains unknown, although the most likely explanation points to a U.S. Navy Skyhook balloon.

Investigations began to solve the mysterious case. Numerous explanations have been released to resolve the Mantell case. Nevertheless, the event is still a cold case on the list of UFO accidents and remains open.

4. Death by robot

In 1979, while working at the Ford Motor Company Flat Rock Casting Plant, Robert Williams became the first human known to have been killed by a robot.

The culprit was the mechanical arm of a one-ton production-line robot. The robot was a component of a parts-retrieval system that transferred material from one area of the plant to another.

Williams was climbing into the storage rack to grab components manually when he was hit in the head and died instantly.

5. Death by trash (compactor)

Chicago native Roger Mirro, 56, was looking for his cell phone in the garbage dumpster of the Palatine, Illinois, condominium building where he lived when a trash compactor crushed him on July 30, 2013.

According to the Meyers & Flowers website, Roger believed his phone had accidentally fallen down the garbage chute.

He was then given the keys to the utility room where the trash was collected by one of the condominium association board members, who failed to inform him that a “trash compactor was linked to the dumpster and would start immediately if its electronic eye was tripped.”

Roger entered the room and climbed a ladder that had already been placed against the machine. Then, he leaned over the hopper to locate the bag of trash that he had sent down from his fourth-floor unit.

While peering into the dumpster, Roger lost his balance and fell into the compactor’s loading chamber. Roger’s body triggered the photoelectric sensor, and a compaction cycle began.

There was no safety control device inside. As a result, the compactor’s ram began compressing the space, and Roger could not escape.

6. Death by drinking (water)

In 1977, Tina Christopherson in Florida decided to drink fifteen liters of water a day because she believed it would cure her of cancer. Unfortunately, this decision cost the woman her life.

Even if Tina’s story sounds somewhat like a figment of pop culture and urban legend, drinking too much water can kill you. According to an article published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology, “a 64-year-old woman on the evening before her death began compulsively drinking water in vast quantities, estimated at between 30 and 40 glasses...". She declined medical attention but continued to drink water after she had gone to bed. She later fell asleep and died sometime later.”

7. Death by eating (cockroaches)

On September 5, 2012, the city of West Palm Beach hosted a cockroach-eating contest dubbed “Midnight Madness.” Edward Archbold applied for the challenge and ate dozens of cockroaches and worms.

Although he was declared the winner, the competition would have dire consequences.

Archbold began to feel ill, suffering nausea and dizziness after the end of the competition, and eventually collapsed at the venue where the event was taking place, in front of the Ben Siegel Reptiles store in Deerfield Beach.

The man was rushed to the hospital but, upon arrival, was pronounced dead. An autopsy concluded that he choked to death.

8. The deadliest joke

Jon-Erik Hexum was an actor and model on the rise in Hollywood. He was destined to be one of the greatest sex symbols in movie history, but an unfortunate accident ended his life before he could even succeed.

The story of Jon-Erik Hexum is a sad one. In 1984, he was filming scenes in the TV series Cover Up, in which he starred as Mac Harper when the fatal accident occurred.

Hexum was bored on set and picked up a prop gun as a joke. The actor spun the chamber of the prop 44-mm pistol loaded with a blank. Pointed it toward his temple. He then pulled the trigger, and the gun went off.

The actor was transported to the hospital and was submitted to surgery but died six days after the accident.

9. Death by nº 3 wood

In 1994, Jeremy Brenno, a 16-year-old American, became overly irritated when he missed a hole-in-one in a game while playing golf at the Kingsboro Golf Club.

Brenno unleashed all in anger out of frustration by hitting a seat with his golf club. The club shaft broke and pierced the boy’s heart.

Jeremy received emergency medical attention from many doctors at the golf club before being transferred by EMS to Nathan Littauer Hospital.

Several attempts to resuscitate the teen were futile, and he was declared dead.

10. Death by quicksand

Jose Rey Escobedo went missing on July 7, 2015. On July 8, police got a call indicating that a light blue car had been parked beneath the San Antonio River Bridge in Goliad County for many days.

Then, on July 11, game wardens discovered Escobedo’s lifeless body stuck in quicksand along the riverbed.

Accidents involving quicksand rarely cause fatalities. However, this terrible incident should serve as a reminder to be vigilant and heed all warning signs that indicate danger.

Final thoughts

Accidents are bound to happen, but some of these unfortunate events prove that sometimes we tend to get ourselves into trouble.

So, with this article, I hope to have made you aware that, under no circumstances, you should put your life at risk and exercise caution when you find yourself in a dangerous situation.

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