| All right, I think I owe all of you faithful readers an apology. The Fantastic Fenomena lost some steam, and I got behind. But I'm back. You better believe it. And to make up for the ten missing Fenomena, allow me to present to you now: 10 Fantastic Fortean Fatalities 1. The legendary Greek playwright Aeschylus, who died when an eagle dropped a tortoise onto the man's bald head, which the eagle had apparently mistaked for a stone. 2. Franz Reichelt, who designed an overcoat that was designed to be able to float its wearer to safety should said wearer of the coat fall from a great height. Franz climbed the Eiffel Tower to demonstrate his invention. Unfortunately, his maiden voyage did not go so well, and as a result, the overcoat parachute never caught on. 3. Georg Wilhelm Richmann, the only person to be killed by ball lightning-- and indoors too! 4. Od the Dwarf, whose circus performane went awry when he bounced sideways from a trampoline and directly into the mouth of a nearby hippopotamus. The hippo, taken by suprise at the sudden entrance of the little man into its gullet, had an involuntary gag reflex which caused it to swallow Od. Spectators applauded wildly, thinking this was some bizarre new act, not thinking for a moment that the man was in any trouble. (I realize that there's almost no way this story is legit, but I'd like to believe I live in a world where this could have happened.) 5. Garry Hoy, who died after falling from the 24th story of a skyscraper. He fell when he hurled himself through one of the skyscraper's windows in an attempt to prove to some interns that the glass was unbreakable. It wasn't. 6. Henry Ziegland, who broke up with his girlfriend, which made her brother made, who came after Henry with a gun, which he then fired at Henry. The bullet grazed Henry and buried itself in a nearby tree. The brother, thinking he had killed Henry, killed himself out of remorse. Henry was in actuality just fine. However, twenty years later, Henry was cutting down the tree near the site of the incident, and decided to use dynamite to remove it from the ground. The resulting explosion hurled the bullet (that had been buried in the tree for twenty years) through the air and into Henry's head, killing him instantly. (Again, this story lacks for credibilty, but wouldn't it be really, really cool if it were true?) 7. A guy in South Korea died in 2005 after playing video games for 50 hours straight. (Let this be a lesson, self.) 8. George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon was found dead in his hotel room in Egypt. A few months prior, he had participated in the opening of King Tut's tomb. The cause of his death was mysterious-- blood poisoning from a mosquito bite? Toxic gases from the tomb itself? Or the curse of the mummy of King Tut himself? No one knows for sure, but we could ask George Jay Gould I, another member and financier of the expedition. Oh wait, we can't. He died a month after Herbert. Coincidence???? 9. In 1998, Colonel Pascal Gbah, who served in the Ivory Coast army, was given a magic belt crafted by his cousin Andre Gondo. The belt was supposed to protect him from bullets (apparently as long as he abstained from sex while wearing it). Gbah then put the magic belt to the test by having someone fire on him while he was wearing it. Then....well, I think you know where this is going. 10. On the 24th of March, in 1975, in King's Lynn, England, Alex Mitchell was watching an episode of "The Goodies". One particular sketch featured a Scotsman in a kilt battling a black pudding with his bagpipes. The sketch apparently struck a chord with Mr. Mitchell, as he proceeded to fall into a fit of laughter that lasted twenty-five minutes, after which he slumped on the couch, dead. His widow actually sent a letter of thanks to the producers of "The Goodies", for making her husband's last moments on Earth so enjoyable.
And with no further ado: Fantastic Fortean Fenomenon #15 The girl with x-ray eyes, Natasha Demkina. | 
