Morbid Mortality Monthly - March

No-one is sure how former Nazi soldier Andre Richter mistook weed killer for vodka when he filled his old hip flask engaged with the SS death's head. Yet it proved a fatal mistake when he took a swig from it and the passed it around at a military reunion in 1981, killing himself and three former comrades.

Taken from "1001 Ridiculous Ways To Die" (2008) by David Southwell & Matt Adams

Morbid Mortality Monthly - September

Award Winning American playwright Tennessee Williams died in 1983 at the age of 71 when he swallowed an eye drop bottle cap in his room at the Hotel Elysee, New York. He would routinely place the cap in his mouth, lean back, and place his eye drops in each eye, but it is believed that alcohol and narcotics may have contributed to the choking...



Taken from "1001 Ridiculous Ways To Die" (2008) by David Southwell & Matt Adams

Morbid Mortality Monthly - August

A 25 year old woman drowned while performing fellatio on 34 year old Christopher Sean Payne off Pee Wee Camp beach in Darwin. The couple had consumed 11 bottles of beer before getting kinky in the surf. Payne was charged with manslaughter when he admitted putting his hands on the woman's head during the act.

Taken from "1001 Ridiculous Ways To Die" (2008) by David Southwell & Matt Adams

Morbid Mortality Monthly - March

Over the years, there have been fair few newspaper headlines that have stopped us in our tracks or made us splutter over tea, but none more so than "Giant Bavarian Beer Garden Sled Kills One, Injures 14"

The story behind this classic of journalism is just as ridiculous as the headline would suggest. In March 2000, more than 5,000 people gathered in the Spitzingsee region south of Munich to watch the annual sleigh race. While some compete on speed, other contestants aim to win the prize for having the most elaborately decorated sled that manages to get safely to the bottom of the ski run.

One entrant in the 2000 race was a giant sled built in the shape of a Bavarian beer garden. Attention to detail on the sophisticated vehicle saw it fitted with benches and beer barrels full of lager. The alcohol onboard may have played a part in the tragedy that unfurled as the sled left the top of the ski run. Its driver lost control of the Bavarian behemoth and it left the designated course, hurtling down at an accelerating speed until it crashed into a hut used by race officials.

According to Horst Hornfeck, head of the local mountain police patrol: "There were 14 people on the sleigh, but 17 were injured in total when it demolished the hut. The one man killed on the spot was a sleigh rider." As a mark of respect, the event organisers stopped any other giant beer gardens coming down the mountain for the rest of the day.

Taken from "1001 Ridiculous Ways To Die" (2008) by David Southwell & Matt Adams