If there’s one thing we learn from detective novelists, it’s that there are endless ways to shuffle off this mortal coil, as Hamlet would say. But even they would be unwilling to use these stranger-than-fiction departures in their books.
On July 25, 1911, American stunt performer Bobby Leach was the first man to successfully go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The first woman, a retired school teacher named Annie Taylor, bested him by performing the same feat almost ten years earlier.
But while Leach survived his trip over the Falls, 15 years later he couldn’t survive his trip over an orange peel! His broken leg became infected, and a botched amputation finished him off.
Or how about Irish jockey Frank Hayes who expired at age 22 while racing at the Belmont track in Elmont, New York. It was June 4, 1923, and he was leading in the steeple-chase on Sweet Kiss when he suffered a fatal heart attack. His horse finished first with Frank still ensconced in the saddle. It was his first and (obviously) only win. Ah, the kiss of death.
Some actors have trouble remembering their lines, but Welsh actor Gareth Jones seemed a little off on his timing. While performing in a 1958 British live television play called “Underground,” he expired from cardiac arrest between scenes. Ironically, his character was scheduled to “die” of a heart attack later in the play. So much for air quotes.
But one of the most shocking deaths of all occurred in the first century AD just outside Jerusalem.
It was a holiday weekend, and the city was abuzz with excitement. Along with meeting old friends and preparing for a special family feast, wherever you went people were talking about an event that had just occurred across the Kidron Valley in the little town of Bethany.
The word was that the Galilean rabbi Jesus had shown up four days too late for the funeral of His friend Lazarus. At least the man’s sisters, Mary and Martha, thought it was too late.
In fact, Martha had recently been in the crypt, and when Jesus asked them to remove the stone that sealed the tomb, she said, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” (John 11:39)
That’s something we all feel when a loved one dies. It all seems so final. Some try to convince themselves that the person is still around, but we know better. Once you leave by the Exit Door, there’s no coming back. Or at least that’s what everyone thought until the day Jesus arrived at that tomb.
As Jesus met Martha, He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (vv 25-26)
In raising Lazarus that day, Jesus proved that He, by His own soon death and resurrection, conquered both sin and death for all who trust in Him. The Exit Door would now be the Grand Entrance into God’s Home above.
As one Parchman prisoner said to his old gang members who intended to kill him for trusting Christ and abandoning the gang, “Do you think you can threaten me with heaven?”
Article published November 8, 2025 in the Commercial Dispatch.