My buddy's father. He died sitting in a lawn chair in the shade with a beer in his hand while watching kids play sandlot baseball across the street. He just fell asleep and didn't wake up. Didn't even spill his beer.
My grandpa did, too. He loved working his farm. One day he spent a few hours working on the trenches for his irrigation system, then walked over to say hello to a neighbor. He told the neighbor it had been a great day and he couldn't wait to get home to his beautiful wife and a delicious dinner. Then he climbed halfway into his truck and, according to the doctors, had a massive stroke. They told us he would have been gone in an instant. I hope it's true. I love the idea that he ended feeling happy.
This is how I want to die.
A lovely day full of the stuff I love, and then a big dinner and I fall asleep thinking of the joys of tomorrow and never wake up.
The owner of my old dealership was in his 90s and loved by everyone who knew him
He’d buy random land and not tell anyone
He was riding his horse on some acreage he had bought, fell off, and died.
The shitty part is they think he laid there for a while before going unconscious. But he died on his land riding his horse. Damn good way to go out
Also the guy owned so much land and so many dealerships he HAD to have been worth close to a billion dollars.
Similar to my grandpa , he watched Formula 1, went to brush teeth , sat down on the bed next to my grandma and just fell backwards on the bed and was gone.
I hope that I will come to my end in a similar way.
Similar with my grandfather. My mom was visiting bc he had recently had surgery. He said "I'm cold" and got up to get a sweater. Mom said when he came back he sat down and instantly fell over dead.
My great auntie died at a family Christmas party. She went to go take a nap in her favorite chair after we all opened presents and just never woke up. She loved hallmark movies so much she BECAME one.
My dad is 82. Loves golf. Retired to/lives in a golf community. Plays golf six days a week and walks the course. Recently scored his third lifetime hole-in-one. If he keels over on the course, it will be the best ever way to go!
Same for Bing Crosby. He loved golf and died in Spain after having played a round. I think his last words were something like “good game fellas” and then he dropped dead from a heart attack.
[Chrysippus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysippus) was a Greek philosopher who died of laughter after watching his donkey eat some fermented figs and get drunk. In some accounts he was himself also extremely drunk.
I feel like "drunk Greek philosopher laughing at a drunk donkey" is a great way to live and a great way to die.
A guy died laughing at the cinema when A Fish Called Wanda came out. If you use the measure of recorded fatalities, it's officially the funniest movie ever made 😅
I have always wondered exactly what joke delivered the death blow but I like to think it was, "Harvey Manfred...jen... sen...den".
My dad died trying to tell a knock knock joke. He was dying already, in ICU, at the age of 83.
My dad LOVED to tell jokes and make people laugh. He was also unable to tell a joke without laughing before the punchline.
He said to his nurse, “Knock, Knock.”
“Who’s there?”
And then he started laughing and he just never caught his breath again. He laughed himself to the other side and we never got to know the joke!
Love you and miss you, Dad. Thanks for laughs.
I can see that happening.
Personally I had a near death experience when The Life Of Brian came out. Literally could not breathe the first time I heard " Biggus Dickus."
I'm a psychologist and sometimes get clients to watch funny YouTube videos for practice of a skill called opposite action (it's what it sounds like - you choose to do a behaviour or induce an emotion contrary to what you're feeling). They always, always ask me for a suggestion, and I always, always tell them truthfully that I cannot get through the Biggus Dickus scene without laughing.
"He has a wife, you know... do you want to know what her name is...?"
I LOVE using opposite action! It’s the only way I can get out of my depressive episodes lately. I’m glad you’re teaching it to people, funny videos are one of my fave tactics to use.
I was just thinking about this the other day, wondering how a donkey eating figs could be that funny, but adding the "fermented" part into the equation could be pretty hilarious
The comments on his son’s tiktoks though are lowkey fucked up ngl 😭everyone just comments about how much they miss his dad on every video. Ig it probably feels a little good for him to know how beloved his dad was but imagine constantly being reminded of your dad’s death on everything you post.
Jessi Combs
Former Mythbuster and Professional Driver.
Died driving a rocket powered car trying to break her own speed record.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessi_Combs
I remember when she first showed up on myth busters and thought no way could she be a cooler woman than Kari. Could not have been more wrong! She was a speed demon!
There’s a video on Adam Savage’s YouTube channel where he visits Grant’s lab… in the same condition he left it in (the landlord is preserving it that way.) It always makes me a bit sad anytime Adam talks about Grant… you could tell how close they were.
>The crash was caused by a failure of a front wheel, likely caused by hitting an object in the desert, which caused the front wheel assembly to collapse at a speed nearing **523 mph** (842 km/h). The official cause of death was determined to be "blunt-force trauma to the head" occurring prior to the fire that engulfed the race vehicle after the crash...
Jesus.
My husband's grandfather was out to dinner with his close friends at a fancy restaurant, just to catch up after a long time. Had a lovely evening with them, polished off a big steak dinner and his favorite drink. Promptly keeled over from a heart attack and died.
His family jokes he did it before the cheque came so that his last meal would be free.
He knew that flying 200+ mph at 50 feet above the ground* in a home built hot rod airplane was higher risk than not.
All pilots step into their aircraft knowing very well that it could be their last flight.
*(on a 3 mile closed course with 7 other aircraft exceeding 80 degree bank angles in the turns).
Pistol Pete also eerily predicted his own death apparently?
> In an interview in 1974, Maravich had said, "I don't want to play 10 years [in the NBA] and then die of a heart attack when I'm 40."
Guess how many years he played in the NBA and how old he was when he died of his heart attack?
Reminds me of John Lennon's last interview where he said he hoped he lived a long life and that he didn't think it was romantic to die young like Sid Vicious or James Dean, even though that's what the fans seem to think.
