18 Most Unusual Deaths Of all Time

 Although there are many ways to die these 18 unusual deaths will make you glad to be alive.

William III

This British king died in 1701, after a fall when his horse stumbled over a molehill. His opponents drank a toast to the mole, calling it "The little gentleman in black velvet".

 Sir Thomas Urquhart

Urquhart was the Scottish author of books with extraordinary titles such as Logopandecteision. He died laughing when told of the Restoration of Charles II in 1669.

 Thomas Midgley

Midgley was an American inventor who was strangled in 1944 by a machine he had invented to help him move after contracting polio. He invented three products that have since been found to be environmentally harmful: lead in petrol, CFC's in fridges and aerosols, and the insecticide DDT.

 Prince Philippe

Prince Philippe, heir to the French throne, was killed when his horse tripped over a pig in the streets of Paris in 1131.

Jean-Baptiste Lully

This Italian- French composer died in 1687 after accidentally stabbing his foot with a stick while beating time.The short conductor's baton came into use soon afterwards.

Pliny the Elder

Roman writer Pliny was choked by the fumes of the erupting volcano Vesuvius in AD 79.

Lord Carnarvon

Poster for Houdini's Show

Carnarvon was an amateur Egyptologist who financed the excavation of  Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922. Several months after opening the tomb, Carnarvon died suddenly from a mosquito bite. This began the legend of the curse of Tutankhamen.

Hilaire Belloc

Although born in France, Hilaire Belloc was an English writer and member of parliament. He died in 1953 after a burning coal fell out of his fire and set him ablaze.

William Huskisson

Huskisson was a British member of Parliament. He was run down by a train during the opening of the first railway in 1830.

Madeleine-Sophie Blanchard

Madame Blanchard was the widow of pioneer balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard. She was killed in Paris in 1819, when fireworks set fire to her balloon.

Harry Houdini (Erich Weiss)

Houdini was a famous escapologist who claimed he could withstand being punched in the stomach. He died in 1926- after being punched in the stomach.

Jerome Cardan

Cardan was an Italian physician, mathematician and astrologer. He starved himself to death in 1576 to make sure that his own prediction of his death would come true.

Isadora Duncan

This American dancer was strangled in 1927 by her scarf. It became caught in the wheel of a sports car in which she was a passenger.

Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick was the son of George II and heir to the British throne. He died in 1751 after being hit by a cricket ball.

Francis Bacon

This Elizabethan philosopher caught a chill while trying to deep-freeze a chicken by stuffing it with snow. He died in 1626.

Aeschylus

Aeschylus was a famous Greek dramatist who died in 456 BC. A prediction that he would be killed by a blow from heaven came true when an eagle carrying a tortoise dropped it on his head.

King Alexander of Greece

He died after being bitten by his pet monkey in 1920.

Anton Dvorak

The Czech composer died in 1904 of a chill which he caught while train-spotting.