Embarrassingly Stupid Ways People Actually Died

Kind: captions Language: en Climbing a mountain is epic, but Mount Fuji? That's next level. Japan's tallest peak is a brutal, treacherous beast, a challenging accomplishment, and one man who is about to conquer it wants to mark the achievement. And what better way to show the whole world than snapping a selfie atop a mountain in freezing cold temperatures. What could go wrong? Well, it turns out a whole lot. Find out more on today's episode of the Infographic Show, Embarrassingly [music] Stupid Ways People Died Darwin Awards Winners. The Darwin Awards, the controversial and darkly funny award ceremony, honors the few, the proud, the stupid [music] who managed to remove themselves from the gene pool permanently. There are only two rules. The person must die or render themselves unable to reproduce through [music] 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 the 16th found out when he met Madame Guillotine. But almost a millennium earlier, his predecessor in the name, Louis the 3rd, didn't need any outside help to take out his own head. The young king of West Francia had only reigned for 3 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 [music] 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? Well, it turned out the answer was gravity. He ordered his horse to give chase. It took off like a bolt and the king's [music] head slammed directly into a door lintel, ending his life on the spot. If ballads were written about him after that, they would definitely be the first entry into [music] the tragic lovesick idiot playlist. There were probably dumber deaths than this next one, but maybe not more embarrassing. Governor Morris was an accomplished man, signing both the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution. He was 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 [music] seeing a doctor, he decided to treat it himself. His method for this? Using a whale bone as an impromptu stylus, and um getting it up in there. Yeah, if you're cringing, you're not alone. The urethra was never designed to accommodate a whale bone, 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 Darwinian. The first flexible catheter had been invented in 1752, providing an easy way to treat the issues of the urinary tract. The creator of this ingenious [music] device? Ben Franklin, Morris's 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 anytime soon. If there is one sure fire recipe ingredient 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 backseat to shots and bad decisions. But, that never stopped a good time before. >> [music] >> 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, well, he 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. >> [music] >> 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 so's for a minute and then tossed him a life preserver, but Dibella wasn't able to grab onto it and sank to the bottom of Boston Harbor. A search [music] was carried out, but they found his body 3 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 sight. 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 if the jacket was stab proof and while he was home alone, he decided to test it on himself by stabbing his jacket with a lock knife. 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 really only get to do once. And for determined Darwin Awards winners, anywhere is a playground and a potential death trap. New Carrollton, Maryland is a busy transit hub located at a junction between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. 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 [music] in front of the up escalator. You would have to work pretty hard to fall to your death on something going the opposite direction. [music] And as 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, [music] seemingly on some personal Eye of the Tiger quest. After a grueling effort, he finally conquered his mechanical nemesis, and then 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 [music] something, which led to his fall, which could have been avoided by not challenging this escalator to a duel. And even the most skilled of [music] 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 [music] a friend weld an exhaust pipe onto a classic car that needed a lot of work. >> [music] >> 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 [music] was not the one any welder would use. It seemed to be cobbled together from experimental [music] components. And there was one big thing that any welder would know to avoid. The two components that made up the welding gas were already mixed. [music] 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 a 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 himself a Darwin Award thanks to his friend's quick thinking to remove himself from the explosion range. What's [music] 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 [music] decided to celebrate by buying a plane and decided to buy a completely different type of plane, the 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. [music] 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 had never [music] used before in the dead of night. The flight lasted all of four glorious [music] minutes before crashing. Oh, and the plane's transponder wasn't working, so Solomon disappeared completely off the 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 is totally above board. Yay? The next pilot was much more experienced, but not much smarter. [music] 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 [music] was wrong with his aircraft, if maybe not the sense to act on it. [music] 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, [music] 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 [music] 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 the Missoula International Airport. His flight didn't last a 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 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 it 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 of the back of an aircraft and then do a Superman pose, making it look like they were flying. Now, we know what you're thinking, what could possibly go wrong? It turns out the answer is a lot. The helicopter they were flying on, the MH-53 helicopter, the largest in service, cruised at 138 mph, 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. Woohoo. 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. You put your money in the ticket machine, and then the machine eats all your money and gives you nothing. Did you miss the train and try to get your money back, or do you 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 and 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, he 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 of 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 a 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, well, 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 Garden 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 [music] a fence surrounds the sinkhole to protect people from themselves, because, [music] you know, some people wouldn't be able to resist getting themselves an up-close-and-personal photo. And that is exactly what [music] 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 100 ft above the entrance to the sinkhole. [music] Predictably, he lost his balance and tumbled off into the abyss. His body was recovered after [music] an exhausting hoist operation. Handstands are risky enough on solid ground, but over a bottomless pit, that's a whole new level of bad judgement. Most [music] of these Darwin Award winners are just unfortunate guys who screwed up, but we have to say this one had it coming. [music] In 2017 in Germany, 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 [music] 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 the waters that were 35° F, 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 [music] a coma. So, handcuffs weren't really 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 his buns. 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, and when they opened it, he had already passed out and hot steam escaped from the wok. He'd already suffered from serious burns, and he 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 it put a lot of people off of their steamed buns for a while. If there is one rule that holds true with nature, it is don't mess with the animals. It was 2018, and an 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 [music] 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 turns out the bear wasn't seriously injured, and it maybe was just sleeping off a bad day. So, it quickly lunged forward, pinning the man to the ground and killing him. 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." >> [music] >> and he 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 his arrival. The snake wasn't secured all that well on the motorbike and it managed to wriggle loose mid-ride and it 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 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. Now it's not [music] clear if the dynamite was his or rel