Laughing Your Ass Off Can Kill You

in #funny7 years ago (edited)

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How would you like your gravestone to be etched with the words “Killed by a donkey”? Please don’t laugh so hard. It may be hazardous to your health. Indeed, laughing can be deadly!

There is a rumor on the Internet that donkeys kill more people each year than die in airplane crashes. For those who care to look, there are news stories from around the world about people being mauled by donkeys or getting in car crashes trying to avoid hitting donkeys in the road. However, according to Snopes.com, there are no reliable statistics on donkey-caused deaths.

Next time you’re being chased by a pack of wild asses, there’s another way to die before they even reach you: laughing your ass off. Yes, you can die of laughter. Bitten by your own ass.

That’s what may have happened to Chrysippus, an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher. There are two accounts of Chrysippus’ death, which occurred during the 143rd Olympiad in Greece. He would have been 72 years old.

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Chrysippus. Source: Commonly used meme image. Not sure who captioned it.

One account claims he drank some bad wine. The other also involved wine. According to the second version of his death (from biographer Diogenes Laertius), Chrysippus was watching a donkey that had found some figs. The donkey ate the figs, which Chrysippus found quite funny. He called out for his slave to give the donkey a drink of fine wine with the figs. And he laughed so hard he died. Not bad for a Stoic philosopher.

For someone to die of laughter, donkeys do not need to be involved. There are many other reports of this cause of death throughout history. People have died after hearing jokes, while watching comedy skits, or upon hearing something that made them laugh. Cleopatra’s retainer, King Martin of Aragon, Pietro Aretino, Thomas Urquhart, William Cushing, and Ole Bentzen are a few of the people known to have died from laughing too hard.

Death by laughter is firmly engrained in our culture, being used as a plot device in stories, movies, and video games. Batman, Seinfeld, South Park, the Ice Age movies, Mary Poppins, Little Shop of Horrors, and the Sims series provide some examples of modern use of the theme. “I’m dying of laughter” is a popular saying when a person finds something very funny.

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Laughing Statues, Vancouver. Creative Commons via Flickr by Matthew Grapengleser.

In the 1970’s, as Kung Fu movies became increasingly popular, the TV show The Goodies created a phony martial art called Eckythump. The rules were similar to Kung Fu except that a person could fight with a black pudding (a type of sausage) and use it as a weapon. On one episode of the show, the Eckythump master, armed with a black pudding, fought with a Scottish bagpiper wearing a kilt.

Alex Mitchell, a fan of the show from Kings Lynn, England, found this so funny that it caused him to laugh for 25 minutes. He then keeled over on his sofa, dead. Instead of suing the TV show for causing his death, his widow sent the show’s producers a ‘thank you’ letter instead. She said Mr. Mitchell’s last few moments on earth were very happy ones.

Of course, it’s not the laughing that kills a person, since laughter sometimes is said to be the best medicine. In a fit of intense laughter, a person can suffer a heart attack, stroke, or asphyxiation. One of those would be the technical reason that he or she kicked the bucket. The laughter merely precipitates it.

There are many ways to die. Maybe death from laughter is not the worst of them. To be sure, let’s consider a few others first.

Sigurd the Mighty, a Norse earl from Orkney in the Ninth Century, died after being ‘bitten’ by a man he had beheaded. While riding his horse, he was carrying the man’s decapitated head; it slipped and the head’s teeth cut into his leg. Sigurd died of the infection.

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Falling cow sign. Source: thedetroitbureau.com

In 2013, a Brazilian man was killed in bed when a cow fell on top of him. It had escaped from a nearby farm and climbed onto his roof, which backed up to a hill.

A lawyer from Canada died trying to prove that a building’s windows were unbreakable. He threw himself against a glass window on the 24th Floor of a building. The glass did not break, but it popped out of the window frame and he plunged to his death.

An Austrian man in 1567 claimed to have the longest beard in the world. While trying to escape from a fire, he tripped over it and broke his neck.

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This is another person with a long beard, not the one who tripped. This is Hans Langseth, who claimed (centuries later) to have the world's longest beard. Public domain.

In 1900, American doctor Jesse William Lazear had a theory that mosquitoes were spreading yellow fever by biting humans. To test his theory, he let the mosquitoes bite him. He died of yellow fever.

In 1980, the mayor of Betterton, Maryland climbed on top of a sewage tank to test the city’s waste treatment. She fell in and drowned in 15 feet of human sewage.

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King Adolf Frederick. Montage by jobbatical.com

King Adolf Frederick of Sweden ate himself to death in 1771. He ate a meal that included lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, kippers (whole herring fish), and champagne, but dessert put him over the top. He finished his meal with 14 servings of semla. It is a pastry filled with cream (and, in the case of the hetvagg version he ate, these were served in bowls of hot milk).

Very few of us get to choose the time and manner of our departures. But at least Chrysippus and King Adolph Frederick died doing something that gave them pleasure. Perhaps there is a higher purpose for humankind than simple pleasures. But I can think of worse ways to go out than that, assuming I don’t get my own Wikipedia page because of it. How about you?

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Sources
Snopes on Donkey Deaths: https://www.snopes.com/science/stats/donkey.asp
Death From Laughter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_from_laughter
Chrysippus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysippus
Weird Deaths: https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/incredibly-weird-deaths?utm_term=.yglMP87MKO#.uu971dY7GX
Sigurd the Mighty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigurd_Eysteinsson
King Adolf Frederick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Frederick,_King_of_Sweden
Semla: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semla

Toothy donkey pictures (2) are used under license from iStockphoto. Others include attribution.

