In my book, I differentiate between several different types of Taboo Death.
Superstition: Natural peoples
"A young negro on a journey lodged in a friend's house for the night. The friend had prepared for theit breakfast a wild hen, a food strictly banned by a rule which must be inviolably observed by the immature. The young fellow demanded whether it was indeed a wild hen, and when the host answered 'No,' he ate of it heartily and proceeded on his way. A few years later, when the two met again, the old friend asked the younger man if he would eat a wild hen. He answered that he had been solemnly charged by a wizard not to eat that food. Thereupon the host began to laugh and asked him why he refused it now after having eaten it at his table before. On hearing this news the negro immediately began to tremble, so greatly was he possessed by fear, and in less than twenty-four hours was dead." (Report from MEROLLA as mentioned in PINKERTON (Pinkerton, 1814, p. 237ff) and cited by CANNON (Cannon, 1957, p. 182).)
Religion: The Bibel
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Norms and Mores: Adultery
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Anniversary reactions
"Three of the first four Presidents of the United States to die, died on the 4th of July. Two who signed the Declaration of Independence dies on its fiftieth anniversary." (Fischer & Dlin, 1972, p. 170)
"A former heavy weight-champion of the world, Primo Carnera, had been in failing health for three years. As he wasted away from cirrhosis of the liver, he returned to the Italian mountain town of his birth. Three weeks later he was in coma. A week later on the 34th anniversarry of his sixth round knockout of Jach Sharkey when he won the championship, he died. When he had left California for the visit to his Italian homeland, he had vowed to return to the land where he and his family had become citizens." (Fischer & Dlin, 1972, p. 170)
"'Papa Doc' Duvalier, the late ruler of Haiti, was announced dead on April 22, 1971, suffering from diabetes and several strokes. Duvalier considered the 22nd day of the month his lucky day. He assumed the Presidency on September 22, 1957. It is said he often made important decisions on that day." (Fischer & Dlin, 1972, p. 170)
"Carl Sandberg, the poet and Lincoln biographer, predicted he would die at an age divisible by 11. 'It's inevitable, it's inexorable, it's written in the book of fate,' he told newsmen when he turned 80. 'I had two great-grandfathers and a grandfather who died in years divisible by 11. If I dont' die at 88, I'll go on to 99.' He died at 89." (Fischer & Dlin, 1972, p. 170)
Fear, horror, shock, terror, worry, stress, exhaustion etc.
"É the case of the man reprieved, after his head had been laid upon the block, and the fatal ax was about to fall. The reprieve came too late. The anticipation had arrested the action of the heart." (Yawger, 1936, p. 875, quoting Tuke)
"Many cases have been reported where patients in good health died on the operating table before the anesthetic was administered." (Yawger, 1936, p. 875, quoting Dunbar)
"there is adequate ground for the assertion, that even amongst the better instructed classes of our own country, a fixed belief that a mortal disease had seized upon the frame, or that a particular operation or system of treatment would prove unsuccessful, had been in most instances the real cause of a fatal result". (Yawger, 1936, p. 876, quoting Carpenter)
"A man was in the hospital with an undiagnosed illness. His physicians felt certain he would not recover and gently, over a period of time, let his wife know that this was so. It is the wife who is our case. She was in her late thirties or early forties. She was in constant attendance on her husband, leaving him only for sleep. For weeks she did not go anywhere except to the hospital. On one occassion the nurses convinced her that she ought to go for a walk. Her husband's condition had not changed and it was thought unlikely to change. After considerable persuasion she did go out and was gone for an hour or two. On her return she was met in the corridor by a nurse and prevented from going into her husband's room. She had to be told that while she was gone he had died. Her eyes opened wide and she fell to the floor. She was taken into a nearby room, but she was already dead. Necropsy on her husband showed polyartritis nodosa. Necropsy on her showed - nothing. The splanchnie veins were somewhat dilated. Exhaustive microscopic study showed nothing remarkable." (Bohrod, 1963, p. 27)
"É under the emotional pressure of horror, the hair is frequently reported to have whitened rapidly, as in the case of Marie Antoinette, guillotined in 1793, and in that of Henry M. Stanley, who himself said that his hair turned white in that distracting historic night when, without their existence having been previously known, pygmies suddenly attacked him in northeastern Africa." (Yawger, 1936, p. 878)
The following obituary appeared in a daily paper in Zuerich, Switzerland on Monday, the 16th of October 2000. I have translated it into English and abbreviated the names for discretion:
Only the strong
can laugh under tears,
keep their troubles to themselves,
and make others happy.
- Grillparzer
In profound sadness we take leave from our dear departed daughter, sister and D's deeply beloved life's partner
M. H.
3. February 1962 - 10. October 2000
A malicious illness extinguished her short life much too soon. We will dearly miss her lively, joyful and loving way to be. We admire her strength.
Only two days later, our most beloved U., my wife, our mother, sister, aunt and sister-in-law died
U.H.S.
7. June 1937 - 12 October 2000
A severe illness and the death of her daughter M. broke her strong will to live. Her aura and affection will remain with us in memory forever.
We commemorate our deepest gratitude for everything which they have given us.
L.H.
K.H.
D.C.
Relatives and Friends
Joy, laughter, ecstacy
"Rush cited many instances of death from joy and among others mentioned that of the son of Leibnitz, who, on opening an old chest and unexpectedly finding in it a large quantity of gold, suddenly expired." (Yawger, 1936, p. 877)
"A woman aged 43 heard the alarming report that many persons had been injured in an accident to a train on which her daughter was a passenger. The mother, arriving at the station in time to see her daughter emerge unharmed, threw her arms about her, fell into a fit and expired a few hours later." (Yawger, 1936, p. 877)
"Sir Thomas Urquhart is said to have died of laughter on learning that Charles the Second had regained the throne." (Yawger, 1936, p. 877)
"Those murdered by the dagger of devotion / Perpetually receive new life from the Beyond." (Schimmel, 1985, p. 488)
Encountering the impossible and making it possible in the Taboo Death process
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Important pathogenic factors involved in the Taboo Death process
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Bohrod, M. G. (1963). Sudden Death in the Hyper-Reactor State. J. For. Science, 8(1), 22-30.
Cannon, W., B. (1957). 'Voodoo' Death. Psychosomatic Medicine, 19(3), 182-190.
Fischer, H. K., & Dlin, B. M. (1972). Psychogenic Determination of TIme of Illness or Death by Anniversary Reactions and Emotional Deadlines. Psychosomatics, 13(3), 170-173.
Pinkerton, J. (1814). Voyages and Travels. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees (etc.).
Schimmel, A. (1985). Mystische Dimensionen des Islam: Die Geschichte des Sufismus. Köln: Eugen Diederichs Verlag.
Yawger, N. S. (1936). Emotions as the cause of rapid and sudden death. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 36, 875-879.
(Last revision: 06. January 2001)