Talk:List of unusual deaths

Holding tank

• There is a holding tank for content, removed from the article due to poor sourcing, which may have been included in the article for a considerable time: Talk:List of unusual deaths/Sourcing issues. Following talk page discussion, and in line with WP:STALEDRAFT, it has been agreed that any content in this holding area not sourced within 6 months from addition should be removed.

Bird killed by pitch at Chase field yet again

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/18/sport/zac-gallen-bird-killed-by-pitch-mlb-intl-spt/index.html

a second bird is killed at Chase field. Coincidentally, the previous time this happened to the Diamondbacks, the Diamondbacks made it to the World Series just as they did this year. 63.151.199.50 (talk) 17:37, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

Yes, the source says it was "... a sad and unusual feat..." So could be added. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:46, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

Bridget Driscoll or Mary Ward?

Was told to bring this up here. In this list Bridget Driscoll is said to be “the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car”. However Mary Ward was actually the first to be killed, in what is referred to in the disambiguation page linked, “by an experimental steam car”. She is variously referred to as either being the first to be killed by a “motor vehicle” on her page or as the “first motor vehicle fatality in the world” on Driscoll’s page. (The difference between vehicle and car I would say is not important, as most places seem to use them interchangeably.)

I do think it should be mentioned, as it is on Ward’s page, that there was a car explosion prior to the accident that caused Ward’s death, which may qualify for the “first motor vehicle fatality in the world”. Regardless, I doubt that Discroll should be listed the first person to be killed in a collision by a motor vehicle, for the reasons I have listed above.

I can see how this might be controversial though, so I would appreciate if anyone could lend their thoughts on the matter.

Thank you kindly, Slamforeman (talk) 20:54, 25 December 2023 (UTC)

So it's Mary Ward (scientist) (died 1869). Whatever is on her article should be reflected at the disambiguation page. Curiously the July 1834 fatal accident, noted at the Mary Ward article, which involved a steam carriage constructed by John Scott Russell, does not name the victim? Martinevans123 (talk) 22:36, 25 December 2023 (UTC)

I am unsure why that is, perhaps it has to do with their notability? I couldn't find anywhere that mention the names of the passengers. Slamforeman (talk) 03:59, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

By the way, I hope it's alright to clarify in Driscoll’s section that she was the first in the UK to be killed by a car. Perhaps Russell and/or Ward’s events should be added later. :) Slamforeman (talk) 05:32, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

Does the WaPo articles say it was "unusual"? I can't see it, as it's subscription only. I see that the BBC report says: "Melvyn Harrison, of historical group the Crystal Palace Foundation, says people would have been simply bemused at the sight of these "horseless carriages". ... "It was such a rare animal to be on the roads and, for her to be killed, people would have thought the story was made up," he says." Is this the same thing as saying it was unusual? Obviously the first time something happens it is "unusual", but we still have to meet the criterion for inclusion here? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 10:06, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

I also do not have a WaPo subscription, but when I googled “Bridget Driscoll unusual” it was the first result, (except this time it was not paylocked? Strange.)

In any event the article says “But Driscoll’s death was so unusual that the matter landed in Coroners Court for a full-blown inquest.” So it does qualify for the article, at least in a very broad interpretation of the criterion.

I agree with your point about how, when someone is the first to die from a new technology, it will always qualify as “unusual”. Perhaps there should be a rule against such events being included? Otherwise, this list would probably be much too long, and eventually be retitled to “list of notable factory accidents”. Slamforeman (talk) 20:11, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

Yes, good point. Although, to me, all these motor vehicle accidents seem likely to be of interest to the general reader. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:24, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

I wouldn't object if those instances were added alongside Driscoll. Seems they like there is little reason they shouldn't be. Slamforeman (talk) 23:40, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

Taiwanese Woman Dies After Bathing Herself in Alcohol

I won't go ahead and add this on my own but I feel like this is a good contender for the list. https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/30274/20210324/taiwanese-woman-dies-after-bathing-herself-in-alcohol-amid-sars-epidemic-in-taiwan.htm Flzrian (talk) 21:27, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

Clarification: I would be happy to write the section for this but I am bringing forth the suggestion first in case there is heavy disagreement or bathing in ethanol is more common than I think. Of course dying from an alcohol overdose is not uncommon but surely the overdose resulting from someone bathing in it and ingesting it mainly through the skin is? This is the only case of this or something similar I could find. Flzrian (talk) 21:39, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

Hmm. The usual criterion for inclusion on this page is that a reliable secondary source calls the death unusual, or some synonym thereof. Otherwise, as history shows, the page devolves into a slapfight of "this is totally weird enough!" "Nuh uh!", and nobody needs that.

For this, the linked article and the paper regarding the case give us "Alcohol (ethanol) can be absorbed through the skin, but intoxication caused by skin absorption is rare, especially in adults" and "Although this situation is surprising and devastating, serious side effects from alcohol-based skin disinfection are rare." I also found this, which adds "died due to an unusual effort to ward off the virus" and "documented cases of people with a BAC over 1% are rare, but reports of them do exist."

If that second source is deemed reliable, I see no reason why this couldn't be included. NekoKatsun (nyaa) 15:47, 16 January 2024 (UTC)