Electrocution is a horrible way to die. Cell phones, science experiments, tasers, faulty wires, and even ordinary outlets can be delivery systems for shocking deaths. Accidental electrocution fatalities are common, and homicides involving electrical torture occur with terrifying frequency. Sometimes, electricity is even used as the murder weapon.

See Also: 10 Shocking Myths About Electricity

10 Cocaine And Tasers

In February 2015, Florida police tased Calvon Reid to death. Wynmoor retirement community residents called authorities, and indicated that Reid, 39, had been injured and needed medical attention. After Reid refused the officers’ help, they tased him multiple times in the chest. Witnesses recall hearing Reid cry “I can’t breathe” and “they are going to kill me”.

Reid’s death was ruled a homicide and led to the abrupt retirement of the Coconut Creek police chief. Initially, investigators kept information regarding Reid’s death a secret. Three of the four officers involved had let their taser certifications lapse. The autopsy revealed that “recent cocaine use” exacerbated Reid’s condition. However, “complications of an electro-muscular disruption device” was the cause of death. Cocaine has been linked to taser fatalities in the past. In most cases, cocaine is listed as the cause of death in an attempt to demonize the victims of overzealous police.^[1]

9 A Spy’s Death In Cairo

In early 2016, the body of Giulio Regeni, 28, was found in a ditch in the outskirts of Cairo. The Cambridge PhD student had been missing for two weeks. The autopsy revealed a brain hemorrhage, seven broken ribs, and electrocution to his penis. He had also been sliced with a razor, bludgeoned, and repeatedly kicked and punched. The tops of both ears had been lobbed off, and multiple finger and toenails had been ripped off.

Regeni was most likely killed as a suspected spy. The Italian grad student had been studying Egyptian trade unions. He wrote several articles critical of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s administration. Three Egyptian security officials revealed Regeni had been taken into custody. All three confirmed that he had triggered red flags due to his research project and contact with the leftists April 6th movement and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood – both considered enemies of the state.^[2]

8 Iphone Horror

In 2014, the charred body of Wu Wenyuan was discovered bed next to a broken iPhone 4S. The phone’s screen was smashed, and the 18-year-old Xinjian resident was not breathing. The coroner’s report revealed electrocution marks on her neck, hands, and left foot. The cause of death was electrocution from the cell phone’s “electrical leakage”. Investigators determined the phone had been plugged into a knock-off charger, which might have caused the electrocution.

This is not the only time an iPhone has electrocuted someone to death. In 2015, Evegina Sviridenko was killed when she dropped her cell phone into the bath. The 24-year-old Moscow resident had been looking at her social media page when the plugged-in phone hit the water. Sviridenko’s roommate discovered her pale and floating. Her skin was still quaking from the electrical shock. Investigators believe that an off-brand charger was likely responsible for Sviridenko’s cell phone electrocution death.^[3]

7 Electro Pedophile

The body of Sonia Payi was discovered in the undergrowth near a Strunaway industrial park. The autopsy revealed the seven-year-old South African girl had been raped before she was electrocuted to death. Sonia was abducted while sneaking out with a friend to buy snacks from a local shop. A joint force of police and locals began the search. Specialized K9 search and rescue units combed the cemeteries and alleys.

A mob of 200 New Brighton residents, mostly women, chased the man who allegedly abducted, raped, and electrocuted Sonia Payi. They pelted him with stones and beat him. Police had to intervene. According to the vigilantes, the man had been pretending to be deaf and was spotted playing with children near where Sonia was abducted. Residents were immediately suspicious, as the man was not a local. When questioned he doubled-down on his deaf act and escaped, leaving his false teeth behind.^[4]

