Can one really die from laughing? Is it a good way to go? Let's see.
Chrysippus was a Stoic philosopher who created an original system of propositional logic in order to better understand the workings of the universe and role of humanity within the universe; however, that's not what he is remembered for, he is remembered for dying of laughter.
Apparently, he caught a donkey eating a basket full of
his figs. In response, he yelled that the donkey needed to be given a
pure wine to wash the figs down. Finding the image hilarious, he fell to
the ground laughing for several minutes and eventually lost
consciousness.
What a way to go. Apparently, there is a whole list of such individuals who left this existence laughing. Here are a few notable cases I found on the world-wide-web (WWW).
- Zeuxis, a 5th-century BC Greek painter, is said to have died laughing at the humorous way in which he painted an old woman.
- In 1410, King Martin of Aragon is said to have died from a combination of indigestion and uncontrollable laughter.
- In 1556, Pietro Aretino "is said to have died of suffocation from laughing too much"
- In 1660, Thomas Urquhart, the Scottish aristocrat, polymath, and first translator of François Rabelais' writings into English, is said to have died laughing upon hearing that Charles II had taken the throne.
- On October 14, 1920, 56-year-old Arthur Cobcroft, a dog trainer from Loftus Street, Leichhardt, Australia, was reading a five-year-old newspaper and was amused at the prices for some commodities in 1915 as compared to 1920. He made a remark to his wife regarding this and burst into laughter, and in the midst of it, he collapsed and died. A doctor surnamed Nixon was called in, and stated that the death was due to heart failure, brought by excessive laughter.
- During the night of October 30, 1965 in Manila, Philippines, a 24-year-old carpenter who was well-known for making his companions laugh was telling jokes to his friends. The joke, which the carpenter's friends told police, was so funny that it caused the carpenter to fall in an uncontrollable fit of laughter from which he then fainted; he was brought to the hospital, but died before he could be given medical help. The book The Big Book of Boy Stuff by Bart King recounts the incident in anecdotal form, where the carpenter was instead told the joke by his friends rather than himself, and "laughed until he cried, collapsed, and then died".
- On March 24, 1975, Alex Mitchell, from King's Lynn, England, died laughing while watching the "Kung Fu Kapers" episode of The Goodies. After 25 minutes of continuous laughter, Mitchell slumped on the sofa and died from heart failure. His widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments of life so pleasant. Diagnosis of his granddaughter in 2012 of having the inheritable long QT syndrome (a heart rhythm abnormality) suggests that Mitchell may have died of a cardiac arrest caused by the same condition.
- In 1989, during the initial run of the film A Fish Called Wanda, a 71-year-old Danish audiologist named Ole Bentzen reportedly laughed himself to death.
- On August 19, 2003, Damnoen Saen-um, 52, an ice cream truck driver in Mueang Phuket district, Thailand, died laughing while asleep. The cause of death was unclear as he was in good health, but doctors said it was likely heart failure.
So the next time someone tells you that they are "dying with laughter," call 911 if you are in the US, 119 in Korea, 112 in France, 105 in Mongolia, actually, try 112 or 119 if you don't know the emergency code in the country you are in. And it you are the one laughing, well, enjoy the joke. For life is a joke, and you fully understand the meaning of life. The original system of propositional logic, as Chrysippus had with his donkey.
I finally understand stoicism.
~~ Eso Terry , ha, ha, ha....
