List of people who died on the toilet

Numerous individuals have died while using a toilet facility or in the process of defecation or urination. This includes confirmed historical figures and more modern recent notable cases of deaths.

Pre-20th century[]

Date	Location	Name	Age	Description	Source
c. 12th century BC	Moab	Eglon, King of Moab	Unknown	Assassinated by left-handed judge Ehud while on toilet.	^[1]
Summer of 581 BC	Jin, China	Duke Jing of Jin (Ju)	Unknown	Died falling into a toilet pit.	^[2]
336 AD	Constantinople, Eastern Roman Empire	Arius	80	Died from explosive gastrointestinal problems while in a public toilet	^[3]
30 November 1016	Oxford or London, England	King Edmund Ironside of England	26	Stabbed while defecating in a toilet.	^[4]
4 November 1035	Lysá nad Labem, Bohemia	Jaromír, Duke of Bohemia	Unknown	Stabbed with a spear from under a toilet seat while defecating.	^[5]
26 or 27 February 1076	Vlaardingen, Lower Lorraine	Godfrey IV, Duke of Lower Lorraine	Unknown	Was assassinated while using a toilet.	^[6]
4 August 1306	Olomouc, Bohemia	Wenceslaus III of Bohemia	16	Murdered with a spear while sitting in the garderobe.	^[7]
19 April 1578	Echigo Province, Japan	Uesugi Kenshin	c. 58	Allegedly assassinated while using a toilet.	^[8]
25 October 1760	Kensington Palace, London, England, Great Britain	George II of Great Britain	76	Collapsed shortly after attending to his close stool, possibly died of an aortic aneurysm.	^[9]

20th century[]

Date	Location	Name	Age	Description	Source
26 May 1908	Lahore	Mirza Ghulam Ahmad	73	Died of Cholera	^[10]
22 June 1969	Chelsea, London	Judy Garland	47	Overdosed on barbiturates while using a toilet.	^[11]
24 October 1971	Paris, France	George Dyer	38	Overdose of alcohol and amphetamine while using a toilet. Portrayed in The Black Triptychs	^[12]
16 August 1977	Memphis, Tennessee	Elvis Presley	42	Cardiac arrest due to alleged drug overdose while using a toilet.	^[13]

21st century[]

Date	Location	Name	Age	Description	Source
8 March 2004	Hollywood Hills, California, United States	Robert Pastorelli	49	Overdosed on morphine while on a toilet.	^[14]
25 June 2011	Pilton, Somerset, United Kingdom	Christopher Shale	56	Died of a heart attack on a portable toilet while at Glastonbury Festival.	^[15]
17 May 2013	Marcos Paz, Buenos Aires, Argentina	Jorge Rafael Videla	87	Died of a heart attack while on a jail toilet after slipped in the shower.	^[16]

Deaths in fiction[]

Donald Gennaro (played by Martin Ferrero) is eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex while sitting on the toilet of a destroyed restroom cabin in the 1993 movie Jurassic Park.^[17]
A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones: in the book A Storm of Swords (2000) from the series written by George R. R. Martin, Tywin Lannister is killed while using the toilet.^[18]
The Sopranos: one capo for Tony Soprano's crime family, Gigi Cestone, died on the toilet, likely due to stress caused by the new leadership role.^{[citation needed]}
Rick McCarthy (played by Eric Keenleyside) from Stephen King's Dreamcatcher (2003) dies from expelling an alien while on the toilet.
South Park: in the 2012 episode "Reverse Cowgirl", Clyde's mom falls into the toilet and suffers disembowelment.^[19]
Saturday Night Live: produced several fictional advertisements for comedic value for a device called a "Toilet Death Ejector", in which a toilet would "eject" a person off of a toilet if they died on it so they would not be found dead on the toilet.^[20]
A panicked passenger (played by Leanne Adachi) locks herself in a restroom and gets pulled down the toilet by the Octalus in the 1998 movie Deep Rising.^[21]

References[]

