Stupid ways people dies

Climbing a mountain is one thing, but Mount Fuji? That’s another thing entirely. Japan’s highest mountain is a gnarly, dangerous place... an accomplishment. And one man who’s about to climb it wants to commemorate the feat. And what better way to tell the world than taking a selfie? At the top of a mountain. In the snow. What could go wrong? Well, as it turns out... a whole lot. Find out more on today’s The Infographics Show:

Embarrassingly Stupid Ways People Died - Darwin Awards Winners. The Darwin Awards, the controversial and darkly funny awards ceremony, honors the few, the proud, the stupid who manage to remove themselves from the gene pool permanently. There are only two rules - the person must die or render themselves unable to reproduce through…other means, and they can’t remove anyone else from the gene pool in the process. Now let’s see how a King would grace the darwin awards in royal fashion! The Kings of France often met interesting fates - as Louis XVI found out when he met Madame Guillotine. But almost a millennium earlier, his predecessor in name, Louis III, didn’t need any outside help to take out his own head. The young king of West Francia had only reigned for three years, but it was a reign filled with military success against Viking raiders. Not bad for a teenage king - he was only 16 at most when he took the throne, and many no doubt had high hopes for his reign. But alas, he was a teenager - and they don’t make the best decisions. One fine autumn day, the young monarch was out for a ride in Saint-Denis, when he suddenly spied a beautiful maiden. He was in love immediately, and decided he had to pursue her and win her hand. After all, he was the king and who could stop him? It turned out the answer was…gravity. He ordered his horse to give chase, it took off like a bolt - and the king’s head slammed directly into a door lintel, ending his life on the spot. If ballads were written about him after that, they’d definitely be the first entry in the "Tragic Lovestruck Idiot" playlist. There were probably dumber deaths than this next one - but maybe not more embarrassing. Gouverneur Morris was an accomplished man, signing both the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution. He’s one of the lesser-known founding fathers - but one of the more accomplished ones, writing the preamble to the Constitution. But being a scholar doesn’t always mean common sense. He was plagued by a nasty urinary tract infection, and rather than seeing a doctor, he decided to treat it himself. His method for this? Using a whalebone as an impromptu stylus and, um, getting up in there. Yeah, if you’re cringing, you’re not alone. The urethra was never designed to accommodate a whalebone, so this DIY medical experiment backfired spectacularly, causing internal bleeding and a gruesome infection. In the pre-antibiotic era, it was a predictably fatal mistake. Making this death even more Darwin-worthy, the first flexible catheter had been invented in 1752, providing an easy way to treat issues of the urinary tract. The creator of this ingenious device? Ben Franklin, Morris’ fellow founding father. Remember, listen to your weird coworker when he talks about his inventions - it just might save your life. Now let’s head to the present day - where the dumb deaths are not letting up any time soon. If there’s one surefire recipe for a dumb death, it’s alcohol. Add open water, and you’ve got a guaranteed disaster. Enter the Booze Cruise- proof that as a species, our survival instincts often take a back seat to shots and bad decisions. But that never stopped a good time before! In 2018, a Massachusetts evening cruise into Boston Harbor turned into a tragic circus act. Aaron Dibella decided to show off his flexibility by performing handstands on the boat’s railing. The crew spotted him immediately and warned him to stop before he, well, died. To which he went “Don’t tell me what to do”. As soon as the crew turned their backs, Dibella was right back up on the railing, testing his luck and gravity. Soon, his hands buckled, sending him directly down into the water. And apparently, he couldn’t swim. The crew held in their “I Told You Do”s for a minute and tossed him a life preserver. But Dibella wasn’t able to grab onto it and sank to the bottom of Boston Harbor. A search was carried out, but they found his body three hours later. So yeah, probably a good idea to have higher railings on the next booze cruise. Curiosity killed the cat - and also this guy. When police arrived at the home of 33-year-old Darren Manship in Leicester, England in 2006, they were greeted with a gruesome site - the young man had been brutally stabbed to death. They investigated the possibility of a lover’s quarrel, or even a simple breaking-and-entering that turned into a murder - but they couldn’t