Random People Who Were Killed by Bugs (17 items)

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  (#2) Hiker Alex Bestler

  In May 2016, Alex Bestler chose the wrong day to go on a morning hike in Usery Mountain Park in Arizona. While he was walking, a swarm of aggressive bees attacked him, apparently unprovoked. The 23-year-old was stung more than 1,000 times. Onlookers tried to help Bestler, but couldn't get near enough to him to assist. Authorities finally had to use a utility vehicle to get him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
  
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  (#14) Robert Wedderburn

  • Dec. at 28 (1947-1975)

  Robert Wedderburn was another great thinker taken far too soon. As father of the quasi-likelihood, Wedderburn spent most of his time working with John Nelder on the generalized linear model (GLM). In 1975 Wedderburn decided he needed a vacation. During the trip he was bitten by an insect. He went into anaphylactic shock and died in 1975 at the young age of 28.
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  (#10) Eustáquio van Lieshout

  • Dec. at 53 (1890-1943)

  Missionary Eustáquio van Lieshout was considered a medicine man. Those who heard of his magical healing powers would make pilgrimages of great distances just to seek his help. While curing and performing miracles on sick children in Brazil, van Lieshout was bitten by a spider. He contracted spotted fever shortly after, which he managed to fight off for quite some time until he succumbed on August 30, 1949.
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  (#3) George Richardson Porter

  • Dec. at 60 (1792-1852)

  George Richardson Porter was an English statistician and economist. During his life, he worked for the Board of Trade, and helped curate the Statistical Society. In 1952, he was stung on the knee by a gnat. Typically, this wouldn't be a big deal, but the sting caused mortification, from which he never recovered. He died from complications soon after.
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  (#16) Nevile Gardiner

  • Dec. at 52 (1902-1954)

  Nevile Gardiner lived in the early to mid-1900s, and was an exceptional diplomat. As a patriotic Englishman, he traveled the world with every intention to fulfill the civic duties he owed to his country. Unfortunately, Gardiner's worldly adventures sealed his fate.While visiting the Philippines in 1954, he was bitten by an unknown venomous insect, and died 48 hours later.
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  (#1) Texas Farmer Larry Goodwin

  While he may not be famous in his own right, it's Larry Goodwin's death is certainly infamous. As a farmer working in the field one day, Goodwin was attacked by over 40,000 Africanized bees. The bees did not hurt anyone else - just Goodwin. He tried to escape, but the bees followed him and stung him to death. He received over 3,000 stings.

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