Dumb Ways to Die

There’s no business quite like the show business and there’s no folks like the show folks. " This quote may be true but it is not an immunity factor for celebrities to be untouched by the grim reaper’s stroke. In this installment of "Dumb Ways to Die", we investigate some of the most bewildering and odd deaths of celebrities since time began.

One of the most popular misconceptions is that the famous Tennessee Williams, who wrote "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" plays, choked on a cap of a bottle and died. But the fact, as disturbing as it is, was that he actually died from a barbiturate overdose. Despite of his literary talent, however, Williams got into drug addiction and at the end he lost to it.

Even Aeschylus, the ancient Greek tragedian, the "father of tragedy" himself, ended up in a strange way. According to the stories, he was killed by a tortoise dropped by an eagle, consequently fulfilling the prophecy of death upon being hit by a falling object. Through this ironic outcome we’re reminded of the danger that lies in testing fortune.

While shooting a silent film, Martha Mansfield, an actress, died in a freak accident. The fire on her costume took her despite the efforts of crew members to put it out. Her death emphasizes the dangers of the glamorous Hollywood’s golden age, and also makes us to think about the perils whose stars have to face from time to time.

an avantgardist dancer, sadora Duncan, who was an enfant terrible of the dance scene - when her famous red scarf got entangled in the wheel of a convertible and choked her to death. This fatal inversion is a double-edged sword, accentuating the vulnerability of life and uncertainty of destiny.

The sadness of John Denver being in a plane crash was made even worse by the fact that he was in the air without a license, symbolizing the dangers of bad behavior. The much-loved singer-songwriter's untimely death serves to remind people that one should not engage in risky behavior for the sake of it even when it seems to be a practical choice.

Harry Houdini, the celebrated master escape artist, passed away due to varying medical complications caused by a partly broken appendix, followed by a series of unfortunate events among which was a blow to the stomach by a fan. Even though Houdini had perfected the art of tricking people and escaping, he was not the one to cheat death in the end, ultimately proving that eternal life is never inevitable.

A tragedy happened to Rod Hull, a British outstanding showman and the author of many jokes with puppet Emu. He accidentally died while he was tuning his television on the roof. The role of the tragic accident, in the present case, serves as a reminder of hazards in the life surrounding us, even in the most unspectacular of the circumstances.

Brandon Lee, son of the legendary Bruce Lee, got killed on the sets of "The Crow" when he was accidently shot with a prop gun which was supposed to fire a fake bullet but fired a live one. The sudden demise of the youth actor highlights the need for safety protocols to be adhered to fully on film sets as, what might appear the safest of props can turn out to be deadly.

Jim Heselden, of Segway, died from a Segway accident proving that even with the use of modern technology, caution is vital. From his death, we can see that innovation never comes without responsibility. Great inventions may end up fatal if they are used in an improper way.

They are the moral allegories that warn us fame and wealth cannot shield us from world shallowness at all. Whether it was a simple accident or a crazy decision, these celebrities managed to die in a manner that nothing normal could have explained. Finally, their death, in the end, offer us with a sense of sadness of how fragile our existence is and are a wakeup call on the need of caution to all our activities.