Unusual, unique, and uncommon facts about a diversity of subjects:

Mortifying crimes committed by deranged criminals

Unbelievably stupid stunts performed by appalingly moronic people

DEBARY, Fla.-- A man hiding from police died in an attic where the temperature climbed above 100 degrees Monday, officials said.

Earle Herring, 57, was hiding in the attic of his sister's DeBary home.

THIRTEEN people have been killed and more than 500 injured during an annual kite-flying festival in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

Seven people with severe head injuries died in the city's General Hospital alone, and about 220 people were admitted with a variety of injuries including broken bones, hospital officials said.

The two-day festival of Basant, marking the start of spring, began with thousands of revellers perched on rooftops. More ... news link

A WEST NYACK, N.Y. MAN was found dead at his computer apparently the victim of trying to keep up with too many professional forums. Childress H. Wanamaker, 54, an account executive at a New York-based new media company, died of starvation according to the West Nyack coroner's office. Wanamaker's emaciated body was found by Loraine, his wife of 26 years, who told MediaPost she had been bringing her husband meals on plastic trays for weeks, but that he never took the time to eat them. More ... news link

DELAND, Fla. - A skydiving cinematographer was killed after his legs were severed in a midair collision with the airplane he had jumped from, authorities said.

Albert Wing III had already deployed his parachute Saturday when he struck the left wing of the DHC-6 Twin Otter propeller plane at about 600 feet, a witness on the ground told police. More ... news link

A DRUNKEN flasher died when he tripped over his trousers and fell from a first-floor window on to spiked railings.

Rugby player Gareth Mason, 22, bled to death after suffering 15 wounds to his neck and chest when a drunken stunt went wrong. More ... news link

HILLSVILLE, Pa. (AP) A man from Boardman, Ohio, is dead following an accident in a Lawrence County quarry.

The Lawrence County coroner says 59-year-old Richard Raeburn was testing his new water depth finder in a quarry when he fell into the water and drowned. More ... news link

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - A Czech tractor driver died under eight tons of manure in a bizarre accident that has baffled his employers, local media reported.

The 34-year old man, identified only as Martin T., suffocated after the load fell on him while he was dumping it in a field. More ... news link

(FOLEY, Ala.) February 21 -- Investigators are looking into the possibility that alcohol played a role in a bizarre death in Baldwin County. NBC-15's Mike Rush reports a Foley woman died a horrible death when she fell on her open oven. More ... news link

THIRTEEN people have been killed and more than 500 injured during an annual kite-flying festival in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.

Seven people with severe head injuries died in the city's General Hospital alone, and about 220 people were admitted with a variety of injuries including broken bones, hospital officials said. More ... news link

A 42-year-old widow is accused of killing her husband. He was given an alcohol enema and it caused his blood alcohol level to rise to .47 percent -- more than five times the state's legal limit. More ... news link

A Chico fraternity pledge died of water poisoning, authorities said Thursday as experts warned that the dangerous hazing ritual has killed at least one other person as fraternities are replacing alcohol bingeing with excessive water-drinking. More ... news link

A 70-year-old woman died Monday and her husband and two friends were hospitalized after they ate poisonous "death cap" wild mushrooms collected in the Oakland hills, authorities said.

The adult victims fell ill after ingesting the toxic Amanita phalloides mushrooms on Thanksgiving Day, said Sherri Willis, spokeswoman for the Alameda County public health department. More ... news link

KENT, Washington (AP) -- A man who placed a lava lamp on a hot stovetop was killed when it exploded and sent a shard of glass into his heart, police said.

Philip Quinn, 24, was found dead in his trailer home Sunday night by his parents . More ... news link

A 19-year-old San Jose man died Sunday morning when he accidentally fell into a wood chipper while working on a tree-trimming crew near North First Street and Highway 237.

San Jose fire officials said that at about 11 a.m. Miguel Marquez of San Jose was standing on the tailgate of the wood chipper machine when some tree debris got stuck in the chute. As Marquez tried to kick the jammed wood through the chute, both his feet and legs were pulled into the high-powered thrasher. He bled to death of massive injuries. More ... news link

University of Colorado freshman Lynn "Gordie" Bailey died from acute alcohol poisoning with a blood-alcohol level of 0.328 percent, the Boulder County coroner's office announced Monday.

Bailey, 18, died after a Sept. 16 ritual for the Chi Psi fraternity involving wine and whiskey, Boulder police said. More ... news link

A Fire Island man was found dead Thursday, wedged head-first down a shallow narrow shaft, according to Suffolk police, which are investigating the cause.

Bruce Martin, 60, the owner of Ocean Bay Park Water Co. may have died of natural causes or from an accident, Homicide Squad detectives said, but they do not believe foul play was involved in his death. More ... news link

Union Parish Sheriff Bob Buckley announced today that thorough investigation had determined that Eddie Hayes's death was accidental.

