r/AskReddit • u/the_last_lemurian • 2d ago
Which celebrity death is so mysterious that you’ve spent hours thinking about it? NSFW
11.4k
u/impossibly_curious 2d ago edited 2d ago
It is unclear if she is dead.
Shelly Miscavige, she has been missing since 2007.
Supposedly, she was interviewed by police in 2014, but she was apparently behind a blockade of scientology lawyers, and she still hasn't been seen publicly.
BTW, Scientology is notorious for intimidating local authorities.
What did you do to your wife, Dave?
3.7k
u/sweetalkersweetalker 2d ago
At this point I kind of hope she is dead. I can't imagine the hell she is going through if she isn't.
→ More replies (3)1.7k
u/impossibly_curious 2d ago
This is just a nightmarish situation all around, and every time I think about this, I can't help but think about the former scientology members, who cared about her, still out there fighting for answers.
Ex-Scientology members are incredibly brave.
→ More replies (33)1.0k
u/Batistasfashionsense 2d ago edited 2d ago
Her situation is messed up because you know if she was fine they’d have gotten her to make at least *one* public appearance, some red carpet event or other.
Just to stop all the allegations. Just to stop all the stories and conspiracy theories. To rid Tom Cruise’s career of a scandal.
That she hasn‘t is bad.
And it’s suggested the cops who said they saw her alive were bribed, which makes sense.
Why does anyone decide never to be seen in public for 17 years?
She’s either kidnapped, dead or suddenly became a hermit.
And, sorry, but the last option makes no sense. Even the most introverted person tends to go outside once in 17 years. Nobody locks themselves up in a tower, like some princess in a gothic fairy tale.
385
u/Diz7 2d ago
They either don't want people to see what condition she is in, they don't trust her to keep her mouth shut, or she's dead.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (33)225
u/-gildash- 2d ago
My theory is she has been medically incapacitated somehow and Scientology head honchos think its a bad look for that "weakness" at their top level to be seen in public.
I mean sure, she could be dead, but my theory kind of fits as well.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (112)566
u/Buckus93 2d ago
Tom Cruise probably knows.
238
u/Key-Potential-3153 2d ago
And keeps the answer to this question with him in the closet !!!
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (22)153
3.6k
u/Kylestache 2d ago edited 1d ago
Going back a bit further than everyone else, Meriwether Lewis of Lewis & Clark fame. He also served as governor of the Louisiana territory before it was a state.
He was on his way to DC to settle some debt matters with the government. During the journey, he wrote a will because there were a lot of bandits on the roads they were traveling. He also attempted suicide on the trip and had to be restrained.
But that’s not the weird part.
Lewis stopped at an inn to spend the night, but he was acting very erratic, talking to himself and pacing around nonstop. Later, he had a heated and loud argument with someone in his room in the inn. The innkeeper’s wife said she heard a scuffle and someone yelling for help, then several gunshots. Lewis was found dead with several gunshot wounds to the chest, and the local newspaper reported his throat was slit. The borrowed money he had with him was also missing.
There’s also reports that the innkeeper’s wife saw through a slit in the door that he was dead and didn’t do anything about it until the next day. Some servants also reported that they had heard someone yell about a duel around that time and they said the body had a big chunk of his skull missing.
And it was reported as a suicide. Thomas Jefferson even said it was suicide.
What really happened? Did he have a mental breakdown and brutally off himself? Were bandits stalking him? Was it someone from the government or the military that he owed money to?
There’s so many questions.
EDIT: Yes, as I alluded to, he had some serious mental health or mental illness troubles. He did after all attempt suicide shortly before he died. But suicidal people can still be murdered, which may have happened here.
EDIT 2: Oh yes, I totally forgot, he was shot multiple times in the chest with a SHOTGUN.
605
u/Loud_Insect_7119 2d ago
I just want to say thank you for sharing a legit interesting one that I'd never heard about before. I mean, I know a decent amount about Lewis's life just because I'm a bit of a history buff, but I had no idea how he died or that there was anything mysterious about it. I know what my next research rabbit hole is going to be...
→ More replies (1)997
u/andshewillbe 2d ago
Syphilis had gotten to his brain, I bet.
→ More replies (6)620
u/brettcalvin42 2d ago
Also mercury poisoning.
404
u/StreetsofBodie 2d ago
Those guys took sooo much mercury on that trip. You can still find out where the group peed
→ More replies (29)87
→ More replies (2)218
u/bad_spelling_advice 2d ago
Isn't that how we've traced their travels? Mercury in their stool samples?
→ More replies (5)235
→ More replies (31)492
u/IAmBroom 2d ago
Meanwhile, that absolute sonofabitch Clark took a slave along their famous trip named York.
York was invaluable throughout, and expected to be freed afterwards. Instead, Clark separated him from his wife and kids, whipped him, and sold him away.
Fuck Clark.
→ More replies (12)190
u/Hausenfeifer 2d ago
Jesus Christ, that's not something I was expecting to learn today. Yeah, fuck Clark.
→ More replies (2)
2.2k
u/owlinspector 2d ago edited 1d ago
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme (that celebrity enough?). Gunned down in 1986 on his way home from the cinema. Case still unsolved. I have thought and read way too much about that one. The investigation was a massive clusterfuck.