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I have had a few near death experiences in my life. One of them involved laughing. I can't believe I am actually putting this on the blockchain forever. Here goes... I was a little under the weather but decided to go see a movie. I had a cough but it seemed to have subsided. Then I saw a scene in a movie that made me laugh so hard that I seriously could not catch my breath. I was laughing and coughing non-stop. I honestly thought I might die. But I still couldn't stop laughing.

It wouldn't really be embarrassing except for the fact that the movie I was watching was Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore.

This was the scene that was almost the last thing I would ever see.

I was 25.

I must go to the box now and feel shame.

Oh I feel your pain with the laughing/coughing crap. I am dealing with that going on a few days now. Today was really bad as I was wearing my smartass pants and wreaking havoc with coworkers. I had a version of comedy central going on until I started my barking cough. Adam Sandler is da man. How he can keep a straight face beats me.

Great morning read with coffee...

I feel for you. Sometimes, our minds are in just the right place and something like that hits us like a ton of therapy.

@donkeypong, this is so so hilarious, i can't stop laughing at the post, hope i won't pass out. lol.
My wife saw some jokes a while back and she laughed so badly that she started coughing so bad, we had a hard time before she was able to get herself together.

Laughing my ass off is so crazy!

Lol....well laughter is good for the health......

It is what they say: Too much of something can kill, even laughter so always put things in moderation.

They usually say, Laughter is the best medicine, but in this case I guess not huh?

Oh god i love happy gilmore. So many good one liners

You almost killed me, I would not mind dying of laughter, but not now... 😂😂😂

okay there is something about true events the facts that are satirically very funny thanks for the smile :)
confucious1.jpg

For the record. Just so you all know. If I make you laugh, you're safe. I am not trying to kill anyone.
This has been a public service announcement brought to you by @NoNamesLeftToUse.

Can't be too careful.

Lol, good to know. :-)

I am laughing so hard @donkeypong because this has me amazed who could ever have believe that one could laugh to death?. Indeed I am learning stuffs from you. Thank you

Really i can not but lough seeing this loughing photography . Really I enjoyed reading Your admirable post.
Haha......haha......haha.....hahahahahahahahah

boo, cats are the worst. Even the big stripey ones.

Don't laugh too hard. We don't want to lose you!

lolzzz...No we certainly don't want that @edith4angelseu:)

Thank you sir for the concern.

@donkeypong hhhhh killed by donkey lol , Seems That More People are
killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plance crashes .. I had to think a moment about the statement this joke makes. When there is a fatal airplane crash it is spectacular and always makes the news. When an entire plane load of people crashes and they all die, the numbers add up pretty quickly. However, “only” 200 people die annually in plane crashes. Contrast that to 40,000 deaths from automobile accidents. That means you have a 200% greater chance of dying in a car than in a plane. As far as shark attacks, , what about these killer donkeys ^_^

It's indeed possible to die of laugher, but solely because of it is extremely unlikely. You don't die because of the joke per se, but from the results it causes in your body.

From the medical angle, I have received a couple of patients at the ER who laughed so hard that they became asphyxiated. If not for the prompt medical attention, these men would have lost their lives. So yes, it is extremely likely to die solely because of laughter

Wow that is very interesting and informative. I never would have known that. Thanks for sharing. You learn something new each day.

what irony has life, "it is better to die laughing than a cow fall on me" hahahaha ,,,, definitely the one who left this life like this ,,, simply is a lucky ,,, logical nobody would like to die ,, , this I say in a hypothetical case ,,,

anyway great article @donkeypong, and very well @penking for clarification ,,,

Que sexy tu foto..

What's with the sexy lady pose....it doesn't seem to fit the content you produce. Why not put something more sensible up? You're obviously very intelligent. When people see this photo, they are going to think you are selling porn. Just saying. Unless....

I appreciate this advise. Thank You

this is my photo...calm down...you're wrong...irreverent

oh my... i laugh hard every day at funny things.

This kind of freak accidents such as laugh for 25 minutes and then keeled over on his sofa, dead, man died after being ‘bitten’ by a man he had beheaded, a Brazilian man was killed in bed when a cow fell on top of him... lol, funny thing is you never know that these freak accidents could be one day your story as well. I mean it could happen to anyone and at the same time it doesn’t happen to anyone.

Hmmmm, if laughing my ass out could kill me then I should have been dead a long time ago. I laugh a lot especially when I am excited. Well now that you have made mention of it through this post and with all these facts, mayb I will reduce the way I laugh...lolzzz

Don't stop. But take all things in moderation. :)

Laughing your ass off is okay. But you should never laugh your dog off.

Source: I am a dog.

this publication looks like the television show ...
1000 ways to die hahaha, what a way to die
of each of the characters already named are
the unusual death of each one ... but life is like that,
you never know in which direction you are going to die ..
I wish I never stumbled on a donkey in my
path.. :-)

This is fascinating.. In the event that you on second thought, passing on a jackass caused demise is really not all that hard. It's anything but difficult to have a mishap caused by endeavoring to abstain from hitting a jackass out and about. Be that as it may, jackass related passings can't approach the passings in plane crashes each year.

Who wouldn't snicker so hard at a jackass eating figs, and sufficiently amusing, watching it taking wine, this is nothing unexpected got Chrysalis to giggle to he's passing. This is so interesting.. yet, to be sure valid. Ceasing to exist of giggling isn't brand new information to our ears. Furthermore, the situations in this post demonstrate that these are not accidental passing. A few of us really were cautioned by our folks when still youthful not to stimulate our kin inasmuch as they said we could slaughter them from over chuckling.

You're the first person to mention the word "jackass" but it fits well for any number of reasons.

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