Some unfortunate individuals suffer bizarre, and some even ironic deaths. From a fisherman killed by an overly enthusiastic fish finding its way into his chest, to a flash beer flood causing the death of eight people…

1. Fisherman killed by a fish

In 2016 on a Tanzanian fishing boat, fishermen were sorting through a big catch, when one of the fish gave a big leap and landed in a fisherman’s mouth. From his mouth the fish made its way into his chest, making it difficult for him to breathe. The fisherman made it to the hospital but died shortly before surgery to remove the fish could take place.

2. Deathly cryotherapy  

Cryotherapy, which is mostly unregulated, is a treatment that, according to a Health24 article, uses low temperatures to assist with healing and pain relief. According to thecut.com, one evening after a spa closed for business, the manager Chelsea Ake-Salvacion decided to make use of the cryotherapy chamber. Ake-Salcaion was found dead in the chamber the next day by a staff member. The coroner’s report determined the cause of death as asphyxiation caused by a low level of oxygen. The chamber reaches -165 degrees Celsius.

3. Unhealthy competition

A pet store hosted a competition where participants had to eat as many cockroaches as possible. Yes, this was an actual competition, and there were willing participants! According to bbc.com, an American man who was doing well – he had already eaten dozens of cockroaches – sadly died when he chocked on cockroach parts that had become stuck in his throat. 

4. Collapsing garage

News24 reported on the death of a KwaZulu-Natal man who died when the roof of his garage collapsed as he was parking his car. Not only did he suffer the impact of the fallen roof, but a supporting beam also pierced him through the chest, pinning him to his seat.

5. Unofficial electric chair

A convicted murderer named Michael Anderson Godwin was meant to get the death penalty by means of the electric chair, but received a downgraded sentence of life imprisonment. Ranker.com explains how, shortly after starting his sentence, he died by electrocution. This time, however, it was caused by Godwin using a metal toilet while simultaneously trying to fix his headphones by biting down on the exposed live wiring. He avoided the electric chair the first time, but wasn’t so lucky the second time around.

6. Too many carrots can be deadly

Star News called Basil Brown a health food addict because he drank carrot juice every day. He drank 3.78 litres of the orange stuff on a daily basis. Despite warnings about how it could be detrimental to his liver, he continued his drinking habit. The coroner’s report stated that he drank himself to death – on carrot juice.

7. Death by wool

According to the LA Times, a co-owner of a wool mill, fell into one of his machines. The machine proceeded to wrap him in 800 yards of wool, suffocating him in the process.  

8.  Segway owner killed by plummeting off a cliff

The NY Daily News reported that the owner of the Segway company, James Heselden, was killed by driving his Segway PT (a two-wheeled, self-balancing scooter) over a cliff. He used an off-road Segway to inspect the grounds of his estate and and ended up in a river at the bottom of the cliff. 

9. Not safe in your own bed

A Brazilian man was sleeping one night, when a cow fell through his roof onto his bed. His wife who was lying next to him and the cow were unharmed. The Telegraph went on to explain that the cow got onto his roof as the house was built up against a hill. The only visible injuries sustained by  the man was a fractured leg, but he died of internal bleeding soon after the incident.

10. The London beer flood

In the year 1814, 8 people died in the UK when a huge vat containing more than 3 500 barrels of fermenting beer burst on the premises of a brewery. The erupted vat flooded the London brewery and spread out into the surrounding community. 

^{Image credit: iStock}

Tarryn Temmers

Have you ever heard something in a song, then second guessed what you heard because it sounded completely out of context and made no sense?

Sometimes the words you hear don’t not make any sense, sound a little too racy for the sentence, or seem just vile.

When you hear “the lonely Starbucks lovers“ in Taylor Swift’s popular track Blank Space, instead of “got a long list of ex-lovers“, or Adele’s background singers singing “You’re gonna wish she never had red meat, cheesy butter cup, rolling in the deep“ in her hit single Rolling in the Deep – these are just a couple examples of a mondegreen.

What’s funny is that the title mondegreen is a mondegreen. The name is believed to have come from an American writer, Sylvia Wright, who misheard a line in a poem her mother used to read to her when she was young.

Another name for the phenomenon hails from Japan and it’s called a soramimi, which means “empty ear” or “mishearing”.

There is, however, a slight difference between the two. While a soramimi is indeed a mishearing of lyrics, it specifically refers to understanding lyrics in one language as sounding similar to lyrics in another.

In South Africa, we can relate to both, given our 11 official languages and the music created in these different languages.

In countries where English is a foreign language, people struggle as well. A classic example is the contestant on the Bulgarian Music Idol show, who sang an English song, Ken Lee.

[embedded content]

When babies are learning to speak and adults are in the process of learning a new language, mondegreens can be expected.

Many people learn by ear, and when listening to natives speaking the language, they pick up a collection of syllables, but have difficulty grouping those syllables to create existing words others are able to comprehend.

When people who are learning a new language hear individual words, they may have greater pronunciation and comprehension success when learning words that don’t sound familiar.

A communication glitch

According to The New Yorker, a likely reason for mondegreens is that we simply mishear what’s been said or sung.

She said hearing basically happens in two parts: where we hear something, and then the processing of what we heard. But somewhere between hearing and processing parts, there’s a communication glitch.

Sound needs to travel through the ear canal, past the ear drum into the middle ear, and then to the inner ear where the cochlea helps the sound reach the auditory nerve. It must reach the auditory nerve in order for the brain to process the sound so you can understand it.

It’s easy to mishear the lyrics of a song because of the presence of instruments and musical effects, which may drown out the words. 

Another point is that we may need another sense to help us out, such as sight. Often when we’re listening to music we don’t actually see the artist’s mouth, but if we’re watching the performance, we may be able to make out some of the lyrics by lipreading.

Even though you may think hearing loss is mostly a result of faulty ear components, your brain plays a major part as well. Very little has been done to uncover the precise reason behind the phenomenon of mondegreens, but Dr Timothy Steele states that there may be a disconnect between hearing and comprehension. This happens as a result of a “busy” environment that causes your brain to become overwhelmed by the different sounds it is trying to process.

However, if you think there is something seriously amiss with your hearing, you may want to have your hearing tested.

Compiled by Stefni Herbert