Whether they give insight into a life cut short by tragedy, offer wisdom from considerable lived experience, or remain a mystery, the last words of notable people are incredibly fascinating.
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00:00Whether they give insight into a life cut short by tragedy, offer wisdom from considerable
00:05lived experience, or remain a mystery, the last words of notable people are incredibly
00:11fascinating.
00:13The death of Marvin Gaye is one of the most notorious murders in music history.
00:17Here's what we know about his final moments — and his final words.
00:20On April 1st, 1984, a retired minister, Marvin Gaye Sr., shot his son Marvin Gaye twice with
00:27a .38-caliber pistol.
00:28His son slumped down against the far wall and lay there bleeding out.
00:32The gun had been a present from his son for Christmas that year.
00:36Marvin Gaye, the musical legend known as the Prince of Motown, died a day before his 45th
00:41birthday.
00:42His father shot him in what some saw as an inevitable outcome of their troubled relationship.
00:47Gaye had gone so far as adding an E to the end of his name to distance himself from the
00:51man who had abused him his whole life.
00:54Gaye was born on April 2nd, 1939, in Washington, D.C., and suffered under the strict corporal
00:59punishment liberally doled out by his father.
01:02Even before his son was born, Marvin Gaye Sr. already seemed to have a problem with
01:06him.
01:07Alberta Cooper Gaye told David Ritz in his book Divided Soul, The Life of Marvin Gaye,
01:12My husband never wanted Marvin, and he never liked him.
01:16Marvin Gaye Sr. even went so far as telling Alberta he didn't believe Marvin was his son.
01:21Gaye's father was a minister in the Hebrew Pentecostal Church, but that didn't stop him
01:25from physically abusing his children or becoming violent when he over-consumed alcohol.
01:30Marvin Gaye found solace in music at church, and believed he could win his father's love
01:34through singing.
01:35In this life, I just, I love music, and music is my love, you know, it's all I know.
01:42Still, the better he became, the more demands his father made on him.
01:46If not for Gaye's mother, Alberta, who consoled and supported her son, Gaye himself claimed
01:50he might have died by suicide as a child.
01:53Instead, Gaye, tired of his father's abuse, quit school at age 17, ran away from home,
01:59and joined the U.S. Air Force, which ended disastrously with Gaye faking a mental illness
02:04to get a discharge.
02:05By the early 1960s, Marvin Gaye had found a home at Motown Records, starting as a session
02:11drummer before making the leap to singer.
02:13He had a string of hits in the 1960s with songs like I Heard It Through the Grapevine
02:17and Ain't No Mountain High Enough, a duet with Tammy Turrell.
02:21His success only grew into the 1970s with What's Going On and Let's Get It On.
02:26The more successful Marvin Gaye became, however, the more his father seemed to resent him.
02:31By 1981, Marvin Gaye had become addicted to cocaine, declared bankruptcy, and endured
02:36two failed marriages.
02:38Moreover, the IRS hit him with a massive fine for unpaid back taxes, and he eventually attempted
02:44suicide.
02:45Later, he moved to Belgium, got clean, and made a comeback with the 1982 album Midnight
02:50Love and its mega-hit Sexual Healing.
02:52Unfortunately, once he was back in the music scene, he began using cocaine again.
02:57The last four months of his life he spent living at the Los Angeles home he had bought
03:01for his parents.
03:02Living under the same roof, Marvin Gaye and his father's relationship disintegrated once
03:07more.
03:08The final fight between Marvin Gaye and his father began on Saturday night, March 31,
03:121984, when the elder man became angry with Alberta over some missing insurance papers.
03:17The fight continued the next day and became physical.
03:20Gaye Sr. later alleged that Marvin Gaye had been punching and kicking him.
03:25Marvin Gaye Sr. then left.
03:26Soon after, he came back into the bedroom and shot his son.
03:30Alberta called Gaye's younger brother, Frankie, who lived next door.
03:34As Frankie held his dying brother's head in his lap, Marvin told him,
03:37I got what I wanted.
