List of people who died on the toilet

Last updated

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.

Contents

Pre-20th century

DateLocationNameAgeDescriptionSource
Summer of 581 BC Jin, China Duke Jing of Jin UnknownDied falling into a toilet pit. [1]
8 April 217 ADBetween Edessa and Carrhae, Roman Empire Caracalla 29Murdered by his soldiers while stopping to urinate, on his way to Edessa [2]
11/12 March 222 Rome Elagabalus 18Murdered by the Praetorian Guard "in a latrine in which he had taken refuge". [3]
336 AD Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire Arius 80Died from explosive gastrointestinal problems while in a public toilet [4]
30 November 1016 Oxford or London, EnglandKing Edmund Ironside of England26Stabbed while defecating in a toilet. [5]
4 November 1035 Lysá nad Labem, Bohemia Jaromír, Duke of Bohemia 60–70Stabbed 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 UnknownWas assassinated while using a toilet. [7]
19 April 1578 Echigo Province, Japan Uesugi Kenshin 48Allegedly 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 76Collapsed 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 Man29Suffered 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

DateLocationNameAgeDescriptionSource
3 August 1966 Los Angeles, California, United States Lenny Bruce 40Died 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 47Overdosed on barbiturates while using a toilet. [15]
24 October 1971 Paris, France George Dyer 38Overdose 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 Godwin28Initially 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 52Died 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 49Overdosed on morphine while on a toilet. [21]
25 June 2011 Pilton, Somerset, United Kingdom Christopher Shale 56Died of a heart attack on a portable toilet while at Glastonbury Festival. [22]
17 May 2013 Marcos Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina Jorge Rafael Videla 87Died of a heart attack while on a jail toilet after slipping in the shower. [23]
10 October 2016 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany Tamme Hanken 56Died of sudden heart failure on a hotel toilet. [24]
21 June 2019 Doha, Qatar Toufiq M Seraj 63Fell 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 90Having multiple myeloma, found "fallen down" by a probable heart attack in a toilet at home. [26]

Deaths in fiction

See also

Related Research Articles

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