Who or what event is portrayed in this story?
Thomas invented the bed because he deserved it.
Why shouldn’t he create a bed to help him? He had helped contribute to some of the world’s greatest gifts to mankind. He, alone, revolutionized gasoline. Because of his brilliant ideas, the addition of tetraethyl lead to ethyl had removed the knocking from car engines. He deserved every award he received.
They also lauded his invention of chlorofluorocarbons and gave him the Perkin Medal. Someday, he would be talked about everywhere. It was a sad, sad day for humankind when he contracted Poliomyelitis. He could no long work like he used to in the science community.
With careful maneuvering, he used the pulleys to sit up. Somehow a rope fell around his neck. That wasn’t suppose to happen. Now what was he to do? He yanked at another rope but that one only tightened choked him further. The call button lay just beyond his reach but he couldn’t move without constricting himself even more. He moved his head around, struggling to follow each line. He could just reach the one he needed.
Thomas soon realized, however, that the bed he invented would eventually kill him. Ironic. It should have been a simple device that could move him from bed to wheelchair, but the ropes and pulleys seemed to take on a life of their own that morning.
As each movement pulled the ropes tighter, he struggled more, causing the ropes to tighten further…
As each movement pulled the ropes tighter, he struggled more, causing the ropes to tighten further…
Who or what event is portrayed in this story?
The previous Death By … story is based on:
1979: 25-year-old Robert Williams, a Ford Motor assembly line worker, was killed on the job in a Flat Rock, Michigan, casting plant. It’s the first recorded human death by robot. Williams died instantly in 1979 when the robot’s arm slammed him as he was gathering parts in a storage facility, where the robot also retrieved parts. Williams’ family was later awarded $10 million in damages.
Sources:
Congrats Alex, Paula, Laura and Bev Hankins! Another point each.
ReplyDeleteLaura - 15 points
Bev Hankins - 8 points
JTWebster - 6 points
Sarah Pearson - 3 points
Old Kitty - 3 points
Cherie - 3 points
Lynda R Young - 3 point
Glynis - 2 points
Jan Morrison- 2 points
Alex Cavanaugh- 2 points
Suze - 2 points
Nicki Elson - 2 points
Angela Brown - 2 points
Denise Covey - 2 points
Sia McKye - 2 points
Jemi Fraser - 2 points
Jayne Robin Brown - 1 point
Youngman - 1 point
Connie Keller - 1 point
Pat Newcombe - 1 point
Susan Roebuck - 1 point
JC Martin - 1 point
Talli Roland - 1 points
Golden Eagle - 1 point
Cathy Olliffe-Webster - 1 point
Kittie Howard - 1 point
Heather Gardner - 1 point
Richard - 1 point
Journaling woman - 1 point
Christie Wright Wild - 1 point
Gossip Girl - 1 point
Lydia Kang - 1 point
Danielle B - 1 point
Jaye Robin Brown - 1 point
Michael Offutt - 1 point
Carol Fleisher - 1 point
Chuck - 1 point
Maggie McGee - 1 point
DL Hammons - 1 point
Paula Martin - 1 point
Let me know if these tallies are off.
And just a hint: Not all names used in the stories will be the right name. Sometimes if I use the right name, it'll be too easy. I can't make it that easy, can I?
Death by strangulation is one of the worst ways to die. And most humiliating. People who strangle are some of the most horrific murderers.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me want to investigate further. Great post. *googling now*
ReplyDeleteClarissa - What a creepy irony there is in this story! That makes it even eerier. And Stephen's right. Death by strangulation is a horrible way to go.
ReplyDeleteThomas Midgley. I had to look this one up!
ReplyDeleteThe inventor Thomas Midgley, Jr. What is it with these men accidentally killing themselves with their own designs??
ReplyDeletethat really is ironic!
ReplyDeleteI think I know this one - Thomas Midgley!
ReplyDeleteHow many deaths ARE related to irony, I wondered?
ReplyDeleteT
So interesting, Clarissa. We all die, some of us in very bizarre ways!
ReplyDeleteYay for the ARCs. I'm excited. I have both a Nook and a Kindle reader, so ePub is fine. Send it! This will be an excellent week for me to read it!!! (bestann07 at gmail dot com)
That is ironic.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to another week or so of your death posts.
Wow - poor guy. Must have been an awful way to go.
ReplyDeleteThe death bed! Not a great way to go, was it. I didn't know this about Thomas Midgley...what an interesting and awful story!
ReplyDeleteThomas Midgley, Jr.--died at the age of 55. I'm trying to imagine the contraption and how a rope could have tangled him so badly that he couldn't get free....
ReplyDeleteThese are getting more bizarre...also, I love how you're involving your audience in the game :)
ReplyDeleteYour theme is interesting. You are a good writer, has anyone ever told you that? :D
ReplyDeleteHave a good weekend!
Wow! What a way to go! Goes to show, just because you're smart or can invent, doesn't mean you have all the bricks upstairs! Or would that be common sense? lol
ReplyDeleteWOW what a horrible way to go.
ReplyDeleteThat robot sure was pissed! And today's death was just karma (and Mother nature) getting back for all the damage his inventions were doing and continuing to do to the planet.
ReplyDeleteNow that gives deathbed new meaning. How ironic. How horrible. Clarissa, are you seriously depressed after researching these gruesome ways to leave the world? (Hope all goes well for your book launch! Can't wait to buy a copy!)
ReplyDeleteDenise
How interested. He was awarded, at that time, for the very CFC's blamed today for some of the environmental damage. And his very own invention took him out. That's just...wow.
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show that inventing stuff can be very dangerous!!
ReplyDeleteThis is horrifying! Yet I still don't know the answer.
ReplyDeleteI know this one! Thomas Midgley, Jr. He is probably the man most responsible for all the problems with air pollution and ozone depletion today. He invented both leaded petrol *and* CFCs. When he contracted polio, he invented a pulley system to help get him out of bed, and it strangled him. What a way to go.
ReplyDeleteJ.C. Martin
A to Z Blogger
Wow! What a way to die. I just read JC's comment above. It's a shame someone so intelligent had to be killed by one of his inventions!
ReplyDeletePoor, poor Thomas Midgley Jr. :( You have a great talent for getting in to their minds - and bringing us there with you - at the last moments of their lives. I feel like I shouldn't be enjoying these stories...but I am. :)
ReplyDeleteIronic definitely describes this death by...
ReplyDeleteBesides drowning, I think strangulation would have to be the next worst way to go (for me).
ReplyDeleteWow, Laura is doing well in the list! Shame I can't add another point to my tally without googling it :(
ReplyDelete