03:39I couldn't do it myself, so I made him do it.
03:42Marvin Gaye Sr. later pleaded no contest to one count of involuntary manslaughter, was
03:46given five months of probation, and died in 1998 at 83.
03:51At his sentencing, he said,
03:53I'm sorry.
03:54I loved him.
03:55If I could bring him back, I would.
03:57The Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disaster served as sobering reminders that
04:01space exploration was still a new and dangerous endeavor.
04:06But just as devastating as these two tragedies was the Apollo 1 catastrophe, which led to
04:11the deaths of its promising three-man crew.
04:13Back in 1967, two years before the historic 1969 moon landing, Virgil Guss Grissom, Edward
04:20H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee died while conducting training exercises in their spacecraft
04:25at Cape Kennedy Launch Complex 34.
04:28Grissom was open and realistic about the danger.
04:31There is some risk, I recognize it, but just try to take as much of that out as we can
04:38during the pre-testing.
04:39As with the later deaths of the crews of the Challenger and Columbia spacecraft, a NASA
04:43investigation at the time concluded that Grissom, White, and Chaffee fell victim to, quote,
04:49technical and management lapses.
04:52There were problems that people knew about, but they hadn't been able to slow the train
04:57that was barreling down the track.
04:59The three men died before anyone could attempt to save their lives, but they were aware of
05:03what was happening and left us with some final words.
05:07The launch, officially named the Apollo 204 mission, was going to be the first manned
05:12Apollo mission in space.
05:14At 6.31 p.m. on January 27, three weeks ahead of the crew's intended launch on February
05:2021, Grissom, White, and Chaffee sat in their craft on their launch pad going through a
05:24countdown simulation.
05:26There were zero indications that anything was wrong with the spacecraft.
05:30Then, there's a surge of voltage somewhere in the electrical system.
05:34As the story goes, there was some worn wiring beneath Grissom's seat which had lost its
05:39insulation and was exposed to the air as electricity ran through the live wire.
05:44Crews outside sealed the module's three hatches and filled the air inside with pure oxygen.
05:49Then a small movement caused the exposed wire to spark, igniting the highly oxygenated atmosphere.
05:55And because oxygen makes things burn very quickly in its pure form, there was plenty
05:59of fuel for the fire to consume.
06:02The module cracked open and smoke started pouring out.
06:05The crew inside yelled for help and tried opening the hatches to escape, but to no avail.
06:10As NBC News recounts, brief cries from the crew came over the headsets.
06:15White yelled, fire!
06:16And Grissom followed.
06:18Chaffee echoed, fire!
06:22And the sound gets muddled from there.
06:25According to NBC News, Chaffee yelled, get us out!
06:28While Astronomy.com says he yelled, let's get out!
06:31Some accounts of the tragedy omit Chaffee's final line, but the New York Times says that
06:36before the crew lost contact with the outside, his last words were, hey, we're burning up!
06:41Get us out of this!
06:43Crew, doctors, and rescue personnel raced to the scene, hoping to safely extract the
06:48three-person crew.
06:49But it took five minutes to reach the men, and by then, it was too late.
06:54Ultimately, Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee didn't die from burns,
06:58but asphyxiation.
07:00The module had been filled with combustible material, and the flames had quickly burned
07:04through the hyperoxygenated air in the environment, leaving no oxygen for the astronauts to breathe.
07:10That fire erupted.
07:12It was an explosive combustion.
07:16The following year, in 1968, another Apollo launch successfully lifted off from that very
07:21platform.
07:22But in 1969, the year of the moon landing, the platform was decommissioned.
07:27By 1972, every part of the platform except the cubical, concrete support structure was
07:33removed.
07:34Now, that structure has a memorial plaque embedded on its surface that, along with the
07:38lost astronauts' names, reads,
07:41Dedicated to the living memory of the crew of the Apollo 1, they gave their lives in
07:46service to their country in the ongoing exploration of humankind's final frontier.