6 Don’t Try This At Home

A 15-year-old Ohio boy was electrocuted to death recreating a YouTube video. Morgan Wojciechowski was attempting the “Jacob’s Ladder” experiment, which involves a high-voltage arc of electricity traveling between two points – frequently wires. The high school freshman’s parents were alerted to the trouble when they heard “a lot of noise” coming from the garage. Emergency crews were dispatched but it was too late. Morgan was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Investigators discovered a microwave battery pack attached to an electrical outlet via multiple extension cords. Jumper cables from the battery pack connected with wire hangers, believed to be the points where electricity would travel. The Wojciechowski family was aware of Morgan’s experiments. However, they are unaware which video prompted him to recreate the fatal experiment. Jacob’s Ladder displays can be found at museums and science centers. They are dangerous and should not be trifled with at home.^[5]

5 Sex Tape Murder Suicide

In January, Virginia police discovered the naked body of Kim Yeon on the basement floor of an Annandale home. She was handcuffed to a clothed 73-year-old man. When authorities approached, the man wrapped an electrical cord around his wrist and began to convulse. The cord was connected to an awls jammed into a circuit breaker – an improvised electrocution device. Yeon, 56, was pronounced dead at the scene. The unidentified man was taken into custody and hospitalized.

Police traced Yeon’s cell phone to the Annandale residence. Knocks went unanswered, but they discovered the grisly scene by peeking through the basement window. Investigators discovered a note, which indicated that the man wanted to kill Yeon and take his own life. There was also a DVD sex tape of the couple. There was no indication that Yeon was abducted. However, her death is being investigated as a homicide. The motive remains a mystery.^[6]

4 Sexual Jealousy Slaughter

Last summer, Indian police discovered the naked remains of Alka Kumari in her family home in Amishar. The coroner’s report revealed that the 25-year-old was a victim of homicide. First, she was strangled. Then her breasts and genitals were electrocuted. She was violated with a two-foot sword, before electrical current was sent through it, burning her internal organs.

Police believe the slaying was motivated by “sexual jealousy”. They discovered a note reading, “I miss you”. Cold beverages were sitting in the room where her body found. The police also discovered a mobile phone missing a SIM card. Cash, gold, and silver ornaments were taken. However, investigators believe this was to give the perception of a robbery, and throw them off the real killer’s trail. The brutality of the murder suggests a person with a personal connection to Alka. Five years before her murder, Alka was married. It lasted only days.^[7]

3 Copper Theft Gone Wrong

In 2015, the Jefferson county sheriff’s office received a report of a dead body near Highway 221. The deceased was Charles “Chip” Ridenour. The coroner’s report revealed the 39-year-old died from electrocution. Warrants were issued for David Wade, 43, and Robert Brown, 52. Georgia authorities believe the two, along with Ridenour, were trying to steal copper wire from the tops of power poles. The pair has been charged with felony murder, concealing a death, and theft by taking. At the time of his death, Ridenour was on probation for stealing an air-conditioning unit.

Copper theft is an epidemic. Estimates report that the business of illegal copper is worth $1 billion a year. It remains valuable as scrap because of its uses in fiber optics, plumbing, and nearly all electrical gadgets. As a tangible asset, it is extremely hard to trace. Thieves will go nearly anywhere to find the precious metal.^[8]

2 Cuckold Killer

In 2014, the body of Choa Chu Kang was discovered in Malaysia’s Sungei Gedong Camp. Maggots seethed through the badly decomposed corpse. His hands were bound and his t-shirt was pulled up to his neck. His scalp was damaged and his eyes, missing. The autopsy revealed that he died from blunt force trauma to the head and face.

Chia Kee Chen, 55, was charged with the murder. Prosecutors believe the feud developed over an affair between Kang and Chen’s wife. The relationship was broken off. However, a New Year’s text message triggered a rampage. Chen and two accomplices assaulted Kang in a parking lot and forced him into the back of a van. They tied him up and electrocuted him. They then beat Kang to death before dumping his body. Chen’s longtime friend Chua Leong Aik, 66, and business partner Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko have also been charged with the murder.^[9]

1 Cell Phone Honor Killing

17-year-old Amine Demirtas was electrocuted to death by her brother for using a cell phone without his approval. According to Kasim Demirtas, 29, he developed suspicions his sister was using a mobile to meet new people. He asked for the phone repeatedly and demanded the passcode so that he could read her messages. When she refused. Kasim tortured and electrocuted her to death. Their father was arrested along with Kasim for encouraging the brutality.