find evidence of either. In fact, they couldn’t find any evidence of foul play. The investigation lasted a year, but they finally found the clue - in the form of a friend who knew the culprit all too well. There was only one person responsible - Darren himself. The foolish young man had purchased a new jacket, one that was supposed to be pretty sturdy. He wondered aloud to his wife about if the jacket was stab-proof - and while home alone, decided to test it himself by stabbing his jacket with a lock-knife. It turned out the answer was a resounding no. And while he called a friend after stabbing himself and later called for an ambulance, it was too late and he bled out. It’s a valuable lesson about the scientific method - you can do any experiment you want, but there are some you can really only do once. And for determined Darwin Awards Winners, anywhere is a playground - and a potential deathtrap. New Carrollton, Maryland is a busy transit hub, located at a junction between Baltimore and Washington DC. It funnels countless commuters between stops every day. It’s usually a pretty fast and efficient place - so how did someone wind up dead there in the middle of the night? More shocking, the man appeared to have fallen down the escalator - but his body was lying in front of the UP escalator. You would have to work pretty hard to fall to your death on something going the opposite direction. And it turns out, that’s exactly what he did. Investigators checked the security footage and found the man engaged in an epic midnight showdown. He was running up the down escalator, seemingly on some personal Eye of the Tiger quest. After a grueling effort, he finally conquered his mechanical nemesis... he lost his balance and tumbled all the way down to the bottom of the stairs, suffering a fatal head injury. Evidence showed that he may have gotten his clothing stuck in something, which led to his fall - which could have all been avoided by not challenging the escalator to a duel. And even the most skilled of craftsmen are often prone to fatal and foolish errors. Howard Miller was a welder, and a very good one at that. The New Zealand craftsman was used to working with flame and chemicals. In September 2018 he was helping a friend weld an exhaust pipe onto a classic car that needed a lot of work. Well, maybe he was in a hurry that day, or maybe he was just ready to retire from welding, but the kit he showed up with that day was not one that any welder would use. It seemed to be cobbled together from experimental components, and there was one big thing that any welder would know to avoid. The two components that make up welding gas were already mixed. Why is this a death wish waiting to happen? Because acetylene and oxygen together are a fiery disaster waiting to happen- hot enough to slice metal and explosive enough to obliterate it. With no flow regulator on the tank and his friend frantically warning him about the sketchy setup, Miller decided to charge ahead anyway. His friend wisely bolted out of the shed as Miller started working- and sure enough, an explosion soon happened, taking out Miller, the shed, and the classic car with it. And Mr. Miller earned a Darwin Award - thanks to his friend’s quick thinking to remove himself from the explosion range. What’s more dangerous than welding? How about flying - something these next winners all have in common. It was 2021, and a man named Solomon was a pilot in training, learning how to fly a Cessna 172. These small single-engine planes have a very specific control system, so pilots in training are taught how to fly them and only them. So naturally, after passing a key test, Solomon decided to celebrate by buying a plane - and decided to buy a completely different type of plane, a Piper PA-28-140. An odd decision, being that he would have to start training all over again to learn the new control system. But he decided…nah, let’s not bother with that! This broke all the rules from the start- student pilots can’t fly solo without an approved aircraft, and definitely not at night without instructor clearance. But Solomon ignored his instructor’s advice and took off in a plane he’d never used before, in the dead of night. The flight lasted all of four glorious minutes before crashing. Oh, and the plane’s transponder wasn’t working, so Solomon disappeared completely off radar. When they found the wreckage, there were two bodies inside. Two? Wouldn’t that disqualify him for getting his passenger killed? Not exactly. The Darwin Awards ruled the passenger earned an honorable mention for trusting an untrained pilot at night. So, this one’s totally above board.Yay? This next pilot was much more experienced, but not much smarter. Patrick was an experienced pilot, racking up over 10,000 hours of flight time on commercial aircraft until 2015. And that gave him a keen