Sick entertainment

We’ve all got to go at some point, and that’s my justification for sharing this wikipedia page entitled:

A List of Unusual Deaths

In there, you’ll find a man who dropped a screwdriver into some plutonium (oops), a man who stabbed a war elephant (yes, there’s such a thing) in the belly and died when it fell – dead – on top of him and and ancient Greek lawmaker, who was smothered to death by gifts of cloaks showered upon him by appreciative citizens at a theatre.

I particularly like the possible explanation for this one, from 336 AD:

Arius, presbyter of Alexandria, is said to have died of sudden diarrhea followed by copious hemorrhaging and anal expulsion of the intestines while he walked across the imperial forum in Constantinople.

He may have been poisoned.

While there’s no specific evidence of poisoning, I think we can safely assume that there was something amiss to cause this incident. It’s not the sort of thing that happens on a regular basis around any of the town squares I have visited.