Cult Fiction - "Sylvia Plath Stuck Her Head in an Oven..." & Other Disturbing Deaths in the Literary World - Literary Deaths - Author Deaths

"All interest in disease and death is only another expression of interest in life." —Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain, 1924

"This morning for the first time in a long time the joy again of imagining a knife twisted in my heart." —Franz Kafka, diary entry, 1911

"The poet makes himself a visionary through a long, a prodigious and rational disordering of all the senses. Every form of love, of suffering, of madness; he searches himself, he consumes all the poisons in him, keeping only their quintessences . . ." —Arthur Rimbaud

Inspiration for the following list of dead literary figures came from Charles Bukowski’s poem, "Beasts bounding through time," specifically the lines "sylvia [plath] with her head in the oven like a baked potato . . . Shakespeare a plagiarist . . . the impossibility of being human." Some may call it morbid, some may call it truth - either way I don’t give a damn.

Euripides [480-406 B.C.] Greek Playwright - Mauled by a pack of wild dogs owned by Archelaus, the King of Macedonia.

Dante Alighieri [1256-1321] Italian Poet - Fell ill and died about an hour after completing The Divine Comedy.

Francis Villon [1431-1464?] French Poet - May have been attacked by a mob of bandits or hanged by authorities after a brief prison stay for murdering a priest. Take your pick. Left France at the age of 32 and was never heard from again. "Where are the snows of yesteryear?"

Christopher Marlowe [1564-1593] English Playwright - Stabbed with a dagger during a bar fight at the inn of the Widow Bull in Deptford. Was it an argument over the bill?

Richard Lovelace [1618-1658] English Poet - Believed to have died of consumption "in a very mean lodging" in Gunpowder Alley, Shoe Lane. "I could not love thee, dear, so much/Loved I not honour more."

Thomas Chatterton [1752-1770] English Poet - Killed self by drinking arsenic at the age of 17. Apparently in despair over lack of recognition. Gained popularity after death. [Editor’s Note: Chatterton’s father was well known around town for a rather dubious talent - he could put his entire fist in his mouth.]

Lord Byron [1788-1824] English Poet - Killed by doctors during a "blood letting" attempt to cure malarial fever. Last words: "I must sleep now."

Percy Bysshe Shelley [1792-1822] English Poet - Drowned while sailing near Spezia, Italy, and was cremated on the beach. [Editor’s Note: Shelley’s heart wouldn’t burn and was given to his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley as a souvenir.]

Honore De Balzac [1799-1850] French Author - Believed to have choked on too much coffee.

Edgar Allan Poe [1809-1849] American Author - Died of "acute congestion of the brain" several days after he was discovered lying unconscious in a Baltimore street, wearing someone else’s tattered clothes.

Leo Tolstoy [1828-1910] Russian Author - Gave away entire fortune, froze to death in a railroad station on a cold winter night.

Ambrose Bierce [1842-1914?] American Author - Disappeared in Mexico while reporting on the Pancho Villa’s rebellion. May have been murdered by bandits.

Arthur Rimbaud [1854-1891] French Poet - A probable victim of syphilis, had right leg amputated, became paralyzed and gradually slipped into permanent coma.

Lionel Johnson [1867-1902] British Poet - Fell off a barstool during a bout of heavy drinking, according to legend.

Alfred Jarry [1873-1907] French Dramatist - Paralyzed in both legs at the age of 34. Last request was for a toothpick.

Sherwood Anderson [1876-1941] American Author - Complications of peritonitis in Colon, Panama, after ingesting a toothpick along with a hors d’oeuvre at a cocktail party.

Jack London [1876-1916] American Author - A "raging alcoholic," died of uremia brought on by a morphine overdose at the age of 40.

Vachel Lindsay [1879-1931] American Poet - Killed self by drinking disinfectant.

Virginia Woolf [1882-1941] British Author & Critic - Filled pockets with stones and drowned self in the river Ouse.

Franz Kafka [1883-1924] - Died of tuberculosis and was buried in Prag-Straschintz. Had requested that all of his work be destroyed after his death.

Ezra Pound [1885-1972] - Arrested for treason after World War II for broadcasting Fascist propaganda, declared mentally ill and committed to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Washington D.C. Released in 1958 and died a semi-recluse in Italy. [Editor’s Note: Born in Hailey, Idaho, Pound’s middle name was Loomis.]