The Union Parish Sheriffs Office, Union Parish Coroner's Office and a forensic pathologist in Little Rock conducted the investigation.

The investigation revealed that Hayes apparently used a screwdriver to open the trunk of his alleged girlfriend's car that was parked in the Pilgrim's Pride parking lot.

After entering the trunk area and while apparently attempting to enter the interior of the Chrysler, the trunk closed trapping the Union Parish resident inside . More ... news link

Fans & TV viewers the world over mourn daredevil

A legendary motorcyclist whose Brooklyn chopper shop rode to fame on the Discovery Channel has died after a stunt he was performing went awry.

Larry Desmedt, 55, known as "Indian Larry," died Monday from injuries he suffered doing one of his signature stunts - standing up on his moving bike - at a show in Charlotte, N.C.

"In the motorcycle world, this is like Elvis died," Desmedt's friend Bobby Seeger said. "We are getting hundreds of calls, faxes, from all over the world. More ... news link

VICTORIA -- A renowned B.C. mountain climber has died from injuries sustained when he fell out of a tree while trying to rescue a cat. Daryl Hatten, 49, lived much of his life on the edge of mountains and cliffs.

He blazed trails in the Canadian Rockies and California's Yosemite National Park, as well as the Squamish Chief north of Vancouver.

But Hatten died Saturday after falling from an arbutus tree soaked by heavy rains in suburban Langford. He was being paid to rescue a large, black house cat for its owner when he slipped and fell about 20 metres to a rocky patch on the ground below. More ... news link

The mother of a Perry Meridian High School freshman killed last fall while he was riding on a school bus filed a lawsuit today seeking $300,000 in damages.

Irma Garcia's son, Raul Gonzalez IV, died about 7:15 a.m. on Nov. 17 after he stuck his head out of a bus window and struck a tree last fall. The bus driver was steering to avoid an injured raccoon on Stop 11 Road, just west of Bluff Road.

"Parents have a right to expect the bus driver to operate the bus safely," Garcia's lawyer Robert York said. "Obviously that didn't happen in this case." More ... news link

A Perry Meridian High School freshman died Monday morning after he leaned his head out the window of a moving school bus and struck a tree. More ... news link

Teen shoots beau with nearly full gun.
A pregnant teen fired a bullet into her 18-year-old boyfriend's head - killing him during a bizarre game of Russian roulette played with a gun nearly filled with slugs, authorities said yesterday.

In a chilling statement to cops, 19-year-old Nadera Goodson described how she shot her boyfriend in the skull as they sat inside a bedroom of a boarded-up apartment in Jamaica, Queens, about noon Saturday. More ... news link

James A. Kolata, 48, fell during Thursday's game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs, said Kim Brooks, a sheriff's department spokeswoman. He died in a hospital on Friday.

Brooks said Kolata was sitting on the escalator's handrail when he fell. More ... news link

The man who died after a struggle with police and was found to have swallowed a bag of drugs has been identified as Christopher Shaone Boyce, 28, of Missouri City.

Paramedics using forceps later removed a large plastic baggy holding seven crack cocaine rocks from Boyce's throat, investigators said. They said he probably choked on the drugs. More ... news link

Two men were killed when a homemade cannon exploded and sent chunks of stainless steel flying at an annual holiday weekend gathering of bikers in Marion County, the sheriff's office said.

James McKinniss, 39, and Jackie Byrd, 64, both of Marion, were killed by flying pieces of metal when a two-foot steel tube being used a cannon exploded Saturday night. More ... news link

MELBOURNE, Fla -- A 23-year-old man was killed and another critically injured when fireworks in the back seat of their car exploded and ignited the car, according to Local 6 News.

Police said Aravis Walker, 23, and Antonio Robinson, 27, were lighting fireworks and throwing them from their vehicle Monday night while driving in the area of Carver Street in Melbourne, Fla. More ... news link

A Baton Rouge man drowned Monday morning while diving for golf balls in a pond at Sherwood Forest Country Club.

An unidentified member of the Baton Rouge City Police dive team removes the body of a drowning victim from a pond at Sherwood Forest Country Club today.
Police said 29-year-old Jonas Pitchford of Cal Road drowned sometime between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Pitchford was wearing a commercial diving helmet, but investigators said there were problems. More ... news link

Employees at an East Naples Wal-Mart were suspicious when a man covered in blood bought clothes and garbage bags at 4 a.m. Friday.

