“You crawl out of your mother’s womb, you crawl across open country under fire, and drop into your grave.”
These were the some of the final thoughts of the raconteur and queer icon Quentin Crisp, who passed away from a heart attack at the home of a friend in Manchester at the age of 90. She was cremated with a minimum of ceremony as she had requested, and her ashes were flown back to her personal assistant and travel companion Phillip Ward in New York.
“It is unbelievable.”
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was convicted of spying during World War I and sentenced to death by firing squad. The exotic dancer and courtesan was 41 years old when she was executed by a firing squad consisting of 12 soldiers just before dawn, in the moat of the Château de Vincennes, Paris. According to an eyewitness account, Mata Hari was not bound and refused a blindfold. She defiantly blew a kiss to the firing squad.
“Damn. This is funny.”
The dentist and gunfighter, best known for his role in the shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone Arizona, uttered these final words as he lay dying to a nurse after she refused him a shot of whiskey. Doc Holliday succumbed to tuberculosis (consumption) at the age of 36 in the Hotel Glenwood, Colorado.
“I am not going. Do with me what you like. I am not going. Come on! Come on! Take action! Let’s go!”
During an unsuccessful attempt by police to arrest him, a close quarters fight erupted in which 16 men were killed including Sitting Bull, and these were his last words before he died. The Hunkpapa Lakota leader, who led his people during years of resistance against government policies, passed away from gunshot wounds to head and chest, he was about 55 years old.
“Don’t cry for me, for I go where music is born.”
These were the deathbed words of Johann Sebastian Bach, the famous composer and musician of the late Baroque period. Bach was 65 years of age when he suffered a stroke and died a few days later in his hometown of Leipzig. The stroke was caused by complications resulting from unsuccessful eye surgery.
“I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!”
Near the time of his death, Chris McCandless took a picture of himself waving while holding a written note with these last words on it. The 24 year old hiker and adventurer, who went by the pseudonym Alexander Supertramp, died of starvation and his body was found by a hunter in an abandoned bus on the Stampede Trail Alaska. Inspired by the details of McCandless’s story a biography was published which was later adapted into a movie ‘Into the Wild.’
“Don’t cry for me. I’m going to be with your father now.”
Jackie Onassis delivered these last words to her children Caroline and John, referring to former husband President Kennedy. The one-time first lady of the United States passed away aged 64 at home in New York City, she had been suffering from a terminal cancer of the blood.
“It matters not, man; God hath many things in store for us. And I know many means to do her Majesty good service and to make us rich..”
A hero to some, a pirate to others, this is reportedly a rallying speech he delivered shortly before dying from dysentery aboard his ship off the coast of Portobelo, Panama. Before his demise, Francis Drake asked to be dressed in full body armour, and was buried at sea in a lead-lined coffin a few miles off the coastline, he was 56 years old.
“What is this thing I’m feeling, I’m going to sleep now.”
The martial artist and actor spoke these final words to colleague Betty Ting before taking a painkiller and lying down for a nap. Bruce Lee never awoke from the nap – an autopsy would later conclude that he died from cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the painkiller. On the discovery of his unresponsive body Lee was brought to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon Hong Kong but declared dead on arrival at the age of 32.
“I’m tired of fighting.. I do not want to fight anymore..”
Erik Weisz, known professionally as Harry Houdini, delivered these deathbed words to his brother Tanch, just before passing away in Detroit’s Grace Hospital. Aged 52, the famous escapologist and illusionist died from peritonitis due to a ruptured appendix.