Maxwell Bodenheim [1893-1954] American Author - Shot with a .22 rifle by an insane dishwasher.

Sergei Esenin [1895-1925] Russian Poet - Cut wrists, wrote a final poem in own blood (called "Do svidania drug moi" or "Goodbye my friend") and hanged self in a hotel room in Leningrad.

F. Scott Fitzgerald [1896-1940] American Author - Legendary boozer suffered a heart attack while working as a screenwriter in Hollywood for a couple of hundred bucks a week. According to John O’Hara, Fitz died "a prematurely old little man haunting bookshops unrecognized." [Editor’s Note: Zelda died in a fire at an Asheville, North Carolina, mental hospital in 1948.]

William Faulkner [1897-1962] American Author - Suffered a heart attack after falling off a horse.

Hart Crane [1899-1932] American Poet - While en route to New York aboard the S.S. Orizaba, leapt into the Caribbean Sea; reputedly said "Good-bye everybody."

Ernest Hemingway [1899-1961] American Author - Blew brains out with a hunting rifle in Ketchum, Idaho.

Thomas Wolfe [1900-1938] American Author - Suffered a cerebral infection, leaving an eight-foot-high manuscript for his editors to sort through. Buried in Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, North Carolina. ". . . the last voyage, the longest, the best."
Nathanael West [1903-1940] American Author - Car accident killed West and his wife after he ignored a stop sign. His buddy, F. Scott Fitzgerald, died the same weekend.

Robert E. Howard [1906-1936] Sword & Sorcery Writer - Spent all-night vigil at bedside of comatose mother and died of self-inflicted gunshot in the morning; mother died that same night.

Malcolm Lowry [1909-1957] British Author - A "sleeping-pill suicide," fell dead with a plate in hand while starting in on a midnight snack, according to writer Donald Newlove. ". . . and how alike are the groans of love, to those of dying."

Tennessee Williams [1911-1983] American Playwright - Choked on a bottle cap while trying to get hands on some barbiturates.

Albert Camus [1913-1960] French Author - Single-car automobile crash while returning to Paris from the South of France.

John Berryman [1914-1972] American Poet - Jumped from a bridge over the Mississippi River; reputedly waved at passersby on way down.

Dylan Thomas [1914-1953] Welsh Poet - Alcohol poisoning during a lecture tour of the United States. "I’ve had 18 straight whiskies . . . I think that’s the record."

Roland Barthes [1915-1980] French Critic & Philosopher - Run over by laundry truck outside the College de France. "Literature is the question minus the answer."

Jack Kerouac [1922-1969] American Author - Abdominal hemorrhage at mother’s home in St. Petersburg, Florida, while watching "The Galloping Gourmet."

Flannery O’Connor [1924-1964] American Author - Became gradually immobilized by lupus and died at the age of 40.

Yukio Mishima [1925-1970] Japanese Author - Committed seppuku (hara-kiri) and was beheaded during failed attempt to overtake a Japanese garrison.

Anne Sexton [1928-1974] American Poet - Committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in the garage of her home.

Sylvia Plath [1932-1963] American Poet - Stuck head in a kitchen oven.

Jerzy Kosinski [1933-1991] Polish-Born American Author - Think he committed suicide by placing a plastic bag over his head in the bathtub. Can anyone else confirm this?

Richard Brautigan [1935-1984] American Author - Self-inflicted gunshot wound; body wasn’t discovered for several weeks.

Seth Morgan [1949-1990] American Author - After drinking in a New Orleans bar, boarded motorcycle with girlfriend and crashed into a cement embankment below a New Orleans bridge.

John O’Brien [1960-1994] American Author - Committed suicide just two weeks after selling the movie rights to "autobiographical novel" Leaving Las Vegas. Book served as suicide note. [Editor’s Note: Couldn’t find the actual dates of his birth and death. Anyone out there know?]

". . . [The poet] arrives at the unknown: and even if, half crazed, in the end, he loses the understanding of his visions, he has seen them! Let him be destroyed in his leap by those unnamable, unutterable and innumerable things: there will come other horrible workers: they will begin at the horizons where he has succumbed." —Arthur Rimbaud

Stephen Boone - 2007-10-02 20:50:05
perhaps you don't consider phil ochs a poet, who hung himself in his garage. If, like many others, you know only his pathetic protest music, I don't blame you.

