When you think about the final chapter of a life, you might imagine a quiet goodbye or a sudden tragedy. Yet, a handful of individuals chose to turn the ending into a documented event. Here are 10 people who recorded their own deaths, leaving behind notes, videos, or diaries that offer a rare, intimate glimpse into the moment of passing.
10 People Who Documented Their Deaths: An Unsettling Chronicle
10. Karl Schmidt
Between September 25 and 26, 1957, herpetologist Karl Patterson Schmidt, who worked at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, found himself in a deadly predicament after attempting to identify a boomslang—a highly venomous African colubrid—delivered from the Lincoln Park Zoo. While handling the snake, it bit his hand, and Schmidt immediately began chronicling the cascade of symptoms he experienced.
He detailed everything from the first shivers and chills to the progressive internal bleeding that followed. On day one he reported a shaky feeling and minor bleeding; by the next morning the bleeding intensified, spilling from his bowels, nose, and mouth, and even appearing in his urine. Despite his scientific curiosity, Schmidt refused medical intervention, fearing it would interfere with his self‑experiment. He eventually succumbed in a hospital, and an autopsy confirmed death by severe internal hemorrhage caused by the boomslang’s potent venom.
9. Prasad
In 2006, a 32‑year‑old Indian man known only as “Prasad” left a chilling note after ingesting a cup of potassium cyanide. The note, written in a trembling hand, gave scientists their first direct description of cyanide’s taste: a slow onset that quickly turned into a burning, acrid sensation that scorched the entire tongue.
Prasad explained that he had been defrauded in a gold deal, which drove him to despair. He mixed the poison with water, drank it, and attempted to finish his note before the toxin took full effect. He managed only a fragment, describing the taste and his belief that cyanide could be used discreetly, before the poison claimed his life. The lethal dose of cyanide is minuscule—about 300 micrograms—making his account a stark reminder of its potency.
8. Unnamed German Man
In February 2008, hunters stumbled upon a grim scene in the Solling hills of Germany: the skeletal remains of a 58‑year‑old man lying on a mattress, surrounded by a diary he had been updating as his body weakened. The diary, never released by police, revealed a 24‑day chronicle of self‑starvation.
He recorded drinking minimal water, enduring relentless hunger, and grappling with personal turmoil—job loss, a strained relationship with his daughter, and the collapse of his marriage. The final entry, dated December 13, 2007, indicated his intention for the diary to be handed to his daughter after his death. The man’s solitary, deliberate decline offers a haunting portrait of voluntary demise.
7. John Fawcett
Drug abuse in the 19th century was often a physician‑prescribed tragedy. Among the most insidious was laudanum, a tincture of opium that was freely sold and used to treat everything from coughs to epilepsy. Between 1863 and 1867, over two hundred infants in England died from accidental laudanum overdoses.
John Fawcett, a man living in that era, documented his own fatal overdose. According to the April 24, 1897 edition of the New York Journal and Advertiser, he ingested an ounce of laudanum and recorded the ensuing drowsiness, his thoughts, and his decision to end his life. His final note read, “Died twenty‑four hours after taking one ounce of laudanum,” followed by a description of his plunge into a nearby pond. The entry suggests he left a blank for the exact hours, filling it in just before his death.
6. Ricardo Lopez
On September 12, 1996, 21‑year‑old Ricardo Lopez ended his life by shooting himself in the mouth. The act might have faded into obscurity were it not for a bomb he mailed to Icelandic singer Björk. Lopez’s 22‑hour video diary, begun in January of that year, culminated in a final recording that revealed the parcel bomb.
Obsessed with Björk, Lopez grew jealous of her boyfriend and crafted a sulfuric‑acid bomb, which he mailed from a post office, carrying a pistol for a swift suicide if apprehended. In his last video, he undressed, painted his face, and fired the gun while a Björk track played. His body was discovered four days later, partially decomposed. Police recovered the videos and the bomb, preventing a tragic delivery.
5. Edwin Katskee
Cocaine, once hailed as a reliable local anesthetic, became a double‑edged sword when physicians began using it without standardized dosing. In 1936, Dr. Edwin Katskee injected himself with what he believed to be a therapeutic amount, only to discover he’d administered a lethal overdose.
He scrawled a series of observations on the walls of his office: “Eyes mildly dilated. Vision excellent,” followed by notes such as “Now able to stand up,” “Partial recovery. Smoked cigarette,” and a frantic plea to record his findings for future scholars. His final entry, a stark single word—“paralysis”—suggests he died moments later. Unfortunately, his notes lacked timestamps and were difficult to decipher, limiting their scientific value.
4. Daniel Alcides Carrion
Peruvian medical student Daniel Alcides Carrion took self‑experimentation to a heroic extreme. After witnessing a deadly, plague‑like outbreak in Callao and La Oroya in 1873, he later focused on “verruga peruana” (Peruvian wart) during his studies. Determined to understand the disease, he allowed infected friends to inoculate him.
He began documenting symptoms on September 17, 1885, noting the progression of fever, skin lesions, and systemic decline. By September 26, his strength waned, and a companion continued his entries until Carrion’s death on October 5. His meticulous notes illuminated the pathology of Carrion’s disease (also known as Oroya fever), linking it to the earlier epidemic he had observed. Today, he is celebrated in Peru, with a university bearing his name and the disease renamed in his honor.
3. Timothy Leary
Dr. Timothy Leary, famed psychologist, counter‑culture icon, and occasional prankster, faced a terminal prostate cancer diagnosis in the mid‑1990s. Ever the showman, he created a personal website to update his followers on his health, peppered with wry jokes about his impending demise.
During a party, a stranger greeted him with, “Good luck on your death.” Leary later called the remark “one of the most powerful things” he’d ever heard, prompting him to vow, “Give death a better name, or die trying.” He never coined a new moniker, but he did arrange for his final moments to be filmed, intending the footage for future broadcast. His last recorded words, delivered with characteristic mischievousness, were simply, “Why not?”
2. Nara Almeida
Brazilian influencer Nara Almeida, just 24 when she passed away in May 2018, became a digital beacon for thousands battling stomach cancer. Diagnosed in August 2017, she turned her Instagram into a candid diary, posting raw images of chemotherapy sessions, sleepless nights, and the relentless pain that accompanied her treatment.
In a poignant post a month before her death, she shared a photo taken from her hospital bed, arm raised in a triumphant gesture before an immunotherapy infusion. The caption read, “I believe that in the end everything will work out and I will come out of it very strengthened and ready to help other people.” Tragically, the promise remained unfulfilled, as she succumbed shortly thereafter.
1. Martin Manley
On the early morning of August 15, 2013, veteran sports journalist Martin Manley called 911 to report a suicide he was about to commit. After the call, he followed through, ending his own life on his 60th birthday.
Manley had been meticulously planning his death for years. He launched a blog where he detailed his motives, the precise date, location, and even the firearm he would use. He paid for five years of hosting, but Yahoo later removed the site for violating terms. Nonetheless, a cloned version remains accessible.
Beyond the blog, Manley orchestrated his post‑mortem affairs: he mailed trinkets and letters to relatives to be delivered after his death, specified burial arrangements, and prepaid his cremation. His methodical approach underscores a desire for absolute control over every facet of his final act.