07:51Remember them not for how they died, but for those ideals for which they lived.
07:56In 2017, there was a memorial service at the site which was attended by Grissom's
08:00wife, who was 89 at the time.
08:03According to the New York Times, she said,
08:05I don't want any of this forgotten.
08:08Gus Grissom was a human being.
08:10The Apollo 1 disaster might have wound up saving people later on.
08:14As a result of the accident, NASA established both the Safety, Reliability, and Quality
08:19Assurance Office and an independent safety board, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.
08:25It also made many other changes to procedures, equipment, and materials, right down to astronauts'
08:31spacesuits.
08:33A horrifying accident, now an infamous tragedy with a haunting ending, the Titanic's captain
08:37uttered something rather ominous before the ship went down.
08:41When the Titanic struck an iceberg just after 11.30 p.m. on April 14, 1912, the impact felt
08:46like little more than a slight jarring to those aboard.
08:49Below deck, it was another story.
08:51The luxury passenger liner, which was the jewel of the British White Star Line helmed
08:56by Captain Edward John Smith, was on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York
09:00City when the partially submerged mountain of ice tore into the ship's hull about 400
09:05miles south of Newfoundland, Canada.
09:07Thomas Andrews, Titanic's head designer, went below to assess the damage, and what he saw
09:12floored him.
09:13He ran to tell Captain Smith that seawater was pouring into the boiler room near the
09:16ship's bow as well as in the room next door because the iceberg punched through six watertight
09:21compartments.
09:22Captain Smith immediately understood this meant that the Titanic was doomed.
09:26Andrews believed that they had only 60 to 90 minutes before the ship would sink, so
09:29Smith began evacuating his ship.
09:32The crew members rounded up the women and children first, corralled them into the lifeboats,
09:36and prioritized first-class passengers.
09:38The captain, meanwhile, ordered the crew to send out distress signals and fire rockets.
09:42He still held out hope of rescue even as the lifeboats below hit the icy water.
09:47Captain Edward Smith, born on January 27, 1850, was a seasoned sailor who began his
09:52naval career as a teenager.
09:53He had been with the White Star Line for nearly 40 years.
09:56His crew respected him, and he was beloved by passengers, especially the ones in first
10:00class, even earning the title the Millionaire's Captain for Britannica.
10:05While the Titanic disaster was by far his worst accident at sea, it wasn't his first.
10:10On more than one occasion, his ships had run aground.
10:12Born on September 20, 1911, Smith was captain of the White Star passenger liner Olympic,
10:17when it collided with the Royal Navy cruiser Hawk near the Isle of Wight in the English
10:21Channel, causing extensive damage to both ships.
10:25The Royal Navy blamed the Olympic for the accident, and the ensuing legal defense, as
10:29well as repairs, were financially hard on the company.
10:32White Star backed their captain, who would contend that his record at sea was unblemished.
10:36According to Encyclopedia Titanica, Smith said,
10:39When anyone asks me how I can best describe my experience in nearly 40 years at sea, I
10:43merely say, uneventful.
10:45In all my experience, I've never been in any accident or any sort worth speaking about.
10:50However, as the clock ticked into the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, Smith must
10:54have realized that his tenure as a ship's captain was coming to an end.
10:58While the Titanic continued to sink, the wireless operators stayed at their stations, desperately
11:03trying to send out distress messages over their radio transmitters in any hope of rescue.
11:08Just after 2 a.m., Captain Smith came in and relieved them of their duties, so they could
11:12attempt to save themselves.
11:14Below deck, the engineers stayed at their posts, attempting to pump the water out, which
11:17helped ensure the power stayed on for as long as possible.
11:20Even the ship's musicians stayed at their posts, playing music to calm the wildly panicked
11:24passengers.
11:25With no help left, Captain Smith apparently told his crew, per the Mirror,
11:29Well, boys, you've done your duty and done it well.
11:31I ask no more of you.
11:32I release you.
11:33You know the rule of the sea.
11:35It's every man for himself now, and God bless you.