So they called police...The tip helped sheriff’s deputies track down Sheddrick Deon Bentley, 26, and charge him with second-degree murder.He is accused of killing 18-year-old Cory Brightman, whose body was found in a garbage bin behind Gulf Gate Plaza. More ... news link

A bear kept at a Central Russian hunting lodge for training hunting dogs has attacked and killed the chairman of the Tambov Regional Hunting and Fishing Society, society representatives told Interfax.
More ... news link

(CNN) -- A circus performer working without a net died Saturday after falling about 35 feet during a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show, while hundreds of children and parents watched in horror.

A statement from Ringling Brothers said Dessi Espana, 32, was pronounced dead seven hours after the fall at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. More ... news link

Dorl Gates, 52, was a contestant in the Diamond Jim bar's World Belly-Flop Contest.

JANESVILLE, Wis. -- Law enforcement personnel from several Rock County agencies were back on the Rock River Monday looking for the body of a Beloit man who apparently drowned during a belly-flop contest Saturday. More ... news link

An intoxicated Davis Park man died after he lit a rug on fire and challenged his roommate to see who could stay in the house on Fire Island longer Saturday night, Suffolk County police said.

Police said Thomas Woods, 59, ignited the rug in his house at 9 Driftwood Walk sometime before 8 p.m. As the fire spread, Woods fired one or two rounds from a pre-World War I Mauser pistol ... More ... news link

Todd Birch apparently knew he was too intoxicated to drive, but he gave his car keys to the wrong person, authorities said.

Shortly after leaving a Downtown bar early Thursday, the 24-year-old man died after he was run over by his own car.

Liza Besser, Birch's 22-year-old girlfriend, told police she was driving to pick up Birch about 1:40 a.m. after they both walked out of the bar when she hit him. More ... news link

The minister of a Lee County church died early Monday, hours after he was bitten by a rattlesnake during a Sunday church service and refused to seek medical treatment.

The Rev. Dwayne Long, 45, of Rose Hill was a minister at the small town's Arthurs Chapel, a Pentecostal church where members practice serpent-handling. More ... news link

BERKELEY Student death tied to drinking

A spring break celebration among friends ended tragically when a UC Berkeley student apparently drank himself to death during a contest to see who could consume the most alcohol, authorities said Monday.. More ... news link

EL CAJON – An 88-year-old man ended a half-hour rental ride in a biplane yesterday by jumping to his death and landing in an apartment patio in view of horrified witnesses, authorities said.

"It was too low for a stunt," said Cynthia Lankford, 33, who watched the fall from poolside at Graystone Village Apartments on East Bradley Avenue. More ... news link

A MAN who lived in his own “zoo” of lizards and insects was fatally bitten by a pet black widow spider — then eaten by the other creepy-crawlies.

Police broke in to Mark Voegel’s apartment to find spider Bettina along with 200 others, several snakes, a gecko lizard called Helmut and several thousand termites had gorged on his body. More ... news link

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Masonic initiation ritual ended in tragedy when a man was shot in the head and killed with a gun thought to contain blanks, police said on Tuesday.

They said 47-year-old William James was accidentally killed when Albert Eid, 76, confused a loaded .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol with another gun during the induction ceremony in Patchogue, on New York's Long Island, on Monday night. More ... news link

Simi Valley Man Dies After Tossing Rope At Train

LOS ANGELES -- A 43-year-old man tossed a rope into the path of a freight train, apparently on a lark, and was killed after becoming entangled in the rope and being dragged by the train, authorities said. More ... news link

RACINE - Jimmy D. Carey yelled at his brother, accusing him of sleeping with his pregnant girlfriend behind his back. Then he squirted his brother's pants with lighter fluid and set them on fire. More ... news link

MEXICO CITY - A 24-year-old man died in southern Yucatan state after reportedly allowing himself to be used as a human piñata, More ... news link

Eudora - A man and his son drowned Monday night after the son
tried to drown their dog. More ... news link

Two gas well employees are accused of killing another worker while they were engaging in horseplay with him Tuesday night on a drilling rig, authorities said Thursday. More ... news link

A newly wed dad plunged to his death from a Ford Transit tipper while trying to relieve himself out of the open door of the moving vehicle, a West Wales inquest heard yesterday. More ... news link

A Norton Shores hunter died after accidentally setting his clothes on fire while lighting his pipe, the Oceana County Sheriff's Department said. More ... news link

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- A man changing a flat tire choked to death on a bag of marijuana he had stuffed down his throat in an apparent attempt to hide it from police who stopped to help him, authorities said. More ... news link

WALKERTON, IND. -- A Starke County man accidentally shot and killed himself while getting out of his truck with a loaded shotgun Tuesday. More ... news link

BANGKOK (AP) - A factory owner with money troubles climbed onto the roof of his building in central Thailand to raise a flag believed to ward off bad luck and then slipped and fell to his death, police said Friday. More ... news link

Investigators in Houston say a radio-controlled aircraft instructor died when he was struck by a model helicopter. More ... news link

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Mortifying crimes committed by deranged criminals