13 Ways You Don’t Expect to Die
When you take out insurance, you are getting ready to face the unexpected. Death comes to us all at some point and that is when life insurance can help family and loved ones financially. Help provided can meet burial costs and can even go towards income replacement. However well organised your life is, no one could imagine how these people met their end!
A Short History of Sudden Death
1 Draco – The first legislator in Athens wrote a code of law that worked in court. The word “draconian” comes from him due to the severity of the punishments in his laws. Grateful citizens showered him with gifts in a public theatre so he must have been popular. Sadly the number of gifts was so great that he was smothered to death under the sheer weight of the gifts.
2 Arrhichion – With the passing of the Olympics in Sochi, the fame and glory of the games remains for the competitors. Not quite for Arrhichion of Phiglia. He was so committed to the Olympic spirit he continued his bout, fighting to the death. In a pankration match, a mix of wrestling and boxing, out 
noble competitor could not break his opponent’s stranglehold. He kicked at the same time as trying to twist out of the hold. Without releasing, the opponent signalled he accepted defeat. Umpires awarded the match to Arrichion but sadly he had broken his neck trying to escape the grip.
3 Quin Shi Huang – first emperor of China, he was obsessed with living forever. He created the well-knownTerracotta Army to protect him in the future. His quest for eternal life eventually killed him as he sadly died after eating mercury pills because doctors had told him they would give him eternal life.
4 Hans Steininger – an Austrian with a luxurious beard he usually kept rolled in an a leather pouch. When unrolled it stretched a lengthy four feet six inches. Sadly, when showing it off one day, he tripped on it and broke his neck.
5 Thomas Urquhart – The original man who died laughing. Thomas Urquhart laughed himself to death on learning that Charles II had assumed the English throne. Don’t laugh, it happens more than you might believe.
6 James Betts – poor fella. Girlfriends often bring boys home to the disapproval of their parents. Elizabeth Spencer tried to hide James from her parents by secreting him in a cupboard. It was a while before she could get to release him and sadly he died from oxygen starvation waiting to escape the cupboard and her parents.
7 Clement Vallandigham – Clement was a lawyer known for flashy defences. He was defending a client on a murder charge by trying to demonstrate how a victim may have shot himslef whilst withdrawing his weapon. Sadly he was right. His demonstration worked but he shot himself in the same way and died as a result.
8 Harry Houdini – the famous escapologist allowed a fan to punch him in the stomach to show howfit he was. He died three days later from a ruptured appendix. The coroner’s jury could not decide if the unlucky punch had been the cause of Harry’s appendix rupturing.
9 Basil Brown – clearly learned about having too much of a good thing, the hard way. As a health advocate over ten days he consumed ten gallons of carrot juice. This resulted in vitamin A poisoning and severe liver damage that caused his death.
10 Garry Hoy – Garry wanted to prove a window had unbreakable glass. He hurled himself against the glass which remained intact. Unfortunately the glass pooped out of the window frame and fell, along with Harry from the 24th floor of the Toronto Dominion Centre.
South Africans should complete and submit the form on this page to get a life insurance quote.
All info was correct at time of publishing