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         xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss"><docs>This is a RSS file. Copy the URL into your aggregator of choice. If you don't know what this means and want to learn more, please see: <span>http://platial.typepad.com/news/2006/04/really_simple_t.html</span> for more info.</docs>
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<title>Unusual Deaths</title>
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<rdf:li resource="http://platial.com/post/35230"/>
<rdf:li resource="http://platial.com/post/35232"/>
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<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35230">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35230</link>
<title>Aeschylus and Falling Turtles</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        456 BC: Aeschylus, Greek dramatist, according to legend, died when a vulture, mistaking his bald head for a stone, dropped a tortoise on it.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35230">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 11:55:20.533228+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35232">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35232</link>
<title>Valerian Forced to Swallow Molten Gold</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        260: Roman emperor Valerian, after being defeated in battle and captured by the Persians was used as a footstool by their king Shapur I. After a long period of treatment and humiliation of this sort, he offered Shapur a huge ransom for his release. In reply, Shapur had molten gold poured down his throat. He then had the unfortunate Valerian skinned and his skin stuffed with straw and preserved as a trophy in the main Persian temple. Only after Persia's defeat in their last war with Rome three and a half centuries later was his skin given a cremation and burial.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35232">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:02:57.11545+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35236">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35236</link>
<title>Harrison Caught Death at Inauguration</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        1841: William Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States, gave the longest inaugural address in the history of the United States in heavy snow and subsequently caught a cold. It developed into pneumonia and killed him in a month.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35236">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:18:00.46391+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35238">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35238</link>
<title>Toe Infection Brings Daniel Down</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        1911: Jack Daniel, founder of the famous Tennessee whiskey distillery, died of blood poisoning due to a toe injury he received after kicking his safe in anger when he could not remember its combination code.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35238">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:26:20.210547+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35239">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35239</link>
<title>Gaudi Hit by Tram</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        1926: Barcelona's star architect Antoni Gaudi was run over by a tram. Cab drivers did not take him to hospital immediately, not recognizing the ragged figure who had no money in his pockets. Gaudi was brought to a pauper's hospital, where he died some days later.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35239">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:29:50.822633+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35240">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35240</link>
<title>Duncan's Scarf</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        was killed at the age of 49 when her scarf caught in the open-spoked wheel of her friend Ivan Falchetto's Amilcar automobile, in which she was a passenger. As the driver sped off, the long cloth wrapped around the vehicle's axle. Duncan was yanked violently from the car and dragged for several yards before the driver realized what had happened. She died almost instantly from a broken neck. The tragedy gave rise to Gertrude Stein's mordant remark that "affectations can be dangerous."<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35240">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:35:12.072047+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35243">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35243</link>
<title>Malloy and the Murder Trust</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        Michael Malloy was a vagrant in New York City, in the early 20th century. He is solely known for his constitution, rivalled only by that of Rasputin. It is said that 30 attempts were made to murder him, all unsuccessful but the last.

The events that lead to Malloy's celebrity began in January 1933. He was at the time an alcoholic, and a bum. Five men who were acquainted with him, Tony Marino, Joseph Murphy, Francis Pasqua, Hershey Green, and Daniel Kriesburg (later dubbed "the Murder Trust" by the headlines), plotted to take out three life insurance policies on Malloy, and then get him to drink himself to death. The first part of the plot was successful, and (probably with the aid of a corrupt insurance agent) they stood to gain over $3,500 if Malloy died an accidental death.

Marino owned a speakeasy, and gave Malloy unlimited credit, thinking it would soon put an end to him. It didn't; Malloy was in danger of drinking the bar into bankruptcy. Antifreeze, a deadly poison, was substituted for liquor, but still Malloy would drink until he passed out, wake up, and come back for more. Antifreeze was substituted with turpentine, followed by horse liniment, and finally mixed in rat poison. Still Malloy flourished. The gang began to get creative, thinking raw oysters soaked in wood alcohol would do the trick (this idea apparently came from Pasqua, who saw a man die after eating oysters with whiskey, which was probably an anomaly). Then came a sandwich of soiled sardines, carpet tacks, and metal shavings (none of which would likely lead to death in any case).

