STRANGE DEATHS - Controversial, Unsolved and Bizarre

There are so many strange deaths that it is difficult to decide which ones to include. On the whole we've selected those that have caused the most controversy, involve people that are of interest to the general public and whose deaths (or aspects of their deaths) largely remain unsolved (or at least hotly debated). We have also included some that are so exceedingly bizarre as to warrant a mention.

MARILYN MONROE - SUICIDE, ACCIDENT OR MURDER?
Iconic Actress
(1 June 1926 – 5 August 1962)

Born Norma Jean Mortenson (Baker) in 1926 she later changed her name to Marilyn Monroe as she believed it more suitable to a career as an actress and model. In 1946 she received critical acclaim for her acting and within ten years was a movie icon and worldwide sex symbol.  Not an easy person to work with she also had a series of dangerous and troubled relationships with powerful men including John F. Kennedy – President of the USA, who were attracted to her celebrity status.  She was found dead in August 1962.  The official verdict was accidental Nembutal overdose but significant evidence suggests otherwise.  Marilyn had a poor memory and it was well known she kept a detailed diary which has never been found.  Several reports claim she had needle tracks in her rectum and her death could not have been more fortunate in its timing.  There is no doubt that what she knew was a grave threat to many people who would not hesitate to simply eliminate a psychological disturbed actress. First in our strange deaths list.

Marilyn Monroe
Accidental Overdose

JOHN F. KENNEDY - ASSASSINATION CONSPIRACY
United States President
(29 May 1917 – 22 November 1963)

JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on the 22nd of November 1963 allegedly by one Lee Harvey Oswald.  The more time that has past the more information regarding this strange death has entered the public domain. Nearly a third of a century later almost nobody doubts that that JFK was the target of a conspiracy and that a poor excuse for a human being such as Lee Harvey and his 6.5 mm caliber Carcano rifle could have been responsible for the death of an iconic American president.  Films have been made about this event.  There are more than 20,000 web pages dedicated to revealing the various conspiracy theories and yet, even now, the truth remains a mystery and probably will forever.  Two days after lee Harvey supposedly assassinated JFK he was, in turn, assassinated by Jack Ruby. There are over 35 people who were linked to this event that died in mysterious circumstances and where their deaths were strange indeed. Still, some people continue to question whether there was anything really odd?  This may be the strangest death in this list.

John F. Kennedy
Shot by Lone Assassin

PRINCESS DIANA - ROAD ACCIDENT OR MURDER?
British Princess
(1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997)

Britain still has a monarchy even if it is only an institution rather than a true ruling family.  At the time of writing, the current head of the family is HRH Queen Elizabeth II.  Her firstborn son is Charles, Prince of Wales and the man who will one day be king (if he’s lucky).  Charles had a small problem.  He was a man who was never seemed to be truly at ease with women and faced the problem of finding a wife who was probably a virgin and fit to be the future Queen of England.  The girl that was selected was Lady Diana Spencer – a shy nursery school teacher from a good family.  It was a fairytale wedding but like most original fairy stories it had a nasty ending in the form of a very strange death.  They didn’t really get on.  He kept running off to his old girlfriend, Camilla.  She became ever more difficult, had affairs herself and finally went rogue by defying the establishment. The monarchy feared for their future because the average person loved Diana and despised the rest of the Royals. 

Princess Diana Windsor
Car Accident

They had two sons, one who looks a lot like her paramour, then divorced and she started seeing the son of a prominent but controversial Muslim business man – Dodi Fayed.  Hounded by paparazzi, an embarrassment to the British establishment and a living icon Diana was a woman, like Marilyn Monroe, that had the power to end a ruling family.  Then, just when it was all getting extremely uncomfortable for certain people, she died in a controversial car crash in Paris.  Within hours the early internet screamed two words: Conspiracy & Assassination.  Fortunately, many years after her death a completely impartial inquiry was held and the Scott-Baker Inquest concluded that it was just an accident after all.  Glad that’s all sorted.

