Caught With Their Pants Down

According to Uncle John's Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader, here are some people who died in the bathroom:

In 1016, 27-year-old King Edmund II of England was murdered in the bathroom.  An assassin hid behind the primitive toilet and, as Edmund sat, the murderer stepped out and quickly shoved his sword twice "into the king's bowels." (I wonder if that's why they call it "the throne.")

Another English monarch, King George II died on the  toilet in 1760 at the age of 77.  He woke up at six that morning, drank some chocolate, and an hour later went to the bathroom, where he died of a ruptured aorta.

Evelyn Waugh, one of the greatest English novelists of the 20th century (Brideshead Revisited, The Loved One) had just returned from Easter Mass.  In recent years, the 62-year-old had put on a lot of weight.  He also drank a lot, smoked cigars and rarely exercised.  He died "straining at stool" in the bathroom, April 10, 1966.

Perhaps the most famous death-by-toilet is Elvis Presley's.  A combination of weight gain and too many prescription drugs gave the 42-year-old singer a heart attack while he was "takin' care of business." (At the time of his death, he was reading a book entitled The Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus.)

Movie producer Don Simpson (Top Gun, Flashdance) died in 1996.  While rumors persisted that he died of a cocaine overdose, the truth was more humble and embarrassing:  He died of a heart attack while going to the bathroom.

It's commonly believed that Catherine the Great of Russia died after being "crushed" by a horse.  True?  Na-a-a-a-a-y.  (But it makes a great story.)  On that fateful day in 1796, she suffered a stroke while sitting on the toile, but died in her bed several hours later.

*************

Moral of the story:  Stay out of bathrooms.  They're bad for you.

[Image via Yee Haw Adventure Farm]

Comments

[LC]

Eeek. TMI!?