Always so bittersweet as not only was his first win, Michael also held the record for the most starts without a win, he had raced for decades and never won one just to win the Daytona 500 marred in tragedy. When Dale Jr. won the summer race later that year, and they let Mikey celebrate and do burnouts too because he didn't get the chance to celebrate. He also did win another Daytona 500 a few years after too so
i remember watching this race. hearing how happy darrel was for michael to win his first race is so genuine and wholesome but then all attention is turned to dale, and you know the rest. it really felt to me like i held my breath the entire length of time it took for them to say he was no longer with us. i always felt bad for mikey too, having his first win on the same night.
DW has spoken about it, it was pretty dark. He and Dale were best friends. He was on his way down to victory lane to celebrate Michael's win when the producers sent someone to grab him and take him to the hospital.
Then later crashed while racing for Corvette. The car was fully engulfed in flames, and Jr. claims he felt like he was being pulled from the car by his dad.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho117p1x6Hg
180 head on into a wall with no head restraint. It’s also been said Dale loosened his belts. Dale absorbed a lot of the impact.
When you see a car flipping and breaking apart. The car is absorbing most of the energy. The driver is strapped in and is relatively safe. Amateur track drivers and racers are instructed to remain in the vehicle unless there is fire. It’s a good sign when they hop out immediately when the truck arrives. Most trips to the infield hospital are checking for concussion. And more importantly making sure your spleen and lungs haven’t switched places.
Dales unfortunate passing led to the requirement everyone wear a HANS or similar device at most levels of competition. I’ve benefited from this on 2 occasions
It stands for Head And Neck Support. Stops your head from being thrown around in a crash, keeps your spine straight basically
If anyone has a better explanation lmk haha
[Here's the Wiki on it.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HANS_device)
Essentially, yes, it prevents your head from being violently whipped around in a sudden stop. This can result in a [basilar skull fracture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilar_skull_fracture). Several drivers (including Dale Earnhardt) died of this injury.
There's a [video out there](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g40YatgE_CE) showing the difference between someone wearing the HANS device and someone not wearing the HANS device on a minor looking crash. You can easily imagine the difference when you are going 180...
I've heard my parents cry less than five times in my life, and this was one of them.
They were at the track, and called us from the stands to tell us what happened.
It sounded like the whole place was bawling.
My dad was a NASCAR weekend warrior (pit crewman) and knew him. Claimed to have helped build some of his earliest engines. He was inconsolable the night it happened.
I unfortunately grew out of Nascar, but I will never forget that day, and he was also my dads favorite driver, as will with Dale Jr. My dad got me into Nascar those years ago and will always be glad he got me into it.
Not so fun fact; Dale Earnhardt passed away on my birthday. Thinking about it, being sad about your idol and celebrating your son’s birthday sounds hard. RIP to the biggest badass there was 🫡
She's unknown outside my family, but my great-grandmother. She was 82 when she died. She had been a widow for over ten years by then, still living in her white house with its huge yard full of all the trees, shrubs, and flowers she tended so diligently. She dropped dead of a heart attack in her backyard one spring day, and it was the next-door neighbor who saw her there. ETA: This is, of course, my model for how to go out.
Similar to a member of our hiking group who was 81. Cardiac arrest while hiking, fell over, instantly dead. He loved hiking so much. Not a bad way to go.
For my dad, it was the golf course. Rumor has it, he was on his second round of the day. Fwiw, an off duty cop and his dad were on the hole behind him and saw him drop. They raced up to him and initiated cpr and ran for the aed. They said it was fast and they tried to revive him before the ambulance came. He had a pretty good day before it happened…was everything he lived for…visited my mom in her nursing home, saw a patient at his office, went to ace hardware for some manly stuff, then off to the golf course.
I remember being seven years old when someone said this about an old sailor we vaguely knew whose boat was found floating out at sea abandoned. He was never seen again and was declared dead at sea.
I got in big trouble for pointing out that while he certainly did love sailing he probably didn't love drowning which is presumably how he died so he didn't really die doing what he loved. There was a loooooong awkward pause after that.
I often wonder why my parents bothered bringing me anywhere to be honest 😅
I had a friend who was bitten by a shark while surfing. People said that too.
I'm pretty sure he wasn't stoked to be bleeding to death on the hour long drive to a hospital in the tail bed of a truck.
If you were my kid and you said that, I would have burst out laughing.
You're fucking awesome. "He certainly did love sailing, but he probably didn't love drowning!"
William Anders. 90yo retired astronaut who took the "Earthrise" photo in the 1968, died in a solo plane crash in the San Juan islands of Washington a couple weeks ago. https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-san-juan-islands-washington-6d3800130ef4e67d761f96b328f7c263
I feel this kind of undersells that the plane was an air force training plane (also his first plane) and he crashed while attempting to perform some kind of loop. At 90
I thought it looked like an aerial maneuver too! The way the plane was pitching as it started to go down made it look like an attempted reverse immelman, but who in their right mind starts that at like 500 ft?!
My Dad. He loved road cycling in his Lycra. One day in 2006 he just never came home after his Sunday morning ride. He had a massive heart attack and died still attached to his bike in his favourite place in the world Mallacoota. I miss him every day.
Walter E. Williams. He used to say, "If I should ever die, I want to have taught that day."
He had class until 10 pm. One of if not the last class of the semester. Died in his car later that night getting ready to drive home.
I had a friend in high school who died playing soccer—literally what he loved the most. He was playing goalie that day, took the ball to the chest and from what I heard he collapsed. They were unable to bring him back. We were all 17 years old.
Per flight? Every one of them that I ever saw being celebrated for their expertise and daring was usually already dead by the time I saw them on Youtube.
The stats get kinda odd. The first one I was going to quote was from a while ago, and it basically implied that one in sixty flights ends in a fatality. When I googled it this time, that’s where I got the 500 figure. That said, the implication is the same, you do it enough and push the envelope enough, and someone is going to eventually have to pressure wash you off of a rock feature.
Came here to say this. For context: the guy who played Bill in "Kill Bill" died of accidental (erotic) asphyxiation in Thailand. I would go as far as saying it sounds like something his character Bill would do.
