History DeathByIrony / RealLife

* There was a boxer who had a grudge against popular boxer Theagenes of Thasos because he couldn't defeat the latter when he was alive. When Theagenes died, a statue was erected in his memory. Driven by jealousy, he wanted to destroy the statue as a way of finally defeating his rival. One night, while he was trying to destroy that statue, it fell down and killed him. Even in death, Theagenes is the champion.

* ''Film/GrizzlyMan'': Timothy Treadwell, self-professed activist and friend of bears, often claimed bears were misunderstood and that he had a special connection to them. He also criticized other groups for harassing the bears and intruding on their space. Treadwell remained in bear territory longer than he was supposed to and was eaten by a bear.

* Narrowly averted by a guy in Russia who was [[http://web.archive.org/web/20150421011654/http://www.viralspell.com/this-man-performs-cpr-for-15-minutes-to-a-man-who-collapses-in-the-middle-of-racially-insulting-him/ racially abusing]] a Nigerian named Jeremy Green, only to collapse in the street and require 15 minutes of solid CPR from Green to keep him alive before an ambulance got to him. Had Jeremy chosen to leave him there, the trope would have been fully in effect.

* American businessman Stockton Rush founded [=OceanGate=] in 2009 with the intent of living out his longtime desire to explore the deep sea, but openly derided safety regulations as wasteful pearl-clutching that "needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation." As CEO, Rush made [=OceanGate's=] main selling point a series of expensive tourist expeditions to the wreck of the ''UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic'' via the company's self-made ''Titan'' submersible, suing people both in and out of his company who raised concerns over the vehicle's hazardous design[[note]]among other things, it used a carbon-filament body (a material that experts noted was horrifically unsuited for deep sea exploration), could only be opened from the outside, and was steered with a disposably cheap video game controller[[/note]]. On June 18, 2023, Rush and four other socialites died during one of these expeditions when the ''Titan'' imploded around an hour of the way in, thus proving all the safety concerns correct. For further irony, much of the public response to the incident described it as just as hubristic as the ''Titanic'' itself.

* American businessman and Stockton Rush founded [=OceanGate=] in 2009 with the intent of living out his longtime desire to explore the deep sea, but openly derided safety regulations as wasteful pearl-clutching that "needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation." As CEO, Rush made [=OceanGate's=] main selling point a series of expensive tourist expeditions to the wreck of the ''UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic'' via the company's self-made ''Titan'' submersible, suing people both in and out of his company who raised concerns over the vehicle's hazardous design[[note]]among other things, it used a carbon-filament body (a material that experts noted was horrifically unsuited for deep sea exploration), could only be opened from the outside, and was steered with a disposably cheap video game controller[[/note]]. On June 18, 2023, Rush and four other socialites died during one of these expeditions when the ''Titan'' imploded around an hour of the way in, thus proving all the safety concerns correct. For further irony, much of the public response to the incident described it as just as hubristic as the ''Titanic'' itself.

* On June 18, 2023, the CEO of OceanGate, Stockton Rush, alongside four others, died on an underwater expedition to see the Titanic via an implosion of the submarine, named Titan--built by his own company.

* On June 18, 2023, the CEO of OceanGate Stockton Rush, alongside four others, died on an underwater expedition to the Titanic in an implosion of the submarine Titann built by his own company.

* Over the course of his life, SerialKiller Jeffrey Dahmer raped, murdered, and [[ImAHumanitarian ate]] 17 boys and men. He bludgeoned his first victim, Stephen Hicks, to death with an exercise weight in 1978. In 1994, while serving life in prison for his crimes, Dahmer was killed by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver, who bludgeoned him to death with an exercise weight.

* Music/MichaelJackson died about a month before his comeback concerts would've taken place. In an ironic twist of events, [[DeadArtistsAreBetter his sudden passing actually did more to revitalize his public image and career than the shows probably would have]], [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor at least until 2019]]. Ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley has also said in interviews that Jackson feared going out the same way [[Music/ElvisPresley her father]] did. Both singers died from a drug overdose, though in different circumstances.

