History Main / BungledSuicide

* BungledSuicide/RealLife

[[folder:Urban Legends]]
* [[UrbanLegend There is a story]] about a high schooler who tried to kill himself by jumping off of the [[UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco Golden Gate Bridge]]. He survived, and after police recovered him from the water, he is supposed to have told them, "dammit, I can't do ''anything'' right!"
* Another urban legend, debunked, holds that a fat woman was despondent because her husband left her for a smaller woman. She jumped out of the window and landed on top of him. She survived, he didn't.
** A slightly similar version has an employee leaping from an office window after his PointyHairedBoss fires him. He awakens in a hospital where his friend from work tells him [[KarmicDeath he landed on the boss and killed him by accident]]. And the new boss is both keeping him on and giving him a raise.
* An English botanist in Australia tried to kill himself by eating a poisonous root. Being English, however, he boiled the root first, robbing it of its poisonous qualities - and discovered he'd made tapioca, which has been a staple in South America for centuries and needs to be boiled for detoxification.
* [[https://darwinawards.com/legends/legends1999-01.html An Urban Legend]] from Website/DarwinAwards involves a classic Romeo and Juliet plot; two college students are in love but their parents disapprove, and they decide that the only way to be together is to die together. Juliet goes to a pharmacy and asks for [[SuicideByPills potent sleeping pills]] under the guise of having difficulty sleeping before exams. She gets what she assumes are such pills, and that night, the couple takes them together with some wine. It turns out that the pharmacist was suspicious of the request for powerful sleeping pills without a prescription, and gave her [[LaxativePrank laxatives]] instead. [[ToiletHumor the smell is what ends up alerting everyone else in the building.]] [[note]]This could have still been lethal due to dehydration, which they were treated for once they were rescued.[[/note]]
[[/folder]]

A Bungled Suicide is when someone [[DrivenToSuicide attempts to kill themselves]], and fails. This may lead to them trying to kill themselves again, or maybe they'll see it as a sign and [[HappilyFailedSuicide go on their merry way]]. It's not InterruptedSuicide; they go through with it... they just don't die, for whatever reason.

It may be because they possess [[WhoWantsToLiveForever some kind of immortality]], or perhaps the means they used weren't effective enough. People who are for some reason physically unable to die usually [[ICannotSelfTerminate cannot kill themselves]] no matter how hard they try. If done well, this trope can be either [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments touching]] or {{tear|Jerker}}jerking... and if done badly, it can just seem like the writers didn't have the guts to kill a character off. Occasionally it's PlayedForLaughs as a form of BlackComedy.

This is TruthInTelevision, AteHisGun being a frequent source, although with firearms being the most lethal method, the great majority of these in RealLife involve drugs or cutting -- the two ''least'' likely to work due to the time they require (which often leads to the attempter being found before it's too late) or due to the lack of knowledge of the attempter.

Please note: failed suicide attempts are sometimes called cries for help. They're not. They're also not in any way an attempt to get attention. Any suicide attempt should be treated as a genuine attempt to die and a sign that something has gone seriously wrong with that person's life or mental health. Worse still is assuming that a failed attempt means the person doesn't actually want to die and that you can leave them alone. Any suicide attempt demands intervention.

This is TruthInTelevision, AteHisGun being a frequent source, although with firearms being the most lethal method, the great majority of these in RealLife involve drugs or cutting -- the two ''least'' likely to work due to the time they require (which often leads to the attempter being found before it's too late) or due to the lack of knowledge of the attempter (trying to overdose on a homeopathic remedy, sideways cuts).

* This pops up in ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' as part of deconstructing the Thing's BlessedWithSuck[=/=]CursedWithAwesome powers. He's a huge, freakish rock monster, stands out anywhere, has to be careful about crushing anything he touches, has almost no sense of touch. In the 616 Franchise/MarvelUniverse, this is played for drama now and then but sometimes falls into {{Wangst}} territory. In the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, which is both DarkerAndEdgier and is earlier in the characters' timelines, he tried to kill himself several times but has not found anything that can break his skin.

* Arseface from ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}''-- he was trying to imitate the suicide of his hero Music/KurtCobain, but failed in a particularly grotesque fashion (thus the name.)