Cornelia Shields - 2007-10-06 06:49:40
You might check out the Bronte sisters as well. I think two sisters and the brother died in a row, at age 27, 28, and 29, of consumption. Charlotte Bronte was a little older - 38 - and not sure whether she died just of consumption or of that and something else.

Angry Net Guy - 2007-10-06 11:34:16
Weldon Kees (1914-1955?) American author, musician, and painter - Car found next to Golden Gate Bridge. Presumed to have jumped off it.

J Bazin - 2007-10-07 13:26:28
John Kennedy Toole, blew his brains out in a car because he couldn't get his book published. Won Pulitzer Prize.

shannon - 2007-10-08 18:57:31
Hello, I was directed to your Literary Deaths page today & noticed that you were looking for the birth/death dates for John O'Brien. His date of birth is May 21 1960. Date of death is April 1994, either the 11 or the 13. I've seen both listed.

alea - 2007-10-24 12:40:00
What about Jack Keruoac?

Kevin - 2008-01-27 20:04:27
Anne Sexton (1928-74), truth-telling autobiographical poet, committed suicide by running a garden hose from a car tailpipe into her garaged car just before the publication of her last (and perhaps best) book, probably because she claimed in a poem that her father had raped her (a lie).

Karl Kahler - 2008-02-18 02:11:10
Kurt Cobain [1967-1994] American Poet - The most influential musician of the 1990s, the 27-year-old father of grunge and the gifted lyricist of the dark side ("It's okay to eat fish 'cause they don't have any feelings") filled his veins with heroin and used his toe to shoot himself in the head with a shotgun. "And I swear that I don't have a gun...."

C. Riley - 2008-03-22 02:33:41
Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) - Shot himself while on the phone with his wife.

tam - 2008-03-24 03:27:20
Kurt Cobain didn't kill himself, don't feel bad, it is a common misconception. The truth is he was murdered by Courtney Love, his wife. He was going to divorce her and leave her with nothing, so she shot him and got everything. But seriously do you really think someone could shoot them self with their toe and with a shotgun of all things? It is physically impossible.

Seth - 2008-03-31 01:34:17
Don't forget Aeschylus [c525-c456 B.C.] Greek Poet who, according to legend, was killed when a vulture dropped a tortoise on his bald head, thinking it was a rock.

Anonymous - 2008-04-01 12:47:33
Kurt Cobain was a musician not a poet. And yes- you can shoot yourself using your toe.

concerned citizen - 2008-04-28 09:05:12
some of these events seem to be exaggerated....just to name one, Seth Morgan ran his motorcycle into a wall in New Orleans, he did not drive it off the Golden Gate Bridge into the SF Bay!

Mark Western - 2008-05-20 12:55:00
John Kennedy Toole did not "blow his brains out", he drove to Biloxi, parked in the woods and ran a section of hose from tailpipe to inside car. Death from carbon monoxide poisining.

3 mopre authors - 2008-08-15 19:07:55
must not forget Gerard De Nerval French author who went clinically insane and was famous for walking lobsters around town on leashes, he hung hiself from grating in paris, also check into Russian Poets Mayakovsk (suicide) and Yesenin (suicide)

Neil Miller - 2008-12-07 20:34:49

What about Joe Orton, the english playwright who was murdered by his jealous boyfriend? I think he did it with an axe. He was found when a messenger from the bbc came to discuss there plans with him to write a piece on the beatles.

LasVegas - 2008-12-07 23:21:05

Hunter S. Thompson?

dhimmi - 2008-12-08 06:37:56

Hey Tam, "Life's picture History of WWII" has a photo of three Japanese soldiers who suicided in their bunks by pulling the trigger of their rifle with their toe.

Terry - 2008-12-08 09:36:56

According to the NY Times obit. Jerzy Kosinski was found in his bathtub with a plastic bag around his head.

Kryczia - 2008-12-08 11:38:29

If you think you can pull a trigger with your toe while hopped up on THAT much heroin, you've clearly never done heroin. The Kurt Cobain thing is tricky, there was enough drugs in his system to kill him, and the trajectory of the shot was wrong for him to have pulled it with his foot. Even the attorneys were pretty positive that Courtney Love actually pulled the trigger. There just wasn't enough conclusive evidence to try her for murder. They couldn't choose murder2, or man1. The most widely accepted theory is that he asked her to do it. Regardless, he doesn't hold a candle as a writer to the rest of this list, (although I think some of these are exaggerated stories of their deaths), and I think calling him the "most influential" musician of the 90's might be a bit of a stretch. Not discounting his talent, but his lyrics weren't all that impressive. *shrug*

jake - 2008-12-08 12:22:07

Kurt Cobain was not an author, and yes you can shoot yourself with a shotgun, but not when you have that much heroin in your system. Courtney shot 'em.