→ More replies (33)468
u/Gnidlaps-94 2d ago
That Australian Prime Minister that went for a swim one day and disappeared
124
→ More replies (8)98
1.4k
u/laufsteakmodel 2d ago
Michael Rockefeller. Last seen in Papua New Guinea. Was in contact with an actual cannibal tribe. Rumors that he was eaten. Years later a picture of that tribe shows up, and theres a white guy among them. Photo is too blurry to tell if its a native with albinism, some other white guy, or Michael Rockefeller.
141
u/seeteethree 1d ago
You are at the very top of the food chain when you're eating "actual" Rockefellers.
→ More replies (3)473
u/slutty_pumpkin 2d ago
This one is really interesting to me. There was a Smithsonian article in 2014 that seems to confirm the Otsjanep killed and ate him after “rescuing” him after a shipwreck, with some of them keeping some of his bones (apparently you can make fishing spears out of the tibia). It’s long, but interesting: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/What-Really-Happened-to-Michael-Rockefeller-180949813/
→ More replies (4)325
u/degggendorf 1d ago
(apparently you can make fishing spears out of the tibia). It’s long, but interesting
It is long. In fact, it is second longest bone in the body.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (5)201
u/1337b337 1d ago
Man, that picture though.
Looks exactly like Michael; same jawline, nose and facial hair, even the way the eyes are cast in shadow makes it look like the man in the picture is wearing glasses.
→ More replies (5)
2.6k
u/sun4rest 2d ago
George Reeves
The fact that he played such a beloved character like Superman but was found dead under such mysterious circumstances making you wonder if it really was a suicide or if it was something more sinister
Like imagine if tomorrow they found Chris Evans dead by a gun that doesn't have his fingerprints on it, with no gunshot residue on his hands, and it's just ruled a suicide? That would be crazy
1.1k
u/cheeseburgerwaffles 2d ago
I know the story of George Reeves yet constantly confuse it with Christopher Reeve. I get the Superman connection but why can my brain not immediately make the distinction without having to think about it.
→ More replies (8)358
u/Adekis 2d ago
Even big Superman fans get screwed up and say "Christopher Reeves" all the time, which is neither of their name. I guess the only way to really make sure is just double check if you're not certain. As someone who's kind of pedantic about it, I appreciate that you care enough to try.
But yeah, George Reeves died of a gunshot under mysterious circumstances, Christopher Reeve had a horseback riding accident that paralyzed him. The two stories together created chatter of a "Superman Curse". So I guess there's a lot of details to keep straight. Plus, the 1952 and 1978 Superman are both closer in time to each other now than to today.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (15)92
6.4k
u/bluntbiz 2d ago
Brittany Murphy
2.7k
u/Dougalface 2d ago
Just looked into that - bizarre that her widowed husband went in apparently the same manner six months later..
→ More replies (6)1.9k
u/JMer806 2d ago
Supposedly they shared a CPAP which was the source of the mold but idk if confirmed
→ More replies (32)921
u/KtheMage36 2d ago
I have a CPAP machine and it's not like cleaning it is hard, just a sink of warm water and vinegar and let your hose soak for an hour.
You don't need to snake it or do anything else.
622
u/neuro_exo 2d ago
I worked on a CPAP recall where I received used devices for testing as part of a litigation claim. I am confident some of these people literally never cleaned their CPAP. I had to disassemble some of them in a biosafety cabinet over concerns for my own safety. People are gross.
→ More replies (4)105
u/LovableSidekick 1d ago
New on Netflix: People are Gross - host Jeff Goldblum delves into stuff you won't believe people do.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (54)2.0k
u/WaltMitty 2d ago
I haven't been properly cleaning my CPAP due to depression. With addiction and other problems it's easy to imagine that they weren't either.
I promise to clean mine tonight→ More replies (46)449
576
u/agent-assbutt 2d ago
Highly recommend the Brittany Murphy doc on HBO. No real new info, but it's an interesting look into her life. She was one of my favorite actresses and it gave a lot of insight into her life. Didn't paint a great portrait of those living around her including her deceased husband. RIP Brittany :(
→ More replies (6)502
604
u/RahvinDragand 2d ago
I think the weirdest thing is that her husband died shortly afterwards with the same cause of death.
263
u/pocket-ful-of-dildos 2d ago
Dude apparently Britney Spears lived in that house before or after and complained of always being sick/altered. It was the mold imo
→ More replies (4)57
u/Fearless_Lychee_6050 1d ago
I was listening to a Britney Spears podcast (idk why, I think the specific episode sounded interesting) and the way they described it was that she saw a ghost, specifically she saw two ghosts, a man and woman, standing at the top of the stairs or something. The ghosts were possibly arguing or angry, I'll have to listen to the episode again. But Britney was so scared that she left that night and never went back, and literally sold the house and everything in it. And yeah I think they also mentioned that she'd always thought the house had bad energy. Very weird!
→ More replies (6)820
u/Nofcksgivn 2d ago
Even weirder that Brittany’s mom and Brittany’s own husband would sleep together in their bed after she died.
→ More replies (26)565
u/TechMe717 2d ago
Yeah Brittany's Mom is suspicious to me. She inherited all that money from them and took off.
→ More replies (1)78
u/i010011010 2d ago
As far as I recall, she was the one calling for more investigation into why her daughter died.
→ More replies (8)447
u/SuikTwoPointOh 2d ago
True story. Huge comic book fan and read all the Sin City comics. I know someone who interviewed Brittany Murphy when she was doing press for the movie. They told her about me being a fan, how much I enjoyed it and how faithful it was and so she recorded a little greeting message for me. What a sweetheart. RIP.
