Unusual Celebrity Deaths

Sherwood Anderson - writer
1941 --- after swallowing a toothpick at a cocktail party he died of peritonitis on an ocean liner bound for Brazil.

Attila the Hun
453 AD --- bled to death from a nosebleed on his wedding night.

Alexander I of Greece - king of the Hellenes 1917–20
1920 --- died October 25, from blood poisoning after being bitten by his gardener's pet monkey.

Sir Francis Bacon
1626 --- pneumonia. He was experimenting with freezing a chicken by stuffing it with snow.

Lucille Desiree Ball
1989 --- died after undergoing heart surgery.

Thomas a Becket - Archbishop of Canterbury
1170 --- murdered in the Canterbury cathedral by four knights, supposedly on orders by Henry II.

Ludwig van Beethoven
1827 --- cirrhosis of the liver.

Kimberly Bergalis
1991 --- died of AIDS. She had contracted the disease from her dentist.

Amanda Blake (Beverly Neill) - actress (Miss Kitty on "Gunsmoke")
1989 --- AIDS contracted from her bisexual husband.

Salvatore "Sonny" Bono
1998 --- crashed into a tree while skiing.

Ray Brennan
1976 --- on July 27th - 1st person to die of "Legionnaire's Disease."

Jeff Buckley - musician
1997 --- drowned in the Mississippi River, near Mud Island Harbor, on May 29. His body wasn't found until June 4.

Lord Byron (George Gordon)
1824 --- died of malarial fever.

Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Canary)
1903 --- pneumonia following a bout of heavy drinking.

Al Capone - Chicago gangster
1947 --- syphilis.

Karen Carpenter - singer
1983 --- heart failure caused by anorexia nervosa, at age 32.