Some Weird Death Facts You Didn't Know

We start counting down from the minute we are born until the moment we die, which is one of life's few certainties. For practically all living creatures, death is a given, but there are still a lot of unknowns. Get ready for fifty crazy facts about dying and death.

#31. Not So Scary

It's likely that as someone paddles into the water, they are scanning the area for any hungry finned predators. However, being attacked by a shark is exceedingly rare; more people each year pass away in selfie-related accidents. Similar to how skydiving sounds terrible and risky, but the technology is really remarkably safe. Annually, more people die at dance events and nightclubs than from aviation accidents. But there could be three deadlier days of the year than any other three.

#30. Nothing Like the Holidays

What days are likeliest to end in death? Well, if we’re talking about natural causes, they shoot up on Christmas, the next day, and New Years’ Day. While murders and suicides actually decrease during the holidays, many people who might be feeling sick will put off treatment because they don’t want to check into the hospital on a holiday - and by then it might be too late. Add in many top doctors taking the holiday off, and it can be a deadly combo. But one cause of death may outstrip all the other.

#29. The Ultimate Plague

What’s the deadliest disease of all time? No, it’s not Covid-19, the Spanish Flu, or even the Black Death. Instead, it’s a common disease that has been ravaging the world for centuries - Malaria. It’s so deadly because it’s spread by mosquitoes - and as anyone who ever tried to have a barbecue outside in the summer knows, those things are everywhere. It kills more than half a million people in most years, and likely killed far more in the past when medical treatment wasn’t as advanced. For many, death comes quickly - but what happens when it’s slower?

#28. The Last to Go

When people die due to illness, organ failure, or cancer, they can often convalesce in the hospital or hospice facilities for an extended period, being kept comfortable with medicine. When they reach the final stage and their death is imminent, their senses will begin failing them, although they’re often too sedated to react. But one sense is the last to go - hearing, which allows their loved ones to keep talking to them up until the very end. Some deaths are a lot less peaceful than that, though.

#27. Execute This

The death penalty became a lot less common in the 20th century, with many nations including all of Western Europe abolishing it due to human rights concerns. But fifty-three nations around the world still execute their worst criminals - and they use a variety of methods. While the United States’ favored method is lethal injection, you’ll find states and other countries that use the electric chair, the gas chamber, the firing squad, hanging, and even beheading. But which country executes the most people?

#26. The Final Countdown

The United States only executed 22 people in 2019 - mostly due to the lengthy appeals process and the fact that many states no longer have the death penalty. It’s believed that the country with the most executions in China, executing over a thousand people in the same year - but they don’t release execution data, classifying it as a state secret. That makes the official champion Iran, which executed 251 people in 2019. But one method of execution has fallen out of favor.

#25. The Chopping Block

It’s one of the most infamous inventions of all time - the guillotine. A sharp blade attached to a machine that will cleave a head from the neck in a second. But it was first conceived of by Dr. Joseph Ignace-Guillotin, a French physician, as a humanitarian invention. He believed it would be a painless and humane way to carry out executions - despite opposing the death penalty himself. He would then watch as it was used to carry out countless political executions during the Reign of Terror. It seems to be the standard at every cemetery, but why are graves dug six feet deep? It’s a lot of work - and a health hazard for anyone who might trip into it. It turns out that the root of the tradition comes back to the Black Death, the deadly plague that ravaged Europe. In the year 1665, London was suffering an outbreak, and the Mayor decreed that all bodies should be buried six feet underground to try to stem the spread of disease from corpses. But the traditional burial may be falling out of fashion.

#24. Burning Up

Cremation, where the body is burned in a powerful oven and the remnants are returned to the loved ones, is becoming a popular alternative to burials. In fact, it’s actually surpassed the popularity of burial in the United States, and it’s estimated that by 2040 as many as 80 percent of people may choose cremation. This is because burial plots are becoming increasingly costly, and cremation offers lower costs and increased flexibility. But there’s one common misconception.

#23. Where’s the Ash?

We’ve all met someone who had grandma’s ashes on the mantelpiece - or did they? One of the most common misconceptions about cremation is that there are ashes involved - but what is actually returned to the family isn’t ash at all. It’s a fine powder usually known as bone ash, but what it actually contains is the minerals in the bones. The powerful ovens burn away everything else clean, and the mineral content is all that’s left. Still, keep the cat away from the urn. But ashes don’t need to stay on the mantle.

#22. Going Out In Style

Cremation ashes are sterile, non-toxic, and odorless, which means they can be incorporated into just about anything safely. So if you want a more permanent memento of a loved one, they can be compressed into gemstones. If you want to celebrate their interests, the ashes can be mixed into paint or used in ink for sheet music. And if you really want to send them out with a bang, companies can mix the remains with gunpowder and design a custom batch of fireworks - a perfect way to send off that rowdy uncle. But one use for cremation remains may last far longer than the person.

#21. Growing After Death

For the environmentally-minded, there’s a way to leave a positive impact on the world after death. A person is cremated, and their remains are placed in a biodegradable urn alongside a tree seed. The urn is buried in a suitable place, the urn degrades and opens in the soil - and soon a tree grows from the person’s remains. After a few years, the tree becomes a perfect place for the loved ones to gather under the shade their departed family member provided. But around the world, burial rites take on some very unique forms.

#20. Make It Loud

Funerals are usually solemn occasions, but in New Orleans you might mistake it for a party. With elements taken from African, French, and Black American traditions, these Big Easy funeral processions are led by a big jazz band blowing horns. They play traditional funeral music at first, but after the burial, the tone shifts - and everyone cuts loose. They’ll play upbeat dance marches, the mourners will dance in the streets, and send their loved one off in style. But not all the fun is saved for those who are buried.

#19. Smoke and Mirrors

On the island of Bali, cremation can be a dramatic, all-day affair. The locals believe that cremation releases the soul and sends it off to its next destination, so it’s common for elaborate cremations and burnings to be held publicly. But none was more dramatic than the cremation of the head of their royal family in 2008. His body was placed inside a massive wooden bull and burned in the presence of a giant dragon statue, in a mass funeral along with 68 other dead. But some traditions are a lot more modern.

#18. Fantasy Funeral

Have you seen any footage of Ghanian funerals? Those guys like to live it up! Not only do they have some great dances, but they’re known for a unique coffin industry called “Fantasy Coffins”. These are like those race car beds you had as a kid - only forever. People are buried in decorated coffins that look like the thing they loved most in life, ranging from a Mercedes-Benz for a rich man, to a giant bible for a particularly devout churchgoer! In some cultures, the traditions don’t end with the burial.

#17. Turn, Turn, Turn

In Madagascar, you might be surprised to see people digging up a grave. These aren’t grave-robbers or witch-doctors - they’re the loved ones of the person in the grave. The Malagasy people have a unique tradition where every seven years, they exhume bones, wrap them in cloth, perform a ritual dance, and tell stories of the dead. If you think this probably smells terrible, you’re right - which is why they start by spraying the bones with wine. This next tradition is not for the faint of heart.