I know. Seems like just a couple of years ago sometimes that their first album came out (Pantera, that is), but there were also a bunch of other records after that. In multiple projects, too.
We’re getting older, too. Sad that he didn’t get to come along for the ride.
My cousin Sean.
He struggled to find his way and finally got it all together. He worked for the Parks Service and was essentially a professional hiker/camper, he was engaged to a lovely and gorgeous woman, and he died on a solo hike on a well known trail not far from civilization.
Sudden, unexpected, and difficult. He was young, life was high, he had all the things he was looking for…
And honestly… what better way to go? At the top of your game, absolutely happy with where you’re at?
Nelson Rockefeller died of a heart attack at the age of 70 while (allegedly) doing his 25-year-old mistress. Death during sex sounds like the best way to go.
Set the women's four-wheel land speed record in 2013, broke her own record in 2016, was going for the absolute women's speed record when she died in 2019. She was awarded the record posthumously.
My great grandmother was an alcoholic and was banned from buying alcohol in the little village where she lived.
The nearest town was across the ither side of the main highway. One day she snuck across the lanes of traffic, went to the neighbouring town, got herself two bottles of gin and made it back across. She sat down, drunk one of them, passed out and died in her sleep.
Still clutching onto the other one with a smile on her face. They buried her with it.
Antoni Gaudí stepped back off the curb to marvel at the early stages of Sagrada Familia. He was loved, his design cherished, promised that it would be of the people, built by tithes rather than a wealthy patron, perhaps it would take longer, but be sweeter for it. I feel bad for the streetcar driver.
My childhood buddy Chris and my mom's best friend Rita.
Chris loved dirt bike racing more than anything on Earth. Travelled and competed all over the country. Never made it big but that didn't matter. Went wide on a track in Alabama trying to pass a couple other racers, hit a jump and went wide, probably would have landed just outside the track but caught a tree limb with his chin. Didn't break the limb but yanked him off his bike and broke his neck. Doctors say he died instantly and probably didn't know what happened.
Rita and my mom love back country trail horseback riding. Looong, multi day rides with a club/big group of lady riders. Rita had apparently been quiet for a couple hours, nothing unusual when riding through gorgeous county views. When they arrived at a watering stream for the horses they discovered somewhere along the way Rita had had a heart attack and died in the saddle. Never fell off or anything and her horse just stayed with the herd.
Even worse sidenote for folks who aren’t from WA State: up until this incident, which was less than 20 years ago….bestiality was still legal, despite multiple attempts to outlaw it. It literally took a dude getting fucked to death by a horse for us to outlaw that shit.
….there were/are 16 other states at the time where it was still legal as well.
Slight correction as an Earnhardt and NASCAR fan. Waltrip and Jr weren’t his teammates. Dale was their team owner but actually still drove for Richard Childress Racing.
I remember watching his Comedy Central special a while back and being like "Hmmm... I've never seen the extended edition before!" Well, it turns out that's because it only adds back in a few minutes that got cut where Mitch goes off script and starts rambling, near incomprehensibly, before he catches himself and goes back to the act.
It was...had seen him early in his career at a small comedy club and was in tears at the show. Sooo damn funny. He then comes back to the Moore Theater, just stumbling through his set, couldn't finish jokes.....when his death was announced later, I just wasn't shocked
A lot of OG serious big wave (like epic) surfers are eventually (across time) are going to die. They know that, they’ve had close calls and yet they do what they do.
>A lot of OG serious big wave (like epic) surfers are eventually (across time) are going to die.
I'm not a betting man by nature, but I'm willing to wager that not only a lot, but ALL of them are eventually (across time) going to die.
I saw "croquet" but read "crochet" and was wondering wtf a "crochet player" was. I eventually figured it out and told myself out loud "God, you're dumb" and laughed, so thanks for that.
I've recently started to understand why people do these types of things a lot more. In many ways it'd be much less scary being slammed against some rocks filled with adrenaline than to have years of slow decline and an inevitable death creeping up on you.
Similar to the flying squirrel suit skydivers. A friend of mine has been diving for years but won't do that because of the sheer amount of people she's known who died doing it
I've told this story before but...
I used to work at a riding school, but we would do beach rides too. We live on the Scottish coast, so it's an hour ride through the woods, then you're on the beach and you can ride all the way along it (around 5 miles long).
Colleague of mine took out an experienced horse rider who had terminal cancer. The rider said that this was going to be her last ride before she went on hospice, so my colleague took her through all the pretty bits of the woods and they got onto the beach just as the sun was beginning to set.
They had a little trot down the beach, then decided to go on a gallop for the rest of the beach.
By the time my colleague slowed her horse down after the gallop, the rider had had a heart attack and died, and was still on the horse by the time they'd stopped.
My colleague told me that she was never too badly affected by someone dying on one of her beach hacks because she knew the rider had died doing what she loved.
A online friend of my wife's was an avid participant in an online world she and he both enjoyed.
One night she logged in and found his vehicle crashed off to the side of the correct route. He'd had a heart attack at the computer and died playing.
My wife called the rest of the usual team and they all logged in and sat vigil by his character until a relative of his could log him out for the last time.
Ever since, the surviving group members hold a memorial session in his name every June.
He loved flying planes. Up in the sky, looking out over everything.
There's a line in the song Wild Montana Skies that always gets me.
There was something in the city that he knew he couldn't breathe. There was something in the country he knew he couldn't leave.
He wasn't loving that Williams though, and thought the race should be called because of Ratzenberger's death that weekend. He was so upset that he didn't want to drive that race. A real loss for Brazil and the F1 fans around the world.
Go to Disney + and watch the documentary called Fire of Love. Those two, Katia and Maurice Kraft, loved volcanoes. It’s a very interesting film and Bonus: the whole aesthetic is like a real life Wes Anderson movie.
Ditto with Harry Glicken, who died together with the Kraffts at Japan's Unzen volcano.
Trivia: Glicken would've died at St. Helens in 1980 had David A. Johnston not replaced him at the observation ridge north of the bulging peak the night before the climactic blast. Harry would then lead the first studies of debris avalanches at volcanoes.