Realizing it was unlikely that anything Malloy ingested was likely to kill him, the Murder Trust decided to freeze him to death. On a night when temperatures reached -14 degrees Fahrenheit, Malloy drank until he passed out, was carried to a park, dumped in the snow, and had five gallons of water poured on his bare chest. (The gang had used a similar method on their first victim the previous year.) Nevertheless, Malloy reappeared the following day for his drink. The next attempt on his life came when they hit him with Green's taxi, moving at 45 miles per hour. This put Malloy in the hospital for three weeks. The gang presumed he was dead, but were unable to collect the policy on him. When he again appeared at the bar, they finally decided to take a more direct approach. On February 22, after he passed out for the night, they took him to Murphy's room, put a hose in his mouth that was connected to the gas jet, and turned it on. This finally killed Michael Malloy.

He was pronounced dead of pneumonia, and quickly buried. However, the members of the Murder Trust proved to be their own worst enemies — they talked too much and squabbled among themselves. Eventually police heard the rumors of what they did, and upon learning that a Michael Malloy had died that night, they had the body exhumed. When they discovered the actual cause of death, the five men were put on trial for murder. Green went to prison and the other four members were executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35243">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:42:21.812274+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35245">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35245</link>
<title>Trotsky Was Picked On</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        On May 24, 1940, he survived a raid on his home by Stalinist assassins under the leadership of GPU agent Iosif Romualdovich Grigulevich, Mexican Stalinist painter David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Vittorio Vidale. Later, on August 20, 1940, Trotsky was successfully attacked in his home by a Stalinist agent, Ramón Mercader, who drove the pick of an ice axe into Trotsky's skull.

The blow was poorly delivered, however, and failed to kill Trotsky instantly, as Mercader had intended. Witnesses stated that Trotsky let out a blood-curdling cry and began struggling fiercely with Mercader. Hearing the commotion, Trotsky's bodyguards burst into the room and nearly killed Mercader, but Trotsky stopped them, shouting, "Do not kill him! This man has a story to tell." Trotsky died the next day.

Mercader later testified at his trial:

    I laid my raincoat on the table in such a way as to be able to remove the ice axe which was in the pocket. I decided not to miss the wonderful opportunity that presented itself. The moment Trotsky began reading the article, he gave me my chance; I took out the ice axe from the raincoat, gripped it in my hand and, with my eyes closed, dealt him a terrible blow on the head. <br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35245">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:47:17.950696+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35246">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35246</link>
<title>Anderson Swallowed a Toothpick</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        Sherwood Anderson died in Panama of peritonitis brought on by swallowing a toothpick.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35246">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:51:14.150478+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35254">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35254</link>
<title>Warren Died Singing</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        in a performance of La Forza del Destino with Tebaldi, Leonard Warren was about to launch the vigorous cabaletta to Don Carlo's aria, which begins Morir, tremenda cosa ("to die, a momentous thing"), he started coughing at the stage and gasping. His final words were "Help me, help me!" and he pitched face-forward down to the floor. A few minutes later he was pronounced dead of a massive cerebral vascular hemorrhage, and the rest of the performance was canceled. Warren was only forty-eight.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35254">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:55:14.634168+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35259">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35259</link>
<title>On-Air Suicide</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        According to her co-workers working the day of her suicide, Christine Chubbuck took the unusual step of excusing herself to write her script for the newscast. She normally opened her show with an interview and conducted an informal half hour and she never once opened her show with a newscast. She also placed under her desk a bag of puppets that she had occasionally used during a broadcast. Hidden in the bag was the revolver. Before her newscast she told the producer that she wanted them to get ready a film of a shooting that happened the weekend before and then she took her seat. After three pieces of news, she led into the shooting piece but without the film because it wouldn't run correctly. It was here that she delivered her last words:

    "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts in living color, we bring you another first, an attempted suicide."

She then shot herself. It is rumored that the technical director of the broadcast reacted quickly enough to cut the video to black a split-second before she pulled the trigger. However, there is evidence to the contrary. A Washington Post journalist viewed the footage just days after the incident. The shooting had not been cut. The article can be found in the Washington Post archives.

The "script" she had written was actually the story of her own suicide attempt, detailing how she'd be taken to the hospital and declared to be in critical condition. She was the first person to ever commit suicide on live television.

