Random People Who Were Killed by Bugs (17 items)

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  (#1) Texas Farmer Larry Goodwin

  While he may not be famous in his own right, it's Larry Goodwin's death is certainly infamous. As a farmer working in the field one day, Goodwin was attacked by over 40,000 Africanized bees. The bees did not hurt anyone else - just Goodwin. He tried to escape, but the bees followed him and stung him to death. He received over 3,000 stings.
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  (#2) Hiker Alex Bestler

  In May 2016, Alex Bestler chose the wrong day to go on a morning hike in Usery Mountain Park in Arizona. While he was walking, a swarm of aggressive bees attacked him, apparently unprovoked. The 23-year-old was stung more than 1,000 times. Onlookers tried to help Bestler, but couldn't get near enough to him to assist. Authorities finally had to use a utility vehicle to get him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
  
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  (#3) George Richardson Porter

  • Dec. at 60 (1792-1852)

  George Richardson Porter was an English statistician and economist. During his life, he worked for the Board of Trade, and helped curate the Statistical Society. In 1952, he was stung on the knee by a gnat. Typically, this wouldn't be a big deal, but the sting caused mortification, from which he never recovered. He died from complications soon after.
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  (#4) Jeff Hanneman

  • Dec. at 49 (1964-2013)

  In 2013, a spider took the life of Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman. Ultimately, the rockstar died of liver failure, but it was the spider bite that caused further complications and stunted his recovery. It was reported that he was bitten while relaxing in a hot tub and drinking beers with friends.
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  (#5) Andy Irons

  • Dec. at 32 (1978-2010)

  Andy Irons was a talented surfer and three-time world championship. Despite his healthy physique and general fitness, Irons couldn't fight off Dengue fever - a mosquito-born tropical disease - which he contracted while traveling for a surf tournament. Irons died at age 32.
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  (#6) Ray Shaw

  • Dec. at 67 (1913-1980)

  Sports commentator and journalist Ray Shaw, president of Dow Jones & Company and Chairman of the American City Business Journals, suffered a deadly wasp sting in 2009. He had a severe allergic reaction to the sting, and died in the hospital the next day.
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  (#7) Charity Champion Alison Lane

  In 2015, OBE award-winning charity director Alison Lane was working with orphanage kids in Mexico when she was bitten by a spider. She immediately went into septic shock and suffered a heart attack. Lane passed away three weeks later from a severe reaction to the bite.
  
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  (#8) Alfonso Fontanelli

  • Dec. at 65 (1557-1622)

  Alfonso Fontanelli - a man of many talents - worked as a courtier, a salesman, a diplomat, and a composer in the late 1500s. However, he was also a murderer, who killed his wife's secret lover. Overwhelmed with guilt, he asked God for forgiveness and became a priest, but not even the man upstairs could save him from a deadly insect sting. He died in 1622, just a few days shy of his 65th birthday.
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  (#9) Max Stirner

  • Dec. at 50 (1806-1856)

  Max Stirner was a world-renowned philosopher. He is widely thought of as a major forerunner in the theories surrounding nihilism and existentialism, both of which blossomed after his passing. Stirner wrote a book of his philosophical beliefs, The Ego and His Own, before he was bitten on the neck by an unknown winged insect in 1865. His fatal reaction was almost immediate.
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  (#10) Eustáquio van Lieshout

  • Dec. at 53 (1890-1943)

  Missionary Eustáquio van Lieshout was considered a medicine man. Those who heard of his magical healing powers would make pilgrimages of great distances just to seek his help. While curing and performing miracles on sick children in Brazil, van Lieshout was bitten by a spider. He contracted spotted fever shortly after, which he managed to fight off for quite some time until he succumbed on August 30, 1949.
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  (#11) Kingsmill Key

  • Dec. at 68 (1864-1932)

  Kingsmill Key was one of the great English cricket legends. His world record store of 281 is unmatched to this day. In 1932, Key passed away when he contracted blood poisoning from an insect bite at the age of 67.
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  (#12) 5th Earl of Carnarvon George Herbert

  The death of Lord Carnarvon put the "curse" of bug bites on the map. After opening King Tut's tomb on a private expedition in 1923, Lord Carnarvon and his followers suffered a mysterious death shortly after, which became known as "King Tut's Curse."

  Turns out, there was no curse. The Lord died from an untreated mosquito bite on his face that led to a fatal infection.
  
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  (#13) Andy Kessler

  • Dec. at 48 (1961-2009)

  The skateboarding scene wouldn't be complete without the legendary Andy Kessler. The selfless athlete helped build skate parks all throughout New York. In 2009, while visiting a troubled friend, Kessler was stung by a wasp. He had a severe allergic reaction to the sting, and died shortly after at the age of 48. 
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  (#14) Robert Wedderburn

  • Dec. at 28 (1947-1975)

  Robert Wedderburn was another great thinker taken far too soon. As father of the quasi-likelihood, Wedderburn spent most of his time working with John Nelder on the generalized linear model (GLM). In 1975 Wedderburn decided he needed a vacation. During the trip he was bitten by an insect. He went into anaphylactic shock and died in 1975 at the young age of 28.
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  (#15) Alban Berg

  • Dec. at 50 (1885-1935)

  Alban Berg, a student of Arnold Schoenberg, was known for being a prolific composer around the time of both World War I and World War II. In 1935, he was working on a new opera piece titled, "Lulu," when he was stung by an unknown insect. The sting turned into an abscess, which became infected, and eventually led to his curtain call. Berg never got to finish his final opera.
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  (#16) Nevile Gardiner

  • Dec. at 52 (1902-1954)

  Nevile Gardiner lived in the early to mid-1900s, and was an exceptional diplomat. As a patriotic Englishman, he traveled the world with every intention to fulfill the civic duties he owed to his country. Unfortunately, Gardiner's worldly adventures sealed his fate.While visiting the Philippines in 1954, he was bitten by an unknown venomous insect, and died 48 hours later.
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  (#17) Giovanni Villani

  Giovanni Villani was one of roughly 200 million people who died during Europe's Black Plague pandemic. Working as a banker, historian, and politician, Villani and his family were brought down by the disease in 1250. Flea-bitten cats, dogs, and rats carried the disease, which spread across the whole continent in a matter of years.

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