284
u/Exotic_Ad_3130 2d ago
I was an editor at a city magazine and interviewed her. She was so sweet and kind and just a really lovely person. We mostly talked about clothes. She was staying at a house near the ocean and she held up the phone so I could hear the waves. Just adorable and sweet.
→ More replies (29)617
3.2k
u/Toxicity246 2d ago
Natalie Wood.
2.8k
u/Longjumping-Ant-77 2d ago
Christopher Walken KNOWS SOMETHING
107
u/webtwopointno 2d ago
Walken and Wagner were not friends. They had just met the day before and by all accounts had not been getting along. Walken was friends with Wood and was there as her guest. Makes no sense that he would cover for Wagner.
→ More replies (24)1.1k
u/warmhellothere 2d ago
Yes, it was around 60 feet and on a boat that size you can hear Everything that is going on. A huge fight would have been heard, as would have the sudden silence of the fight ending. Robert's actions seem very suspicious. But we will never know, unless Christopher talks, which he won't.
2.6k
685
u/H0tFuzz 2d ago
It's harder to hear on a boat than you think. Especially if it's not totally calm water.
784
→ More replies (2)207
u/teradactyl-rex 2d ago
Also, especially hard to hear something if youve been drinking and are asleep.
→ More replies (4)353
u/ololcopter 2d ago
For a guy who kept a watch up his ass for six years without a peep, I don’t think there’s a chance he’ll talk now.
→ More replies (9)→ More replies (21)158
502
u/skojoh 2d ago edited 1d ago
Honestly, I have no strong opinions on this case but I don’t think the option that she had an argument and perhaps fell off the boat while alone outside is too unbelievable. Especially with drugs and alcohol on open water
447
u/ThrowingChicken 2d ago
The whole thing is kind of a stretch really. Walken and Wagner didn’t know each other. They had just met that Friday, and by all accounts the two were not getting along. Walken was there as a guest of Wood, who he was actually friends with. Walken covering for Wagner seems extremely unlikely.
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (5)235
u/Toxicity246 2d ago
Agreed, I think the more than likely scenario is Robert and Natalie had an argument and Natalie left to blow off steam. Perhaps he hit her, maybe he didn't. She was found with bruises on her body and arms plus an abrasion on her left cheek. She was on some painkiller, a motion sickness pill, and drank which amplified the effects of the alcohol. So she was alone outside and slipped somehow off the boat.
→ More replies (30)→ More replies (19)227
u/GraveDancer40 2d ago
And short of a death bed confession from Robert or Christopher we’ll never know exactly what happened that night.
→ More replies (2)150
651
u/TheLumberViking 2d ago
A different kind of mysterious, but Junior Seau, and by extension Dave Duerson. Both American Football Players who committed suicide by shooting themselves in the chest. Duerson specified ahead of time that his brain was to be donated and studied for CTE due to the number of concussions that he'd had. Seau's was donated after the fact.
The mystery is because you cannot determine if someone has CTE while they are still living - They committed the act without knowing if what they feared was actually what was wrong.
As someone who has had a LOT of concussions, and now deals with depression and mood swings I think about them a lot
→ More replies (7)321
u/zyzzy32 1d ago
Don’t think about it too much, dude. Stay with us. You’re gonna die eventually. No need to speed up the process. Maybe you’ll get the chance to help solve this medical mystery in some way. Maybe not, but you’re here for a reason and we’re all in this together so you might as well stick around.
87
u/TheLumberViking 1d ago
Thanks pal, Upside to learning about them is that I'm in a better position than they were and I've gotten help that they couldn't. Still in therapy, probably always will be. And lot of tests done to make sure I'm doing things as well as I can for my nephews and the people around me
3.6k
u/paigezero 2d ago edited 1d ago
Elliott Smith's death was never made that big a deal of but the details were always a little strange. It was suggested it was suicide but he died of two stab wounds to the chest after an argument with his girlfriend. The coroner's report was left open on whether it was suicide or homicide.
Edit: Have to edit to say as an indie kid in the UK in the 90s, there was only me and one other friend who particularly cared when Elliott died, this was before I ever got online etc. so I guess I just missed everyone else across the world paying attention to it.
1.6k
u/Zukez 2d ago
Yeah and there were no hesitation wounds. Suicide by knife to the chest is super rare to begin with, but the absence of hesitation wounds is unheard of. I can't believe his girlfriend got away with it without even a proper investigation.
→ More replies (53)919
u/Pastywhitebitch 2d ago
“Hesitation marks are usually straight sharp instrument wounds that are often found on the bodies, especially the wrists and neck area, of suicide victims. Hesitation marks tend to be of different depths as the victim experiments prior to cutting a deep enough wound to kill themselves.”
Had to Google that and makes me sad
→ More replies (7)324
u/Mean_Ratio9575 2d ago
Now Google will put you on suicide watch :)
→ More replies (2)332
u/willingisnotenough 2d ago
I once googled "Why can't I go to bed?" and the first thing google showed me was a suicide crisis line. Geez google, I'm just procrastinating sleep, chill out!
→ More replies (14)163
u/DavidDaveDavo 2d ago
I remember hearing the announcement on MTV (Zane Low I think). I was very upset. The world is s poorer place without Elliot.
Was the other party ever properly investigated. Two stab wounds to the chest seems like a good reason.
He is missed.
