Death questions

On February 19, 1980, Bon Scott was found dead. The legendary AC/DC frontman had been out drinking with friends -- but the casual evening took a terrible turn as Scott passed out in his car, and ultimately choked to death on his own vomit. He was only 33 years old.

John III Sobieski (17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696), was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death, and one of the most notable monarchs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was an able military commander, most famous for his victory over the Turks at the 1683 Battle of Vienna. After his victories over them, the Ottomans called him the "Lion of Lechistan"; and the Pope hailed him as the savior of Christendom. King John III Sobieski died in Wilanów, Poland on 17 June 1696 from a sudden heart attack.

Rasputin befriended the family of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and had considerable influence in late imperial Russia. In 1916 was concocted a plan to kill Rasputin. He was offered a dish with poison but it didn't work. Later he was tried to kill by shooting but was hurt only. Rasputin was still able to run away into the palace's courtyard and was shot a few times there so he fell. The conspirators then dropped Rasputin into the river.

In 1840 Napoléon Bonaparte was buried under the Dôme des Invalides- large church in Paris. The sarcophagus was put up on a green granite pedestal and contains a nest of six coffins: one made of soft iron, another of mahogany, two others of lead, one of ebony and finally the last one of oak.

Hindus believe that bathing in the Ganges remits sins and that dying in Varanasi ensures release of a person's soul from the cycle of its transmigrations. Those who are lucky enough to die in Varanasi, are cremated on the banks of the Ganges, and are granted instant salvation. Thus, many Hindus arrive here for dying.

Mussolini (second from left) was captured and executed near Lake Como by Italian partisans. His body was then taken to Milan and hung upside down at a petrol station, the same place that the fascists had displayed the bodies of fifteen Milanese civilians a year earlier after executing them in retaliation for resistance activity.

After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, Vincent van Gogh died at the age of 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).