* This pops up in ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'' as part of deconstructing the Thing's BlessedWithSuck[=/=]CursedWithAwesome powers. He's a huge, freakish rock monster, stands out anywhere, has to be careful about crushing anything he touches, has almost no sense of touch. In the 616 Franchise/MarvelUniverse, this is played for drama now and then but sometimes falls into {{Wangst}} territory. In the ComicBook/UltimateMarvel universe, which is both DarkerAndEdgier and is earlier in the characters' timelines, he tried to kill himself several times but has not found anything that can break his skin.
* In a similar vein, Sharon Ventura in the 616 Marvel-verse tried to kill herself after being mutated into She Thing. And failed for the exact same reason.
* Mr Immortal from the ''ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers'' (or whatever they are now), after losing the love of his life (and then loses another). Given his name ...

[[folder:FanWorks]]

* ''Fanfic/CindersAndAshesTheChroniclesOfKamenRiderDante'' has Shindou reveal that he attempted suicide by heading over to the infamous Suicide Forest, but [[DidntThinkThisThrough didn't think to bring any implements to go through with it]]. Thinking he can just starve himself, he went through twelve painful hours of isolation (ironically what he ''wanted'' to avoid through suicide) and encountered a corpse. This, along with being guided out of the forest, was what got him to rethink his life.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/35335447/chapters/88068643 Blood in the Birdbath]]'': [[Theatre/{{Beetlejuice}} Lydia Deetz]] jumps off the roof of the house, cracks her head on the birdbath outside, and survives, albeit with her body now on life support. [[spoiler:This also results in her spirit leaving her body like Betelgeuse and the Maitlands]].

* [[WordOfGod Dave Mustaine]] once introduced Music/{{Megadeth}}'s "Skin o' My Teeth" in concert with "This is a song about how many times I tried to kill myself and just couldn't get the fucking job done."
* Music/TheMonkees did "Goin' Down" where Micky Dolenz sings of trying to drown himself in the river over a spurned love. When he gets over his anxiety he decides he's better off without her and takes the river out of town.

* Music/MitchBenn's "I'm Still Here" is about a rock star who wants to go out in a big dramatic rock'n'roll style, but nothing he tries works. His attempts include drug overdose, heavy drinking, starving himself, blow-drying his hair in the bathtub, running naked down a railway line, swimming with sharks while bleeding, and playing RussianRoulette with bullets in all the chambers.
* The music video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF72RkHcKqs "Los Malaventurados No Lloran"]] by Mexican group ''Panda'', switches between various scenes of people trying to kill themselves via various different methods, but each of them fail in one way or another (with the possible exception of the guy jumping through the window for a second time). The song is not about suicide, but it deals about someone mourning his lost love and one lyric does mention that "finding the way to go to the unknown and be at your side" would be impulsive.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'''s [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20236_6-insane-disney-comics-you-wont-believe-are-real.html 6 Insane Disney Comics You Won't Believe Are Real]] shows some 1930 [[ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse Mickey strips]] where breaking up with Minnie causes him to attempt suicide several ways but fail each time.
* In one ''very'' early ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' arc, Jon considers getting the tubby tabby in question declawed. Garfield decides to stick his head into the oven and end it all.
-->"Stupid electric stove."
[[/folder]]

* The play ''Spared'' by Israel Horovitz is all about this trope. The protagonist has been trying to kill himself for years, but somehow he's been unlucky enough to live.
* Konstantin in ''Theatre/TheSeagull'' attempts to shoot himself in the head in Act Two and survives, then succeeds in Act Four.

* In Wolfgang Borchert's play ''The Man Outside'', a ShellShockedVeteran returns home to Germany after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII only to find that everyone wants to pretend ThoseWackyNazis never happened and refuse to have anything to do with him. Eventually, he tries to jump in the river, but even the river won't take him.

* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', [[spoiler:Lucy's]] failed self-poisoning following [[spoiler:her rape by Judge Turpin]] provides important plot, in the person of [[spoiler:the Beggar Woman, who is Lucy after her failed suicide and imprisonment in Bedlam drives her insane]]. The character in question winds up [[spoiler:dying at husband Sweeney/Benjamin's hands, and his realization afterward of who she is leads to his killing his partner in crime and allowing his own murder]].

* What happens to Aeka in ''Yume Miru Kusuri'' if you aren't on her path (or if you get her bad ending). She survives, and spends the rest of her life comatose in the hospital.
* In the backstory of ''VisualNovel/{{Hakuouki}}'', Harada Sanosuke (like his real-life counterpart) attempted to commit {{seppuku}} after being mocked by a retainer who accused him of being a peon who wouldn't know how to do it properly. He survived the experience, and occasionally shows off the scar at drinking parties.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'': In Sayuri's backstory, she tried to commit suicide after the death of her little brother but didn't cut deeply enough. As she couldn't have been older than 12 at the time, this is probably understandable.

