Death from laughter

According to scientific studies, pathological laughter may be the result of a particular disease - for example, myocardial varoliev bridge or medulla oblongata ^{[2] [3]} . In addition, “death from laughter” may occur not because of laughter as such, but as a result of laughter of an injury to internal organs or an exacerbation of any existing disease of a person’s brain, cerebellum ^[4] , heart or other organs ^{[5] [6] [7] [8]} . Kuru disease, which affects some of the indigenous people of Papua New Guinea , can also be accompanied by pathological laughter ^[9] .

• In the III century BC. e. according to one version, the ancient Greek philosopher Chrysippus died of laughter when he saw a donkey eating his figs and joking that we should now treat him with wine ^[10] . A similar case is described in the book of Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais : “ ... the servant of Philemon, so that his master would drink more at dinner, bring figs, and go for wine, but at that very time a stray donkey climbed into the room and began to destroy with bliss spread out figs. Philemon appeared and, watching with curiosity how a cute donkey gobbles up figs, said to his returning servant: “As soon as the donkey stopped enjoying the figs, let him drink the good wine that you just brought.” Then Philemon got into an unusually cheerful mood and burst out into wild laughter, and he laughed so long that due to the extreme strain of the spleen, his breathing stopped and he died suddenly . ” ^[eleven]
• In 1410, King Martin I of Aragon died. He laughed so hard that he died of asphyxiation ^[12] .
• Death from laughter is attributed to the Italian Renaissance writer Pietro Aretino : according to legend, he died of suffocation caused by an explosion of laughter ^[13] .
• In 1660, Thomas Urkhart , a Scottish aristocrat, scholar and first translator of the works of François Rabelais into English, is said to have died of laughter when he heard that Charles II ascended the throne ^{[14] [15]} .
• In 1782, a certain Mrs. Fittsherbert had a tantrum during the performance of The Beggar 's Opera . When Charles Bannister appeared on the scene in the role of the stolen woman of the stolen Polly Peach, she began to laugh so loudly that she had to be taken out of the theater. Uncontrolled laughter lasted all night and the next day and ultimately caused death ^[16] .
• On October 21, 1893 , when the poet Julian del Casal was having dinner with friends, one of the guests told a joke from which del Casal had an attack of uncontrolled laughter, which caused aortic dissection , bleeding and sudden death.
• On November 7, 1893, farmer Wesley Parsons laughed to death after a joke heard in Laurel, Indiana. He laughed for almost an hour. He then died two hours after the incident ^[17] .
• On March 24, 1975, Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old mason from Kings Lynn, UK , died of laughter while watching an episode of the television series The Goodies. After 45 minutes of continuous laughter, Mitchell died of myocardial infarction. His widow later thanked the authors of The Goodies for making the last minutes of his life so enjoyable ^{[18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]} .
• In 1989, the Danish doctor Ole Bentsen died while watching the comedy " A Fish named Wanda ." His pulse is estimated to have reached 250-500 ^{[ specify ]} beats per minute, after which Bentsen died of a heart attack ^[24] .
• In 2003, an ice cream truck reportedly died in Bangkok in a dream. He continued to laugh for two minutes, after which his wife tried to wake him. An autopsy revealed that he suffered a heart attack that led to death.

• In the television program " Monty Python's Flying Circus " (the issue of " Whither Canada " ( English " Where Canada "), aired on October 5, 1969) was a sketch of The Funniest Joke in the World ( English " The funniest joke in the world ") . According to the plot of the sketch, the English comedian Ernest Scribbler ( Michael Palin ) composed a joke, after reading which everyone literally died from laughter. ^[25]