With the great history of innovation that humanity has behind it, it’s to be expected that victims will appear from time to time, when it comes to the more dangerous  inventions. Below you can read about 6 of those people that were killed by their own inventions in the past.

Cowper Coles - The Turret Ship

Cowper Coles was the inventor of the turret ship. Born in 1819, he joined the Royal Navy when he was 11 years old, and took part in the Sevastopol siege in the 1850’s. During the war he and other officers built a raft with a rotating protective turret. The turret design was patented by Coles after the war is over.

In 1866, after years of pressing the Navy, he finally received approval to build a turret ship, and so the HMS Captain was built. The HMS Captain capsized in 1870, due to errors in the design (inadequate stability), and it’s creator, Cowper Coles was one of the 500 that died when it sunk. Only 18 of its crew survived.

William Bullock - Rotary Printing Press

William Bullock was the inventor of the web rotary printing press in 1863, which revolutionized the printing industry. With just 3 workers, his printing press could print 10,000 units per hour.

In 1867, Bullock was caught in the gears of his own printing press while he was making adjustments to it. While he was installing the printer for the Philadelphia Public Ledger newspaper, he kicked a driving belt onto a pulley and he caught his leg in the machine, and it was crushed and broken. A few days later gangrene set in and 9 days after the accident Bullock died during the operation done to amputate his leg.

Otto Lilienthal - Hang Glider

Otto Lilienthal was one of the pioneers of human aviation and the first to succeed repeated flights with hang gliders.

Since he started using his own gliders he made over 2000 flights from 1891 to 1896 when he crashed from a height of 17m (56 feet) and eventually died two days later from his injuries.

To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. But to fly is everything.

- Otto Lilienthal

Thomas Midgley, Jr. - Own Design Mechanical Bed

Thomas Midgley was an American inventor born in 1889 that has over one hundred patents registered on his name, including Freon and tetra-ethyl lead (TEL - a gasoline additive).

At age 51, in 1940, he contracted polio, which left him severely disabled. He designed a complicated system of strings and pulley that lifted him up from his bed. This invention eventually led to his death in 1944, when he was accidentally entangled in the ropes and died by strangulation at age 55.

Alexander Bogdanov - Blood Transfusion Gone Wrong

Alexander Bogdanov, of Belarus nationality, was a scientist born in 1873, that had interests varying from the universal systems theory to human rejuvenation through blood transfusion.

He started doing experiments on blood transfusion in 1924, with the hope of achieving partial rejuvenation or eternal youth. After doing 11 blood transfusions on himself, he reported an improvement in eyesight and a suspension in balding, along with other improvements.

After Lenin’s death, he was commissioned to study Lenin’s brain and, if possible, to resuscitate his body. In his letters to the Soviet leaders Joseph Stalin and Bukharin he dreamed of physically rejuvenating the Bolshevik party leadership.

Bogdanov died in 1928, after he did a transfusion on himself with blood from a student that had tuberculosis and malaria.

Franz Reichelt - Overcoat/Parachute

Franz Reichelt, born in Austria in the 1800’s, was a tailor that became well known because of his accidental death.

He designed an overcoat, that was supposed to work as a parachute and bring the wearer gently on the ground or allow him to fly.

He tried to demonstrate his overcoat by jumping from the first deck of the Eiffel Tower, at a height of 60 meters. His parachute didn’t work as intended and Reichelt died on impact. His death was recorded by the cameras present to witness the experiment.

Here’s the video of his fall and death:

In a small town from southwest France, the mayor is threatening the locals with severe punishments if they die, because the cemetery is overcrowded already and there is no place where they can be buried. Yes, you read it right, people are not allowed to die.

The actual quote of the mayor of Sarpounrex, Gerard Lalanne, is:

All persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish. Offenders will be severely punished.

Apparently, there are 260 people living in this village, and the request to extend the cemetery was denied by the town council that the village belongs to. Hence, the message from the 70 year old mayor.

A guy from Toronto was the first man to get an eyeball tattoo. Yeah, you read that right, an eyeball tattoo. The end result was a blue eye, and it took 40 injections of blue ink to achieve that. Funny enough, I’ve been watching Dune these last few days and the first thing that popped in my head was "Fremen"

This is what Paul said about it:

I really have to emphasize again that the procedure was extensively researched and done by people who were aware of the risks and possible complications and that it should not be casually attempted. Now that this experiment has been started, please wait for us to either heal or go blind before trying it.

More photos after the jump and they’re just as disgusting.

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While their inhabitants might not be too happy about it, there are a lot of places around the world, with names that are offensive in the English language, but don’t mean a thing in the language spoken in their area.

In recent years, it became quite common for the street signs of these cities and villages to be stolen by tourists that are amused at their meaning.

I’ve seen quite a few lists with funny city names, but after research and looking for proof of their existence, I came up with the list below. Included are only names that I found truly funny and I could found street signs or their presence on a map.

Fucking, Austria

A tiny village from Austria, Fucking has a population of 93 people and apparently they spend quite large sums of money replacing the sign from the entrance of the village, because British tourists made a habit out of stealing them as a souvenir.

The hilarious part of the sign below, is that under the Fucking sign, there is another saying "Please, not so fast". A good match, though they probably had something else in mind. Maybe telling drivers not to speed up in their village.

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The flight, belonging to Go! airlines, was on a 214 mile route between Honolulu and Hilo airport in Hawaii, on February 13, 2008. The airplane, which was flying at 21,000 feet, was contacted by the air traffic controllers, and got no response from it, despite several attempts at making contact. Contact was finally made when the airplane already had flown 15 miles past the airport. It finally landed 15 minutes later.

The preliminary report that was just released by the National Transportation Safety Board concludes that apparently the two pilots fell asleep. No problems were found with the carbon monoxide in the plane or the pressurization system.

On that flight, there were 40 passengers and 3 crew members. The two pilots are currently suspended and flight logs show that they finished their shift on February 12 at 2:47 PM and returned to duty at 5:40 AM on February 13.