sense of when something was wrong with his aircraft - if maybe not the sense to act on it. During a series of flights over Montana, he noticed that his feet were getting wet. But it wasn’t water flooding the cockpit - it was aviation fuel! There was obviously some sort of serious leak in the fuel tank. So upon landing, Patrick did the sensible thing and consulted a mechanic. The mechanic’s first advice? Don’t fly a plane where fuel is leaking until we can get a clear picture of what’s causing it! To which Patrick said, there are deliveries to make! But as a concession to the mechanic, he decided to fly with the electrical system off - meaning he would be flying blind with no instruments. Given that this was a new aircraft that Patrick wasn’t entirely familiar with, this wasn’t a good idea. But that didn’t stop him from taking off from Missoula International Airport. His flight didn’t last long, though, ending in a fiery crash for everyone to see. The crash report indicated that he was likely distracted by the fuel leak and failed to maintain adequate airspeed. To which the mechanic probably responded - yeah, that’s what happens in a fuel leak! What’s worse than crashing in a plane? How about not staying in one? It was 2005, and a Petty Officer in the US Navy wanted to show that he was a big man to his fellow troops. He was currently serving in Iraq, and at this point the main operation had wound down. Troops were mostly serving as peacekeepers and fighting insurgent groups, so they had to find some way to pass the time. One craze was “Supermanning”, which involved tying a harness to the person so they could hang out the back of an aircraft and do a Superman pose, making it look like they were flying. We know what you’re thinking… what could possibly go wrong? It turned out the answer was…a lot. The helicopter they were flying on, the MH-53 helicopter, the largest in service, cruised at 138 miles per hour, making it a flying behemoth. With cargo blocking the rear view, not everyone could see what our wannabe Man of Steel was up to. He rigged a belt under his shoulders, dangled himself off the cargo ramp, and predictably, lost his grip. His makeshift harness couldn’t handle his weight, and down he went. On the bright side, because he was on a mission, his death was classified as "in the line of duty." So, silver lining? Benefits for the family! Woo hoo! Traveling by plane seems to be pretty risky - how about a nice train ride? We’ve all been there. You make it to the train station with a few minutes to spare, put your money into the ticket machine - and then the machine eats your money and gives you nothing. Do you miss the train and try to get your money back, or take your chances that the conductor won’t look for your ticket on the train? One German man took a very different approach in 2017 - attempting to blast the machine to smithereens at a station in Dortmund! Apparently fed up with losing too many tickets- or maybe just in a creative mood- he knocked back a few drinks for courage, then marched up to the machine. With aerosol cans in hand. He emptied several cans of gas into the ticket machine, then, in a stroke of genius, lit a flame right next to it. The result was a massive explosion that sent him flying backward and took off the front of the machine. All that money would have been his for the taking - if it wasn’t for the fatal head injury and multiple shrapnel wounds. Ironically, his plan actually worked perfectly - and the medical examiner said that he likely would have survived if he had been wearing a helmet and leather jacket. Oh, well, at least he won’t have to make the commuter rush anymore. When it comes to doing dangerous stunts, there are definitely some better ones than…a volcano. Maybe there should be a new category for “Australia Man”, because those Aussies certainly seem to love their danger. And it doesn’t get more dangerous than fooling around in Cave Gardens Sinkhole. This gorgeous spot is located on the flanks of a dormant volcano, and it’s been transformed by nature into a gorgeous garden with a waterfall. But a fence surrounds the sinkhole to protect people from themselves - because you know some people wouldn’t be able to resist getting themselves an up-close and personal photo. And that’s exactly what one clueless man did. Bradley Streeter was a 20-year-old with a mischievous streak, and it took a while to figure out exactly what went wrong. But witnesses confirmed it. Bradley had been doing a handstand on the viewing platform, about a 100 feet (30 meters) above the entrance to the sinkhole. Predictably, he lost his balance and tumbled into the abyss. His body was recovered after an exhausting hoist operation. Handstands are risky enough on solid ground- but over a bottomless pit? That’s a whole new level of bad judgment! Most of these Darwin Award