→ More replies (15)66
762
u/MarkMaynardDotcom 2d ago
I was once waiting for a plane in Portland and a woman was sitting by me, talking with a friend. It became very evident after a few minutes that she was Smith’s sister. The subject of conversation was his death. Let’s just say she did not think it was a suicide. I wasn’t eavesdropping, by the way, she was talking loudly and didn’t seem to care who was listening.
→ More replies (17)232
u/zombiefarnz 2d ago
Honestly if it was my family member I thought was murdered I would yell it all the time, not even to anyone in particular.
→ More replies (1)388
u/interprime 2d ago
Came in here to say Elliott Smith. The fact that there has never been a thorough investigation into his girlfriend is mind boggling. They have an argument and, according to her, she left the room, heard a scream and returned to find he had stabbed himself twice in the chest? Not a fucking chance.
→ More replies (12)179
u/CX316 2d ago
She claimed she locked herself in the bathroom, and for the extra detail IIRC when she found him she pulled the knife out, which would result in bloody hands and her fingerprints on the knife as well as probably being the worst possible thing to do
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (77)287
u/endlesstrains 2d ago
was never made that big a deal of
I see you weren't an indie kid in 2003 lol
→ More replies (4)
1.1k
u/robj57 2d ago
Elizabeth Short, the Black Dalia
441
u/steals-sweetrolls 2d ago
It's ironic. She set out to become a star, but she became better known after her death. No one knew who she was when she was alive.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (19)146
u/DancingBears88 1d ago
Great Podcast called The Root of All Evil done by the family of a man they suspect was her killer. He was AWFUL and listening to the podcast was addicting. I clung to every word, but it is upsetting. Like Junko upsetting. Proceed with extreme caution. It will change how you view Hollywood.
→ More replies (4)
1.6k
u/Bluntbutnotonpurpose 2d ago
Jimmy Hoffa.
Sure, it was probably the mafia. But why exactly? How did it go? Where did his body end up?
920
u/giggity2 2d ago edited 2d ago
He got too powerful as a union leader. I think he ended up in the ground of some construction site. Could be underneath a skyscraper for all we know right now.
→ More replies (36)444
u/SweetCosmicPope 2d ago
Frank Sheehan said he was cremated. Who knows if that's true since he probably made up most of his story. A few other mob guys have made deathbed confessions about where they buried him and they never find him.
Cremation makes a lot of sense, if for no other reason than there's still been no body found.
→ More replies (3)457
u/ZweitenMal 2d ago
I knew someone who was lightly mob-affiliated in Chicago. He said that a particular funeral home on the south suburbs was owned by the mob. It functioned as a perfectly normal funeral home. And also gave them access to a crematorium. It’s just smart business—just like in Ozark.
→ More replies (17)222
u/The5Virtues 2d ago
Yeah, a lot of mob groups do that, it’s just sensible. Same way they’ll have pizza parlors and the like, they can launder money and have a legitimate store that makes reliable income.
In the modern world it’s just a lot easier than trying to dump somebody in the river or hide them under cement. Just own a funeral home and dust ‘em with the normal turn over of deceased folks.
86
→ More replies (4)31
u/MrChristmas 2d ago
Plus they sometimes make the best food, if you don’t care about profits, food can be made pretty deliciously
→ More replies (4)57
u/The5Virtues 2d ago edited 2d ago
Absolutely. There are a couple places in my hometown that were phenomenal Italian food. Turns out they were mob fronts so they had money regardless, which meant they just made excellent food at reasonable prices, which meant they had customers all the time and put out a brisk trade.
Made it real easy for their delivery guys to also be running who knows what else in and out, and dirty money to get recirculated for clean money.
Eventually they got exposed, mob ceased to run the places, and quality dipped while prices went up.
I’m not fan of organized crime but fuck do I miss that chicken piccata, garlic bread, full salad, and a full plate of pasta for 8 bucks.
174
u/fd1Jeff 2d ago
The “ why“ is pretty obvious. As much as Hoffa was a thug and a crook, he wasn’t under the control of the mafia. He certainly worked with them, but he also said no to them pretty often. At that moment, the head of the Teamsters was someone who was under mafia control. If Hoffa came back, the mafia wouldn’t have that anymore. So the moment it looked like this powerful figure was going to come back and take control of the teamsters, he disappeared.
291
u/tjakes12 2d ago
They dug for him in my town. My dad was on the dig team and made the cover of the national enquirer. He bought a copy and put it in his fire safe. Know what wasn’t in his safe? My birth certificate… but that darn copy of the national enquirer was😂
→ More replies (9)→ More replies (48)135
u/Preesi 2d ago
It is my opinion that Jimmy Hoffa was dropped by plane into the NJ Pine Barrens
→ More replies (4)231
u/SweetCosmicPope 2d ago
Near that Russian interior decorator.
→ More replies (3)170
1.4k
u/Youpunyhumans 2d ago
DB Cooper. I guess not so much a death as just a dissapearance. Guy jumps out of a plane after he hijacked it, demanded 200 grand, and is never seen again. According to the flight attendant he spoke to, he was quite calm and collected the whole time.
→ More replies (33)900
u/FlwzHK 2d ago
There's a theory he never actually existed and the flight crew did it for the money.
The way it was done required extremely good knowledge of the plane, that even the manufacturer did not know about, ( that you could open the back door in flight at a certain speed / altitude ) so it's unlikely it was a random dude.