Hot Ham Water - 2008-12-08 13:38:56

Nathanael West actually died on his way home from F.S.Fitzgerald's funeral.

Bill - 2008-12-08 16:05:10

Euripedes was "mauled by a pack of wild dogs owned by Archelaus, the King of Macedonia"? Don't sound very wild, do they?

Noir - 2008-12-08 16:36:33

Arabic literary Al-Jahiz, who loved books so much, died when he reached for a book and a shelf-full of books toppled over him and killed him.

Nick - 2008-12-08 17:34:31

Epitaph Here lies the body of Ezra Pound Died at sea, and was never found By: Ezra Pound

Colin - 2008-12-08 18:07:27

Officially, Dylan Thomas did not die of alcohol poisoning (the pathologist could not find evidence to confirm he was poisoned). Cause of death was pneumonia. And Tolstoy didn't exactly die in a train station. He was put up in a stationmaster's house because he wasn't feeling well as he was travelling, and then died of cold. Kind of makes me wonder about the accuracy of the rest of the list.

[Editor's Note: Dylan Thomas arrived at the hospital in a coma and initial medical notes indicated "acute alcoholic encephalopathy damage to the brain by alcohol." He died several days later and the post mortem gave the primary cause of death as pneumonia, with pressure on the brain and a fatty liver as contributing factors. For additional details about the death of Leo Tolstoy, visit The Last Days of Leo Tolstoy.]

^i love this guy - 2008-12-08 20:24:39

"It’s so watery. And yet there’s a smack of ham to it." also seth morgan died in new orleans with his bitch on the back of his hog.

Katie - 2008-12-08 23:11:02

What about Oscar Wilde?

You all need to do research - 2008-12-09 00:59:18

First of all, it is completley plausible to shoot your self with that much heroin in your veins. I know this because i use. Second, lets think about one thing first, in a crime scene you dont touch, move, or alter anything until photos have been taken. Kurt could not have used his toe to fire the gun because in the few photos that exsist of the scene(i think theres actually only one publicly released one) He is wearing sneakers. The casing from the round was on the wrong side of the body from the angle of which he would have had to hold the gun. The suicide note was i think 5 paragraphs the first 3 only indicating he was leaving th band, while the other 2(not in his hand writing)were the only ones that had anything to do with suicide. And one last thing, Kurt, like me, was manic bi-polar. People with manic bi-polar dont kill themselves in bits of depression. They do it in fits of mania where they believe that they can do what they are doing.(i.e fly off a 50 story building.) Maybe now with some hard evidence you people will understand he was murdered.

Lorena - 2008-12-09 05:02:17

I checked Dante Alighieri and FrancOis Villon and Dante is supposed to have died of malaria but not a mention of him dying one hour after he finished the divine comedy. and Villon was sentenced to die in the gallows, but the sentence was revoked and he was banished from Paris. He left the city and nobody ever knew what happened to him afterwards. I did not check anymore of course.

Tylertoo - 2008-12-09 10:26:11

From IMBD.Com: John O'Brien 21 May 1960 11 April 1994

[Editor's Note: We just fixed it, thanks!]

Tom Maddox - 2008-12-09 12:35:42

James Joyce, from Wikipedia: "On 11 January 1941, he underwent surgery for a perforated ulcer. While at first improved, he relapsed the following day, and despite several transfusions, fell into a coma. He awoke at 2 a.m. on 13 January 1941, and asked for a nurse to call his wife and son before losing consciousness again. They were still en route when he died 15 minutes later." Date of death, 13 January.

Harlan Quinn - 2008-12-09 14:28:01

American poet Lew Welch disappeared into California woods in 1971 with a 30-30 rifle. Left a suicide note but his body was never found.

Harlan Quinn - 2008-12-10 14:05:08

Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca was executed in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. His body was thrown into an unmarked grave.

mikech - 2008-12-11 19:00:25

Where is Hunter Thompson?

