List of people who died on the toilet

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Numerous individuals have died while using a toilet facility or in the process of defecation or urination. This includes confirmed or suspected historical figures as well as more recent notable cases.

Pre-20th century

Date Location Name Age Description Source
Summer of 581 BC Jin, China Duke Jing of Jin Unknown Died falling into a toilet pit. [1]
8 April 217 AD Between Edessa and Carrhae, Roman Empire Caracalla 29 Murdered by his soldiers while stopping to urinate, on his way to Edessa [2]
11/12 March 222 Rome Elagabalus 18 Murdered by the Praetorian Guard "in a latrine in which he had taken refuge". [3]
336 AD Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire Arius 80 Died from explosive gastrointestinal problems while in a public toilet [4]
30 November 1016 Oxford or London, England King Edmund Ironside of England 26 Stabbed while defecating in a toilet. [5]
4 November 1035 Lysá nad Labem, Bohemia Jaromír, Duke of Bohemia 60–70 Stabbed with a spear from under a toilet seat while defecating. [6]
26 or 27 February 1076 Vlaardingen, Lower Lorraine Godfrey IV, Duke of Lower Lorraine Unknown Was assassinated while using a toilet. [7]
19 April 1578 Echigo Province, Japan Uesugi Kenshin 48 Allegedly assassinated by a ninja while using a toilet, but very unlikely because his anticipation of his own death is recorded in a death poem. Early sources record his deterioration of health condition, his complaints of pain in the chest "like an iron ball", and as Kenshin Gunki (1582) records "on the 9th day of the 3rd month he had a stomach ache in his toilet. This unfortunately persisted until the 13th day when he died". It is much more likely that he suffered from esophageal cancer.[8] [9]
25 October 1760 Kensington Palace, London, England, Great Britain George II of Great Britain 76 Collapsed shortly after attending to his close stool, possibly died of an aortic aneurysm. [10]
1892 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. J.W., also known as Balloon Man 29 Suffered from congenital aganglionic megacolon, which brought him considerable fame for his bloated abdomen. He suffered from constipation, and was found dead in a bathroom at the age of 29, apparently having died trying to defecate. His eight foot long colon is currently on display at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. [11] [12]

20th and 21st centuries

Date Location Name Age Description Source
3 August 1966 Los Angeles, California, United States Lenny Bruce 40 Died from acute morphine poisoning caused by an overdose in the bathroom of his home in Hollywood Hills. [13][14]
22 June 1969 Chelsea, London Judy Garland 47 Overdosed on barbiturates while using a toilet. [15]
24 October 1971 Paris, France George Dyer 38 Overdose of alcohol and amphetamine while using a toilet. Portrayed in The Black Triptychs [16]
16 August 1977 Memphis, Tennessee Elvis Presley 42 Cardiac arrest due to alleged drug overdose. [17]
8 March 1989 Columbia, South Carolina Michael Godwin 28 Initially sentenced to death by electrocution, but later reduced to a life sentence. He was accidentally electrocuted when he bit a pair of earphone wires while sitting on a metal toilet. [18]
19 January 1996 Los Angeles, California, United States Don Simpson 52 Died of heart failure caused by combined drug intoxication in the bathroom of his home in Bel Air. [19][20]
8 March 2004 Hollywood Hills, California, United States Robert Pastorelli 49 Overdosed on morphine while on a toilet. [21]
25 June 2011 Pilton, Somerset, United Kingdom Christopher Shale 56 Died of a heart attack on a portable toilet while at Glastonbury Festival. [22]
17 May 2013 Marcos Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina Jorge Rafael Videla 87 Died of a heart attack while on a jail toilet after slipping in the shower. [23]
10 October 2016 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany Tamme Hanken 56 Died of sudden heart failure on a hotel toilet. [24]
21 June 2019 Doha, Qatar Toufiq M Seraj 63 Fell unconscious on an aeroplane toilet en route from Dhaka to Doha, pronounced dead of massive heart attack shortly after landing. [25]
23 November 2021 Seoul, Republic of Korea Chun Doo-hwan 90 Having multiple myeloma, found "fallen down" by a probable heart attack in a toilet at home. [26]

