So, let’s say you had to pick one… which would you choose?
The Most Likely Causes Of Death
I’d definitely choose “Self-Inflicted Harm”. At least I’d know what’s coming and would have some control over it.
Diane Edwards was a 19-year-old West St. Paul waitress who was raped and murdered by serial killer Joe Ture in 1980. Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü wrote a creepy song about her murder from the killer’s perspective. How fortuitous that when you scream “Diane” it sounds like “Dying” or “Die Ann”.
What a tragedy! For the second straight year, the mysterious visitor who would place a rose and a bottle of cognac on Edgar Allan Poe’s gravesite every year, failed to appear. I think he/she must have joined Poe in eternal oblivion… Oh, the passing of time and all of its crimes…
Oh, by the way, I’ve visited Poe’s grave a couple times and created a travelogue on it back in 2001. Enjoy!
Fascinating, harrowing, extremely well-written suicide note from a child rape victim which also highlights how religious fundamentalism is, at its root, nothing more than another form of abuse.
Bill Zeller, Princeton Grad Student And ‘Brilliant’ Programmer, Dies In Apparent Suicide
I realize that I missed posting yesterday – only four days after vowing to not miss posting for a single day in 2011. However, in my defense, I was in the hospital suffering from a violent episode of food poisoning. In fact, my episode has left me hesitant to venture any further in my current read, The Poisoner’s Handbook. It’s all far, far too vivid! Anyway, I’m still in recovery mode but I’ll be back with the MFDJ tomorrow. In the meantime, beware Subway sandwiches!!!
Well, another year has passed, and I once again sucked at being a Comtesse. What pulled me away from my morbid duties this year? Oh, you know, the usual: massive depression coupled with work overload. I think the two actually go hand in hand…
But I am going to make a pledge to you all right here and right now – and you can hold me to this and stick me in a brazen bull if I don’t keep my word: I will update this site every day that I have access to a computer. And I will state explicitly when I am going to be away from computer access in advance. I will NOT let you down in 2011!!! It’s the 15th anniversary of the Morbid Fact Du Jour and I am determined to revitalize it. I hope to become the site that you tell all your friends about again.
And to start things off, I thought I’d share a lovely little morbid ditty by Nick Lowe. Marie Prevost was a silent film star who became a lonely alcoholic and died of heart disease in 1937 at the age of 38. Her pet dachshund had been nibbling at her body for a couple days before she was found.
Why oh why do we not have playgrounds like these Eastern European/Chinese beauties here in the States? Why must life be so dreary? Sigh…
Thanks to Sarah for the link.
Trichotillomania is the compulsive eating of hair. I suffer from a lot of compulsive behaviors, but I must admit that this isn’t one of them. Thank goodness, because you can see what the result of this particular affliction is here:
The Stomach Of A Trichotillomaniac
Thanks to Elizabeth for the link.
So I just stumbled across a handgun lying in the grass. I was super-excited for a second!!! I thought, “Wow!!! A MURDER WEAPON!!!!” and I was all ready to call 911. Then I examined it closer and found that it was a BB gun… and a broken one, at that. Figures. Will nothing exciting EVER happen in my life? I took it home – it could come in handy if I ever want to commit suicide-by-cop.
Carson pointed out to me that the American Experience episode on the father of the Lobotomy, Dr. Walter Freeman, is available to watch online at the PBS website. I just watched it and it’s a fascinating, horrifying, documentary that explores the history of psychiatric care, and Freeman’s tragic legacy.