Nearly 300 women are killed from domestic violence each year in Turkey. Honor killings are common, and activists believe that many go unreported as suicides. The murder took place in a Batman, Turkey. Between 1995 and 2006, at least 71 women committed suicide in the conservative city. Murders in which a woman’s family kills her following a “shameful” act are illegal in Turkey. However, officials often look the other way and judges hand out light sentences.^[10]

About The Author: Abraham Rinquist is the executive director of the Winooski, Vermont, branch of the Helen Hartness Flanders Folklore Society. He is the coauthor of Codex Exotica and Song-Catcher: The Adventures of Blackwater Jukebox.

We can all agree there are a variety of things no one in this world wants to do and getting electrocuted is right at the top of that list for most people. This unfortunately does happen to people though and we always see the movies where people get zapped, but have you ever wondered what is really going on when this kind of thing happens? Well here are 10 things that that most people don’t know about the process of electrocution.

Top 10 Shocking Myths About Electricity

10 Electricity does NOT enter the body

We have all seen the movie where someone does something involving electricity and for some reason the electricity is visible to the person watching in the form of bright flowing energy flowing from cable or object straight into the person in a sort of wave. Well that part of the electricity flowing in is all wrong even if just on a technicality

What actually happens is the that a current is sent through your body and the electrons within your own body become highly active particles. Your own electrical charge is shifted from within and the energy will arc to the easiest route out. In the same way water doesn’t boil because the fire ends up inside of it but rather the water boils because of a change in the energy of its own molecules people get shocked because of the change in their own atomic makeup.

9 Our bodies can get thrown across the room

Another popular movie trope of getting electrocuted is when we see a person fly across the room essentially overloaded with power and launched from the sheer force of the shock being applied. Well electricity will cause you to fling across the room like a gigantic rag doll, at least sort of.

While the effect is real it is not the sudden surge of electricity that knocks you away with ghostly hand. In nature’s version of “why are you hitting yourself” bullying the electricity actually causes all the nerves in your body to misfire and can lead to you sending yourself flying by involuntarily leaping. These same mechanics of muscles contracting all willy nilly also may also require a change of underwear as your body can possibly void itself

8 Water is not a good conductor

Everyone knows that water is a incredibly great for sending electric shock to every creature that is a bit damp in the vicinity. Popular culture would even have you believe it does such a great job you could essentially throw a potato clock into a puddle and stop people dead in their tracks. But what if I told you you were all wrong about water?

That’s right water is actually a terrible conductor of electricity. It can barely create any flow between its molecules from one to another because of its lack of unstable electrons. However, we all know in the real world that electricity does flow through water fairly well. This is actually due to dissolved solids like metals and minerals in the waters. So the next time you see someone get killed via electro puddle you can start a lively conversation with your friends about why he probably wishes that puddle had been an ultra pure distilled water.

7 Your Eyes Can Melt

Your eyes are wonderful instruments in your body. They are among some of the most refined organs we have in terms of sensitivity and purpose. They are made up of many parts that are each delicate and precise and they were never ever intended to get electrocuted.

We already discussed that it is your body itself that actually electrocutes you as we know it and causes the burns we associate with such an event. However due to its moist, nerve jumbled nature eyes can get it especially bad. Because of the cluster of electronic signals to the eyes coupled with its own makeup getting a strong enough or long enough electric shock will actually cause the eyes to melt into a soupy milky looking mixture.

6 Your skin can turn to charcoal

The scientific term for this is carbonization and it is a huge tipping point in your experience of being electrocuted. This is when your flesh turns extra crispy and hinders the flow of electricity.