Deaths in fiction

See also

References

  1. ^ Zuo Qiuming (translator James Legge). "Book VIII. Duke Cheng". Zuo Zhuan (in Chinese and English). University of Virginia. Retrieved 23 April 2012. Chapter X.
  2. ^ "Historia Augusta • Life of Caracalla". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  3. ^ "Historia Augusta • The Life of Elagabalus". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  4. ^ Muehlberger, Ellen (6 May 2015). "The Legend of Arius' Death: Imagination, Space and Filth in Late Ancient Historiography". Past & Present. 227 (1): 3–29. doi:10.1093/pastj/gtu042.
  5. ^ Henry of Huntingdon (2002). Historia Anglorum [History of the English People]. p. 15.
  6. ^ Chronica Baemorum. "Kochan poslal svého kata a když onen slepec seděl na záchodě v hodině noční, vyprazdňoval břich, proklál ho ostrým oštěpem zezadu až do útrob břišních."
  7. ^ Hay, David (2008), The military leadership of Matilda of Canossa, 1046-1115, Manchester University Press, pp. 35, 43–44.
  8. ^ Turnbull, Stephen (2012b). Ninja AD 1460–1650. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781782002567.
  9. ^ Turnbull 2012, p. 32
  10. ^ Thompson, pp. 289–290; Van der Kiste, p. 213.
  11. ^ "Giant Megacolon". The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Archived from the original on 2023-01-10. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  12. ^ "Medical mystery solved: The case of the 'Balloon Man'". M3 USA Corporation.
  13. ^ Collins, Ronald K. L.; Skover, David M.; Bruce, Lenny (2002). The trials of Lenny Bruce : the fall and rise of an American icon. Internet Archive. Naperville, Ill. : Sourcebooks MediaFusion. ISBN 978-1-57071-986-8.
  14. ^ "Lenny Bruce, Uninhibited Comic, Found Dead in Hollywood Home". The New York Times. 2001-10-15. Archived from the original on 2001-10-15. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  15. ^ citing United Press International article "Judy Took Too Many Pills" and containing a copy of Garland's death certificate.
  16. ^ Jonathan Jones (17 September 2019), "Death on a toilet: the shocking Paris show that almost sank Francis Bacon", The Guardian
  17. ^ "Elvis' addiction was the perfect prescription for an early death". PBS NewsHour. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  18. ^ "Convicted Criminal Escaped Electric Chair, Then Electrocuted Himself in his Toilet". The Vintage News. 2018-08-27. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  19. ^ Pace, Eric (1996-01-21). "Don Simpson Is Dead at 52; Produced Blockbuster Films". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  20. ^ admin (2015-03-04). "Don Simpson (Producer) - bizarre sex life? ⋆ Historian Alan Royle". Historian Alan Royle. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  21. ^ "Actor Robert Pastorelli found dead in home". TODAY.com. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  22. ^ "PM in Commons tribute to friend". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  23. ^ "Videla, el represor que murió en un inodoro y que lideró a los que podrían pedir el 2x1". BigBang! News (in Spanish). 5 May 2017. Archived from the original on 2022-07-28. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
  24. ^ "Tamme Hanken: Herztod auf Toilette in Garmisch-Partenkirchen". www.merkur.de (in German). 2016-10-11. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  25. ^ Staff Correspondent (22 June 2019). "Sheltech MD dies on plane". The Daily Star. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  26. ^ 이호승; 강수련 (23 November 2021). "'끝내 사과 없이' 전두환 사망..'친구' 노태우 떠난 지 28일만(종합2보)". News 1 (in Korean). Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  27. ^ Alexander, Bryan (7 April 2013). "'Jurassic Park': Meet 'the guy who died on the toilet'". USA Today. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  28. ^ "Game of Thrones Viewer's Guide". viewers-guide.hbo.com. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  29. ^ McGee, Ryan (14 March 2012). "South Park: "Reverse Cowgirl"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  30. ^ Berkowitz, Joe (2019-03-03). "SNL has disrupted elder care with this excremental innovation". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  31. ^ Deep Rising (1998) - IMDb, retrieved 2021-03-29
  32. ^ Return of the Obra Dinn Wiki Guide - IGN, retrieved 2021-12-12
  33. ^ Extraction synopsis, retrieved 2022-02-27
  34. ^ Succession recap: The world ends, 10 April 2023, retrieved 2023-04-13