winners are just unfortunate guys who screwed up - but we have to say, this one had it coming. It was 2017 in Germany, and a 19-year-old man and his date were having a nasty quarrel by the Havel River. One thing turned to another, and soon it devolved into a physical fight. The man shoved his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend into the freezing river, assuming she would drown. What he forgot, however, was that she was an expert swimmer and made a beeline back to shore, likely ready to dish out some well-deserved payback. Realizing his plan was sinking fast, he decided to double down and jumped in after her to finish the job. There was just one problem - she could swim. He couldn’t. As he pursued her in waters that were 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees celsius), she managed to make it to land where she would be rescued and treated for hypothermia. He was eventually found by police and taken to the hospital, where he slipped into a coma- so handcuffs weren’t exactly necessary. Charged with murder while unconscious in a hospital bed, his trial never came, as he passed away on February 14th- Valentine’s Day, fittingly enough. Meanwhile, the woman fully recovered, walking away with nothing but an epic story when the girls are debating who had the worst ex. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of time before things catch up to someone. Lim Ba, a 68-year-old man in Malaysia, was a spiritual magician who made his living through a unique technique - human steaming. He would sit in a lotus position in a giant stainless steel steamer, essentially taking part in the world’s most intense sauna. Making it even more bizarre, he would offer people food like rice and vegetarian steamed buns that were cooked alongside him! He claimed it was part of a ritual to cleanse the body and soul of toxins - although it was always kind of a strange sideshow too. Until one day, he got a little too steamed. One day, the onlookers noticed that the zen guru wasn’t handling his steaming like he always did - he was frantically banging on the inside of the closed steamer. When they opened it, he had already passed out and hot steam escaped from the wok. He had already suffered from serious burns, and passed away from a heart attack after being taken to the hospital. It was the end of a strange sideshow in the little coastal village - and no doubt put a lot of people off their steamed buns for a while. If there’s one rule that holds true with nature, it’s “Don’t mess with the animals”. It was 2018, and Indian man Prabhu Bhatara was driving home from a wedding when nature suddenly called - urgently. He pulled over to the side of the road to relieve himself, when he noticed something unexpected - a wounded bear at the side of the road. Naturally, he did what anyone totally sensible would do- he tried to get close and snap a selfie! The bizarre scene attracted other drivers, who pulled over to snap pictures of him snapping a picture, turning the moment into a roadside spectacle. Everyone was having a great time. Well, except for maybe the bear. It turned out that the bear wasn’t seriously injured, and maybe was just sleeping off a bad day - so it quickly lunged forward, pinning the man to the ground and killing him quickly. But eyewitnesses reported it got even crazier - as a stray dog arrived on the scene and immediately attacked the bear. Maybe it was loyal to its role as man’s best friend, but the bear had encountered one too many would-be influencers. Forest officials eventually arrived to help, but it was too late for Mr. Bhatara - although they did treat the bear for its injuries. And there are some animals you should give an even wider berth! 2018 was not a good year for those who messed with animals, as Malaysian Man Zaim Kosnan was driving down the road when he spotted a 12-foot reticulated python. These snakes are one of the largest and most dangerous on the planet, known for suffocating prey with their powerful constrictions. So naturally, the man thought “That’ll be worth a lot of money!” and prepared to attack it so he could sell its meat. Against all odds, he managed to subdue the massive snake and transported it home But the snake was going to delay that arrival. The snake wasn’t secured all that well on the motorbike, and it managed to wriggle loose mid-ride - and wound up wrapping itself around Kosnan’s body. This caused Kosnan to veer off the side of the road and crash. When the two were found intertwined the next day, it was determined that the crash didn’t kill him, the snake did. Alas, the snake didn’t escape either - it was still wedged firmly around him when they were found the next morning. When you plan for revenge, best dig two graves - one snake-shaped. Now let’s head back to America - for some good old fashioned explosives! It was 2009, and 