Podcast Summary: Too Many Tabs with Pearlmania500

Episode: Wildest Deaths from Wikipedia | TMT 163
Date: February 8, 2026
Hosts: Pearlmania500 (A & B, married couple)

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the “List of Unusual Deaths” on Wikipedia, as the hosts, a husband-and-wife duo, gleefully recount some of the wildest, weirdest, and most absurd ways people have left this mortal coil. Their banter flips between macabre fascination, dark humor, and historical tidbits. The tone remains conversational, irreverent, and playful—think “Final Destination” meets Wikipedia deep-dive, with tangents about amusement parks, animal attacks, inventors’ hubris, and even infamous deaths during sex.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to the Topic: Deaths Strangers Than Fiction

• Wikipedia’s “List of Unusual Deaths”: Mrs. P (B) discovers the extensive list and describes wading through a “maze” of linked bizarre deaths [02:17].
  • “There's tabs within tabs within tabs within one wiki page. So I spent hours just scrolling through, finding the weirdest, silliest, and deeply concerning deaths I could.” – Mrs. P [02:33]
• Clarifying Focus: No conspiracies or suspicious celebrity deaths—just silly, absurd, and wild demises. No Epstein talk (despite recurring joking attempts by Mr. P) [01:47].

2. Greek Tragedy… Literally

• Aeschylus’ Death by Tortoise [03:12–05:12]
  • The father of Greek tragedy was killed when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head, having mistaken his bald head for a rock.
  • Seriously foreshadowed: An oracle told him he’d die by something falling on him, so he avoided going outside, only to be “Donnie Darko’d” by a falling tortoise.
    • “He literally would like, not go outside... He was Donnie Darko. He was Donnie Darko.” – Mr. P [04:50]
    • “So when he saw a tortoise coming at him, he had no idea.” – Mrs. P [05:02]

3. Deaths by Falling Objects, from Coconuts to Vending Machines

a. Coconuts – Not Just a Cartoon Gag

• Many have died from falling coconuts; there's an entire Wikipedia sublist [06:31].
• A U.S. outlier:
  • In 1923, a Pennsylvania man tried to crack a coconut with the butt of a loaded revolver. The gun discharged and killed him [08:01].
    • “That's the dumbest. That's stupid. That's a stupid way to die.” – Mr. P [08:28]

b. Vending Machines – Warning Stickers with a Gruesome Origin [09:56–15:00]

• Rocking vending machines has killed dozens; most victims are men [10:46].
• The notorious sticker (stick figure being crushed) exists thanks to at least 37 deaths and 113 injuries [11:00].
• Odds: “More likely to be killed by a vending machine than win the Powerball” [14:16].
  • “There's a Venn diagram in my head right now of people killed by vending machines and people who play the Powerball. And it's the same circle.” – Mr. P [14:22]

4. Amusement Park Mayhem

a. Amusement Park Deaths Are Common—and Dumb [15:51]

• Mrs. P found “pages and pages” of deaths/serious injuries at amusement parks, often with details per ride.
• Six Flags, 2003: Guest killed over a $10 marijuana dispute at the gate [17:10].
  • “Literally, they murdered someone. You died over $10.” – Mrs. P [17:54]
• Disney Parks:
  • 1966: Teenager killed sneaking in—struck and dragged by the monorail [18:19].
  • 2025: Woman dies on Haunted Mansion Holiday ride, making it “officially haunted” [21:13].
    • “The Haunted Mansion ride is officially truly haunted. Someone passed away on the ride.” – Mrs. P [21:14]
  • 1979: Woman gets sent through Space Mountain—twice—while having a stroke. Dies later, official cause was a tumor, but also Space Mountain [26:25].
• Cast Member Lawsuits:
  • 1976: Woman files (and drops) suit against Disney, claiming “Three Little Pigs” costume groped her, disproven by the costume’s inoperable stub arms [29:53].
  • 1978: Winnie-the-Pooh allegedly slaps a child, acquitted after Pooh “testifies in court” in costume, proving it was physically impossible [30:36].

5. Toilet Terrors

• People dying in toilets:
  • Glasonbury Festival (2011): Politician found dead in a porta-potty—natural causes, not drugs [35:40].
  • Michael Anderson Godwin: Escaped electric chair execution only to die by electrocution fixing a TV on a metal toilet in prison [37:41].
• Toilet Animal Dangers:
  • Black Widows Nest Under Toilet Seats: Common especially in outhouses—several fatal bites have occurred [40:53].
  • Rats and Snakes Up the Bowl:
    • “Rats...would come up through your toilet, so you always had to make sure the seat was down...” – Mrs. P [43:04]
    • In 2016, an 11-foot python bit a man’s penis in a Thai squat toilet. Both survived [44:32].

6. Animals Turned Killers

Horses

• Many killed, most famously Christopher Reeve, and even Genghis Khan died from a fall off a horse [45:46].
  • Discussion of horses as muscle-bound, dangerous animals, despite their “cute” cultural image.