* Subverted by King Mithridates VI of Pontus, who always lived in fear of being poisoned to death, just like his predecessor did. So he took small doses of poison throughout his life to gain AcquiredPoisonImmunity. Eventually, his empire was conquered by the Roman general Pompejus and Mithridates VI decided to die of suicide by swallowing poison... only to discover that he had indeed become immune to it! I.e. survival by irony. He eventually died by the sword.

* UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte was born in Corsica, a small island near Italy that became a French colony in the mid 18th century. During his youth, he was frequently mocked by Frenchmen for having a thick Corsican accent. In a twist of revenge this man who came from an island that most Europeans saw as a backward primitive nation eventually conquered most of Europe. And in an even more ironic fashion, he was eventually banished to live on another small pathetic island, St. Helena, in front of the African coast, where he died.

** That said, there's still a good amount of irony on how he really died - his party spent years building him up a strong, fearless leader who was so committed to Germany's well-being he never had time for women. He'd [[DrivenToSuicide take the easy way out]] while hiding in a bunker with his mistress/wife.
* On September 2, 1945, Hồ Chí Minh read the Vietnamese Proclamation of Independence in public in Hanoi, symbolically announcing the death of the feudal government and the birth of the communist one. He died on the same day in 1969, 24 years later. 1969 was also the year the Tết Offensive (Vietnamese: ''Tổng tiến công Tết Mậu Thân'') took place - the turning point of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, which shocked the U.S. government, led to a sharp decrease in U.S. public support for the war and the beginning of U.S. efforts to end the now-unwinnable war. Initially averted, as the government were afraid of a loss of morale at a critical junction of the war, and so announced that he had died on September 3. They corrected this in 1989, 20 years after his death and 14 years after the war's end. In addition, Hồ was 79 when he died and had a ''heart condition'', which the stress of the Offensive and the ensuing U.S. diplomatic negotiations most likely aggravated. His public image in Mainland Vietnam is of a [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower kindly, avuncular leader.]]

* Legend says that the Chinese inventor of gunpowder came with the formula while also trying to fabricate an elixir of immortality... and promptly got a severe case of an explosion to the face.
* Soviet scientist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Bogdanov Alexander Bogdanov]], one of the inventors of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory systems theory]], believed that blood transfusions between the elderly and young could be the key to immortality only to die during an experiment involving one. However he ended up being somewhat VindicatedByHistory as experiments to treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in the elderly using proteins found in young people's blood plasma are currently ongoing.

* Sir Frederick Treves, a surgeon who performed the first appendectomy in England, died from peritonitis, a disease commonly resulted from a ruptured appendix.

* Mathematician Kurt Gödel was paranoid about being poisoned. So much that he only trusted his wife to make dinner for him. When she was hospitalized he eventually died from starvation because he refused to eat food prepared by anyone else. So, in the end, his fear of a food-related death did come true.

* The Fall of Constantinople in 1453 is usually attributed to the giant cannons created by Orban, a Hungarian iron founder, for the Ottoman Turks. However Orban didn't live to see the end of the siege, because he and his entire crew were killed when one of his cannons accidentally exploded.

* ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'' is a graphic novel based on author Creator/ArtSpiegelman's father experiences during the Holocaust. Spiegelman's father tells the anecdote of how he put his faith in a group of Polish smugglers who would help him and his wife escape to another country. In reality, they were betrayed by them and thus deported to Auschwitz. Though, in an ironic twist of fate, Spiegelman's parents both survived the death camps while the smugglers eventually ended up in Auschwitz themselves and were murdered there.

* [[https://modernfarmer.com/2016/03/west-virginia-lawmakers-raw-milk-sick/ In 2016]], activists and politicians celebrated changing the law to allow drinking of raw, unpasteurized milk by drinking some. They end up in hospital thanks to the bacteria in the milk, some of them close to death.