11:38What happened next remains clouded in myth and mystery.
11:41Various sources allege that a rush of water swept Smith overboard, that he died by suicide,
11:46or that he jumped from the deck with a child in his arms whom he placed in one of the lifeboats.
11:50The version most historians seem to agree with comes from an eyewitness.
11:53Harold Bryde, the surviving wireless operator, has said that Smith dove into the sea from
11:57the bridge, per History.
11:59Smith, along with nearly 700 of the ship's crew members, died.
12:03Was she really a lover of cake, or did rumors usurp her actual last words?
12:07Marie Antoinette's final statement isn't what you might think.
12:10The French Revolution was one of the most violent revolutions of its time period.
12:13It was caused by a perfect storm of problems, from financial issues due to preceding wars,
12:18political instability, food shortages, and new ideas stemming from philosophers all across
12:23Europe.
12:24Meetings among government leaders, aristocrats, and notable members of the bourgeoisie didn't
12:28help ease the tension.
12:29Some deputies representing commoners created their own organization.
12:33King Louis XVI convinced those representing clergy and nobles to join the new National
12:38Constituents Assembly, while simultaneously preparing troops against it.
12:42This assembly did away with the feudal system and allowed for more voting eligibility among
12:46citizens.
12:47Meanwhile, food supplies continued to dwindle.
12:49On July 14, 1789, Parisians rioted at the Bastille, a prison that they viewed as a symbol
12:55of the monarchy.
12:56The National Constituents Assembly tried to create a government wherein the king or monarch
13:01could share power with such an assembly.
13:03But King Louis XVI's advisors had their own ideas.
13:06War also broke out between France, Austria, and Austria's ally Prussia.
13:10King Louis XVI's wife, Marie Antoinette, who was born in Austria, suggested that her brother,
13:15Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, invade France to help counter the revolution.
13:20However, that did not happen, and the royal family was imprisoned in 1792.
13:24By the end of that year, another assembly formed called the National Convention, and
13:28it planned to end the monarchy in France.
13:30The new assembly charged the king with treason and beheaded him with a guillotine in January
13:341793.
13:36The assembly leaders moved Marie Antoinette to the Concierge, a large complex along the
13:40River Seine, in Paris.
13:42There, she was separated from her family and isolated from other prisoners.
13:46Two months later, the National Convention accused Antoinette of financial squandering,
13:50treachery, and even incest with her son, Louis XVII.
13:53Despite her emotional appeals to the citizens, she was executed in the same way as her husband,
13:58at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
14:01Marie Antoinette remained calm when she was taken to the guillotine on October 16, 1793.
14:06Her last words were apparently directed to her executioner after she accidentally stepped
14:10on his foot.
14:11According to World History, she said,
14:12«Pardon, monsieur.
14:13I did not do it on purpose.»
14:15Today, Place de la Concorde is a lively pedestrian area in the heart of Paris, just walking distance
14:20from the Louvre Museum and the Arc de Triomphe.
14:22It features fountains and an Egyptian obelisk, which is over 3,000 years old.
14:26There is little indication that the place was originally used for revolutionary executions.
14:31There is, of course, another quote more commonly associated with Marie Antoinette, which has
14:35regularly been recreated on screen.
14:37In the years leading up to the deaths of Antoinette and the king, failed crops caused food shortages
14:42among French citizens.
14:43A rumor spread that upon being informed about starving citizens, Antoinette replied,
14:47«Let them eat cake!»
14:50Such a statement enraged her subjects, as they pictured her luxurious life in comparison
14:54to their struggles.
14:55But multiple historians believe this to be out of character for the queen, as she held
14:59charitable causes in high regard throughout her life.
15:01The phrase had also already existed before Antoinette supposedly said it, as other historical
15:06figures have been attached to similar statements as well.
15:08It would seem that Antoinette's cordial, gentle last words are perhaps more reflective of
15:13her personality and legacy.
15:15The French Revolution was disturbingly violent.
15:17Other than Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, approximately 17,000 people were executed
15:22by the end of the Revolution.