Elephants

• Execution by Elephant:
  • In Southeast Asia, elephants were trained for executions—sometimes to kill quickly, others to torture over time [49:21].
    • “They trained elephants to kill people immediately or to torture them slowly.” – Mrs. P [49:41]

7. Dangerous Job Spotlight: Inventors

• Testing inventions is itself deadly.
• Examples:
  • Flying car/taxi deaths: Attempting to prove flying vehicles, inventors die in test flights [53:18–54:38].
  • Franz Reichelt: Tailor leaps from the Eiffel Tower to test his “parachute coat” (with police permission to use a dummy, but he goes himself). Dies; infamous photos ensue [55:02].

8. Famous & Bizarre Sex-Related Deaths

• Carbon Monoxide Sex Death (1999, Romania): Couple has sex in running car parked in a garage, both die of poisoning [57:28].
• Pope John XII: Died of stroke during sex (or possibly thrown from a window) [61:02].
• Patrick Troughton (Doctor Who): Rumored to have died mid-coitus with a fan at a convention [62:33].
  • “That fan is probably like, oh, no. Is he going to regenerate?” – Mr. P [63:02]
• Zimbabwe, 2013: Couple attacked by lion during outdoor sex; woman killed [64:33].
• French President Félix Faure (1899): Died during oral sex from a cerebral hemorrhage [65:06].
  • “Blowing your dome while getting it. That sounds pretty French.” – Mr. P [65:36]
• Nelson Rockefeller: Rumored to have died mid-orgasm with his secretary [65:49].
  • “Nelson thought he was coming, but he was going.” – New York Magazine [66:14]
• Too Sweet to Prosecute (Malawi, 2020): Man dies of “excessive orgasm”; sex worker cleared because she “committed no crime by being too sweet for the man” [69:35].

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the cosmic irony of “final destination” style deaths:
  • “He finally avoided being executed by the electric chair. He electrocuted himself on the toilet.” – Mrs. P [38:19]
• On gender & vending machine deaths:
  • “Every time I’ve seen a vending machine get its shit rocked, it’s always a big, strapping dude. It’s always pretzels.” – Mr. P [11:48]
• On warning labels:
  • “Every warning label on a ladder is because enough people did that that they were like, this is now a legal concern.” – Mr. P [11:18]
• Disney humor:
  • After a woman’s death on the Haunted Mansion:
    • “The Haunted Mansion ride is officially truly haunted.” – Mrs. P [21:14]
    • “If I died on the Haunted Mansion, I’d want to show up in the mirror scene and pop in: ‘Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself!’” – Mr. P [22:23]
• On Australian sex death (and cultural quirks):
  • “Australia, what the fuck is your problem?” – Mr. P [68:16]
• On inventors’ hubris:
  • “He convinced everyone he’d use a dummy, then put on the parachute coat himself. Leapt off the Eiffel Tower. There’s photographs of him as he fell.” – Mrs. P [55:26]

Timestamps – Important Segments

• [02:17] – Discovery of the “List of Unusual Deaths”
• [03:12] – [05:12] – Aeschylus and the fatal tortoise
• [06:31] – [08:31] – Coconut death (Pennsylvania, 1923)
• [09:56] – [15:00] – Vending machine deaths: facts, gender breakdowns, Powerball comparison
• [15:53] – [31:15] – Amusement park deaths (Six Flags, Disney, lawsuits, “haunted” rides)
• [35:13] – [44:32] – Toilet deaths & animal attacks in the loo (black widows, rats, snakes)
• [45:43] – [51:10] – Horses & elephants as bringers of death
• [52:49] – [56:37] – Deadly inventors: flying car/taxi attempts, parachute coat
• [57:05] – [69:35] – Deaths during sex (with detail to politicians, popes, celebrities, “too sweet” sex worker)
• [73:32] – [75:16] – Reflections, favorite stories (coconut/vending machine/Eiffel Tower)

Episode Flow & Tone

The episode is quick-witted, personal, and leans heavily on the couple's chemistry and running gags (notably Mr. P’s obsession with Epstein files, always deflected by Mrs. P’s squirt bottle). The tone embraces a "laugh so you don't cry" attitude, using dark humor to process the absurdity of fate and stupidity.

Summary for New Listeners

This episode is a whirlwind tour of strange, silly, and tragic deaths spanning thousands of years and multiple continents. The hosts balance detailed storytelling with punchlines, personal anecdotes (including near-death by carbon monoxide and grasshopper-infested porta-potties), and meta-commentary on everything from warning labels to the failings of our justice system. Through it all, the theme is clear: life is weird, death is weirder, and sometimes the absurdity is the only way to cope.

Standout Quote:

“More likely to be killed by a vending machine than win the Powerball.” – Mrs. P [14:16]

Most Memorable Death:

• Tie between the Pennsylvania coconut-cracker, the Eiffel Tower “parachute coat” tailor, and Mrs. P’s personal pick—the woman dying in Disney’s Haunted Mansion, officially making it haunted.

Interested in more? Look up Wikipedia’s “List of Unusual Deaths”…with a friend.