History's Strangest Deaths

True stories of extraordinary deaths throughout history to the modern day from the host of the popular Half-Arsed History podcast.

History's Strangest Deaths, the debut book from Riley Knight, host of the popular podcast Half-Arsed History, highlights the many and varied ways that people have met their end over the years, from the foolish to the absurd.

From a classical Greek playwright killed by a tortoise dropping out of the sky to an ancient Chinese duke falling into a toilet; from a Viking raider bitten by a severed head to a lawyer shooting himself to prove a legal point; from two French kings killed by door frames to two British parliamentarians who were killed by turnips—there are countless amusing, farcical, absurd, and ultimately very strange deaths from across history. History's Strangest Deaths offers fifty of the best of them, spanning thousands of years of history to recent times.

Many people are supremely unimaginative in death, embracing the tired old cliché of dying peacefully in their sleep surrounded by loved ones. History's Strangest Deaths has tracked down those select few who have instead made their mark in the history books by exiting this world in thrillingly unconventional ways.

About the Author

Riley Knight is the host of Half-Arsed History, a weekly podcast highlighting absurd and entertaining stories from history. Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Riley became a primary school teacher after finishing his mostly-useless Arts degree, and began Half-Arsed History as a hobby while teaching grade three. The podcast has only grown since then, with millions of downloads across the world, live shows across Australia, and now its very own book.

After spending almost a decade living in Europe, Riley now lives on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, and consistently produces three episodes of Half-Arsed History every week (except when the cricket is on, at which time he produces them inconsistently). He likes historically-themed video games, running, and - rather obviously - books.