15:24A driving force behind a substantial number of these executions was Maximilien Robespierre,
15:28who led the Committee for Public Safety in 1793.
15:32He ordered those he deemed political enemies to be executed, often with a guillotine.
15:36The National Convention eventually turned on him, and he was executed along with dozens
15:40of his allies in 1794.
15:43Despite the initial anger toward Antoinette, she remains a well-recognized figure in French
15:47history, who's viewed with a little more sympathy now than she was during her lifetime.
15:52A vicious assassination, a brutal beheading, and the firing squad.
15:55What did these royals say when they faced death?
15:59Thanks to a complicated web of European alliances, Franz Ferdinand's assassination in 1914 led
16:03directly to World War I.
16:05But the assassination was much more chaotic and had more victims than many might know.
16:09A group of Serbian radicals decided to kill the royal when he was in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
16:14which was then a part of the Austrian Empire.
16:16The attack was actually conceived as a bombing, and indeed there was a bomb.
16:20It did not get to his intended target, though.
16:22Not knowing what it was, Franz Ferdinand actually swatted the small bomb away when he saw a
16:26projectile heading toward his wife, Sophie, who was also in the car.
16:29The resulting explosion did, however, wound many innocent victims who had come to see
16:33him drive by in his open car.
16:35After the explosion, the archduke actually got out to try and help those who were injured,
16:39before continuing on to his original destination.
16:41Later that day, Franz Ferdinand changed his official schedule to go see the bombing victims
16:45in the hospital.
16:46This time, the car drove past another member of the terror cell, Gavrilo Princip, who shot
16:50both the archduke and his wife.
16:52He —
16:53According to Sarajevo, the story of a political murder, as the dying Franz Ferdinand was rushed
16:58away for help, he kept repeating in German,
17:00"'It is nothing.'"
17:02As rulers of Scotland and England, when they were still two separate countries, Mary, Queen
17:05of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I of England were natural rivals, even though they were
17:09also first cousins once removed.
17:11After years of political machinations in Scotland, Mary fled to England, where she was locked
17:16up by Elizabeth.
17:17The English queen tried to avoid executing her cousin, but when Mary was implicated in
17:21a plot against Elizabeth, it was clear she was a danger to her throne and had to go.
17:25It was perhaps ironic that Mary was sentenced to die by beheading, as Elizabeth's mother
17:29Anne Boleyn had also been.
17:31"'Mary Stuart is condemned to death.'"
17:34Mary's final hours on February 8, 1587, were recorded in great detail.
17:38According to Elizabeth and Mary, Cousins, Rivals, Queens, by Jane Dunn, a dean from
17:42the Church of England tried to get her to convert before her execution, but the staunchly
17:47Mary refused.
17:48According to the 1923 book Trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, she faced death bravely.
17:53While all her attendants were crying, Mary insisted she was about to be buried happy.
17:57She wore bright red petticoats, clearly a commentary on her fate.
18:00She tried to get the whole thing over with quickly, laying her head on the block and
18:04repeating Jesus' last words in Luke 23-46, which translate to,
18:08"'O Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.'"
18:12George V died in 1936, and for decades, his death was put down to natural causes.
18:17In reality, as The New York Times reported in 1986, the king's doctor recorded in his
18:21notes that he gave the unconscious dying man a lethal overdose.
18:25Original reporting on George's final words were as sanitized as his cause of death.
18:29But the public told that, at the very end, George was still thinking about the state
18:32of the realm.
18:33Later, the public somehow started a rumor that the king's last words were actually,
18:37"'Bugger Bognor.'"
18:38Bognor Regis is a coastal town that was considered a good place for invalids to recuperate.
18:42The story was, therefore, that when it was recommended to the dying George that he go
18:45there to recover, he told the individual what he thought of that idea.
18:48However, the same doctor's notes that revealed how the king really died also included a detail
18:53on his last words.
18:54As he lost consciousness for what would be the final time, he said,
18:58"'God d---- you.