Three weeks before her suicide she had asked the station's news director if she could do a news piece on suicide. After getting her pitch approved she called the local police department to discuss with an officer methods of suicide. In the interview he told her that one of the most efficient ways was to use a .38 caliber revolver and with hollow point bullets, which would disintegrate on impact. A week before her suicide she told a co-worker that she bought a gun and joked about killing herself on air. Her mother, in an interview granted the day of the suicide, said Christine was very depressed and had few friends or romantic interests.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35259">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-13 00:12:28.42506+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35260">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35260</link>
<title>Treadwell Eaten by Bear</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        2003: Timothy Treadwell, an American environmentalist and self-proclaimed "eco-warrior" that had lived in the wilderness among bears for thirteen summers in a remote portion of Alaska, was killed and partially consumed along with his girlfriend after they had been slated to leave due to the impending harsh fall/winter in Alaska. The critically-acclaimed documentary film Grizzly Man, directed by Werner Herzog, was released in 2005<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35260">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 13:14:40.505381+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35231">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35231</link>
<title>Chrysippus Dies Laughing</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        207 BC: Chrysippus, Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of laughter after seeing a donkey eating figs.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35231">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 11:58:03.45131+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35233">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35233</link>
<title>Bela's Throne Collapsed</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        1063: King Bela I of Hungary died when his tall wooden throne collapsed due to sabotage.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35233">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:06:21.815321+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35234">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35234</link>
<title>Dosza Roasted and Eaten</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        1514: Gyorgy Dozsa, leader of the Peasants' Revolt in the Kingdom of Hungary, was roasted alive on a white hot iron chair. His captured companions were forced to eat his flesh<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35234">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 17:48:40.563751+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35235">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35235</link>
<title>Douglas Crushed by Bull</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        1834: David Douglas, Scottish Botanist, who fell in a pit trap, was crushed by a bull that fell in the same pit.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35235">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:14:42.878807+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35258">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35258</link>
<title>Student Invited to Dinner is Eaten</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        1981: A 25-year-old Dutch woman studying in Paris, Renée Hartevelt, was killed and eaten by a classmate, Issei Sagawa, when he invited her to dinner for a literary conversation. The killer was declared unfit to stand trial and extradited back to Japan, where he was released from custody within fifteen months.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35258">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 13:03:59.717049+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/5090157">
<link>http://platial.com/post/5090157</link>
<title>xfdfd</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        fdfdfd<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/5090157">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2009-08-26 14:38:18.080823+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/927742">
<link>http://platial.com/post/927742</link>
<title>Hold your Wee for a Wii - ends in death</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- A woman who competed in a radio station's contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner's office said Saturday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.

"She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad," said Laura Rios, one of Strange's co-workers at Radiological Associates of Sacramento. "She was crying, and that was the last that anyone had heard from her."<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/927742">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2007-01-18 13:20:56.994015+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/35237">
<link>http://platial.com/post/35237</link>
<title>Pinkerton Bit His Tongue</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        Allan Pinkerton, detective, died in Chicago, Illinois on July 1, 1884 as a result of gangrene infection after biting his tongue when he slipped on a sidewalk. <br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/35237">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2006-02-12 12:22:11.973164+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/2542888">
<link>http://platial.com/post/2542888</link>
<title>Chrysippus died laughing</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        Chrysippus is said to have given wine to his donkey, and then died of laughter after seeing it attempt to eat figs, although the story is dubious.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/2542888">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2008-01-01 09:48:14.394003+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/2542890">
<link>http://platial.com/post/2542890</link>
<title>Tailor Franz Reichelt's Parachute Coat Fails</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        Reichelt designed an overcoat to fly or float its wearer gently to the ground like the modern parachute. To demonstrate his invention he made a jump of 60 meters from the first deck of the Eiffel Tower, at that time the tallest man-made structure in the world. The parachute failed and Reichelt fell to his death. The jump was recorded by the cameras of the gathered press.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/2542890">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2008-01-01 09:53:02.467317+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/4547485">
<link>http://platial.com/post/4547485</link>
<title>home</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        home<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/4547485">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2009-03-30 19:53:24.51159+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
<item rdf:about="http://platial.com/post/2542892">
<link>http://platial.com/post/2542892</link>
<title>Frank Hayes Takes the Race Dead</title>
<description>
        <![CDATA[
        In February 1923, thirty-five-year-old horse trainer and wanna-be jockey Frank Hayes nagged the owner of a 20–1 long shot named Sweet Kiss to let him ride the beast at Belmont Park racetrack in New York. To everyone's surprise, Sweet Kiss ran the race of its life and won... The horse's owner was stunned, too — especially when he went to congratulate Hayes and found him slumped in the saddle, quite dead. Doctors confirmed that a coronary had done him in.<br /><br /><a href="http://platial.com/post/2542892">Map this on Platial</a><br /> 
        ]]>
        </description>
<georss:point> </georss:point>
<dc:creator></dc:creator>
<dc:date>2008-01-01 09:58:51.466154+00:00</dc:date>
</item>
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