Karl Shaw - 10 Ways to Recycle a Corpse: and 100 More Dreadfully Distasteful Lists

Also by Karl Shaw

Gross

Gross 2: This Time Its Personal

The Mammoth Book of Eccentrics

The Mammoth Book of Tasteless Lists

Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty

5 People Who Died During Sex

Curing Hiccups with Small Fires: A Delightful Miscellany of Great British Eccentrics

Copyright 2011 by Karl Shaw

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

Three Rivers Press and the Tugboat design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shaw, Karl.
10 ways to recycle a corpse and 100 more dreadfully distasteful lists/
by Karl Shaw.1st ed. p. cm.
1. Curiosities and wonders. I. Title.
AG243.S48 2011
031.02dc22
2011004414

eISBN: 978-0-307-72041-2

Illustrations used throughout this book are courtesy of Graphics World Instant Archive Art, copyright The Graphic Communications Centre Ltd., 1981; Humorous Victorian Spot Illustrations, copyright Dover Publications Inc., 1985; 3,800 Early Advertising Cuts, copyright Dover Publications Inc., 1991; Big Book of Old-Time Spot Illustrations, copyright
Dover Publications Inc., 2001.
Cover design by Kyle Kolker
Cover photograph byUnderwood Photo Archives/SuperStock

v3.1

For Shona, Robert & Charlie

A little bad taste is like a nice dash of paprika.

Dorothy Parker

Welcome to the follow-up to 5 People Who Died During Sex and 100 More Terribly Tasteless Lists, another collection of grisly historical and contemporary facts and incidents.

The fact that Three Rivers Press wanted me to compile another one of these is testament to the publics thirst for morbid trivia and anecdote. This isnt a phenomenon of the twenty-first century. Im sure there were once cavemen sitting around boring their friends with facts about the size of mammoths testicles.

Im sometimes asked how (and, not unreasonably, why) these lists come together. Some are gobbets of the past recycledor dredgedfrom books I have previously written about royalty, dictators, scientists, eccentrics, and general historical oddities. Ill come across a story about, for example, some minor royal who kicked his valet to death (see 10 Milestones in Bad Juvenile Behavior) then I might have a eureka moment when I think, Didnt I read somewhere about a Russian duke who amused himself by kicking Hussars to deathso I follow it up and fashion a list (or not, as is so often the case).

Some people might point out that trivia books strip meaning from knowledge, providing us with information but the not the context we need to apply itand of course they would be absolutely right. The purpose is to titillate and entertain, so if youre not curious to know why Jack Nicholson asks his houseguests to piss in his garden or which African community punishes adulterous couples by feeding them to crocodiles, this book probably isnt for you.

As I write this I am up against a deadline, ruing a few lists that got away. So for now I have abandoned my search for more people who had sex with roadkill (there were one or two, believe it or not), famous people run over by cabs (the only two certainties in lifedeath and taxis), and relatives of the British royal family who supported Hitler, including Princess Michaels father, who was a member of the SS, although, according to the official palace explanation, only an honorary one. Sadly, Im also giving up on my quest to verify a couple more royal facts, including the identity of Prince Philips relative who owned the biggest collection of sadomasochistic porn in Europe, allegedly.

Im also left with this frustrating folder on my laptop called facts with no home. For example, did you know that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written by a Jewish sect that was so holy its members didnt believe in defecating on the Sabbath? Ive also had to abandon a list with the working title Gods Mysterious Ways (Christians with tender sensibilities look away now) after learning the tantalizing fact that in Ezekiel 4:1215 God offers a cookery tip to Ezekiel, suggesting he uses human excrement as fuel to cook bread, rather than the usual animal dung mixed with straw. (When Ezekiel protests, God generously allows him to use cow dung instead.) Did you know that He hates baldness? The Old Testament contains countless references as to how God will make Israels enemies lose their hair and, in Revelation, at the end of the world God will render select groups of evil people bald.

I am grateful to several kind readers who have drawn my attention to errors in my previous book, despite the meticulous skills Three Rivers Press brought to bear on the unenviable process of editing, and I have tried in good faith to ensure that everything in this book, as far as possible, is accurate, although of course some of these facts are open to debate and interpretation. So, if youre ever on a TV quiz show and rely on this book to incorrectly answer a question about Chairman Maos sanitary arrangements (an arcane subject I am now something of an expert on) or what Frank Zappa smeared on his friends bedroom window, its someone elses fault.

THE BEAN DIET

The Ancient Greek Pythagoras and his followers were among the earliest vegetarians, but it had nothing to do with healthy eating or compassion for animals. According to Pythagoras, vegetarianism was the only way to ensure you were not eating your grandmother or another relative, whose soul could have migrated to your neighbors pig. The great mathematician was said to be so passionate about his diet that he met his death defending a bean field.