HARRY HOUDINI - APPEDICITIS OR POISON
Escapologist / Debunker
24 March 1874 – 31 October 1926

Born Erik Weisz, he later changed his name to Ehrich Weiss and then to Harry Houdini when he started his stage and circus career.  It took time for him to find success but in by 1899 he had become recognised as one of the world’s great escapologists.  He toured the world performing increasingly remarkable escapes and amassing a significant fortune in the process.  Following the demise of his mother in 1923 Houdini became somewhat obsessed with debunking the spiritualist movement and its practitioners who he claimed were nothing more than stage magicians who were misleading the general public and taking their money under false pretences.  His success with this venture led to the debunking of many famous spiritualists and caused a life-long conflict between himself and famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Houdini died of a ruptured appendix that may have been the result of a boxing experiment or normal inflammation. However, many continue to believe that he was poisoned by agents of the Spiritualists. The strange deaths continue.

Harry Houdini
Appendicitis

CLEOPATRA - SUICIDE OR ASSASSINATION?
Egyptian Queen
69bc – 12 August 30bc

The death of Cleopatra is one of the most famous in all history.  The Hellenic-Egyptian queen who had nearly brought about the downfall of the Roman Empire finally found herself a prisoner of Octavian Caesar – the man who would change his name and become one of the greatest rulers of all time – Augustus Caesar.  It was apparently Caesar’s intention to display Cleopatra, naked, whipped and as a slave, in all the cities and countries that she had once ruled as had been done to her own sister Arsinoe. It seems that Cleopatra was desperate to avoid the humiliation and had an Asp (Egyptian Cobra) smuggled into her room and allowed it to bite her on her breast.  Naturally, she died.  This is one version of events .  A more controversial version is that Augustus Caesar simply wanted the rebellion of Mark Anthony and the chaos that it had caused to end.  Displaying Cleopatra as a beaten Monarch wasn’t his style.  He was a master of power-politics and would have certainly known that this would stimulate anger and support for the Egyptian cause.  Much easier and better to give Cleopatra a reason to commit suicide and then have her killed by one of her own snakes.  Ah ... that makes more sense. 

Queen Cleopatra
Ruler of Egypt
Suicide by snakebite

AYRTON SENNA - STRANGE RACING CRASH
F1 Racing Car Driver
21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994

Ayrton Senna was one of the most brilliant and capable Formula One racing car drivers to capture the imagination of the public.  In 1994, at Imola in Italy, he seemed to lose control of his Williams car and crashed into the concrete barrier of the Tamburello Corner of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.  He was rescued from the car and mechanically kept alive until his death in hospital several hours later in Bologna Hospital and, most critically, after the race had finished.  His death has been the subject of controversy since it happened.  There are many people that nearly two decades after the event still believe that Senna was assassinated.  The method used is consistent.  The steering column was tampered with so that at extreme stress it would fail.  This combined with the then recent ban on Active Suspensions would result in a massive loss of control which at 217km per hour was almost certain to result in a fatality.

Ayrton Senna
Racing Accident

The motivations for this were simple, desperate and straightforward.  The very recent accident of Senna's friend Rubens Barrichello and the death of Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger had convinced Senna that a new Drivers Safety Group needed to be established and he, Senna, as the most senior driver, was elected leader.  It is widely suggested that those with commercial interests in the sport saw this as a threat to the vast sponsorship funds that were being invested. Yes ... this could just have been an accident but within 48 hours of Rocking-the-Boat Senna was still very conveniently dead. 

EVA (EVITA) PERON - JUST BIZARRE!
Actress and Politician
7 May 1919 – 26 July 1952

Eva Perón was the influential wife of Argentinean President, Juan Perón. A woman of extraordinary passion for her political causes she championed the rights of the labouring classes and female suffrage (political equality). As a person she was an iconic figure admired and loved by the majority of Argentineans.  At the age of 33 she died of cancer and was honoured by a state funeral even though she was not the President.  None of this is particularly controversial but what happened to her body after her death is disturbing.  Eva was first embalmed using a very comprehensive technique that made degeneration almost impossible and gave her the appearance of merely being asleep. While the construction of a huge monument to Evita (Little Eva) was taking place her body was displayed in her former office for two years. 1n 1955 her husband Juan was overthrown in a military coup and he fled the country.  Eva’s body was removed from display and disappeared for 16 years.  Exactly what happened to it during this period is largely unknown but there have been claims that it was used for secret military rituals, bizarre initiations, as the mould for wax copies and even other uses that are too unpleasant to mention here.  The body was eventually located in a crypt in Milan, Italy.  It was returned to Argentina in 1974 and is buried in Buenos Aires at the La Recoleta Cemetery,

