This is a list of 12 most unusual deaths of the 21st Century – unique causes or extremely rare circumstances – recorded throughout history. The list also includes less rare, but still unusual, deaths of prominent persons.
1. “I want to be killed and eaten.”
2001: Bernd-Jürgen Brandes was stabbed repeatedly in the neck and then eaten by Armin Meiwes. Before the killing, both men dined on Brandes’ severed penis. Brandes had answered an internet advertisement by Meiwes looking for someone for this purpose. Brandes explicitly stated in his will that he wished to be killed and eaten. This is referred to in the song “Mein Teil” by German NDH band Rammstein.
2. Anal Intercourse with a Stallion! (funny)
* 2005: Kenneth Pinyan of Seattle died of acute peritonitis after submitting to anal intercourse with a stallion in the town of Enumclaw, Washington. Pinyan had done this before, and he delayed his visit to the hospital for several hours out of reluctance for official cognizance. The case led to the criminalization of bestiality in Washington. His story was recounted in the 2007 documentary film Zoo.
3. Death by Video Game
2005: 28-year-old Korean video game addict Lee Seung Seop collapsed and died of fatigue in an Internet cafe after playing World of Warcraft for almost 50 consecutive hours.
Lee Seung Seop, was an industrial boiler repairman in Taegu, South Korea. On August 3, 2005, he achieved global notoriety when he visited a nearby Internet cafe and proceeded to play World of Warcraft and StarCraft for almost fifty consecutive hours. Ultimately exhaustion and dehydration induced heart failure and he went into cardiac arrest. He died shortly thereafter at a local hospital. A friend commented: “He was a game addict. We all knew about it. He couldn’t stop himself.” About six weeks before his death, his girlfriend, also an avid gamer, broke up with him, and he had been fired from his job for missing work to play computer games.
4. Brian Wells, a pizza delivery man, was killed by a time bomb which was fastened around his neck.
2003: He was apprehended by the police after robbing a bank, and claimed he had been forced to do it by three people who had put the bomb around his neck and would kill him if he refused. The bomb later exploded, killing him.
5. Brandon Vedas died of a drug overdose on Webcam
2003: … while engaged in an Internet chat, as shown on his webcam. (also 
known by his nickname ripper on IRC) was a member of the Shroomery.org community who died of a overdose on mostly prescription drugs. His death led to considerable debate about the responsibilities and roles of online communities in life-threatening situations.
However, according to Vedas’s brother, who maintains the site brandonvedas.com, the information Brandon gave to the users in the chat, as well as the address in his domain name registration would have been enough for the police to locate Brandon, which he confirmed with local police. Later, Vedas’s brother said about the incident, “It seems like the group mentality really contributed to it. These people treat it like somehow it’s not the real world. They forget it’s not just words on a screen.”
6. Eaten by a Grizzly Bear
2003: Timothy Treadwell, an American environmentalist who had lived in the wilderness among bears for thirteen summers in a remote region in Alaska, was killed and partially consumed by bears, along with his girlfriend Amie Huguenard. The incident is described in Werner Herzog’s documentary film Grizzly Man.
7. Steve Irwin.
2006: Steve Irwin, a television personality and naturalist known as The Crocodile Hunter, died when his heart was impaled by a short-tail stingray barb while filming a documentary entitled “Ocean’s Deadliest” in Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef.
8. Poisoned by rare radioactive metalloid.
2006: Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB operative and Russian expatriate who had been investigating the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, was poisoned by polonium-210, an extremely rare radioactive metalloid.
9. Fell behind a 6′ tall bookcase
* 2006: Mariesa Weber, a 5’3″ Florida woman, fell behind a 6′ tall bookcase in her family’s home and suffocated. She was not discovered for 11 days; her family thought she had been kidnapped.
10. Died of water intoxication while trying to win a Nintendo Wii
* 2007: Jennifer Strange, a 28-year-old woman from Sacramento, died of water intoxication while trying to win a Nintendo Wii in a KDND 107.9 “The End” radio station’s “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest, which involved drinking large quantities of water without urinating.
11. Suicide on a webcam
* 2007: Kevin Whitrick, a 42-year-old man committed suicide live on a webcam during an internet chat session.
12. Killed during train surfing
* 2007: Martin Harris, a Danish train surfer, who published several video clips on the internet and was featured on regional TV for his sport, was killed during train surfing while passing under a low bridge.