18:59The king is dead.'"
19:01Being one of Napoleon Bonaparte's best friends could be a lucrative position — for a while,
19:05at least.
19:06One of his favorites was Joachim Murat, whom Napoleon made king of Naples when he took
19:09over the country.
19:10Normally, Napoleon appointed one of his siblings to run places.
19:13In Naples, however, he gave the crown to Murat in 1808.
19:17The two were not related by blood, only by marriage, since Murat's wife was Napoleon's
19:21youngest sister, Caroline Bonaparte.
19:23While Murat actually did some good things while in charge of Naples, politics in Europe
19:27was a whirlwind in the early 1800s.
19:29Murat lost his throne in 1815, and when he tried to take it back, he was apprehended.
19:34In the History of Napoleon Bonaparte, John S. C. Abbott wrote that Murat was sentenced
19:38to death by firing squad.
19:40Murat turned down a blindfold, then spoke to the men aiming the guns at him, saying,
19:44"'Save my face.
19:45Aim at my heart.'"
19:47Once a concubine for Emperor Wenzhag of Qing, Empress Dowager Cixi managed to overcome centuries
19:52of tradition and take power for herself, first alongside another former concubine in 1861,
19:57then on her own.
19:58It was unheard of for a female ruler to take control, and technically, according to China
20:02under the Empress Dowager by J. O. P. Bland and E. Backhouse, there was a male emperor.
20:07Cixi's son became Tongzhi Emperor, but as he was only five years old at the time, power
20:12flowed through his mother.
20:13After her son died in 1875, Cixi simply placed different young male relatives on the throne
20:18in turn, so it was really she who stayed in charge for decades.
20:21Cixi held onto power until her death in 1908.
20:24Considering how calculatingly and methodically she as a woman had gone after and consolidated
20:29power, Cixi's official last words were hypocritical, to say the least.
20:33She said,
20:34"'Never again allow any woman to hold the supreme power in the state.
20:37It is against the house law of our dynasty and should be strictly forbidden.'"
20:41To be fair to Cixi, it was not women who were her greatest concern for the royal family.
20:45That would be eunuchs, since she added,
20:47"'Be careful not to allow eunuchs to meddle in government matters.
20:50The Ming dynasty was brought to ruin by eunuchs, and its fate should be a warning to my people.'"
20:55Francis Louis XIV.
20:57He built the Palace of Versailles into the giant golden building tourists flock to today,
21:01put the hairbands of the 1980s to shame with his coif, and consolidated power despite being
21:06only four years old when he took the throne.
21:08However, one thing Louis didn't do was say the most famous quote ascribed to him, which
21:12translates to,
21:13"'I am the state.'"
21:14However, he made up for it with his final words.
21:16Louis' last years had been sad, with many of his relatives dying young in a difficult
21:20war.
21:21But on his deathbed in 1715, aged 76, Louis still understood his place and purpose in
21:27life.
21:28Speaking in French, he said,
21:29"'I am leaving, but the state will always remain.'"
21:31They were virtually perfect last words for a monarch who had effectively made himself
21:34the center of France's world.
21:36However, considering he thought of the state firmly in terms of the monarchy, he was also
21:40wrong.
21:41In 1789, the French Revolution ended the rule of the royal family.
21:44"'To the barricades!'
21:46"'Vive la France!'
21:48Empress Elizabeth of Austria, popularly known as Sissi, was set up to have a perfect life
21:52— at least on paper.
21:54She was stunningly beautiful and came from a wealthy, important family.
21:57When Emperor Franz Joseph, seven years her senior, met Elizabeth for the first time,
22:01he fell in love at first sight and refused to marry anyone else.
22:04So in 1854, Elizabeth became empress of one of the most powerful countries in Europe.
22:09What followed was a deeply difficult time.
22:11Sissi's mother-in-law hated her.
22:13The aristocrats and others in her social class hated her.
22:15Her only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, died in a murder-suicide in 1889 along with his lover,
22:21and Elizabeth's own death would be just as violent.
