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Deaths by Date and Cause #2

Based on the time, place and cause, name the famous person who died.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 21, 2019
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First submittedJune 26, 2012
Times taken48,077
Average score57.7%
Rating4.01
5:00
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 / 26 guessed
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Year
Where
How
Person
399 BC
Athens
Hemlock
Socrates
1536
London
Beheading
Anne Boleyn
1791
Vienna
Illness
Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart
1805
Cape Trafalgar
Shot in battle
Horatio Nelson
1865
Washington DC
Assassination
Abraham Lincoln
1876
Little Bighorn
Battle wounds
George Custer
1916
St. Petersburg
Poison,
gunshot,
drowning
Rasputin
1926
Detroit
Appendicitis,
gut punch
Harry Houdini
1937
Pacific Ocean
Plane crash?
Amelia Earhart
1945
Berlin
Suicide
Adolf Hitler
1963
Dallas
Assassination
John F. Kennedy
1968
Memphis
Assassination
Martin Luther
King, Jr.
1970
London
Asphyxiation
Jimi Hendrix
Year
Where
How
Person
1971
Paris
Overdose
Jim Morrison
1980
New York
Assassination
John Lennon
1984
Los Angeles
Shot by father
Marvin Gaye
1993
North
Carolina
Prop gun
Brandon Lee
1998
Nevada
Ski accident
Sonny Bono
2006
Queensland
Stingray
Steve Irwin
2006
Iraq
Hanging
Saddam Hussein
2009
Los Angeles
Injection by
his doctor
Michael Jackson
2011
Libya
Summary
execution
Muammar
Gaddafi
2011
Palo Alto
Cancer
Steve Jobs
2012
Beverly Hills
Drugs,
drowning
Whitney Houston
2013
Caracas
Cancer
Hugo Chávez
2013
California
Car crash
Paul Walker
+2
Level 29
Jun 24, 2012
I think the Rasputin one is supposed to say "gunshot."
+8
Level 55
May 17, 2014
God, I hate it when someone dies of a gunshut. Seems so casual.
+3
Level ∞
Oct 8, 2014
Fixed
+3
Level 63
Jan 26, 2018
I suppose a gunshut would backfire.
+2
Level 31
Oct 13, 2020
I looked up Rasputin's cause of death. His remains were found with water still in his lungs. He died from being drowned.
+2
Level 46
Jun 24, 2012
Rasptuin's cause of death was drowning. He was still alive when he was chained, rolled up in a carpet and thrown in the Neva River
+15
Level 81
Jun 25, 2012
I have a sneaking suspicion that the gunshot wounds and poison were a bit of a hindrance as he tried to free himself and swim to shore....
+3
Level 61
Nov 13, 2017
His nails were examined and the autopsists concluded that he tried to claw himself out of the carpet judging by the wear and tear on his fingernails.
+1
Level 57
Oct 3, 2023
Oversimplified's version on the way he died is so funny.
+3
Level 92
Jun 24, 2012
When it said St. Petersburg, I assumed that it meant St. Petersburg, Florida. Silly me.
+3
Level 12
Jun 26, 2012
Only 25% know how Houdini died? REALLY?!?!
+2
Level 77
Nov 19, 2013
Really. I would guess if you asked the average person, they would say he drowned. I thought he died during a water escape.
+2
Level 75
Nov 22, 2020
Yeah I guessed Houdini for the asphyxiation clue, never would've got him for the gut punch thing.
+7
Level 63
Jan 26, 2018
He didn't die. Neither did Morrison. Just you wait.
+8
Level 75
Mar 23, 2018
Did Elvis tell you that? :)
+3
Level 74
Dec 12, 2020
I'm sorry for not knowing about how a magician died. How silly of me.
+2
Level 71
Dec 12, 2020
Worth pointing out that we aren't sure that the "gut punch" did kill Houdini. Modern evidence suggests that blunt trauma can't directly cause appendicitis, and it's more likely he already had the condition. Whether the gut punch aggravated his condition and made it impossible for him to recover is another question altogether...
+1
Level 19
Nov 16, 2012
Suddam Hussein was in 2003 not 2006 i think
+2
Level 74
Oct 31, 2014
No, it was 2006.
+2
Level 66
Mar 23, 2018
Hussein was captured in 2003, but he wasn't executed until 2006.
+2
Level 87
Oct 13, 2020
The invasion to Iraq and toppling Saddam’s government was in 2003. He hid himself away and only got captured in 2006, then executed by his Iraqi captors shortly after.
+2
Level 24
Jan 31, 2015
I find it funny how it wasn't the appendicitis that gave it away to me, but gut punch xD
+5
Level 82
Mar 22, 2015
Eva Braun for 1945, Berlin, suicide?
+3
Level 75
Mar 22, 2015
Funny how I thought of her first.
+2
Level 63
Jan 26, 2018
Thank you. You are either a gentleman or woman who expects gentility.
+2
Level 82
Apr 4, 2019
ander is a grandmother who grew up on a farm in Missouri. I think.
+3
Level 78
Mar 22, 2015
As well as Goebbels & family.
+6
Level 66
Feb 16, 2020
The children didn't commit suicide, they were poisoned by their parents without them knowing.
+6
Level 55
Mar 24, 2015
There's a whole bunch of 'em who did the deed actually, but let's assume it was the most important, yes?
+5
Level 74
Mar 23, 2018
Maybe there was Herr Deutchfolkenstein from the village of Nondescriptburg who decided to end his days on that very day also?
+2
Level 82
Mar 24, 2018
Maybe. Were they also, like Braun, internationally famous? If so then absolutely worth mentioning here.
+4
Level 73
Sep 18, 2018
Well, actually at the time of her death she was Eva Hitler not Braun - I don't think she would have kept her maiden name since dear Adolf didn't really approve of things like that. I just entered "Hitler" to get two for the price of one.
+3
Level 68
Dec 12, 2020
Is there a chapter on maiden names in Mein Kampf?
+3
Level 83
Aug 16, 2020
yeah everybody thinks of her first . another one of those I'll show off my knowledge by asking for the more obscure answer to be accepted comments.
+4
Level 67
Dec 12, 2020
I don't know. It's not like she's a super obscure person who happened to die that day. Most people know they died together. Hitler is obviously more famous, but Braun seems a viable answer to me.
+1
Level 67
Feb 3, 2022
At the very least, the answer should be accepted.
+1
Level 79
Apr 21, 2023
There has to be at least 2 or 3 of those types of dumb comments on every. single. quiz. Along with "Americans are stupid, arrogant, etc" and "This quiz is so US centric waaahh".