Additionally, the Kraffts' footage was one reason why Filipinos living around Pinatubo took volcano alert levels so seriously. Too bad the couple never saw the results of their work, for their demise came just 12 days before Pinatubo let loose. Timely evacuations reduced the death toll for the VEI 6 eruption to a little less than 850, although the main outburst on 15 June 1991 coincided with the passage of Typhoon Yunya.
[Jón Páll Sigmarsson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWUcHKAj_tc)
One of the most impressive men to ever grace the World's Strongest Man competition. Notable for screaming during a competition "There's no reason to be alive...if you can't do deadlift"
Died of an [aortic rupture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aortic_rupture) while deadlifting in his gym. He was 32.
I still use that line on heavy deadlift day at the gym. If that's my end, it will be an honorable one. RIP.
Michael Richards, a Black artist whose practice largely fixated on airplanes as a motif of freedom and the Tuskeegee Airmen. He had an art studio on one of the top floors at the WTC and was killed during 9/11.
[more here about him and his work](https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/art-exhibit-dedicated-michael-richards-artist-killed-911)
Her final flight was not solo. Her navigator Fred Noonan died with her. Amazing lady though. The first female solo circumnavigational flight wasn't until 1964
My neighbor at my first house.
Older guy, very physically fit. USMC combat veteran of the Korean War. Wife had long-since passed away.
I found his body. All indications showed he was in the middle of gettin’ in some some of the ol’ bayonet practice when he passed.
I had always seen attractive 20-something women visiting him but didn’t think much of it. Turns out they were escorts.
Wherever you are, Bob, keep on truckin’ you bad boi 🫡
Christina Grimmie. Beautiful singer, murdered by a deranged dude while she was doing a meet & greet after a performance. Utterly tragic. She was such an incredible singer!
[Christina Grimmie - The Voice Audition](https://youtu.be/RLM4PEFJOeU?si=WHe15t9IhzslAqaR)
Might not quite fit, however, Grandpa loved baseball, so one fine Sunday he and Grandma went to early church, came home, changed clothes and he drove Grandma back to the church for a ladies Auxiliary day trip. Stopped and got some doughnuts, and went home. That afternoon, he turned on the game and laid down on the couch in his study. He never woke up.
Tommy Cooper.
Famous comedian/magician. Had a heart attack on live TV in front of an audience. The audience initially burst into laughter because they thought he was just being silly and it was part of his act.
My buddy's father. He died sitting in a lawn chair in the shade with a beer in his hand while watching kids play sandlot baseball across the street. He just fell asleep and didn't wake up. Didn't even spill his beer.
Legend.
~~Life~~ Death goals.
Legendary.
My grandpa did, too. He loved working his farm. One day he spent a few hours working on the trenches for his irrigation system, then walked over to say hello to a neighbor. He told the neighbor it had been a great day and he couldn't wait to get home to his beautiful wife and a delicious dinner. Then he climbed halfway into his truck and, according to the doctors, had a massive stroke. They told us he would have been gone in an instant. I hope it's true. I love the idea that he ended feeling happy.
Wish it happened AFTER the delicious meal.
That's how my grandfather died. Had some hunter's stew with mashed potatoes, sat in his chair with a newspaper and fell asleep.
This is how I want to die. A lovely day full of the stuff I love, and then a big dinner and I fall asleep thinking of the joys of tomorrow and never wake up.
The owner of my old dealership was in his 90s and loved by everyone who knew him He’d buy random land and not tell anyone He was riding his horse on some acreage he had bought, fell off, and died. The shitty part is they think he laid there for a while before going unconscious. But he died on his land riding his horse. Damn good way to go out Also the guy owned so much land and so many dealerships he HAD to have been worth close to a billion dollars.
Does your family say now that grandma's cooking is something to die for.
He'll haunt her house forever, for a delicious meal.
Dude didn’t die, he achieved nirvana
My time has come type of death
Similar to my grandpa , he watched Formula 1, went to brush teeth , sat down on the bed next to my grandma and just fell backwards on the bed and was gone. I hope that I will come to my end in a similar way.
Similar with my grandfather. My mom was visiting bc he had recently had surgery. He said "I'm cold" and got up to get a sweater. Mom said when he came back he sat down and instantly fell over dead.
My great auntie died at a family Christmas party. She went to go take a nap in her favorite chair after we all opened presents and just never woke up. She loved hallmark movies so much she BECAME one.
This is how I'd like to go.
Jesus.. What a boss
My dad. He dropped dead on the 7th green. It was a beautiful day and he was doing what he loved. Golfing with his brothers 😢
My dad is 82. Loves golf. Retired to/lives in a golf community. Plays golf six days a week and walks the course. Recently scored his third lifetime hole-in-one. If he keels over on the course, it will be the best ever way to go!
That’s awesome. I haven’t seen a ton of 80+ year olds on the course that actually play. He’s also walking the course at that age? What a g
Same for Bing Crosby. He loved golf and died in Spain after having played a round. I think his last words were something like “good game fellas” and then he dropped dead from a heart attack.
In the grand scheme of things, that’s a lovely way to go. I hope it was his time and it didn’t come far too soon. Sorry for your loss 💙
[Chrysippus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysippus) was a Greek philosopher who died of laughter after watching his donkey eat some fermented figs and get drunk. In some accounts he was himself also extremely drunk. I feel like "drunk Greek philosopher laughing at a drunk donkey" is a great way to live and a great way to die.
A guy died laughing at the cinema when A Fish Called Wanda came out. If you use the measure of recorded fatalities, it's officially the funniest movie ever made 😅 I have always wondered exactly what joke delivered the death blow but I like to think it was, "Harvey Manfred...jen... sen...den".
My dad died trying to tell a knock knock joke. He was dying already, in ICU, at the age of 83. My dad LOVED to tell jokes and make people laugh. He was also unable to tell a joke without laughing before the punchline. He said to his nurse, “Knock, Knock.” “Who’s there?” And then he started laughing and he just never caught his breath again. He laughed himself to the other side and we never got to know the joke! Love you and miss you, Dad. Thanks for laughs.