59-year-old Brent was investigating his shed in Utah when he discovered something unexpected - a stash of dynamite! It’s not clear if the dynamite was his or related to a rocket-testing site nearby but anyone who studies explosives knows old dynamite is incredibly unstable. It leaks nitroglycerine that can detonate with the slightest disturbance. There are safe disposal methods that anyone who works with explosives knows to follow - but Brent wasn’t an explosives expert. He was a Utah Man. And he was planning to put on a show. He removed the dynamite from the shed, trucked it over to the field, and proceeded to stand about forty yards away from it - and fire a shotgun. Maybe he wanted to see a big light show - and he did, if very briefly. The explosion proceeded to send shrapnel spraying around the field, with one making its way into the man’s head and dealing a fatal wound. He was air-lifted to hospital but died on the way. Most people had to ask themselves - what exactly did the man think was going to happen when he shot at dynamite? But no pastime is safe - not even watching the stars. It was 1999 in California, and Scott and his sister Kimberly were looking forward to watching the Perseid Meteor Shower. Scott had a top telescope ready to watch- despite the fact that you didn’t need a telescope to watch this very visible shower.The telescope wasn’t giving Scott the best view of the meteor shower, but he quickly blamed another culprit- California’s infamous light pollution. The bright glow of urban sprawl was making it nearly impossible to fully appreciate the night sky. That is, unless you turn off the lights. Scott didn’t have a great grasp on astronomy, but he turned out to have an even worse one on electricity. He decided to get rid of the light from a local street light by opening the base and cutting the power cord - which predictably gave him a massive electric shock, killing him. There was an additional strange detail to this, which came out after the fact. He had been talking about his plans online in a chat room before he died, in one of the very first cases of an online component to the Darwin Awards. This next man ascended to the highest heights - before crashing right back down to Earth. 47-year-old Tedzu was an ambitious climber, taking on Japan’s most intimidating summit - Mount Fuji. The almost 12,400 foot (3,779 meters) peak is frequently visited by both religious pilgrims and tourists. It’s a notoriously tricky climb - those looking to ascend the peak will face both bitter cold and dangerous, slippery terrain during the safer summer months. But this was a late October climb, and Tedzu had decided to climb the mountain with only a pair of climbing poles and street clothes. But he did have one other thing with him - his smart phone. And he was going to give the whole world a show. He chronicled his daring climb on a local video-sharing platform, and the title “Let’s Go To Snowy Mount Fuji” made it sound like a ski vacation. As he climbed on, the videos got less cheerful as he described the intense pain he was in from the cold. But he was determined to continue the livestream - even on narrow, slippery paths. As he was attempting to walk past a jagged rock path, he suddenly tripped, slid down the mountain, and disappeared in a tangle of flailing feet and poles. It was a disturbing end to possibly the only livestreamed mountain-climbing fatality. But this workplace fatality defines “Work Smart, Not Hard” - but they weren’t very smart either. Japan, the land of the rising sun, takes another spot on our list thanks to this braintrust in the forklift division at Tanarumono Logistics. After a long day of unloading, the man needed to change a lightbulb that was 32 feet (10 meters) above the factory floor. But the forklift would only reach up about 8 feet (2.5 meters) - so he needed a boost. The solution? They had a whole lot of wooden pallets. So the man and his co-workers proceeded to start stacking pallets on the forklift, at which point the man would stand on them and make his way all the way up to the roof. After an extended sequence of stacking pallets and stepping on each one, the forklift was raised. And almost immediately, the rickety stack of pallets collapsed, sending the man crashing to the ground along with dozens of shards of sharp, freshly shattered wood. No surprise, he was killed in the accident, and the lightbulb remained unchanged. Which of these Darwin Award nominees left you shaking your head the hardest? Got a favorite facepalm moment or a story that could top them all? Drop it in the comments. Maybe next time, it’s best to just ask “Where’s the ladder” rather than to try to defy the laws of physics. Want to know more about some unique ways to die from America’s craziest state? Check out “Dumb Ways to Die - Florida Edition” or watch this video instead!