María Eva Duarte de Perón
(Little Evita)
Inspiration for the song
Don't Cry for Me Argentina

Cancer

DAVID CARRADINE - AUTOEROTIC ASPHYXIATION?
Famous Actor & Martial Artist
8 December 1936 - 3 June 2009

This has to be one of the strangest deaths in our list. One of the legends of the film industry for over 40 years, David Carradine was the product of a disturbed childhood and extraordinary career. Most well known for the roles that cast him as a martial artist he was also a talented (if erratic) director, song writer and musician.  In his personal life he had trouble with long-term relationships and married several times.  Perceived as a tough man both on and off the screen those that knew him often referred to his darker side and even admitted to having found him capable of being ruthless and intimidating.  He received critical acclaim for his role as Bill in the brutal Quentin Tarantino film – Kill Bill. In 2009 he was found dead in the closet of his room at the Swissôtel Nai Lert Park Hotel in central Bangkok.  According to police reports he was tied up and had asphyxiated.  The verdict was accidental (autoerotic) asphyxiation.  Shortly after his death two of his wives acknowledged that Carradine had been fascinated with bondage and other forms of sexual deviancy.  As expected, the circumstances of his death have triggered a spate of conspiracy theories. 

David Carradine
Asphyxiation

The one that is the most disturbing is clearly from the “bondage-informed” community that claim two things.  He couldn’t have tied himself in the position that he was found and the way he was tied (the rocking horse) has only one outcome which is death – unless there is a second person who frees him before it goes too far.  We’re not experts on this subject so this could very well be nothing more than the ravings of the stranger internet forums.  Whatever the truth, Carradine’s fame and manner of passing has earned him a place in the Hall of Strange Deaths.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH - UNTIMELY OVERDOSE
Actress and Model
28 November 1967 – 8 February 2007

Born Vickie Lynn Marshall she changed her name to Anna Nicole Smith to further her modeling and acting career. She first came to the attention of the general public after she was made playboy playmate of the year in 1993. Wild, vivacious, voluptuous and very beautiful, Anna went on to have a successful early career as a television and modeling celebrity.  She married her second husband, 89 year old oil tycoon, James Marshall II in 1994.  After his death she stood to inherit a significant share of his 1.6 billion dollar estate if she could win her court case.  By September 2000 the case had become very confused and unpleasant.  Due to her bankruptcy status, California found in her favour and awarded her $449,754,134 while a Texas court found against her and ordered her to pay expenses of over $1,000,000.  Finally, in May 2006 the Federal Court ruled that Smith did have a right to pursue a settlement in the Federal Court.  This decision would have almost certainly assured her of a significant settlement. 

Anna Nicole Smith
Official Verdict: Drugs Overdose
(Still Under Investigation)

Four months later Anna’s 20 year old son Daniel died of while visiting his mother and newborn sister in their hospital ward.  The cause was allegedly a mysterious cocktail of legal but dangerous drugs including Methadone.  For some time Anna had become increasingly dependent on her attorney Howard K. Stern who claimed paternity of her newborn child.  In public, Anna seemed increasingly confused and just a further four months later Anna was found dying from a drug overdose similar to the one that had killed her son.  She was rushed to hospital but declared “Dead on Arrival”.  The fight for her inheritance is likely to continue in the name of her daughter, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE - POISONED BY WALLPAPER?
Emperor of France
15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821

There was a time when Napoleon Bonaparte was the most powerful man in the world. As the Emperor of France and a brilliant military strategist he had conquered a significant part of Europe and was poised to occupy England and Russia.  He chose Russia first and it was to be his downfall as it would be Adolf Hitler’s a little more than two centuries later.  The terrible failure of the 1812 campaign meant that by 1813 Napoleon had been captured and imprisoned on the island Of Elba. By 1914 he had escaped and raised another vast army this time intent on the destruction of Britain.  The French and British forces met in combat at the battle of Waterloo where he was defeated.  This time he was imprisoned on the Island of St. Helena.  Many European leaders considered him too dangerous to keep alive and it is therefore not surprising that he was dead within six years.  The official verdict was stomach disease now known as stomach cancer but huge amounts of arsenic were found in his body.  One theory suggests that the wallpaper in his quarters and other areas were laced with arsenic compounds that turned into arsine gas over time thus slowly killing Napoleon. Now that would make this one of the strangest deaths in history.