→ More replies (25)754
u/Psychwrite 2d ago edited 1d ago
That's why Ted Braden is my favorite suspect for it. Member of MACSOG in Vietnam, where they used 727s for clandestine insertions into enemy territory. Was one of the few people alive that knew the plane's capabilities. Was the Army's lead parachutist, instructor, and leader of the Golden Arrows (now Golden Knights), the Army display parachute team. Deserted the army to go be a mercenary in Africa and was captured by the CIA. Should've been court martialed for that, but was honorably discharged, probably for silence about MACSOG's less than legal ops in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Lived in the Portland area at the time of the hijacking and worked as a trucker, so his exact whereabouts were unknown. Add to that some of his former spec ops colleagues think he's the likely suspect, and that all seems pretty believable.
Edit: I forgot to add that he was pretty much a dead ringer for the description of Cooper. A little shorter than Cooper was said to be, but thick soled shoes could account for that.
→ More replies (8)146
u/Ace_of_Clubs 2d ago
Huh, never heard this theory. It's great. Thanks for sharing.
→ More replies (9)
1.4k
u/DIABLO258 2d ago edited 2d ago
Trevor Moore.
It's truly incredible what he was able to accomplish in life. He was the funniest guy I could think of when I was a kid, and still to this day stands as one of the funniest people in my memory. I'm not surprised by his accomplishments, but I was surprised by his death. I was more surprised to find out how he died. An accident. I mean, trying to suck your own dick is not something you'd think is lethal, but, apparently so.
But, I think the one thing on everyone's mind at the time was, did he finish? Regardless of what actually happened, I believe he did. His last greatest achievement. So great, it killed him. Rip local sexpot.
360
166
246
u/Professor_Plop 2d ago
I’ve always found Trevor Moore’s death super ironic and almost beautifully hilarious, because I could just imagine the concepted scene as a WKUK sketch….. but are you telling me he fell out a window while trying to suck himself?
→ More replies (1)556
u/StayPony_GoldenBoy 2d ago
For anyone who doesn't know, the trying to suck himself thing is a joke. The WK had a pact that when the first one of them died, they others would insist it happened while trying to suck themselves off.
He fell off a balcony while drunk at home. The thing about him being a local sexpot was 100% true, though.
→ More replies (3)54
u/centipededamascus 1d ago
Reminds me of how Carrie Fisher wanted her obituary to say "she drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra."
→ More replies (50)275
u/scoyne15 2d ago
Breaking kayfabe to say I love that the fans keep this going. I bet he would have loved it, but gonna be so weird for his kid to see all the comments about how his dad died. Okay, back to being in character.
Of course he finished, he wasn't no quitter! He came and went.
→ More replies (4)
571
u/MartyMcflysTrainers 2d ago
Jill Dando (UK)
40
u/jaymx226 2d ago
I don't know who would want to be a female newsreader or reporter/presenter in the UK. They attract the worst stalkers and weirdos. Holly Willoughby just the latest example on a long list
→ More replies (4)268
u/Siccar_Point 2d ago
Definitely. Presented a crime appeal show. Shot dead in cold blood on doorstep in country where guns are uncommon. First main suspect wrongfully convicted. Whole thing screams professional hit. Wikipedia is telling me there’s a chance it was a geopolitical revenge killing by Yugoslavia!?!?
→ More replies (10)
266
u/majorjoe23 2d ago edited 2d ago
Susan Cabot, who starred in a lot of westerns and b movies (notably The Wasp Woman by Roger Corman) and had an affair with King Hussein of Jordan, which was initiated by the CIA. She got paranoid later in life and essentially became a shut in/hoarder.
Her son, who had dwarfism, claimed a man in a ninja mask broken into their house and killed her. At the trial he admitted that he had beaten her to death with a weightlifting bar He said she had awakened him screaming at him, didn't recognize him, and called him by her mother's name.
His lawyers claimed drugs he took to counteract his dwarfism and pituitary issues had caused a prion contamination resulting in a mental break. He got three years for involuntary manslaughter.
He may have been King Hussein's love child.
He died about 17 years later. I've tried looking up info about his life after the trial, but haven't found much.
→ More replies (1)68
u/PersonMcNugget 2d ago
Wow, I thought I knew all the weird Hollywood stories but this one is new to me.
978
u/raven_1313 2d ago
I know its a bit cliche, but the JonBenet Ramsey case is one I can never stop thinking about. Were the marks a taser or train tracks? A broken window too small to fit thru? A ransom note that took at least 20 mins to write, using paper from the household, that mentions John Bennett's exact bonus amount? The pineapple and milk after she was already asleep by Patsy's account? The 911 call recording? Trace dna on her underwear that may have just been a factory worker? Its all just too weird... I honestly believe it was someone in that family, but my top suspect keeps changing from year to year as I read more.
338
u/grieveancecollector 2d ago edited 2d ago
The thing about this one is that the "ransom note" was clear about no one was to know or their daughter would be beheaded (wtf). Then they proceeded to bring in neighbors, family, friends, randos, press .... and then the police. Not even keeping it private just for the police. I don't think any parent who read that note and did what they did shortly thereafter could be trusted. It was like they knew the note didn't matter because it wasn't really from a kidnapper. I still think it was JR.
→ More replies (5)137
u/rumpie 1d ago
But for a ransom note to work, you need a kidnap victim. I can't believe "legitimate" kidnappers would leave both the note and her body behind. Why? To what end? If she was killed after the note was written, you wouldnt leave that note behind. If she was killed before the note, you'd take the body. I can't believe someone broke into the house with a kidnapping plan and left both the kid and the ransom note. If strangers broke in with a plan to take that child and collect ransom, they'd take her with them alive or deceased.
