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Quiz about Great Blunders Throughout History
Quiz about Great Blunders Throughout History

Great Blunders Throughout History Quiz


Many people throughout history made a mistake; a deadly mistake. They died, or others died, because of something they probably wish they didn't do. Here are nine of these deadly blunders, and one very close call.

A multiple-choice quiz by salami_swami. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
salami_swami
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
313,349
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1401
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: abriolan (6/10), Guest 175 (3/10), Guest 174 (3/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. Oh no, what a horrific accident! The pilot of a helicopter probably thought he was going to die when he began careening toward the earth, but it wasn't just he who would pay. The pilot probably never knew what kind of horrendous accident he had caused. What a blunder! What happened to the helicopter that was the cause of Vic Morrow's death? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. One might wonder how you could die from a cowpie. Would you have to eat it and get an infection? Of course not! In 1991, a woman from Thailand slipped on a cowpie. How clumsy of her. She probably thought "Oh, (well, you know)" on her way down, but it wasn't the fall that killed her. What was it? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Oops! A certain person stayed camped out in the wild a bit too long. He lived among bears with his girlfriend. They decided to stay longer than they should have, and were attacked by visiting bears. Who was this man, who was known as "The Grizzly Man?" Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Dang flabbit! If this person had known that pulling the barb from his chest is what caused him to die, he probably would never have done it. Doctors claim that, had the barb remained in the chest, he would have not bled out so quickly, and they could have operated and saved his life. Well, soooo-rrry; but the first thing you want to do when a giant barb is protruding from your flesh is to get it out! Who is this unlucky man? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Crud! I would imagine, if he could think today, this man would say something like this; "I knew I shouldn't have put my eye drops in with the cap in my mouth!" Unfortunately, this man died after choking on his eye drop cap. Who is this man? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Oops, I guess this man should have rolled up his beard! Who died because he forgot to hold his facial hair? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Ouch! What a way to die! It wouldn't have happened if this person hadn't accidentally fallen out of the window in the first place. Fallen, pushed, whatever. OK, so they were PUSHED out of a window. But that wasn't all that happened. This person didn't die until the final of three unfortunate mishaps. But s/he deserved it. This person was evil. Who am I referring to?

Answer: (One word (Bible))
Question 8 of 10
8. All this talk of death is making me sad. Let's talk about a very near death experience now. Uh oh, nobody knew where he was. He hadn't told anybody where he was going. What a blunder! Remember: always go rock climbing with a buddy. Aron Ralston has become incredibly famous for amputating his own arm with a dull knife in order to survive. Many are familiar with his story, but where did this event occur? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. "Oh no, was it something I said? Why do they want me beheaded?" Many people probably thought something similar to this as they were taken to the guillotine. In fact, dozens of people have been beheaded, quite a few of those being executions. One very famous decapitation was John the Baptist. Anyway, on to the question. How long does the head remain conscious after decapitation? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Drug overdoses are far too common to fit into a single quiz. In fact, you could make an entire alphabetical series of drug overdose victims. In any case, drug overdose victims who didn't intend to die probably thought "Oh, I shouldn't have taken all those pills! What a blunder!" Some of these deaths were caused by drugs like aspirin, others, drugs like heroin. Which of these famous people did not die because of drug overdose? Hint



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quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Oh no, what a horrific accident! The pilot of a helicopter probably thought he was going to die when he began careening toward the earth, but it wasn't just he who would pay. The pilot probably never knew what kind of horrendous accident he had caused. What a blunder! What happened to the helicopter that was the cause of Vic Morrow's death?

Answer: Flew too close to explosives

During the shooting of the film "The Twilight Zone", based on the TV show, a terrible accident occurred. The accident took place in 1982, and even though four died during the movie's filming, it was released the very next year!

The pilot of the helicopter was flying above Vic Morrow, who was carrying two young girls. The pilot did not realize that he had gotten too close to some explosives (what a blunder) and he crashed into the water. This accident crushed one girl as it landed on her, killed the pilot, and the rotors, still moving, decapitated Vic Morrow and the other young girl he was carrying.
2. One might wonder how you could die from a cowpie. Would you have to eat it and get an infection? Of course not! In 1991, a woman from Thailand slipped on a cowpie. How clumsy of her. She probably thought "Oh, (well, you know)" on her way down, but it wasn't the fall that killed her. What was it?

Answer: Electrocution

After slipping on the cow patty, Yooket Paen tried to keep herself standing by grabbing on to something. Unfortunately, what she grabbed on to was an active wire, and she was electrocuted. What makes this story even more remarkable is what her sister did. Shortly after the funeral of Yooket Paen, her sister, Yooket Pan was trying to show someone exactly how her sister had died.

She tried to show as best as she could, and probably too well. Instead of simply showing what happened, she, too, slipped on cow dung, and also grabbed the same wire, and she, too, was electrocuted. Way to go.
3. Oops! A certain person stayed camped out in the wild a bit too long. He lived among bears with his girlfriend. They decided to stay longer than they should have, and were attacked by visiting bears. Who was this man, who was known as "The Grizzly Man?"

Answer: Timothy Treadwell

Timothy Treadwell, in 2006, decided to stay longer than the producers of his show, "The Grizzly Man Diaries", intended. He and his girlfriend lived with grizzly bears for years, but left when they went into hibernation. Timothy claimed that the reason he could survive was because the bears were used to him.

However, when the grizzlies went into hibernation, more bears came who did not know him and his girlfriend. They were both attacked and killed by another bear. They probably should have left earlier!
4. Dang flabbit! If this person had known that pulling the barb from his chest is what caused him to die, he probably would never have done it. Doctors claim that, had the barb remained in the chest, he would have not bled out so quickly, and they could have operated and saved his life. Well, soooo-rrry; but the first thing you want to do when a giant barb is protruding from your flesh is to get it out! Who is this unlucky man?

