Celebrity deaths tend to draw public attention. But the more bizarre the circumstances, the more fans seem to be consumed by the tragedy. Check out some of the strange celebrity deaths below.
Aaliyah
Even two decades after her death, Aaliyah is still one of the most loved R&B singers of her era. The “One in a Million” singer’s life was cut short when her plane crashed in the Bahamas shortly after takeoff. An autopsy on the pilot found that he had “cocaine in his urine and traces of alcohol in his stomach.” What’s more strange about the incident is that said pilot was hired by the charter company days before the crash even though he was not certified to fly that particular type of plane. He was also sentenced to probation for cocaine possession just two weeks earlier.
Anton Yelchin
Anton Yelchin’s acting career was about to take off after his role as Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek trilogy. Sadly, a freak accident took his life at just age 27. The actor was trapped between a mailbox and a security fence when his Jeep Cherokee rolled backwards down his driveway. The vehicle was among 1.1 million cars recalled that same year after regulators warned that its gear switches were confusing drivers, causing SUVs to roll and resulting in dozens of injuries. It’s still one of the strangest celebrity deaths, even almost a decade later.
Brandon Lee
Son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee, lost his life at the age of 28 while filming The Crow. A prop gun was not properly prepared for the scene, and it fired a live round that struck and killed the actor. It became one of the most infamous on-set accidents in Hollywood history.
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy’s sudden death stunned fans around the world. The Clueless actress was found unresponsive in her Los Angeles home back in 2009 after suffering from flu-like symptoms for a while. The coroner’s office revealed pneumonia as her primary cause of death, with iron deficiency anaemia and multiple drug intoxication listed as contributory factors. What makes this one of the strangest celebrity deaths is that her husband of three years died from the same illness only five months later.
Debbie Reynolds
Legendary Hollywood star Debbie Reynolds died just a day after her daughter Carrie Fisher passed away. Reynolds died from a fatal stroke after a blood vessel burst in her brain. However, most attributed her death to a broken heart, as her son shared that she was so distraught over the loss of her daughter that she had said, “I miss her so much, I want to be with Carrie”.
Edgar Allan Poe
As someone fascinated by death and who loved to write about it, Edgar Allan Poe’s own passing seems a fittingly mysterious and tragic tale. Before he met his end, Poe went missing for nearly a week, only to be discovered in a delusional state outside a tavern dressed in someone else’s clothes. There have been a number of published theories about what happened to the writer and poet, but to this day, his cause of death has not been solved.
Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith’s music laid bare his troubles with addiction, depression, and troubled relationships, so fans were not entirely surprised when news broke of his suicide in 2003. But his death wasn’t a clean-cut case. The musician was found with two stab wounds to the chest, as well as small lacerations on his hands and under his right arm, which were thought to be defence wounds. Concerns were raised about his then-girlfriend’s innocence as she apparently removed the knife from the body and initially refused to talk directly to detectives.
George Reeves
Even though George Reeves’ death was considered a suicide, there were a number of strange incidents that led fans and the media to suspect foul play. For starters, there were no fingerprints on the rifle and no gunpowder residue on his hands, something the police had conveniently neglected to check. There were also two extra bullet holes in the floor, which contradicted witness testimonies and the idea that he tried to shoot himself.
Naya Rivera
Naya Rivera was one of the unfortunate victims of the so-called “Glee curse”. The actress drowned while attempting to save her son during a boating trip on Lake Piru. Her body was discovered five days after she disappeared. But this falls into the category of the strangest celebrity deaths because of the three Glee cast members who died before her.
Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin wrestled with crocodiles, handled venomous snakes with his bare hands, and even got too close for comfort with some of the world’s most dangerous spiders. But in the end, it was a short-tailed stingray that took his life. The stingray’s barb pierced his chest and punctured his heart, leading to Irwin’s tragic death in 2006.
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