Napoleon Bonaparte
French Emperor
Stomach Cancer

JOSEPH STALIN - STROKE OR ASSASSINATION?
Russian Dictator
18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953

In the entire recorded history of mankind there are less than 25 people, all men, who deserve the title – Butchers of Humanity. Joseph Stalin is one of them. If you don’t know who he was ... you should.  The son of a simple shoemaker he took part in the revolution that overthrew the Tsar of Russia and later established himself as the most powerful dictator of the modern world.  People easily remember the six million Jews murdered by Adolph Hitler but still seem surprised to find out that under Stalin’s insane regime more than 20 million people died as a result of his political policies.  Many of these people dying in the frozen concentration camps of Siberia – the Gulags.  The irony is that his commitment to the destruction of NAZI Germany may have saved the capitalist West that he hated so much. Stalin trusted nobody and towards the end of his life he was planning another purge (murderous removal) of those “friends” that he thought had become too powerful. 

Joseph Stalin
Soviet Dictator
Stroke

However, on the night of the 1st of March 1953 he ordered his exhausted and frightened political associates (Polit Bureau to engage in one of his all night dinner parties at his residence in Kuntsevo.  That he intended to soon have most of them exterminated or imprisoned is matter of historical fact. Some accounts claim that he made them dance wildly to an opera recorded entirely using the howls of Siberian wolves.  Accounts claimed that he became progressively disoriented and finally retired to his bed with instructions that he was not to be disturbed under any circumstances.  These orders were obeyed and it was almost 24 hours before anyone dared to enter his room.  The found a dying man collapsed on the floor and soaked in his own urine.  Even so, his so-called friends took more than a further 24 hours before they summoned medical help. Stalin died three days later.  Based on recorded evidence and Lavrentiy Beira’s claim that he “Took Him Out” modern doctors now believe that the drug Warfarin was given to Stalin during the dinner party and that it was this that this induced his fatal stroke. A violent man responsible for so many deaths - is it any surprise even his friends wanted him dead too.

ELIZABETH SHORT / BLACK DAHLIA - CRUELEST MURDER
Troubled Young Woman
29 July 1924 – 15 January 1947

Elizabeth Short, or Black Dahlia as she is often known, makes it into this list for two reasons.  Firstly, her murder was the original sensationalist killing to occur in the USA that was accompanied by published images of her naked, mutilated and severed body.  Secondly, her killer was never caught and continues to be the subject of much debate until today.  In brief, Elizabeth was born in 1924 and had troubled childhood that included the belief that her father had committed suicide when the family business collapsed.  She was only six years old at the time. Some say she idolised his memory.  By the age of 14 “Beth” was considered beautiful and looked older than she really was.  Some vague references (politically incorrect) suggest that she had started to become interested in men considerably older than herself.  Either due to concerns over her activities or because of asthma (the official reason) she started to spend the winter months in Miami. At the age of 19 and desperate to become a film actress she moved to California to stay with her father who had turned out to still be alive.

Elizabeth Short
The Black Dahlia
Official Verdict: Unsolved

There has been some speculation to the intensity and true nature of their relationship but in the end he is said to have thrown her out of the house.  After a brush with the law for underage drinking Beth pursued her goal of being in the movies and her interest in uniformed men.  On 15 January 1947 her severely mutilated body was found carefully arranged in a vacant lot. The body was cut into two pieces through the torso and displayed several other injuries including lacerations to her upper body and wounds to her navel and left knee.  The body had also been drained of blood and the letters BD carved into her leg.   Although over 50 people confessed to the crime and the murder was investigated repeatedly - no person has ever been tried or convicted. Many people are aware of this case but few people know the full details which are even more horrific than those already mentioned here.

