Authors often explore life and death in their works, but sometimes their own demise is stranger than fiction. Many writers have met incredibly unusual ends. Here are ten writers who suffered strange and unusual deaths.
Aeschylus
Aeschylus, a celebrated playwright from ancient Athens, won numerous awards for his tragedies. However, his death was anything but dignified. After his plays fell out of favor with the Athenian crowd, he moved to Sicily. A prophecy foretold that a house would fall on him, so he spent his days outside to avoid this fate.
An eagle, mistaking his bald head for a rock, dropped a tortoise on it to break open the shell. The tortoise killed him, fulfilling the prophecy in the most unexpected way. It was definitely the tortoise’s house he should have watched out for.[1]
Georgi Markov
In 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian anti-communist dissident, was walking to work in London when he felt a jab in his thigh. He saw a man drop an umbrella, apologize, and leave. Markov didn’t think much of it until he developed pain and a lump in his leg.
Four days later, Markov died. An autopsy revealed a tiny platinum pellet, containing the poison ricin, had been shot into his leg via an umbrella gun. The Bulgarian secret service likely orchestrated his assassination due to his anti-communist writings. No one was ever charged with the murder. [2]
Thomas Urquhart
Sir Thomas Urquhart, a singular figure in Scottish literary history, was known for his eccentric works, including epigrams, a nonsensical trigonometry method, a genealogy tracing back to the Garden of Eden, and a constructed language. These works often parodied his enemies and creditors.
Urquhart fought for Charles II at the Battle of Worcester in 1651 and was imprisoned in the Tower of London after the royal forces lost. When Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, the news purportedly made Sir Thomas laugh so hard that he died. [3]
Saki
Hector Hugh Munro, famously known as Saki, was a celebrated short story writer of the early 20th century. His witty stories captured the Edwardian era with unrivaled humor. During World War I, despite being too old, he enlisted in the army and served on the front lines.
A superstition at the time warned against lighting three cigarettes with the same match, fearing it would attract a sniper. Ironically, Saki’s death was caused by a cigarette. While on duty, he ordered a soldier to extinguish his cigarette, and at that moment, a sniper’s bullet struck and killed Saki. [4]
Molière
Molière, the 17th-century French playwright, was so influential. His comedies continue to be performed, satirizing society and human vices. Despite battling TB in his final years, Molière performed in The Imaginary Invalid, a play about a hypochondriac.
During the fourth performance, he coughed up blood and collapsed on stage but insisted on finishing the show. A few hours later, he died. His illness was indeed not imaginary.[5]
Boethius
Boethius, a 6th-century philosopher and politician in Rome, served under the Ostrogothic kings. Accused of treason, he was imprisoned, where he wrote The Consolation of Philosophy.
He was executed, with varying accounts describing his death. Some say he was beheaded or hanged. A more gruesome version claims a rope tightened around his skull, forcing his eyes out, before he was beaten to death. [6]
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol, a master of the short story and playwright, influenced many authors. His novel Dead Souls cemented his literary position. However, under the influence of a strict priest, he burned the manuscript for the second part of Dead Souls.
Gogol then refused food in preparation for a religious festival, which broke his health. Doctors attempted to help him with leeches, scalding baths, and ice water, but he died soon after. [7]
Margaret Wise Brown
Margaret Wise Brown, author of beloved children’s books like Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, shaped the lives of millions. She passed away at the young age of 42. While touring Europe, she developed appendicitis and had an operation.
During her recovery, she did a high kick to demonstrate her good health to a nun. This dislodged a blood clot that traveled to her heart, resulting in her sudden death. [8]
Yukio Mishima
Yukio Mishima, a novelist nominated for the Nobel Prize, was also a playwright, poet, actor, model, and founder of the Shield Society, a militia. Alarmed by the rise of left-wing politics in Japan, he formed the Shield Society in 1968, gathering nationalists and anti-communists.
In 1970, Mishima and four members took over a military base, tying up the commander. He delivered a speech, hoping to incite a coup, but the soldiers jeered him. Mishima then committed seppuku (ritual disembowelment). His second failed to behead him three times, and another had to finish the task. [9]
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, a philosopher who paved the way for the scientific revolution, believed theories should be tested by experimentation. While riding on a snowy day, he discussed food preservation with a friend. He bought a chicken and stuffed it with snow to test if cold could preserve it.
Bacon caught a chill from his experiment and died soon after from pneumonia. His biographers linked his death to the experiment. Some say the ghost of a chicken haunts the site of this first experiment in frozen food even to this day. [10]
These writers met their ends in ways that are both strange and memorable, leaving behind legacies of literary genius and bizarre final chapters. Their stories remind us that sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction.
Which of these deaths surprised you the most? Leave your comment below!