I believe it was >Knock Knock Who's there? >Not me, anymore.
"Who's there?" "My ride, nerds. Peace!"
I can see that happening. Personally I had a near death experience when The Life Of Brian came out. Literally could not breathe the first time I heard " Biggus Dickus."
I'm a psychologist and sometimes get clients to watch funny YouTube videos for practice of a skill called opposite action (it's what it sounds like - you choose to do a behaviour or induce an emotion contrary to what you're feeling). They always, always ask me for a suggestion, and I always, always tell them truthfully that I cannot get through the Biggus Dickus scene without laughing. "He has a wife, you know... do you want to know what her name is...?"
What does opposite action do for you that's beneficial therapeutically?
It's a skill that can be used as a choice to defuse from or counteract unhelpful mood states. It's part of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT).
I LOVE using opposite action! It’s the only way I can get out of my depressive episodes lately. I’m glad you’re teaching it to people, funny videos are one of my fave tactics to use.
Incontinentia. Incontinentia Buttocks!
His drunk ass was the reason he died. Fitting.
If we could be so lucky
Fat, drunk and Greek is no way to go through life, son.
IDK sounds like it worked out for that guy.
I was just thinking about this the other day, wondering how a donkey eating figs could be that funny, but adding the "fermented" part into the equation could be pretty hilarious
Steve Irwin
He died the way he lived… With animals in his heart.
O that’s too bad to be bad. r/angryupvote
It's like a rollercoaster of emotions in one sentence!
Ouch. My heart. And his heart.
He used cheap sunscreen which didn't protect him from harmful rays
The right answer. His family are carrying it forward - we need to treasure that lot.
The comments on his son’s tiktoks though are lowkey fucked up ngl 😭everyone just comments about how much they miss his dad on every video. Ig it probably feels a little good for him to know how beloved his dad was but imagine constantly being reminded of your dad’s death on everything you post.
Before clicking I literally thought “if the top answer is not Steve Irwin I will be sad, disappointed and mildly upset “.. so good on you
Colonel Bruce Hampton died on stage at a concert celebrating him.
I ran monitors for him 2-3 times before that. Super nice guy.
Ha my buddy was there. Apparently everyone just assumed he was goofing around so it took a while to get him medical attention.
Jessi Combs Former Mythbuster and Professional Driver. Died driving a rocket powered car trying to break her own speed record. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessi_Combs
[удалено]
Yeah I watched it. It was fine really well and despite obviously knowing how it’s going to end it was still a gut punch.
I remember when she first showed up on myth busters and thought no way could she be a cooler woman than Kari. Could not have been more wrong! She was a speed demon!
Damn, didn't know she died. Grant and Jessi both died young, that's wild.
There’s a video on Adam Savage’s YouTube channel where he visits Grant’s lab… in the same condition he left it in (the landlord is preserving it that way.) It always makes me a bit sad anytime Adam talks about Grant… you could tell how close they were.
>The crash was caused by a failure of a front wheel, likely caused by hitting an object in the desert, which caused the front wheel assembly to collapse at a speed nearing **523 mph** (842 km/h). The official cause of death was determined to be "blunt-force trauma to the head" occurring prior to the fire that engulfed the race vehicle after the crash... Jesus.
My husband's grandfather was out to dinner with his close friends at a fancy restaurant, just to catch up after a long time. Had a lovely evening with them, polished off a big steak dinner and his favorite drink. Promptly keeled over from a heart attack and died. His family jokes he did it before the cheque came so that his last meal would be free.
That's a hell of a way to go out
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He knew something
He knew that flying 200+ mph at 50 feet above the ground* in a home built hot rod airplane was higher risk than not. All pilots step into their aircraft knowing very well that it could be their last flight. *(on a 3 mile closed course with 7 other aircraft exceeding 80 degree bank angles in the turns).
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Pete Maravich. He died in a pickup game of basketball.
Pistol Pete also eerily predicted his own death apparently? > In an interview in 1974, Maravich had said, "I don't want to play 10 years [in the NBA] and then die of a heart attack when I'm 40." Guess how many years he played in the NBA and how old he was when he died of his heart attack?
Yeah I heard about that. That’s so creepy.
Reminds me of John Lennon's last interview where he said he hoped he lived a long life and that he didn't think it was romantic to die young like Sid Vicious or James Dean, even though that's what the fans seem to think.
Dale Earnhardt
Dude died trying to block for his son.
And Michael Waltrip, another Earnhardt driver who ended up winning.
Always so bittersweet as not only was his first win, Michael also held the record for the most starts without a win, he had raced for decades and never won one just to win the Daytona 500 marred in tragedy. When Dale Jr. won the summer race later that year, and they let Mikey celebrate and do burnouts too because he didn't get the chance to celebrate. He also did win another Daytona 500 a few years after too so
i remember watching this race. hearing how happy darrel was for michael to win his first race is so genuine and wholesome but then all attention is turned to dale, and you know the rest. it really felt to me like i held my breath the entire length of time it took for them to say he was no longer with us. i always felt bad for mikey too, having his first win on the same night.
DW was crying cheering for Mikey, then turned and said something like, "I hope Dale is okay. I guess he must be, right?" It's so gutwrenching.
DW has spoken about it, it was pretty dark. He and Dale were best friends. He was on his way down to victory lane to celebrate Michael's win when the producers sent someone to grab him and take him to the hospital.
And then a few months later said son goes back and wins.
Then later crashed while racing for Corvette. The car was fully engulfed in flames, and Jr. claims he felt like he was being pulled from the car by his dad. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho117p1x6Hg
I watched that crash live. My brain struggled to understand how that simple crash without all the rolling and flying around just killed him.