* Warbot from ''Webcomic/WarbotInAccounting'' throws itself from the roof of the office building it works at. As it's a [[MadeOfIron decommissioned combat robot]], it survives.
* Happens several times in the early strips of the "Suicide Girl" storyline of the extremely NSFW comic ''Webcomic/SexyLosers'', though she eventually does end up offing herself when she mistakes a handgun that she bought to protect herself from the lecherous Shiunji (who wants to have sex with her dead body) for a hairdryer. Things get worse from there.

* This causes the entire plot of ''Webcomic/YuMeDream''. The protagonist found her mothers old [[MurderSuicide suicide note]], decided to "finish" what she started, and got into a car accident. She survived but was put into a coma which is where [[AllJustADream the series begins]]...
* Happens often in ''Webcomic/MrSquare'', the main character [[http://revfitz.com/comic/issue310/ once]] tried to [[HangingAround hang himself]] but he was too top heavy.
* In ''Webcomic/ApeNotMonkey'' the anti-vaccine pig attempted to commit suicide using [[SuicideByPills homeopathic sleeping pills]].
* ''Webcomic/BecauseImDepressed'': Diego's frequent attempts to end his life end either in complete failure or with him getting cold feet.
* In ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' Julien, the squad's apparent OnlySaneMan, turned out to have some telltale scars on his wrist. After his wife died he tried to join her, but fortunately no one had told him that it was "down the road, not across the street".

* The whole premise behind ''Webcomic/SuicideNoun'' is that there is nothing Ethan can do that won't result in one of these. He is literally immortal, in the most painful HealingFactor induced way, and first learns this when he tries to kill himself by jumping off a bridge.

* ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'': In a Cardboard Tube Samurai storyline, a warrior named Tobun found himself possessed by a blade and forced to murder indiscriminately while [[AndIMustScream unable to do anything about it]]. When the blade weakened its grasp on him for a moment, he tried to kill himself via [[EyeScream dagger to the eye]], but the blade kept him alive. When the Samurai finally faces down Tobun, his body was already decaying with the dagger still stuck in the eye.
* ''Webcomic/{{Whomp}}'': [[https://www.whompcomic.com/comic/jumping-to-contusions Ronnie tries to kill himself over]] ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'' ending, but he just bounces off the pavement and back onto the roof.

* ''WebVideo/TheAutobiographyOfJaneEyre'': Mr. Rochester's explanation of the nightmarish scream and mysterious accident number two from episode "Blood". Jane tries talking about it in episode "Mr. Mason". She thinks Mr. Mason tried to commit suicide and that Mr Rochester stopped him. Forgone Conclusion of the book however makes it clear that it did not in fact happen.

[[folder:Webcomic]]

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/35335447/chapters/88068643 Blood in the Birdbath]]'': [[Theatre/{{Beetlejuice}} Lydia Deetz]] jumps off the roof of the house, cracks her head on the birdbath outside, and survives, albeit with her body now on life support. [[spoiler:She also finds herself a spectre much like the Maitlands and Betelgeuse, with her situation uncertain for much of the fic]].

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/35335447/chapters/88068643 Blood in the Birdbath]]'': [[Theatre/{{Beetlejuice}} Lydia Deetz]] jumps off the roof, cracks her head on the birdbath outside, and survives, albeit with her body now on life support. She also finds herself a spectre much like the Maitlands and Betelgeuse, with her situation uncertain for much of the fic.

* In ''Theatre/DearEvanHansen'' [[spoiler:this is how Evan really broke his arm.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moerope.png]]]]

[[quoteright:345:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moerope.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:345:[[WhyWontYouDie Why does this take so long?]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moerope.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[WhyWontYouDie Why does this take so long?]]]]

This is when someone [[DrivenToSuicide attempts to kill themselves]], and fails. This may lead to them trying to kill themselves again, or maybe they'll see it as a sign and [[HappilyFailedSuicide go on their merry way]]. It's not InterruptedSuicide; they go through with it... they just don't die, for whatever reason.

This is when someone [[DrivenToSuicide attempts to kill themselves]], and fails. This may lead to them trying to kill themselves again, or maybe they'll see it as a sign and [[HappilyFailedSuicide go on their merry way]]. It's not InterruptedSuicide; they go through with it... they just don't die, for whatever reason. It may be because of [[WhoWantsToLiveForever some kind of immortality]], or maybe the means they used weren't effective enough. People who are physically not able to die for some reason usually cannot kill themselves no matter how hard they try. If done well, this can be either [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments touching]] or {{tear|Jerker}}jerking... and if done badly, it can just seem like the writers didn't have the guts to kill a character off. Occasionally PlayedForLaughs.