* Tony Baekeland was a LonelyRichKid whose family's wealth came from his great-grandfather inventing plastic. After suffering a lifetime of neglect and [[ParentalIncest abuse]] from his insane GoldDigger mother [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Daly_Baekeland Barbara]] as well as being refused treatment for his schizophrenia, he snapped and killed her. After being institutionalized and released, he attempted to do the same to his maternal grandmother within a week and was arrested once again [[DrivenToSuicide before killing himself in prison]]. His method? A plastic bag over his head.

* Creator/SamKinison made his substance abuse a big part of his act and was known as a heavy drinker, often joking about his propensity to drive drunk. On April 10, 1992, while Kinison was in the midst of trying to kick his various addictions, his car was hit by a 17-year-old drunk driver. The comedian died from multiple internal injuries within minutes of the collision.

* A Mongolian couple died from the Black Plague after eating raw groundhog kidney for "good health." In 2019.

* Hisashi Ouchi, one three technicians dosed with radiation (and the technician who received the highest dose overall) in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokaimura_nuclear_accidents#1999_accident 1999 Tokaimura accident]] is often inaccurately said to have been kept alive by doctors against his will so they could study the effects of a lethal radiation dose on the body. In fact, these doctors were genuinely doing everything they could to save him... because it wasn't them, but ''his family'' who were the ones keeping him alive against his will, albeit unintentionally; believing doctors would be able to save him, even as [[BodyHorror his skin sloughed off his body, his internal systems failed one by one, and his heart stopped over and over again, dealing critical brain damage]], they refused to give doctors permission to withdraw support should his heart stop until only a few days before his death, when he had already suffered so much that he was effectively braindead.

* Hisashi Ouchi, one three technicians dosed with radiation (and the technician who received the highest dose overall) in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokaimura_nuclear_accidents#1999_accident 1999 Tokaimura accident]] is often inaccurately said to have been kept alive by doctors against his will so they could study the effects of a lethal radiation dose on the body; in fact, these doctors were genuinely doing everything they could to save him... because it wasn't them, but ''his family'' who were the ones keeping him alive against his will, albeit unintentionally; believing doctors would be able to save him, even as [[BodyHorror his skin sloughed off his body, his internal systems failed one by one, and his heart stopped over and over again, dealing critical brain damage]], they refused to give doctors permission to withdraw support should his heart stop until only a few days before his death, when he had already suffered so much that he was effectively braindead.

* The owner of Segway Inc, Jimi Heselden, was killed in a Segway accident. Specifically, he was killed when he apparently rode a Segway off a cliff.

* Captain Buckey O'Neill believed that an officer should never take cover in order to keep the morale of his men high. During the Battle of San Juan Hill in the UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWar, he kept walking through the American trenches while chain-smoking and laughing at his men's fears that he was going to be shot. ''"The Spanish bullet is not molded that will kill me"'', he said. A moment later, [[UpToEleven he was shot in the mouth]].

* Jerry Garcia, who struggled for years with drug addiction, actually died of a heart attack while in rehab.

* Music/AmyWinehouse spent a large portion of her life unrepentant about her drug use (her most famous song even being about rehab). When she decided to finally go cold turkey, she had been a user for such a long time, the withdrawals were ultimately what killed her according to the autopsy.

* Basil Brown, an English health food advocate, died of liver damage caused by hypervitaminosis after drinking ten gallons of carrot juice.

* Music/JohnLennon: As a FunnyAneurysmMoment, the Beatle who once sang "shoot me" in the chorus of "Come Together" was eventually shot dead. Lennon also wrote the Beatle song "Happiness Is A Warm Gun." Music/ToriAmos covered the song in 2001 and included voice samples of Lennon in the number.

* Music/JohnDenver first became famous for the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane." [[FunnyAneurysmMoment But after Denver died in a plane crash in 1997]], his rendition has all but disappeared from mainstream radio with the Music/PeterPaulAndMary version primarily played instead, [[CoveredUp even though Denver wrote the song himself]].