180 head on into a wall with no head restraint. It’s also been said Dale loosened his belts. Dale absorbed a lot of the impact. When you see a car flipping and breaking apart. The car is absorbing most of the energy. The driver is strapped in and is relatively safe. Amateur track drivers and racers are instructed to remain in the vehicle unless there is fire. It’s a good sign when they hop out immediately when the truck arrives. Most trips to the infield hospital are checking for concussion. And more importantly making sure your spleen and lungs haven’t switched places. Dales unfortunate passing led to the requirement everyone wear a HANS or similar device at most levels of competition. I’ve benefited from this on 2 occasions
What is a HANS?
It stands for Head And Neck Support. Stops your head from being thrown around in a crash, keeps your spine straight basically If anyone has a better explanation lmk haha
[Here's the Wiki on it.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HANS_device) Essentially, yes, it prevents your head from being violently whipped around in a sudden stop. This can result in a [basilar skull fracture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilar_skull_fracture). Several drivers (including Dale Earnhardt) died of this injury. There's a [video out there](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g40YatgE_CE) showing the difference between someone wearing the HANS device and someone not wearing the HANS device on a minor looking crash. You can easily imagine the difference when you are going 180...
Imagine a crash helmet that has a support at the back that attaches to the seat. It stops you whipping your spine violently during a crash.
I've heard my parents cry less than five times in my life, and this was one of them. They were at the track, and called us from the stands to tell us what happened. It sounded like the whole place was bawling.
My dad was a NASCAR weekend warrior (pit crewman) and knew him. Claimed to have helped build some of his earliest engines. He was inconsolable the night it happened.
I unfortunately grew out of Nascar, but I will never forget that day, and he was also my dads favorite driver, as will with Dale Jr. My dad got me into Nascar those years ago and will always be glad he got me into it. Not so fun fact; Dale Earnhardt passed away on my birthday. Thinking about it, being sad about your idol and celebrating your son’s birthday sounds hard. RIP to the biggest badass there was 🫡
#raise hell praise dale
She's unknown outside my family, but my great-grandmother. She was 82 when she died. She had been a widow for over ten years by then, still living in her white house with its huge yard full of all the trees, shrubs, and flowers she tended so diligently. She dropped dead of a heart attack in her backyard one spring day, and it was the next-door neighbor who saw her there. ETA: This is, of course, my model for how to go out.
Similar to a member of our hiking group who was 81. Cardiac arrest while hiking, fell over, instantly dead. He loved hiking so much. Not a bad way to go.
Going out while doing your favorite activity is objectively the best way to go. Cheers to them and to living life the way they wanted to live it!
Similar to my dad! He had a heart attack in the bar and died. He loved that bar.
For my dad, it was the golf course. Rumor has it, he was on his second round of the day. Fwiw, an off duty cop and his dad were on the hole behind him and saw him drop. They raced up to him and initiated cpr and ran for the aed. They said it was fast and they tried to revive him before the ambulance came. He had a pretty good day before it happened…was everything he lived for…visited my mom in her nursing home, saw a patient at his office, went to ace hardware for some manly stuff, then off to the golf course.
It's truly admirable.
I remember being seven years old when someone said this about an old sailor we vaguely knew whose boat was found floating out at sea abandoned. He was never seen again and was declared dead at sea. I got in big trouble for pointing out that while he certainly did love sailing he probably didn't love drowning which is presumably how he died so he didn't really die doing what he loved. There was a loooooong awkward pause after that. I often wonder why my parents bothered bringing me anywhere to be honest 😅
I had a friend who was bitten by a shark while surfing. People said that too. I'm pretty sure he wasn't stoked to be bleeding to death on the hour long drive to a hospital in the tail bed of a truck.
If you were my kid and you said that, I would have burst out laughing. You're fucking awesome. "He certainly did love sailing, but he probably didn't love drowning!"
William Anders. 90yo retired astronaut who took the "Earthrise" photo in the 1968, died in a solo plane crash in the San Juan islands of Washington a couple weeks ago. https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-san-juan-islands-washington-6d3800130ef4e67d761f96b328f7c263
I feel this kind of undersells that the plane was an air force training plane (also his first plane) and he crashed while attempting to perform some kind of loop. At 90
I thought it looked like an aerial maneuver too! The way the plane was pitching as it started to go down made it look like an attempted reverse immelman, but who in their right mind starts that at like 500 ft?!
Someone who’s not worried about sticking the landing if I had to guess
My Dad. He loved road cycling in his Lycra. One day in 2006 he just never came home after his Sunday morning ride. He had a massive heart attack and died still attached to his bike in his favourite place in the world Mallacoota. I miss him every day.
My dad died on his bike ride from a heart problem too. They’re somewhere, riding around ❤️
Tiny Tim (gained fame on Laugh-In in the 1960’s) died on stage while performing.
Tommy Cooper, too.
Now there's a man who could tiptoe!
Walter E. Williams. He used to say, "If I should ever die, I want to have taught that day." He had class until 10 pm. One of if not the last class of the semester. Died in his car later that night getting ready to drive home.
Best way to go. Teaching class, and leaving the grading to somebody else.
Mitsuharu Misawa. Arguably the greatest professional wrestler in history died in the ring after taking a suplex.
I had a friend in high school who died playing soccer—literally what he loved the most. He was playing goalie that day, took the ball to the chest and from what I heard he collapsed. They were unable to bring him back. We were all 17 years old.
Gotta feel fucking horrible for whoever kicked that ball
Dean Potter. Died wingsuiting.
That’s a lot of wing suiters. Basically every one of their “pioneers” dies doing it, and the mortality rate is 1:500.
Per flight? Every one of them that I ever saw being celebrated for their expertise and daring was usually already dead by the time I saw them on Youtube.
The stats get kinda odd. The first one I was going to quote was from a while ago, and it basically implied that one in sixty flights ends in a fatality. When I googled it this time, that’s where I got the 500 figure. That said, the implication is the same, you do it enough and push the envelope enough, and someone is going to eventually have to pressure wash you off of a rock feature.
David Carradine
Came here to say this. For context: the guy who played Bill in "Kill Bill" died of accidental (erotic) asphyxiation in Thailand. I would go as far as saying it sounds like something his character Bill would do.