ROBERTO CALVI - UNSOLVED MURDER
God's Banker
13 April 1920 – 17 June 1982

As Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, the 2nd largest privately owned bank in Italy, Roberto Calvi was privy to the financial transactions of the Vatican and other powerful organisations.    He was a man who knew many secrets but also knew how to keep them.  However, in 1978 the Bank of Italy issued a statement that the Banco Ambrosiano was responsible for illegally transferring several billion lire out of the country.  A police investigation followed and Calvi was ultimately given a four year suspended sentence and ordered to pay a $19.8 million fine.  In 1982 Banco Ambrosiano collapsed and many of the financial transactions undertaken by the bank were investigated including some that questioned large transactions and payments made to the Vatican which was also financial institution’s main shareholder.   Calvi fled in disguise from his apartment in Rome on the 10th of June 1982 and travelled to London via Venice.  On the 18th of January his body was found hanging from scaffolding underneath Blackfriars Bridge.

Roberto Calvi
"God's Banker"
Official Verdict: Under Investigation

However, this assumption was overturned and a murder investigation instigated.  The finger of guilt has been point at a significant number of organisations including an illegal Masonic lodge, the Mafia and even the Vatican itself.  Although attempts have been made to arrest people and put them on trial no person has yet to be convicted for the murder and as recently as 2007 a trial in Rome cleared several people that had been accused in 2005. The investigation continues.

MARY JO KOPECHNE - DROWNED AND ABANDONED
Assistant to Senator Ted Kennedy
July 26, 1940 – July 18, 1969

There is so much about the death of Mary Jo that has never been fully explained. She was a smart and very attractive young woman who worked on the presidential election campaign of Robert Kennedy and was devastated when he was assassinated in 1968. On the 18th of July 1969 she and five other women met up for a reunion on the small and quite remote island of Chappaquiddick which is part of the Martha’s Vineyard island network. The six “Boiler Room Girls” met up with six men who would later become powerful politicians.  The official story is that she was tired and Ted Kennedy offered to drive her back to her hotel.  Strangely she left her purse and hotel key at the party.  During the drive to the ferry Ted seems to have become confused and crashed the car into a tidal channel.  He managed to get out but she didn’t.  Instead of notifying the authorities the late Senator tried to have his friends help and then, incredibly, leapt into the ocean and swam back to the main island.  He officially only notified the police the following morning – 9 hours later.  The incident may have ruined his presidential chances and lost him his driving license but it cost Mary Jo her life. Perhaps now that the Senator has died too (many years after the event) we’ll find out what really happened.

Mary Jo Kopechne
Kennedy "Boiler Room" Girl
Drowned

IGOR DYATLOV - TERROR IN THE URAL MOUNTAINS
Ski Team Leader - Dyatlov Pass Incident
Est. 1939 - 2 February 1959

In 1959 a team of 10 young skiers led by Igor Dyatlov set out to undertake a difficult and complex ski hike in the Ural Mountains of Russia.  With the exception of one man, Yuri Yudin, they were never to return alive. The Dyatlov ski team was made up of eight men and two women who, except for Alexander Zolotarev, were mostly students or graduates from the Ural Polytechnic Institute located in Ekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, and now renamed the Yeltsin Ural State Technical University.  On the night of 2 February 1959, while they were camped on the flanks of the slopes of Kholat-Syakhl (a Mansi name, meaning Mountain of the Dead) they experienced an event that would leave them all frozen in the snow.  During the night something happened that caused the victims to abandon their tent in sub-zero temperatures and flee to the nearby woods.  Over the next few hours all were to die.  What makes this event so disturbing is that the reason for their terror has never been identified.  Many theories litter the internet from Aliens to tribal abduction but still no concrete evidence has been discovered. You can read the full account of the Dyatlov Pass Incident here.

Igor Dyatlov
Russian Skier / Student
Hypothermia

"Don't you wish that you could know the truth about everything
- even just for one day, and still have the strength to to live with such knowledge?"
Paul St. Claire (1964 - )

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