8. Atypical
Allergic Reaction Pregnant Cassandra Hall lost her hubby in the most tragic and unpredictable way, an allergic reaction brought on by some standard fish.
Although the late Alexander Hall had reactions before, this one rocked his world and took his life.
The youthful 37-year-old and his wife were merely enjoying dinner in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, when he suddenly became violently sick.
The culprit? A regular piece of barramundi. Unlike most of the other items on our list, this fish wasn’t contaminated in the slightest, but Hall’s own body took exception to it, and it attacked him. Hall immediately went into anaphylactic shock and was taken to the hospital, but the damage was already done.
He lingered for 5 days before finally succumbing to the sickness, leaving his pregnant wife widowed and shocked. Horribly, most experts say that you can develop lethal allergies at any stage of life, so you never know when that next delicious piece of fish that crosses your lips will be your last.
Allergic reactions also intensify over time, so if you’ve ever felt a funny tingle after eating a plate of fish, you should take extra precautions to avoid it in the future- and when in doubt, carry an EpiPen!
7. Death In The Dominican
When Jeroen and Michou Venema traveled to the Dominican Republic for their honeymoon, they couldn’t possibly have imagined that a catastrophic chance encounter with contaminated fish would cut their marriage… and lives… short.
The ill-fated day started with a trip to the island of Saona and ended with a deadly dinner at the couple’s hotel, where they contracted Ciguatoxin poisoning, a nasty side-effect of eating truly bad fish.
Although that part of the Dominican Republic is notorious for its murder/suicides, deliberate poisoning was eventually ruled out. Allegedly the unlucky pair spent the last few hours of their lives vomiting violently before finally succumbing to the insidious effects of the Ciguatoxin.
Tragically, their lives might have been saved if someone knew what was happening and administered Mannitol, but by the time anyone at the hotel figured it out, it was far too late for the lovebirds.
They fell victim to a whole host of unforeseen circumstances; contaminated fish coupled with the area’s history of murder/suicides by poisoning, and nobody was prepared for their very preventable deaths. N
6. A Royal Incident
Henry I of England wasn’t all that accustomed to people telling him what to do, so when his royal advisors warned him not to consume a heaping portion of lampreys, he brushed them off… to his ultimate detriment. Lampreys don’t please many of today’s palettes; since they look more like an industrial accident or a hideous mutation than a fish that you might want to eat, but back in the day, lampreys were all the rage.
This eel-adjacent fish graced plates in all of the top houses and royal families, and Henry I was especially fond of them. The king was in his late 60s when he died, a ripe old age back in the 11th century, and his doctor warned him not to stuff his face with lampreys lest the pesky fish test his ticker too much. Henry didn’t listen and ultimately became ill and died that night. Today, if you want to follow in the steps of ancient royalty, you too can find and prepare lampreys, although their blood-sucking mouths might put you off taking your first bite.
These slitherers are supposed to taste a whole lot like squid, and as long as you take off the heads, they might not be half bad.
5. Too Much Seafood
Robbie Williams will tell you that too much of a good thing can almost spell certain death. The Take That singer was famous for his fishy diet, consuming copious amounts of tuna, squid, and octopus all of the time. While a diet full of moderate amounts of seafood is generally never a problem, if you’re eating all seafood all of the time, you’re also eating plenty of mercury.
Fortunately for Williams, a routine blood test alerted him to the problem, and he was able to switch up his diet before it was too late. If left untreated, mercury poisoning can contribute to skin cancer or lung disease… or just straight-up kill you.
Whatever comes first. Back in the day, mercury poisoning was to blame for many people “going mad” and is featured in plenty of different types of literature, including the famous Mad Hatter from Alice and Wonderland. Today, we have better types of testing, so it’s unlikely that you’ll get this ancient ailment unless you go crazy for the seafood and try to eat the whole ocean like Robbie Williams!
4. Seriously Bad Shellfish
Marty Feldman is best known for his roles in Young Frankenstein and Yellowbeard, but we’re pretty confident that the comedic Brit never wanted to play the role that ended his life, victim of food poisoning. Feldman was filming in Mexico City in 1982 when disaster struck in the form of dodgy shellfish that ultimately gave him a massive heart attack… and ended his life.