Runner up: "Why don't you accept the exact way that MY specific country/language spells this word??" when they're on an American site that uses English.

+1
Level 60
Mar 30, 2015
Good quiz - I should have been better!
+2
Level 85
Jan 11, 2016
Got all except Horatio Nelson. learn something new everyday.
+3
Level 71
Jun 7, 2017
Good quiz, got all but the 'Showbiz' druggies.
+2
Level 77
Nov 24, 2018
Yes. Too much showbiz and too many Americans.
+1
Level 62
Jan 31, 2020
Racism is now permitted? I don’t “report” people, but I’m surprised your comment doesn’t get you banned in this day and age.
+7
Level 44
Feb 16, 2020
Since when is American a race? It's quite simply a remark about the amount of people from the USA on this list. Sure, people like JFK, MLK and Lincoln are known throughout the world, but who is Earhart? Who is Custer? I've never heard of them to be honest.
+6
Level 82
Dec 12, 2020
I'm surprised you haven't heard about Amelia Earhart. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She's pretty awesome
+1
Level 78
Mar 6, 2024
Earhart and Custer are really both very famous.

Paul Walker on the other hand...

+2
Level 22
Dec 13, 2020
Custer was an officer in the United States during the Indian Wars.
+5
Level 74
Nov 13, 2017
Please accept more spellings for 'Gaddafi' -- there are many correct transliterations and the quiz only seems to accept one (I tried every one I could think of and still didn't get it right). Qaddafi, Gadhafi, Kadafi, Al-Qaddafi, Kaddafi, El-Gadhafi are all acceptable (some of these were used in major newspapers and some by the man himself).
+5
Level 67
Nov 13, 2017
For some reason I tried to guess Nelson Mandela and I ended up getting Horatio, who I had no idea existed. That was funny.
+2
Level 79
Nov 13, 2017
gotta love a freebie!
+3
Level 36
Mar 20, 2018
Ever been to Trafalgar Square in London? Heard of Nelson's Column? Well he's that guy.
+2
Level 88
Jul 14, 2018
Ever been put in a full- or half-Nelson? Listened to After the Rain or watched Ozzie and Harriet? That guy.
+1
Level 65
Nov 13, 2017
2012 Beverly Hills Drugs, drowning My first guess was Anne Nicole Smith.
+2
Level 61
Nov 13, 2017
Part Three please!
+2
Level ∞
Nov 13, 2017
I'll see what we can do. But it might be too hard to find enough easy answers.
+4
Level ∞
Nov 20, 2017
Couldn't do it. :(
+8
Level 66
Mar 23, 2018
Maybe we can help? Here are some I can think of that aren't on either quiz: Leonidas (480 BC, battle at Thermopylae), Claudius (54, poisoned), Marie Antoinette (1793, beheading by guillotine), Buddy Holly/Ritchie Valens/The Big Bopper (1959, plane crash), Malcolm X (1965, assassination by gunshot), Robert F. Kennedy (1968, gunshot), John Wayne (1979, stomach cancer), John Belushi (1982, overdose), Nicole Brown Simpson (1994, stabbing), JonBenet Ramsey (1996, head wound/strangulation), Chris Farley (1997, overdose), Phil Hartman (1998, gunshot), Robin Williams (2014, suicide), Chester Bennington (2017, suicide).
+2
Level 67
Dec 12, 2020
Don't forget Tom Petty, Chris Cornell, and Prince!
+2
Level 68
Dec 12, 2020
Surely, in the event of such a part 3, the answer for guillotine (1793) would have to be Louis XVI ! He was the king, the head of State, the figurative and actual head of a hated despotic and unjust regime that had lasted for centuries. Marie-Antoinette was an afterthought - still is, in French history. Her death sentence was a "meh, might as well". The only reason the English-speaking world cares so much about her, is that panicked English aristrocrats try to play her up as some sort of martyr to save their own asses.
+2
Level 72
Nov 14, 2017
Did the quiz, spent a few minutes desperately trying to think of guesses for the ones I missed and somehow didn't see the question about the bunker in Berlin until the answers came up. How is that possible? Lol