William Crunkleton - 2008-12-12 15:28:02

I believe that Hemmingway actually committed suicide using a shotgun, this may have been from his terminal cancer as well. . .there was also allegations that he was deathly afraid of the thought that he might be a homosexual

Lulu - 2008-12-13 11:23:33

Edgar Allen Poe's medical records were reviewed, and it appears that he died of rabies. http://www.umm.edu/news/releases/news-releases-17.htm still weird.

Spaulding Gray - 2008-12-13 13:47:47

Committed suicide, body found in the Hudson River months later...

Lunagirl - 2008-12-14 23:53:27

According to Wiki John O'Brien's birth and death dates are: May 21, 1960 – April 10, 1994

Willie Wayback - 2008-12-15 08:09:08

"I call it hot ham water."

Daniel - 2008-12-16 01:17:50

Seth Morgan [1949-1990] American Author Seth Morgan was killed when the motorcycle he was driving struck a dividing post on a bridge in New Orleans, according to local police. He did not crash on the Golden Gate Bridge or fall into the bay. He died at age 41.

Guineafowl - 2008-12-16 18:05:34

Oscar Wilde is a great one. On his death bed he stated while pointing at a pair of curtains, "Those curtains are horrible. One of us will have to go." and then he died. Eloquent don't you think?

Gareth Hutt - 2008-12-17 07:30:57

Feel I must object to the presence of Dylan Thomas in this list, in light of the following: http://www.freewebs.com/deathofdylanthomas/ Which strongly suggests he didn't in fact die an alcohol related death.

brcly - 2008-12-18 19:02:13

You can be a musician and a poet at the same time dumbass, think about it. Who cares if Kurt did himself in or if Courtney did it. Point is he's gone and even if she did do it she'll never get charged so it doesn't matter. Kurt Cobain was a effing genius!

Reader - 2008-12-19 15:56:24

David Foster Wallace [1962-2008] - Hanged himself in his California home.

re the you all need to do research - 2008-12-20 22:55:19

"And one last thing, Kurt, like me, was manic bi-polar. People with manic bi-polar dont kill themselves in bits of depression. They do it in fits of mania where they believe that they can do what they are doing.(i.e fly off a 50 story building.)" a) It's either manic depressive (old term) or bipolar. "Manic bi-polar" isn't a term. b) You have an appalling lack of knowledge about your own illness if you think bipolar people only kill themselves in mania. Sure, the type of death you described does happen in psychotic mania, when the person involved has delusions, but suicide and suicidal thoughts primarily come with depression. I'd suggest you do some research in bipolar disorder--start with the very basics--it's obvious you're missing a lot.

Jerzy Kosinski - 2009-01-31 18:48:04

Kosinski told Newsweek in 1979, "I am not a suicide freak, but I want to be free... If I ever have an accident or a terminal disease that would affect my mind or body, I will end it."[23] Kosinski suffered from multiple illnesses at the end of his life.[23] By the time he reached his late 50s, Kosinski was suffering from an irregular heartbeat as well as severe physical and nervous exhaustion. Kosinski committed suicide on May 3, 1991 by taking a fatal dose of barbiturates.[1] His parting suicide note read: "I am going to put myself to sleep now for a bit longer than usual. Call it Eternity".[24]

Anonymous - 2009-09-10 06:40:04

It's probably interesting to note that Ted Hughes' next partner Assia Wevill killed herself and her daughter by sticking their heads in the oven only six years after Plath had done the same. Sylvia's children where upstairs while she killed herself but she had covered the space under the door to stop the gas escaping. Also Ted Hughes destroyed all of Plath's diaries for the last 3 months of her life shortly after she died. Their son also killed himself in past year or so.

Sam - 2009-09-27 11:07:54

Kurt Cobain was a terrible musician, and he was far from being considered a poet. I'm glad some of you feel comfortable admitting your status as heroin users but I feel I should warn you that it detracts from your reliability. I feel that the world has profited from the death of Cobain whether it was suicide or murder. If it was in fact Courtney Love's doing then I applaud her. Cobain was not the most influential musician of the 1990s, James Hetfield was. If you truly think Cobain was good then you need to pick up some Bob Dylan albums. If Bob Dylan doesn't catch your fancy listen to Metallica.

Roger - 2009-10-14 16:49:45

John Kennedy Toole - Killed himself in a car, no?

If you include Kurt Cobain... - 2009-12-18 13:42:02

Then you have to include Jim Morrison...at least he had a book of "poems" published.

the damon dog - 2010-02-06 18:37:20

poet and song writer. Eliott Smith stabbed himself twice in the chest.

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