* ''Film/GrizzlyMan'': Timothy Treadwell, self-professed activist and friend of bears, often claimed bears were misunderstood and that he had a special connection to them. He also criticized other groups for harassing the bears and intruding on their space. Treadwell remained in bear-territory longer than he was supposed to and was eaten by a bear.

* In 1668 the vicious French pirate François l'Olonnais was defeated by the Spanish army in South America. While on the run, l'Olonnais ambushed two Spanish soldiers, cut out the heart of one and ate it before the other, then said he'd do the same to him if he didn't give l'Olonnais a safe passage to the sea. The terrified soldier complied, but l'Olonnais didn't escape for long. He ran ashore in Panama right after and was captured by a cannibal tribe.

* Tony Baekeland was a LonelyRichKid whose family's wealth came from his great-grandfather's inventing plastic. After suffering a lifetime of neglect and [[ParentalIncest abuse]] from his insane GoldDigger mother [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Daly_Baekeland Barbara]] as well as being refused treatment for his schizophrenia, he snapped and killed her. After being institutionalized and released, he attempted to do the same to his maternal grandmother within a week and was arrested once again [[DrivenToSuicide before killing himself in prison]]. His method? A plastic bag over his head.

* Musician Music/RitchieValens, best known for the song ''La Bamba'', suffered from severe aviophobia after two airplanes collided over the playground of his high school, killing or injuring several of his friends. Valens was not at school that day because he was attending his grandfather's funeral. He eventually overcame his fear enough to travel by airplane. In 1959, when he had to travel a plane that could only carry a small number of passengers, Valens did a coin toss and went on board, while the other potential passenger took a bus instead.[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died]] As it would turn out the plane crashed and Valens was killed, along with]] Music/BuddyHolly and Music/TheBigBopper.

** When Music/TheBeatles first arrived in the USA some journalist asked Lennon, "Are you scared when crowds scream at you?" He snapped back, "[[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy More so in Dallas]] than other places."

* Marie Skłodowska-Curie was Polish-French physicist and chemist best known for her pioneering research in radioactivity and its potential uses in medicine. She died from bone marrow failure, most probably caused by years of constant exposure to dangerous doses of radiation throughout her work.

* André-François Raffray was a French lawyer who signed a deal with a 90-year-old lady in 1965, who had no heirs. He agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2.500 francs for living in her apartment, which would end when she passed away. Seeing that she was already darn old the 47-year old Raffray was confident that his payments would be over soon. Unfortunately for him, this woman was Jeanne Calment, who would eventually grow to become the oldest verified human being in existence! At age 77, in 1995, Raffray died and his widow had to continue paying Calment for another two years before Calment finally passed away at the age of 122!

* Stuntman Tip Tipping was killed when his parachute failed to open while he was filming an episode of the British series 999, which was - ironically enough - a show with the premise of reenacting dangerous accidents.

* {{Serial Killer}}s [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_and_Hare_murders William Burke & William Hare]] alongside their wives killed sixteen people in UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain [[ProfessionalKiller in order to sell the corpses]] to universities. While Hare and the wives [[KarmaHoudini were let go in exchange for their testimony]], Judge David Boyle ordered that Burke not only be hung but that his body be publicly dissected and preserved. To this day his skeleton is on display at the Anatomical Museum of Edinburgh Medical School.

* [[DirtyCommunists Soviet]] MadScientist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Bogdanov Alexander Bogdanov]], one of the inventors of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory systems theory]], believed that blood transfusions between the elderly and young could be the key to immortality only to die during an experiment involving one. However he ended up being somewhat VindicatedByHistory as experiments to treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease in the elderly using proteins found in young people's blood plasma are currently ongoing.

* Ignaz Semmelweis was an IgnoredExpert who discovered the importance of hand-washing but was mocked to the point of having a nervous breakdown and being institutionalized. After being beaten by the guards, he died from an infected wound on his hand.

* Ignaz Semmelweis, the medical hero against after-birth sepsis, died from sepsis.