Feldman was traveling with a friend, Michael Mileham, who also got incredibly ill from the contaminated plate, although he lived to tell the tale.
Horribly, a week before the cherished comedian passed away; he told a reporter that he was too old to die young and too young to grow up. He was only 49 when he succumbed to the shellfish in Mexico City, and his death was a huge blow to the international comedy community.
Interestingly, most people will run afoul of lousy fish or shellfish sometime in their lives, but only an unlucky few will die as a result. You’re far more likely to wind up sleeping with the fishes if you have a bad heart, pre-existing condition, or undiagnosed allergy.
3. Lethal Leftovers
A 72-year-old man from Shanghai learned about the dangers of doggy bags the hard way when he decided to snack on his seafood leftovers and nearly paid with his life. Shockingly, he’d only had the sketchy leftovers in his refrigerator for 1 day, but the seafood had soured, and the man was left with acute gastroenteritis.
There was no mistaking what was happening, especially as his fever spiked to nearly 102 degrees. On top of the dizzying fever, his symptoms included horrific stomach cramps and explosive diarrhea, but that was just the beginning of his fateful brush with food poisoning!
After being admitted to the Xinhua Hospital, he got an additional, terrifying diagnosis; sepsis; a devastating blood infection that’s fatal if not treated.
Sepsis can not only kill you, but it can have lifetime ramifications and impact your organs for years to come, so it’s best to avoid this type of bad blood if you can.
Fortunately, the man from Shanghai made a full recovery after his harrowing double-diagnosis of gastroenteritis and sepsis, although we are willing to bet that he will never, ever, eat leftovers again!
2. Deadly Raw Clams
A Raleigh, North Carolina man, feasted on raw clams and oysters at a restaurant and paid the ultimate price when he contracted Vibrio Vulnificus, a nasty bacteria found in coastal waters all over the world.
Although the health department got involved, it soon became clear that this was nothing but a tragic accident, as all procedures were followed to the letter…
which frankly makes it a whole hell of a lot scarier. Despite doing everything right, the vicious Vibrio Vulnificus slithered its way onto the plate and struck an unsuspecting diner dead.
The one silver lining, if there is one, is that those with healthy immune systems are far less likely to contract the deadly strain.
These days, it’s harder than ever to deduce the origins of contaminated shellfish because the dish you’re eating most likely has varieties from all over the planet, so Vibrio Vulnificus might be lurking on plates all over the world. Scary thought!
1. Fatal Fugu
Fugu is a Japanese delicacy that is literally to die for. It’s a type of pufferfish preparation, perfected by Japanese sushi chefs, and if they get it a tiny bit wrong, you’ll wind up in the morgue.
Pufferfish, also known as blowfish, contains tetrodotoxin, a lethal poison that is 1,200 times more powerful than cyanide.
If you’re wondering why in the hell anyone would want to eat this fish on purpose, the answer might surprise you. Fugu is a prized dish in Japan, although authorities crack down on who can prepare it and how much can be served.
Sashimi and sushi specialists use particular knives when slicing through the venomous flesh of the pufferfish, and they also keep it separate and contained away from every other ingredient; as to not accidentally infuse your ahi tuna with a little tetrodotoxin.
Of course, all that prep-work and care comes with a pretty hefty price tag. You won’t be able to sample delicious and deadly fugu for less than $100. In total, this lethal fish has felled 23 people in Japan alone since 2000, and it’s not a pretty death.
Tetrodotoxin is a violent way to go, starting with numbness, escalating to paralysis, and finishing in agonizing death. You don’t black out, and there is no known antidote.
Even still, people are beating the doors of licensed fugu sellers down to get a taste of the forbidden fish. Apparently, some like to live dangerously! Bon appetit!
Thanks for reading! Would you rather slurp down a huge plate of raw, blood-sucking lampreys or roll the dice with Japan’s most fatal fish, fugu? Let us know in the comments section below.