I believe John wrote the note, and the "appropriately sized attache case" line gave him cover to bring her body up from the basement in a suitcase/bag and leave without Patsy realizing. Patsy fucked that up when she called the cops. The note wasn't supposed to fool anybody other than his wife and son, I think he had an elaborate plan to 'pay the ransom and something went wrong' resulting in her body being disposed of elsewhere and him disappearing his Christmas bonus ransom money away from his wife. The entire opening of the note was directions designed to give him as much leeway as possible to try to figure something out - "be rested", "might call you earlier", "you will be denied her remains for proper burial."
But Patsy called the cops so of course he's the one to find the body and carry it upstairs, tainting any physical evidence from him on her body.
No idea why he killed his child but I 90% believe it was John Ramsey. (just my opinions, thought about this one way too much. Would love to know what actually happened to that poor girl, JonBenet deserves justice.)
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (61)279
u/Vegetable_Bass_175 2d ago
I absolutely refuse to believe anyone but Patsy wrote that ransom note. Seriously, you’re going to sit down in the study of a household whose daughter you just murdered, write a ransom note for no reason (as JBR was already dead), decide your first draft is bad, throw it out neatly in the trash can, write a three page note full of unnecessary detail in Patsy Ramsay’s handwriting that would have taken at least 20 minutes to write, then calmly push your chair in, put all the materials back, and lay the pages neatly on the stairs? WHY? Either JBR was already dead by that time, so there’s no point, or you haven’t even kidnapped her yet, in which case why would you put the note on the stairway TO HER BEDROOM? And how did he walk back down over the note without disturbing it?
But anyway, yeah. lol. It’s the thing about the case that makes everything make no sense for me.
→ More replies (22)93
u/Mastodon9 1d ago
My issue is a 5 page ransom note loaded with movie quotes and revealing personal information like John's work bonus doesn't seem like something a panicking mother would write. If she was panicking and wanting to avoid suspicion it seems like she'd have just wrote a simple "I have your daughter and I want $5 million. Don't call the police or she dies. I will call with instructions etc." Why go on and on for 5 pages?
→ More replies (15)
3.7k
u/AJEDIWITHNONAME 2d ago
The drummers from Spinal Tap. One died in “bizarre gardening accident”. One choked on vomit, possibly not even in his own vomit and two from spontaneous human combustion.
1.6k
u/ConsciousBother387 2d ago
I beg your pardon did you day spontaneous human combustion???
935
u/Let_The_Boy_Watch__ 2d ago
And two of them died that way??
→ More replies (11)470
u/BeginningPrinciple48 2d ago
One exploded.
→ More replies (8)484
u/germdisco 2d ago
Yep! Just check the documentary to get your questions answered. Well, some of your questions, and some others.
242
u/No_Astronaut_9481 2d ago
That documentary truly is the most candid and accurate look into the crazy circumstances surrounding that crazy death as well as the music biz. etc. must watch. Turn it up to 11
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (38)40
→ More replies (38)173
89
u/DavidDaveDavo 2d ago
The only thing left of one of them was a small strain.
Unfortunately you can't dust for vomit.
→ More replies (2)90
u/Invictum2go 2d ago
Aww I thought this was real for a second, tho I'm happy 4 people aren't dead lol
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (64)390
u/AThingUnderUrBed 2d ago edited 2d ago
Possibly not even his own vomit???
I probably shouldn't have laughed at that, but I did.
I'll be thinking about this for a while now, too.
Edit: FFS, I realize you can't dust for vomit.
It was just ridiculous and made me laugh so I put emphasis on it. Jesus, people.
→ More replies (17)272
341
u/illumi-thotti 2d ago
Idk if she's a celebrity in the conventional sense, but Marsha P. Johnson.
Famous civil rights leader once believed to have thrown the first brick at the Stonewall riots and she was found face down in a quarry with clear signs of strangulation. Police ruled it a suicide.
I'm 100% sure she was murdered and 90% sure the cops did it
→ More replies (2)
740
u/theservman 2d ago
Mine is more of an anti-death: How the hell is Keith Richards still alive? (been thinking that since about 1985)
251
u/Bris_Throwaway 2d ago
Keith Richards tricked Johnny Depp into performing a Freaky Friday-type body swap when Depp was trying to rip off his moves for the Jack Sparrow character.
The 150 year old Richards is now living large in Depp's body which Johnny desperately wants back.
→ More replies (6)123
u/AlsoIHaveAGroupon 2d ago
I heard once (as a middle schooler in the 90s, so take this with a massive grain of salt) that if you manage to get off heroin before you have a serious overdose, and and you stay clean, that the long term effects are minimal, and that ex-junkies often live a really long time.
→ More replies (11)117
u/bturcolino 2d ago
This is actually true! We studied this in psychopharmacology, and its not the heroin use itself that kills junkies, give them a regular dependable consistent source and they can maintain pretty much indefinitely. It's usually because they can't get their dope because their dealer got caught, or is out of product or whatever, they need their fix so they get it off someone they don't know well and it's not the same quality or potency and bam overdose. You'd be very surprised how many people you interact with on a regular basis are closet junkies.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (24)204
u/Iceman6211 2d ago edited 2d ago
Drug use is a dice roll
you either die at the age of 32 or you'll live forever
Edit: I'm aware of the 27 Club.