This is TruthInTelevision, AteHisGun being a frequent source, although with firearms being the most lethal method, the great majority of these in RealLife involve drugs or cutting - the two ''least'' likely to work due to the time they require (which often leads to the attempter being found before it's too late) or due to the lack of knowledge of the attempter (trying to overdose on a homeopathic remedy, sideways cuts).

* In ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'', Jerry Jaxon tried to hang himself. He survived but did enough damage to leave himself paralyzed.

* During the 80s run of ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'', a depressed Gargoyle tried to hang himself. He failed, due to the fact that his body was too strong.

* [[http://ruthe.de/cartoon/3069/datum/asc/ Even hanging isn't foolproof.]]

* One flashback in chapter 2 of ''Fanfic/RoyaltyFreeRerun'' confirms that Sumire attempted to overdose on pills a few days before the battle with Maruki, out of guilt for her part in [[spoiler:Kasumi's death]] and her depression, only to get cold feet, puke them out, and call Akira for comfort at the last second.

* ''{{Music/Vocaloid}}'': Nashimoto-P's "Suicide Song" sung by Music/HatsuneMiku is a parody of this, if it doesn't outright avert it. The narrator first says she is going to hang herself, only to give up once she realizes that she doesn't have a rope. She then decides to commit briquette suicide, only to realize that her lighter is out of oil. Finally, she chooses to chug a bottle of pills, but gives up on killing herself entirely once she realizes that she has no water to take the pills with because she forgot to pay her water bill. It is clear that she doesn't really want to kill herself because her excuses are rather flimsy; [[FridgeLogic if she could go out and buy a bottle of pills, what's stopping her from buying a rope, or a new lighter, or a bottle of water?]]

* In one episode of ''Radio/TheMenFromTheMinistry'', after loosing 600 000 pound win on the football pools, Mr. Lamb repeatedly attempts to hang himself on his braces, naturally failing because they're too elastic.

* Happens often in ''Webcomic/MrSquare'', the main character once [[http://revfitz.com/comic/issue310/ tried to hang himself]] [[spoiler: but he was too top heavy]]
* In ''Webcomic/ApeNotMonkey'' the anti-vaccine pig attempted to commit suicide using homeopathic sleeping pills.

* [[https://darwinawards.com/legends/legends1999-01.html An Urban Legend]] from Website/DarwinAwards involves a classic Romeo and Juliet plot; two college students are in love but their parents disapprove, and they decide that the only way to be together is to die together. Juliet goes to a pharmacy and asks for potent sleeping pills under the guise of having difficulty sleeping before exams. She gets what she assumes are such pills, and that night, the couple takes them together with some wine. It turns out that the pharmacist was suspicious of the request for powerful sleeping pills without a prescription, and gave her [[LaxativePrank laxatives]] instead. [[ToiletHumor the smell is what ends up alerting everyone else in the building.]] [[note]]This could have still been lethal due to dehydration, which they were treated for once they were rescued.[[/note]]

* ''{{Music/Vocaloid}}'': Nashimoto-P's ''Suicide Song'' sung by ''Music/HatsuneMiku'' is a parody of this, if it doesn't outright avert it. The narrator first says she is going to hang herself, only to give up once she realizes that she doesn't have a rope. She then decides to commit briquette suicide, only to realize that her lighter is out of oil. Finally, she chooses to chug a bottle of pills, but gives up on killing herself entirely once she realizes that she has no water to take the pills with because she forgot to pay her water bill. It is clear that she doesn't really want to kill herself because her excuses are rather flimsy; [[FridgeLogic if she could go out and buy a bottle of pills, what's stopping her from buying a rope, or a new lighter, or a bottle of water?]]

FakeAssistedSuicide is one way of [[InvokedTrope invoking]] this trope. Compare InterruptedSuicide and MidSuicideRegret.

* ''Webcomic/{{Wonderlab}}'': During Catt's backstory, they [[DespairEventHorizon lose it]] after seeing the senior they looked up to beat an employee to death. Because of this, they try and eat the cake on top of the Abnormality "Bottle of Tears", which causes the room to flood. However, Catt didn't die because they were too physically and mentally strong to die, according to WordOfGod.

* The whole premise behind ''Webcomic/SuicideNoun'' is that there is nothing Ethan can do that won't result in one of these. He is literally immortal, in the most painful HealingFactor induced way, and first learns this when he tries to kill himself [[spoiler: by jumping off a bridge]].

!!Examples:

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moe.JPG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[WhyWontYouDie Why does this take so long?]]]]