Answer: Steve Irwin

Steve Irwin was known as the "Crocodile Hunter" because he wrestles crocs more than any other animal. However, during the shooting of an episode for his show, Steve Irwin died. They were filming Steve and a stingray. The stingray stuck a barb in his chest. If he left it in his chest, he could have lived, but because he took it out, he died.

The barb had pierced his heart, so, because of the hole, he could not pump any blood, so he bled to death. Irwin's death was a freak accident, as it is highly unlikely to die from a stingray's barb, although it IS venomous.

He died in 2006.
5. Crud! I would imagine, if he could think today, this man would say something like this; "I knew I shouldn't have put my eye drops in with the cap in my mouth!" Unfortunately, this man died after choking on his eye drop cap. Who is this man?

Answer: Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams died at the age of 71 in 1983. When he put in his eye drops, he would always put the cap in his mouth. One day, though, his teeth didn't quite hold the cap tight enough and down it went, straight into his windpipe! It is debated as to whether drugs had something to do with his death or not. Apparently, the drugs made it so he had no gag reflex, so he couldn't gag the cap back out. If he had known that is how he would die, he would probably never put a cap in his mouth again!
6. Oops, I guess this man should have rolled up his beard! Who died because he forgot to hold his facial hair?

Answer: Hans Steininger

Hans Steininger died in 1567. There was a fire where he lived, so he ran. But, he forgot to lift his four and a half foot beard while running. Therefore, the poor man tripped over it, and broke his neck. He died from the broken neck, but the fire shortly thereafter probably didn't help any!
7. Ouch! What a way to die! It wouldn't have happened if this person hadn't accidentally fallen out of the window in the first place. Fallen, pushed, whatever. OK, so they were PUSHED out of a window. But that wasn't all that happened. This person didn't die until the final of three unfortunate mishaps. But s/he deserved it. This person was evil. Who am I referring to?

Answer: Jezebel

Wicked Queen Jezebel died when she was thrown out a window. But the fall is not what killed her. Neither was the trampling of horses. No, what killed her was being eaten by ravenous dogs. She was in a lot of pain before her death, no doubt!
8. All this talk of death is making me sad. Let's talk about a very near death experience now. Uh oh, nobody knew where he was. He hadn't told anybody where he was going. What a blunder! Remember: always go rock climbing with a buddy. Aron Ralston has become incredibly famous for amputating his own arm with a dull knife in order to survive. Many are familiar with his story, but where did this event occur?

Answer: Utah

Aron Ralston was rock climbing in Blue John Canyon in Utah, United States in 2003. A giant rock fell and crushed his lower right arm on the canyon wall. Ralston was stuck there for days. After he had run out of water, he began drinking his own urine (talk about bad breath). After several days, he already carved his name in the rock, as a tombstone, and recorded goodbye messages to his friends and family. After five days, however, he finally decided to snap his bones, which he did successfully, and cut through his arm. He did cut through the arm, and he was now free. But his journey was not yet over. He began walking in the very hot sun for a while in the canyon. He was finally rescued, and his arm was removed. He was not able to keep his arm, though. It was cremated, and brought back to the place of the accident.

This has not stopped Ralston from climbing, however. He has become the first person to ever climb all of the 14,000 foot high mountains in Colorado by himself... in winter.
9. "Oh no, was it something I said? Why do they want me beheaded?" Many people probably thought something similar to this as they were taken to the guillotine. In fact, dozens of people have been beheaded, quite a few of those being executions. One very famous decapitation was John the Baptist. Anyway, on to the question. How long does the head remain conscious after decapitation?

Answer: 15 to 20 seconds

Interestingly, a head will remain conscious for several seconds after being chopped off. It eventually dies because there is no heart to pump blood into it. Once the blood drains out, it cannot live. I suppose, though, if you let the blood rush to your head, the head would stay alive longer!

Depending on where the head is cut, the body itself can continue to live, too. A certain chicken was beheaded, but the cerebellum was missed, so he continued to live for several months. He finally died when a piece of food was given to him through the wrong tube when the farmer was feeding him, and he suffocated.

So... Just like in movies and TV, a head without a body really CAN stare at you! Creepy.
10. Drug overdoses are far too common to fit into a single quiz. In fact, you could make an entire alphabetical series of drug overdose victims. In any case, drug overdose victims who didn't intend to die probably thought "Oh, I shouldn't have taken all those pills! What a blunder!" Some of these deaths were caused by drugs like aspirin, others, drugs like heroin. Which of these famous people did not die because of drug overdose?

Answer: Donald O'Connor

Anna Nicole Smith was a famous "Playboy" model. She died when she was 39 because of prescription drug overdose. Just a few months before her death, her son had also died of drug overdose at the age of 20. His name was Daniel.

Janis Joplin was a famous singer. She died when she was 27 of an overdose of heroin. She was found dead on the floor in a hotel room. Her ashes were sprinkled over much of the Pacific ocean. Can't get the ashes back now!

River Phoenix was a famous actor, along with his four siblings. He died when he was but 23 years old. He died of a heroin and cocaine overdose. He had become ill after using drugs, and collapsed outside on the sidewalk in front of two of his siblings and his girlfriend. He began having seizures. Paramedics were not able to save him and he died.

Donald O'Connor did not die from drug overdose. He died when he was 78, from heart failure. He was a famous actor and dancer, most noted as Cosmo from "Singin' in the Rain".
Source: Author salami_swami

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Snowman before going online.
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