→ More replies (10)
129
u/10inchblackhawk 2d ago edited 2d ago
In Canada, the owner of a Pharmaceutical company called Apotex was killed along with his wife. No one knows who did it to this day. They were killed in their own home and found with belts around their necks attached to railings by their pool
→ More replies (6)38
u/wilderlowerwolves 1d ago
Barry and Honey Sherman? I also heard that the children ordered the house demolished after the investigation was completed, and they wanted NONE of the house's contents.
880
u/PriveChecker182 2d ago
People are posting Chester Bennington and I genuinely don't understand how people consider that "mysterious". It's like people started talking about "Holy shit, did you guys ever look into the lyrics?! He was telling us all along!"
Like no shit. Linkin Park in their prime were brutalized for how on-the-nose the subject matter was. man who suffered with depression and addiction eventually killing himself is the least mysterious death I can think of.
→ More replies (25)167
u/swolf8100 2d ago
I'm pretty sure that guy was singing some of his suicide notes drafts.
→ More replies (2)
126
u/NecessaryThat862 2d ago
Sam Cooke's passing still makes no sense to me....Hookers, self defense, theft all tangled up in an incomprehensible story
→ More replies (1)
123
u/MatttheBruinsfan 2d ago
Ambrose Bierce. Disappeared in 1913 after joining Pancho Villa's army as an observer.
→ More replies (2)
348
u/jamawg 2d ago
→ More replies (15)100
u/changleosingha 2d ago
Yes! Had to scroll a while for this. Loved Hogan’s Heroes. There was that movie with Willem Dafoe about him
→ More replies (5)
56
u/Sure_Disk8972 2d ago edited 1d ago
Andy Kaufman. Said to have died of lung cancer at age 35. Lots of people including his close friend and co-writer believe he faked his death, he apparently talked about doing it quite a bit.
However he has yet to make a “comeback” in the past 40 years. Which leads me to believe he either didn’t fake his death orr died in an accident while in hiding (which is both a tragic and hilarious thought).
His wife later suggested that he had been a closet bisexual (apparently she was told not to reveal this information until his parents died) and had actually died of AIDS. This makes sense to me considering the timeline (he died in 1984) and the fact that he was a healthy, young, non-smoker (not counting Tony Clifton) and had very little risk of lung cancer.
Maybe this is all just people trying to make sense of a cruel and random universe, but I’m sure he would enjoy the speculation.
Btw this is what the REM song “Man On The Moon” is about.
→ More replies (5)
276
u/Mr_Bumsmell 2d ago
Ahem. Australian here, our bloody Prime Minister. In 1967, dude just went for a swim at the beach and has not been seen since.
→ More replies (14)
739
u/BallEngineerII 2d ago
Bob Saget. I don't think it was anything nefarious, just weird
→ More replies (14)240
u/Drewtendo_64 2d ago
isn't it assumed he had a medical episode, had head trauma and that was all she wrote?
→ More replies (37)387
u/DuffMiver8 2d ago
I don’t think it was even a medical episode. He slipped in the hotel room’s bathroom, hit his head, and didn’t realize how serious it was.
92
u/recoveringcanuck 2d ago
I had a coworker die from head trauma from falling on the stairs carrying laundry. Shit happens.
→ More replies (5)67
u/thrilliam_19 2d ago
Our neighbour died basically the same way. Wife and kids came home and found him lying on the floor. He just slipped and fell and hit his head when he landed. Dude was like 30 years old with 2 young kids.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)175
u/imjustacuriouslurker 2d ago
Slipped or maybe fainted. He had recently had covid and was saying before his last show that he still wasn’t feeling 100%.
→ More replies (1)
49
u/Skiamakhos 2d ago
Jill Dando. BBC Crimewatch presenter shot dead on her doorstep. All kinds of theories about it, massive investigation launched, cold case.
409
u/obi-sean 2d ago
Elliott Smith. His death was initially ruled a suicide, but the autopsy was inconclusive and the LAPD investigation is still open.
Two stab wounds to the chest, with no hesitation marks, and no illegal substances or alcohol in his system.
Obviously I can’t say for sure that it wasn’t a suicide—Smith was well-known to have been chronically depressed—but his girlfriend’s alibi is far from airtight, and he didn’t seem to be acutely troubled at the time of his death. It’s unlikely we’ll ever know what actually happened, but I know he had so much more music in him that we’ll never hear.
→ More replies (6)
368
u/happysunbear 2d ago
Bobbi Kristina Brown, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown’s daughter. She, like Whitney, also died in a bathtub under odd circumstances, and had a really sketchy boyfriend.
→ More replies (8)126
u/spiderwebs86 2d ago
It seems more tragic than mysterious since both deaths are drug related drownings but it was certainly horrifying to see Bobbi Kristina suffer such a similar fate so soon after we lost Whitney. My heart breaks for that girl.
132
u/Whoopsht 2d ago
If you'll count him as a celebrity, Caligula. Arguably the worst leader in Roman history, he would insult and mock his senators, sleep with their wifes in front of them and then exclaim how awful they were in bed, he'd throw people into the gladiator pits to die and when they begged for mercy, he had them pulled out and their tongues removed so they wouldn't make so much noise. At festivals and games on hot days, he would have the ceilings and shades pulled back because he liked to see his citizens baking in the sun and passing out from heat stroke.
His death is mysterious not because we don't know about it, but because he wasn't somehow killed in an assassination or conspiracy. Remember, this is a society where Julias Caesar was killed because his senators felt he was getting ready to declare himself King, despite his general popularity with the people.