^ "Judges 3:12-26 (King James Version)". BibleGateway.com.
^ Zuo Qiuming (translator James Legge). "Book VIII. Duke Cheng". Zuo Zhuan (in Chinese and English). University of Virginia. Retrieved 23 April 2012. Chapter X.
^ Muehlberger, Ellen (6 May 2015). "The Legend of Arius' Death: Imagination, Space and Filth in Late Ancient Historiography". Past & Present. 227 (1): 3–29. doi:10.1093/pastj/gtu042.
^ Henry of Huntingdon 2002, p. 15.
^ Chronica Baemorum. "Kochan poslal svého kata a když onen slepec seděl na záchodě v hodině noční, vyprazdňoval břich, proklál ho ostrým oštěpem zezadu až do útrob břišních."
^ Hay, David (2008), The military leadership of Matilda of Canossa, 1046-1115, Manchester University Press, pp. 35, 43–44.
^ Charles Edmund Maurice, The Story of Bohemia from the Earliest Times to the Fall of National Independence in 1620 (1896), p.117
^ Turnbull 2012, p. 32
^ Thompson, pp. 289–290; Van der Kiste, p. 213.
^ "Mirza Ghulam Ahmad died of Cholera—new evidence found in Aug-2017–The Vakil newspaper Amritsar dated 30th May 1908". ahmadiyyafactcheckblog. 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
^ citing United Press International article "Judy Took Too Many Pills" and containing a copy of Garland's death certificate.
^ Jonathan Jones (17 September 2019), "Death on a toilet: the shocking Paris show that almost sank Francis Bacon", The Guardian
^ "Elvis' addiction was the perfect prescription for an early death". PBS NewsHour. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
^ "Actor Robert Pastorelli found dead in home". TODAY.com. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
^ "PM in Commons tribute to friend". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
^ "Videla, el represor que murió en un inodoro y que lideró a los que podrían pedir el 2x1". BigBang! News (in Spanish). 5 May 2017.
^ Alexander, Bryan (7 April 2013). "'Jurassic Park': Meet 'the guy who died on the toilet'". USA Today. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
^ "Game of Thrones Viewer's Guide". viewers-guide.hbo.com. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
^ McGee, Ryan (14 March 2012). "South Park: "Reverse Cowgirl"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
^ Berkowitz, Joe (2019-03-03). "SNL has disrupted elder care with this excremental innovation". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
^ Deep Rising (1998) - IMDb, retrieved 2021-03-29

[1] "Judges 3:12-26 (King James Version)". BibleGateway.com.

[2] Zuo Qiuming (translator James Legge). "Book VIII. Duke Cheng". Zuo Zhuan (in Chinese and English). University of Virginia. Retrieved 23 April 2012. Chapter X.

[3] Muehlberger, Ellen (6 May 2015). "The Legend of Arius' Death: Imagination, Space and Filth in Late Ancient Historiography". Past & Present. 227 (1): 3–29. doi:10.1093/pastj/gtu042.

[4] Henry of Huntingdon 2002, p. 15.

[5] Chronica Baemorum. "Kochan poslal svého kata a když onen slepec seděl na záchodě v hodině noční, vyprazdňoval břich, proklál ho ostrým oštěpem zezadu až do útrob břišních."

[6] Hay, David (2008), The military leadership of Matilda of Canossa, 1046-1115, Manchester University Press, pp. 35, 43–44.

[7] Charles Edmund Maurice, The Story of Bohemia from the Earliest Times to the Fall of National Independence in 1620 (1896), p.117

[8] Turnbull 2012, p. 32

[9] Thompson, pp. 289–290; Van der Kiste, p. 213.

[10] "Mirza Ghulam Ahmad died of Cholera—new evidence found in Aug-2017–The Vakil newspaper Amritsar dated 30th May 1908". ahmadiyyafactcheckblog. 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2021-08-29.

[11] ting United Press International article "Judy Took Too Many Pills" and containing a copy of Garland's death certificate.

[12] Jonathan Jones (17 September 2019), "Death on a toilet: the shocking Paris show that almost sank Francis Bacon", The Guardian

[13] "Elvis' addiction was the perfect prescription for an early death". PBS NewsHour. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2020.

[14] "Actor Robert Pastorelli found dead in home". TODAY.com. Retrieved 2017-10-08.

[15] "PM in Commons tribute to friend". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-10-08.

[16] "Videla, el represor que murió en un inodoro y que lideró a los que podrían pedir el 2x1". BigBang! News (in Spanish). 5 May 2017.

[17] Alexander, Bryan (7 April 2013). "'Jurassic Park': Meet 'the guy who died on the toilet'". USA Today. Retrieved 28 March 2020.

[18] "Game of Thrones Viewer's Guide". viewers-guide.hbo.com. Retrieved 28 October 2017.

[19] McGee, Ryan (14 March 2012). "South Park: "Reverse Cowgirl"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 28 March 2020.

[20] Berkowitz, Joe (2019-03-03). "SNL has disrupted elder care with this excremental innovation". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-04-12.

[21] Deep Rising (1998) - IMDb, retrieved 2021-03-29

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List of people who died on the toilet

Contents

Pre-20th century[]

20th century[]

21st century[]

Deaths in fiction[]

See also[]

References[]