The strange saga that is the life and death of Michael Jackson has fascinated the general public, and taken over most cable news shows.  He is not the first celebrity to perish under unusual circumstances.  From Marilyn Monroe to River Phoenix; actors, actresses, and musicians have lived and died under the watchful eye of the masses.  These scandalous occurrences are just the tip of the iceberg.  There are many more tragic and bizarre tales to be recounted.  Here are the top 3:

3.  The playwright Tennessee Williams is best known for his genius and the masterpieces "The Glass Menagerie", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", and "A Streetcar Named Desire".  His life’s work is well documented, but what is not well known is his unbelievable death.  On February 24, 1983, this prolific playwright was performing a very mundane task: relieving his dry eyes with saline eye drops.  He had done this quite often and his usual ritual was to place the bottle’s cap in his mouth while he tipped his head back to insert the drops.  On this particular evening he accidentally swallowed the cap and subsequently choked to death.  He was laid to rest in the Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo.

2.  July 15th, 1974 in Sarasota, Florida was a day that began like any other.  For many people this was sipping on a hot cup of coffee and watching the Sun Coast digest on WXLT, hosted by veteran reporter Christine Chubbuck.  The first few minutes of the newscast were not out of the ordinary, until the station began experiencing technical difficulties.  After this seemingly minor glitch, the calm Chubbuck looked into the camera and uttered the now infamous phrase: "In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first – attempted suicide".  Chubbuck then produced a .38 caliber handgun and proceeded to shoot herself behind the right ear on live television.  She was then rushed to the hospital, but died 10 hours later. 

1.  The strangest celebrity death definitely belongs to blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield.  She is best known for her beauty, the distinction of being a Playboy bunny, films such as "The Girl Can’t Help It", and the tragic car accident that caused her death on July 29, 1967.  There is a popular belief that she was decapitated, but this was not true.  The actual cause of death was due to severe head trauma.  What makes Jayne Mansfield’s story so bizarre is not the physical cause of her death, but her obsession with the occult. Mansfield was consumed with anything supernatural and was even said to wander graveyards late at night.  In the early 1960’s she became a member of the Church of Satan, which was led by the author of "The Satanic Bible", Anton LaVey.  The two became very close and LaVey considered the actress to be one of his most faithful disciples.  A short time before the car accident, Mansfield asked LaVey to put a curse on her then boyfriend, Sam Brody. He obliged and according to LeVay’s personal assistant, Blanche Barton, he uttered the following phrase to Mansfield: "The Devil has placed a curse on Sam Brody.  There is a heavy black cloud over him.  He’ll be killed in a car accident.  Get rid of him at once".  Draw any conclusion that you would like, but what makes this tale so unbelievable are two things:  1. Sam Brody was also killed in the same car accident that took Mansfield’s life and 2.  It is reported that 15 minutes before hearing of Jayne Mansfield’s death, Anton LaVey had torn the head off one of Mansfield’s photos. 

Here is one other interesting piece of trivia.  Mansfield’s three children were also in the back seat of the car that fateful night.  All three children survived, including Mariska, who you know as Mariska Hargitay, star of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.