While hindering the flow of electricity sounds like a good thing for someone who is being killed by, well, electricity the primary problem is that by the point your skin begins to char you are probably not in the best shape already. The burns that you will typically suffer during a massive electrocution can cause your flesh to carbonize essentially making you crispier than a burnt piece of bacon. This can be one of the most painful aspects of anyone lucky enough to survive such a massive jolt.

5 It can change your brain!

Most people realize that our brains are pretty fragile things. They are encased in bone all the way around them for a reason after all and we’ve all seen the dangers of our brain on drugs. It should come as no surprise then that during electrocution is not that great for them either.

Electricity has a way of frying a brain faster than that egg in the aforementioned drug warning. However what some people don’t realize is that also like drugs they can alter our brain chemistry.

Lightning strikes are the oldest form of electro death and they are also some of the worst for our brains, certain execution styles notwithstanding. Some of the hardest things to cope with for survivors and their families are the changes in the victims themselves. Personality changes, memory loss, and mood swings are all very common after Zeus uses you as target practice. The reason is because of brain chemistry as certain parts of your brain are damaged and others are altered the chemical demands of your brain are often not met properly. This symptom thankfully usually subsides within a few weeks or months but in rare cases has persisted for life.

4 Heart Failure

Vital organs run on very precise mechanisms within the human body without us so much as thinking about it. Our lungs inhale and exhale our heart beats to a particular rhythm and everything else depends on the blood and oxygen these two provide. When one is thrown off we know it can be fatal.

It is highly possible to be electrocuted and not suffer damage to any major vital organs as the current of will follow the easiest path to something grounded. In addition to avoiding electric shock yourself avoidance of the electrical current passing through the heart is a huge reason to not grab a person by the hand in an attempt to wrest them free from the electrical current. As the current passes through the heart the organ essentially spazzes out and begins to beat and pump off rhythm in a process called fibrillation. Even after removal of the current the fibrillation can continue and lead to an quick demise.

3 Cuts, Concussions, and Broken bones

Electric burns organ mishaps while among the scariest occurrences of being electrocuted they are not the most common injuries suffered during the process. As the current rips through your body and all the electrical process controlling the muscles fire randomly it is not unusual to see a person’s body begin to convulse violently and this is where many people are harmed during such an event.

While your body twitches and jerks from side to side it does not happen in a vacuum and the world around you can do some serious damage. Signs of blunt force trauma over the length of the body are seen in many victims whether it’s from your head slamming hard into the concrete below or you kicking the ground/walls with all your inhuman might and shattering your toes. Broken bones can be extremely painful in the recovery phase as your body cannot stop itself from continuing to spazm and use a broken limb from repeatedly slamming into objects that broke it initially.

2 You can receive a static shock from small electric devices

Everyone has had that uncomfortable sensation of reaching out for a loved one only to be met with a sharp spark of electricity jumping up and shocking them back. For the record it’s ok to blame this person we all do it. However, what we don’t expect is to be static shocked by a harmless insulated device, such as headphones.

The materials in most headphones and speakers are very conducive to the build up of static electricity and thus its users can possibly receive a minor to major electric shock. Even major brands have this issue and warn against defective product on their websites, but in the most dire circumstances the build up and close proximity to your noggin can lead to deathly consequences. One young boy was electrocuted to death when his phone received a jolt of electricity through its charger and continued through the headphone jacks to give his body a jolt that ended his life.

1 Pure electricity can be eaten by some bacteria

Anyone with any interest in biology can tell you life is a resilient thing. Every corner of the world is filled with microbes of all sorts with all sorts of unique abilities to thrive. Extremophiles can live in ice or even space and we all know about the durability of tardigrades but what most people aren’t aware of is the bacterium and microbes that eat electrons.

In fairly recent studies simply sticking an electrode into the ground can draw the attention of these microbes and they come running to the all they can eat buffet. Scientists, always the bemused bunch then began poking their electrodes in all sorts of places discovering that these bacteria are indeed everywhere, drawing them from out of every place imaginable including solid rock. As of 2015 when the study was initially published there were 8 different bacteria that fed off pure electricity and with this field being studied further there are sure to be more discovered.