+6
Level 84
Nov 17, 2017
So many of these were somber/sad, but I have to admit, I cracked up just a bit when reading the causes of death of Rasputin. I mean, the guy was nearly indestructible.
+3
Level 71
Dec 12, 2020
Ra ra Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen...
+1
Level 44
Mar 23, 2018
yeah um , Tony Soprano aka James Gandolfini did not get executed, *sigh* I hate when I must type people's names. but FAIL is on me.. I forgot about a few of them, and missed that one due to typing the wrong name
+1
Level 71
Mar 23, 2018
There is a theory that Rasputin didn't actually die from the drowning but that he managed to get up from the water but later died from Hypothermia as a result of the ice cold water in the Neva river.
+2
Level 58
Mar 23, 2018
Rodney King also died in the similar fashion as Whitney Houston in the same year. Whitney is definitely more famous and publicized; but no American alive at the time will forget who Rodney King was.
+2
Level 75
Mar 23, 2018
I was trying to think of which Australian died in a car crash of a Corvette Stingray. Finally figured it out, but duh.
+3
Level 67
Mar 23, 2018
Jesus, they really weren't taking any chances with Rasputin, were they?
+2
Level 54
Mar 26, 2018
the Chavez one is incorrect, the where hint is Havanna, not Caracas.
+1
Level 82
Mar 26, 2018
... are you thinking of Casttro?
+2
Level 73
Sep 18, 2018
Chavez did go to Havana for cancer treatment and was there for a couple of months, but he actually died after returning to Caracas.
+1
Level 16
Apr 11, 2018
r.i.p Paul Walker

my fav one

+1
Level 16
Apr 11, 2018
and also he died cuz of a drone that blew up
+3
Level 58
Jul 11, 2018
Braun, and Goebbels not famous enough?
+2
Level 59
Jun 15, 2019
I made some sequels to this quiz, you should try them! (If you want to)
+2
Level 82
Nov 23, 2019
I'm trying to avoid any spoilers
+1
Level 66
Feb 16, 2020
Had to google Paul Walker. I did see one of those movies...and I didn't watch any others.
+2
Level 53
Nov 18, 2020
For some reason, couldn't think of JFK. Silly me.
+2
Level 70
Dec 12, 2020
who is paul walker?
+1
Level 89
Dec 12, 2020
He was an actor who ironically was famous for starring in a franchise about fast cars and people doing insanely dangerous stunts that would easily kill most people in real life.
+1
Level 86
Jun 14, 2023
I don't want to die...but when I do, I want it to be doing something I love. His is probably the "best" death of the batch (if there is such a thing).
+1
Level 29
Dec 12, 2020
Whitney Huston is a Mandela effect moment for me. I didn't know she had died.
+2
Level 79
Dec 12, 2020
Have never heard of Paul Walker
+1
Level 67
Dec 14, 2020
Me neither, had to Google him
+1
Level 59
Sep 20, 2022
Bruh. I saw "ski accident" and immediately thought of Michael Schumacher. He's not dead, you idiot! *facepalms*
+2
Level 73
Dec 27, 2022
Jobs died of ligma
+1
Level 59
Oct 3, 2023
It's just as incurable as Bofa
+1
Level 65
Oct 5, 2023
If you do another of these, I'd suggest adding the modern assassinations of Anwar Sadat (shooting, Cairo 1981), Rajiv Gandhi (suicide bombing Tamil Nadu 1991), Yitzhak Rabin (shooting Tel Aviv 1995), and Benazir Bhutto (suicide bombing Rawalpindi 2007). From British history there are: Harold Godwinson (arrow in eye, Hastings, 1066), Richard III (battle wounds, Bosworth, 1485), and Charles I (beheading, London, 1649). Writers Virginia Woolf (drowning, Sussex, 1941), Ernest Hemingway (self-inflicted gunshot, Idaho, 1961) and Sylvia Plath (oven gas, London, 1963) are probably also all gettable. John Keats (tuberculosis, Rome, 1821) and Lord Byron (fever, Missolonghi, 1824) could work.