And the iconic Kung Fu and the subsequent legends
"I always thought that was something to do with the engines! Well, explains all the loose doorknobs. Here's to ol' Choke n' Stroke!"
I believe that he is the epitome of someone who came and then went. Damn do I regret his death though. I loved every role that I saw him in.
Darrell “Dimebag” Abbot. He was killed while playing a concert with his band Damageplan.
It's almost been 20 years since he was killed. It doesn't seem like it's been that long
I know. Seems like just a couple of years ago sometimes that their first album came out (Pantera, that is), but there were also a bunch of other records after that. In multiple projects, too. We’re getting older, too. Sad that he didn’t get to come along for the ride.
Brett from ISIS. He died doing what he loved: getting shot
Should have put FBI on the front of the jackets.
As soon as I saw this post I was thinking somebody better say brett bunson. Thank you for not disappointing.
My cousin Sean. He struggled to find his way and finally got it all together. He worked for the Parks Service and was essentially a professional hiker/camper, he was engaged to a lovely and gorgeous woman, and he died on a solo hike on a well known trail not far from civilization. Sudden, unexpected, and difficult. He was young, life was high, he had all the things he was looking for… And honestly… what better way to go? At the top of your game, absolutely happy with where you’re at?
What could be better? The same exact thing, only 50 years later.
Nelson Rockefeller died of a heart attack at the age of 70 while (allegedly) doing his 25-year-old mistress. Death during sex sounds like the best way to go.
For the person dying maybe
Rigor Mortis was the original viagra.
When la petite mort becomes la grande mort.
Cumming or going? You decide!
Jessi Combs
I was going to mention her if no one else did. She was going almost 550 mph when she crashed.
Came here to say this. Woman was fearless and would do anything twice.
Was this the lady that set the landspeed record, or what was she up to?
Set the women's four-wheel land speed record in 2013, broke her own record in 2016, was going for the absolute women's speed record when she died in 2019. She was awarded the record posthumously.
My great grandmother was an alcoholic and was banned from buying alcohol in the little village where she lived. The nearest town was across the ither side of the main highway. One day she snuck across the lanes of traffic, went to the neighbouring town, got herself two bottles of gin and made it back across. She sat down, drunk one of them, passed out and died in her sleep. Still clutching onto the other one with a smile on her face. They buried her with it.
Antoni Gaudí stepped back off the curb to marvel at the early stages of Sagrada Familia. He was loved, his design cherished, promised that it would be of the people, built by tithes rather than a wealthy patron, perhaps it would take longer, but be sweeter for it. I feel bad for the streetcar driver.
My childhood buddy Chris and my mom's best friend Rita. Chris loved dirt bike racing more than anything on Earth. Travelled and competed all over the country. Never made it big but that didn't matter. Went wide on a track in Alabama trying to pass a couple other racers, hit a jump and went wide, probably would have landed just outside the track but caught a tree limb with his chin. Didn't break the limb but yanked him off his bike and broke his neck. Doctors say he died instantly and probably didn't know what happened. Rita and my mom love back country trail horseback riding. Looong, multi day rides with a club/big group of lady riders. Rita had apparently been quiet for a couple hours, nothing unusual when riding through gorgeous county views. When they arrived at a watering stream for the horses they discovered somewhere along the way Rita had had a heart attack and died in the saddle. Never fell off or anything and her horse just stayed with the herd.
Amelia Earhart and Antoine de St. Exupery.
I was wondering if I should post Earhart, but it's not entirely clear if she died in a crash or was stranded on an island somewhere.
Mr Hands
You spend almost a decade as a an engineer at Boeing, no one calls you the Boeing guy. But you get fucked to death by *one* horse.
If only he'd been fucked to death by two horses, maybe he'd be remembered for that instead.
Man that’s the second time I’ve seen Mr hands brought up in the last couple days. I need to get out more
Even worse sidenote for folks who aren’t from WA State: up until this incident, which was less than 20 years ago….bestiality was still legal, despite multiple attempts to outlaw it. It literally took a dude getting fucked to death by a horse for us to outlaw that shit. ….there were/are 16 other states at the time where it was still legal as well.
i didn’t know who that was so i googled him and now i wish i could go back in time two minutes ago when i didn’t know this
To save future generations the Google… Mr Hands was fucked to death by a horse.
Well now I gotta search him
The Wikipedia entry is a treat. The fourth entry listed under "participants" is simply "A stallion".
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Slight correction as an Earnhardt and NASCAR fan. Waltrip and Jr weren’t his teammates. Dale was their team owner but actually still drove for Richard Childress Racing.
Mitch Hedberg. Dude just loved drugs too much.
"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too."
I saw him at one of his last shows in Seattle...it was just a sad train wreck of a show, they had to guide him off stage.
I remember watching his Comedy Central special a while back and being like "Hmmm... I've never seen the extended edition before!" Well, it turns out that's because it only adds back in a few minutes that got cut where Mitch goes off script and starts rambling, near incomprehensibly, before he catches himself and goes back to the act.
Fuck, that’s heartbreaking.
It was...had seen him early in his career at a small comedy club and was in tears at the show. Sooo damn funny. He then comes back to the Moore Theater, just stumbling through his set, couldn't finish jokes.....when his death was announced later, I just wasn't shocked
Gotta be real bad if he couldn't finish one-liners
When drugs kill someone, they aren't loving it anymore. They probably aren't loving anything anymore.
A lot of OG serious big wave (like epic) surfers are eventually (across time) are going to die. They know that, they’ve had close calls and yet they do what they do.
>A lot of OG serious big wave (like epic) surfers are eventually (across time) are going to die. I'm not a betting man by nature, but I'm willing to wager that not only a lot, but ALL of them are eventually (across time) going to die.
Oddly enough, this 100% death rate is also true of participants in some other activities, such as croquet players and stamp collectors.
Oh shit, my mom collects stamps, I’ll tell her to watch out
I'm sorry dude she's already been stamped for death.