Caligula was murdered basically at random. He mocked a guard's voice, the guard snapped and stabbed him to death in an alley. That's it. No grand plot to kill Caligula for the good of all Romans, just some dude who got made fun of and said "Nah FUCK this guy"
→ More replies (9)67
u/Rhodog1234 2d ago
I've read somewhere that much of the lacivous and raunchy inhumane acts that are supposedly of Caligula's history, were future historians just making stuff up to denigrate his legacy. History is often written by the last laughers.
→ More replies (1)
71
u/MeanOldWind 2d ago
Nancy Spungen, gf of Sid Vicious. She died of a stab wound to the abdomen, and it's not known who stabbed her. Sid was arrested, released on bail, and died four months later of a herion overdose.
Edit: To add - if you read up on her life story, she had serious mental health and behavioral issues from a very young age.
→ More replies (3)
1.3k
u/dementian174 2d ago
Jeffrey Epstein.
He absolutely did not hang himself, and with his death came a wave of silence over atrocities committed by high profile men and women. We will never know the extent of his disgusting crimes, and who was complicit in it. I cannot look at a celebrity or politician the same, anymore. I'm constantly wondering "were they on that island?"
→ More replies (101)626
u/SunnyPickles22 2d ago
Let me add to this, Jean Luc Brunel, an associate of Epstein who allegedly supplied underaged girls to Epstein.
He was held on suspicion and ALSO died in custody...BY HANGING
→ More replies (12)177
353
u/myeroticminx 2d ago
Sridevi
A Bollywood actress, died in Dubai from accidental drowning in a bathtub, right after attending a wedding in perfect health. She also had a large life insurance policy that would only pay out if she died in Dubai. I think we can think about that for hours.. Your ideas?
→ More replies (8)
30
u/Cheekygirl97 2d ago
It’s rumoured Jerry Lee Lewis killed his fifth wife. Shawn died of a methadone overdose and was found deceased in her bed. When she was found, Shawn was said to have bruises and blood on her body. Ultimately, he was found not guilty. People still believe it to be true because Lewis had a drug problem and a history of dangerous behaviour in the past such as (in 1976) being arrested outside Elvis’s home in Graceland. He went there to try to shoot him.
→ More replies (1)
733
u/Sprizys 2d ago
The Lee’s, Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee. They both died by “accidents” Bruce took something for a headache and his brain swelled up and he died. Brandon got shot on the set of The Crow by a gun that was supposed to be firing blanks. It’s weird that they both mysteriously died at young ages.
479
u/HKEY_LOVE_MACHINE 2d ago
Brandon got shot on the set of The Crow by a gun that was supposed to be firing blanks.
It shot a blank, but the barrel of the gun had a dummy bullet stuck inside (from a previous incident), so the blank propelled the dummy bullet, into the unsuspecting Brandon Lee.
That's why armorers on film sets have to be incredibly meticulous and never lose sight of their weapons.
It only takes 3 seconds for someone to grab a gun, mishandle it, replace it where they found it - but now with a dangerous round in the magazine or barrel, unbeknownst to the armorer.
310
u/ConstableBlimeyChips 2d ago edited 1d ago
What happened to Brandon Lee wasn't the result of an actor or someone else mishandling a gun. It was the result of the armorer cutting corners and not taking due care.
An earlier shot called for the camera to be angling down the barrel, since the gun in question was a revolver, the rounds would be visible, and blanks would have been obvious. instead of using dummy rounds, the armorer took regular rounds, pulled the bullet, dumped the powder, and put the bullet back, but leaving the primer. During the initial shot, the actor pulled the trigger and the primer had enough force to push the bullet into the barrel.
Between scenes the armorer failed to check to the barrel for obstructions, and somehow didn't notice their improvised dummy round was missing the bullet. Then when the gun was loaded with blank rounds for the next shot it essentially created a full powered round with the blank providing the powder charge and the bullet still sitting in the barrel instead of the cartridge itself.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (22)64
u/Haunting_Raccoon6058 2d ago
He also failed to remove the primer when he was making his own prop ammo, it was the primer that went off initially causing the bullet to get lodged in the barrel.
→ More replies (25)185
u/SnooApples5554 2d ago edited 2d ago
It was firing blanks, but blanks have caused more than one on-set death. They're still dangerous.
→ More replies (5)166
u/Haunting_Raccoon6058 2d ago
It was an actual bullet propelled by a blank that killed him. The armorer had made his own prop ammo (non firing ammo meant to look like a real cartridge for display) by pulling bullets out of live cartridges, dumping the powder out, and reseating the bullet. The problem was he left the primer intact. Someone pulled the trigger at some point and the primer created enough pressure to lodge the bullet in the barrel of the revolver. The gun was then loaded with blanks for a firing scene. When the blank was fired with a bullet in the barrel it might as well have been loaded with normal live ammunition.
→ More replies (6)
319
u/nlgoodman510 2d ago
Anne Heche, WTF
208
u/Mcgarnicle_ 2d ago
That video where she was on the stretcher and just out of nowhere quickly sat up and started flailing was crazy. Sucks to know that she didn’t just die quickly she fully felt basically being burned to death
→ More replies (8)→ More replies (34)76
14.5k
u/Rigistroni 2d ago
Edgar Allen Poe.
Disappear for an entire week before being found in a bar completely delirious, calling out a name no one's been able to identify before dying in the hospital 3 days later of an unknown cause.