When you think of famous bathroom fatalities, Elvis is the first name that pops into mind, but history is littered with a parade of notable figures who met their end while answering nature’s call. Below we count down the ten most striking cases of 10 people who died on the toilet, ranging from ancient Chinese dukes to European monarchs.
10 People Who Took Their Last Seat on the Privy
10 Duke Jing Of Jin
Duke Jing ruled the powerful state of Jin from 599 BC until his untimely demise in 581 BC. Legend has it that he suffered a foreboding nightmare, after which his personal shaman warned him that he would die before he could even finish a fresh grain harvest.
Being a superstitious man, Jing fell ill at once and summoned a physician. Further dreams suggested that the source of his ailment – personified as two boys – lay somewhere between his diaphragm and heart. When the healer arrived, he confirmed the ominous diagnosis foretold by the duke’s visions.
Determined to outwit fate, Jing ate the new grain before it was ripe, felt invigorated, and even executed the shaman who had warned him. Unfortunately, the unripe grain fermented inside his stomach. In a frantic rush to the privy, he slipped into the pit below and drowned in the foul slurry that awaited him.
9 King Edmund II Of England
King Edmund II, better known as Edmund Ironside, held the English throne for a brief seven months in 1016, battling the Danish invader Cnut the Great. After a siege of London, Edmund was forced into a peace treaty that let him keep lands in Wessex, but his reign ended shortly thereafter.
According to the chronicler Henry of Huntingdon, Edmund answered nature’s call only to be ambushed by an assassin lurking beneath the toilet seat. The killer thrust a knife upward, piercing Edmund’s bowels and leaving the weapon protruding from the king’s rear as he tried to flee. The grisly scene was, by all accounts, excruciatingly painful.
8 Godfrey IV, Duke Of Lower Lorraine
In 1076, the formidable Godfrey IV—famously nicknamed the Hunchback—ventured to the privy for a natural break. A seasoned military commander serving Emperor Henry IV, Godfrey inevitably made enemies who plotted against him.
While he was rising from his seat, a concealed guard stationed beneath the toilet pit thrust a cruel pointed weapon—likely a spear or long sword—into his vulnerable backside. The duke lingered for a week, nursing his wounds before finally succumbing, presumably vowing never to answer nature’s call again.
7 King George II
George II ascended the British throne in 1727, though he was a German by birth and never truly beloved by his subjects. He clashed with his father, advisers, and even his own son, earning the nickname “the king who wasn’t there.” He did, however, cherish his wife, and after her death he never remarried, eventually being interred beside her with coffins altered so their remains could “mingle.”
Despite his cantankerous reputation, George II lived to a respectable age. In the weeks leading up to his 77th birthday, the monarch suffered an aortic dissection while seated on his “close stool,” the period term for a commode. He died quietly, his final moments spent on the very seat that would mark his unusual passing.
6 Catherine The Great
Although a toilet‑bound death might seem degrading, Catherine the Great may have welcomed the rumor that she died on the privy, as it was far less scandalous than the lurid gossip swirling through Saint Petersburg after her demise. She married into the Russian royal family in 1745, endured a rocky start, and for eight years failed to bear a child, fueling rumors that her husband was either impotent or unwilling.
When she finally gave birth in 1754, gossip claimed the father was a Russian soldier with whom she had formed a recent friendship—a story Catherine seemed to encourage. She later overthrew her husband within six months of his accession, forcing him to abdicate and seizing sole control of Russia. Some whispered that she may have even played a part in his murder.
Catherine’s reputation for granting lavish gifts to lovers made her a target for slander. Court enemies spread the sensational claim that she died while engaging in a sexual act with a horse—an absurd tale designed to tarnish her legacy. A more sober version suggests she suffered a stroke while on the toilet, though officially she died in her bed a day after the stroke.
5 Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, born in 1835, founded the Ahmadiyya movement in India and claimed to receive divine revelations. By 1889 he announced that God had granted him the authority to accept the allegiance of his followers, positioning himself as a messianic figure.
His following grew steadily, but so did opposition from traditionalist Muslims. Ahmad proclaimed himself a Mahdi—a savior—and even claimed to be a reincarnation of the Prophet Muhammad, Jesus Christ, and the Hindu deity Krishna, a bold amalgamation of religious identities.
In late 1907, Ahmad reported visions foretelling his imminent death. In May 1908, a day before he passed, he penned his final tract, “A Message of Reconciliation.” Suffering from dysentery, he died in a friend’s bathroom from complications of acute diarrhea. Some disciples disputed this cause, arguing it conflicted with his prophetic visions and seemed an ignoble end for a claimed prophet.
4 Uesugi Kenshin
Uesugi Kenshin, a renowned Japanese warlord, met his end in 1578 after a storied career marked by a fierce rivalry with Takeda Shingen. The two clashed on the battlefield at least five times, eventually earning each other’s respect. Shingen even gifted Kenshin a prized sword, cementing a bond that evolved into a reluctant friendship.
Following Shingen’s death, Kenshin turned his attention to Oda Nobunaga, the era’s most powerful daimyo. Although he secured several tactical victories, his health deteriorated. While using the potty, Kenshin suffered a stroke and died a few days later, an anticlimactic conclusion for a celebrated military strategist.
Attempts were later made to embellish his death with tales of hidden ninjas, but the consensus remains that he succumbed to natural causes—a stroke that struck him at the most mundane of moments.
3 Edward II
King Edward II met a gruesome end at Berkeley Castle in 1327. Early in life, he was rumored to have enjoyed intimate relationships with a male court companion, a liaison that led his father to banish the lover for “undue intimacy.” The lover’s eventual murder spurred Edward into a series of retaliatory wars.
Edward’s wife, Isabella, grew dissatisfied with his behavior and conspired with her lover, Roger Mortimer, to overthrow him. Captured and forced to abdicate, Edward was allegedly murdered in the castle’s bathroom. Sources claim a red‑hot poker was thrust into his anus as punishment for his homosexuality, a torment so severe that his screams allegedly echoed for miles.
2 Wenceslas III Of Bohemia
Wenceslas III ascended the Bohemian throne in 1305 at just fifteen years old, already holding the Hungarian crown and eyeing the Polish throne. Though he relinquished his claim to Austria to avoid the appearance of greed, he was known for his love of drink and revelry rather than diligent governance.
In 1306, his rival, Charles Robert of Anjou, backed by the papacy, maneuvered to claim the Hungarian throne, leaving Wenceslas vulnerable. While staying in Olomouc’s deanery, he was reportedly assassinated by agents sent by Ladislaus the Short, king of Poland, who feared Wenceslas’s ambitions.
The assassins found him seated in his garderobe—a privy that emptied directly into a lake below—and stabbed him to death. He was only sixteen at the time of his violent demise.
1 King Eglon
The biblical tale of King Eglon stands among the strangest of toilet‑related deaths. Though little is known about his reign, the Talmud describes him as the grandson of Moab’s King Balak, a man who allegedly plotted to destroy the Israelites by luring them into immoral behavior.
According to the Old Testament, the Israelites suffered under Eglon’s oppression until the judge Ehud delivered them. Ehud paid tribute to the king and later visited his “private chamber,” concealing a double‑edged sword beneath his robes. When Eglon rose from his seat, Ehud thrust the blade into his belly, driving the hilt deep into the king’s flesh.
Ehud fled while Eglon’s servants, detecting a foul odor from the chamber, assumed their master was merely attending to personal matters and left him undisturbed. While they waited, Ehud rallied his forces and slaughtered Eglon’s army, exploiting the king’s preoccupation with his bathroom business.