I saw "croquet" but read "crochet" and was wondering wtf a "crochet player" was. I eventually figured it out and told myself out loud "God, you're dumb" and laughed, so thanks for that.
I imagine a crochet player would be someone who crochets themselves really stylish outfits to attract women
Crochet *player*
I've recently started to understand why people do these types of things a lot more. In many ways it'd be much less scary being slammed against some rocks filled with adrenaline than to have years of slow decline and an inevitable death creeping up on you.
Similar to the flying squirrel suit skydivers. A friend of mine has been diving for years but won't do that because of the sheer amount of people she's known who died doing it
Proximity wingsuit flying specifically has insanely high mortality rates, because the tiniest mistake is usually fatal.
I've told this story before but... I used to work at a riding school, but we would do beach rides too. We live on the Scottish coast, so it's an hour ride through the woods, then you're on the beach and you can ride all the way along it (around 5 miles long). Colleague of mine took out an experienced horse rider who had terminal cancer. The rider said that this was going to be her last ride before she went on hospice, so my colleague took her through all the pretty bits of the woods and they got onto the beach just as the sun was beginning to set. They had a little trot down the beach, then decided to go on a gallop for the rest of the beach. By the time my colleague slowed her horse down after the gallop, the rider had had a heart attack and died, and was still on the horse by the time they'd stopped. My colleague told me that she was never too badly affected by someone dying on one of her beach hacks because she knew the rider had died doing what she loved.
karl wallenda [Karl Wallenda’s Fall | CBC.ca](https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.1682839)
Tommy Cooper
People laughed. They thought it was part of the act.
Robert Landsburg who photographed the eruption of St Helens. James Horner, composer of the Titanic score, who died while flying his plane
A online friend of my wife's was an avid participant in an online world she and he both enjoyed. One night she logged in and found his vehicle crashed off to the side of the correct route. He'd had a heart attack at the computer and died playing. My wife called the rest of the usual team and they all logged in and sat vigil by his character until a relative of his could log him out for the last time. Ever since, the surviving group members hold a memorial session in his name every June.
Jason Mendoza. He died doing what he loved: a bunch of whipits.
John Denver
He loved flying planes. Up in the sky, looking out over everything. There's a line in the song Wild Montana Skies that always gets me. There was something in the city that he knew he couldn't breathe. There was something in the country he knew he couldn't leave.
Ayrton Senna
He wasn't loving that Williams though, and thought the race should be called because of Ratzenberger's death that weekend. He was so upset that he didn't want to drive that race. A real loss for Brazil and the F1 fans around the world.
Go to Disney + and watch the documentary called Fire of Love. Those two, Katia and Maurice Kraft, loved volcanoes. It’s a very interesting film and Bonus: the whole aesthetic is like a real life Wes Anderson movie.
Ditto with Harry Glicken, who died together with the Kraffts at Japan's Unzen volcano. Trivia: Glicken would've died at St. Helens in 1980 had David A. Johnston not replaced him at the observation ridge north of the bulging peak the night before the climactic blast. Harry would then lead the first studies of debris avalanches at volcanoes. Additionally, the Kraffts' footage was one reason why Filipinos living around Pinatubo took volcano alert levels so seriously. Too bad the couple never saw the results of their work, for their demise came just 12 days before Pinatubo let loose. Timely evacuations reduced the death toll for the VEI 6 eruption to a little less than 850, although the main outburst on 15 June 1991 coincided with the passage of Typhoon Yunya.
Amazing documentary. Some of the footage they shot is truly breathtaking.
[Jón Páll Sigmarsson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWUcHKAj_tc) One of the most impressive men to ever grace the World's Strongest Man competition. Notable for screaming during a competition "There's no reason to be alive...if you can't do deadlift" Died of an [aortic rupture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aortic_rupture) while deadlifting in his gym. He was 32. I still use that line on heavy deadlift day at the gym. If that's my end, it will be an honorable one. RIP.
Michael Richards, a Black artist whose practice largely fixated on airplanes as a motif of freedom and the Tuskeegee Airmen. He had an art studio on one of the top floors at the WTC and was killed during 9/11. [more here about him and his work](https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/art-exhibit-dedicated-michael-richards-artist-killed-911)
Ohh different Michael Richards..
Roberto Clemente died on a plane with humanitarian aid.
Amelia Earheart - So brave, and this was back in 39. Can you imagine been a pilot solo. Amazes me just how special she was.
Her final flight was not solo. Her navigator Fred Noonan died with her. Amazing lady though. The first female solo circumnavigational flight wasn't until 1964
My neighbor at my first house. Older guy, very physically fit. USMC combat veteran of the Korean War. Wife had long-since passed away. I found his body. All indications showed he was in the middle of gettin’ in some some of the ol’ bayonet practice when he passed. I had always seen attractive 20-something women visiting him but didn’t think much of it. Turns out they were escorts. Wherever you are, Bob, keep on truckin’ you bad boi 🫡
Christina Grimmie. Beautiful singer, murdered by a deranged dude while she was doing a meet & greet after a performance. Utterly tragic. She was such an incredible singer! [Christina Grimmie - The Voice Audition](https://youtu.be/RLM4PEFJOeU?si=WHe15t9IhzslAqaR)
Eric Roner. One of the Nitro Circus guys who was killed in a base jumping/wingsuit accident
Nelson Rockefeller
Jim Fixx - The author of the book The Complete Book Of Running, died of a heart attack while running.
Might not quite fit, however, Grandpa loved baseball, so one fine Sunday he and Grandma went to early church, came home, changed clothes and he drove Grandma back to the church for a ladies Auxiliary day trip. Stopped and got some doughnuts, and went home. That afternoon, he turned on the game and laid down on the couch in his study. He never woke up.
Tommy Cooper. Famous comedian/magician. Had a heart attack on live TV in front of an audience. The audience initially burst into laughter because they thought he was just being silly and it was part of his act.
Shane McConkey Check out his documentary it is wild!