This Day in History: 56 year old Pamela Kreimeyer of Marion County, Iowa, was killed during an explosion at a gender reveal party. In an attempt to film a gender reveal worthy of posting online, members of her family filled her steel umbrella stand with gunpowder instead of emitting a shower of sparks as they initially intended. The metal pipe in the umbrella was unable to contain the overpressure, and the device acted as a pipe bomb instead. Kreimeyer was struck in the head by a metal fragment and was killed instantly.
For many years, parties and banquets have shown us many creative ways that people can die. This past week we saw here how Tycho Brahe contracted a bladder ailment after attending a banquet in Prague, and died eleven days later.
In 620 BC, beloved Athenian law-maker Draco was reportedly smothered to death by gifts of cloaks and hats showered upon him by appreciative citizens at an event.
At a birthday party in Moscow early last year, three people died of carbon dioxide suffocation and drowning in a sauna. Dry ice was thrown into an indoor swimming pool to create a layer of thick white fog over the surface. The carbon dioxide from the dry ice displaced the oxygen.
On April 24, 1671, the majordomo for Prince Louis II de Bourbon-Cond was preparing a banquet for 2,000 people hosted in honor of King Louis XIV. Vatel was so distraught about the lateness of the seafood delivery and about other mishaps that he committed suicide with his sword. His body was discovered when someone came to tell him of the arrival of the fish.
On 5 April 2019, a wedding planner, Darren Hickey from Horwich, England, died after eating a scalding-hot fishcake at a wedding. The cause of death was ruled to be asphyxiation. The pathologist who performed his autopsy called the case "extremely rare" and likened his symptoms to those of victims who have inhaled smoke during house fires.
On November 1953, CIA researcher Frank Olson, was covertly dosed with LSD at a party by the head of the CIA's MKUltra program, and, nine days later, plunged to his death from the window of the Hotel Statler. The U.S. government first described his death as a suicide, and then as misadventure. Others allege it was murder.
In 1941, author Sherwood Anderson died of peritonitis — an inflammation of the tissue lining the abdomen. Anderson accidentally swallowed a toothpick while eating hors d'ouevres on board a cruise ship.
On February 1771, King Adolf Frederick of Sweden died after over-eating at a banquet. Adolf was unusually famished after fasting for lent. So at the feast, he consumed lobster, caviar, various fish dishes, and a pile of sauerkraut, all washed down with champagne. For dessert, the king wolfed down 14 dishes of semlor—a kind of sweet bread roll served in a bowl of warm milk.
In 2014, Indiana anesthesiologist George “Scott” Samson shot and killed his new wife and then shot himself during the wedding reception. They were arguing over a prenuptial agreement.
In 2016, a woman at a birthday party in Normandy, France, stumbled while carrying a birthday cake that caused a fire leading to the deaths of 13 people. Source
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