22:24In 1898, the empress was in Switzerland traveling under a fake name with her friend and attendant
22:28Countess Irma Storée, according to the book Elizabeth, Empress of Austria and Queen of
22:33Hungary.
22:34However, her real identity got out, and Italian anarchist Luigi Lucenni decided to kill her.
22:38While waiting to board a ship, he got close enough to Elizabeth to stab her in the chest.
22:42As Elizabeth collapsed, the countess didn't even realize anything was wrong, thinking
22:46the empress had only fainted.
22:47She was rushed onto the boat, where she collapsed again.
22:50Finally seeing blood on her clothes, she asked Bewildered,
22:53"...what has happened?"
22:54She then lost consciousness and died a few hours later.
22:58Considering how he lived, it's frankly astonishing that George de Borst survived as long as he
23:02did.
23:03He drank and ate to such a degree that by the end of his life in 1830, he refused to
23:06go out in the society he loved because of how large he had become.
23:10According to The Age of Scandal by T.H.
23:12White, he was also losing his sight, and to some extent, his mind.
23:16The 1926 biography George de Borst supports this last point, saying that while the king
23:21had always been fond of exaggerating, as he slowly died over the course of weeks, fantasies
23:25he told his visitors about his achievements became more ridiculous.
23:28He even claimed that he played a key role at the Battle of Waterloo, despite having
23:31never left England during the conflict with Napoleon.
23:34George's death was long and drawn out.
23:37So much so that even his former non-royal wife, Maria Fitzherbert, had time to learn
23:41he was gravely ill, travel to London, and write him, hoping to be called to see him
23:45before he died.
23:46Based on his last words, it's clear that George's doctors downplayed just how dire
23:50a situation the king was in, or at least how much time he really had left.
23:54On June 26th, he suddenly woke up after sleeping a full 24 hours and shouted,
23:58"'This is death!
23:59O God, they have deceived me.'"
24:02Ulysses S. Grant's agonizing thirst for water, Pennsylvania Treasurer's live TV suicide,
24:07and Winston Churchill's frank admission of boredom — these and other politicians left
24:11chilling remarks just before their last breath.
24:15Ulysses S. Grant, victorious general of the Civil War and President of the United States,
24:19was a big fan of cigars.
24:20In his retirement after leaving the White House, Grant had 20 cigars lined up on his
24:24desk every morning, and by the end of the day, he would smoke all of them.
24:28Sadly, Grant eventually developed throat cancer.
24:31According to his wife, Julia, in the summer of 1884, Grant's symptoms came on suddenly
24:35while eating a peach.
24:36She recalled,
24:37"[He started up as if in great pain.
24:39He walked up and down the room and out to the piazza, and rinsed his throat again and
24:44again.
24:45He was in great pain and said, Water hurt like fire."
24:47Fire was an understatement.
24:49The cancer made it an agony, as Grant himself wrote in a letter,
24:52"'Nothing gives me so much pain as swallowing water.
24:54If you can imagine what molten lead would be going down your throat, that is what I
24:58feel when swallowing.'"
24:59This made Grant's last word before his 1885 death all the more impactful.
25:03As the end came near, he said,
25:05"'Water.'"
25:07On the 100th anniversary of Michael Collins' death, Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin praised
25:11him at a memorial event, calling him a hero.
25:14Not all of Ireland felt that way in 1922, however.
25:17Collins was a leader of the independence movement, but in 1921, he made the controversial decision
25:22of signing a treaty with the British.
25:24On August 24, 1922, Collins was traveling in a heavily fortified convoy.
25:29Forced to take back roads, the cars drove right into an ambush.
25:33An estimated 200 Irish fighters, who had found themselves at odds with Collins, shot at the
25:37party, hitting Collins in the head.
25:39Before he died, he was reported to have said,
25:41"'Forgive them.
25:42Bury me in Glasnevin with the boys.'"
25:44However, some noted that these words are a bit too on-the-nose when it comes to a perfect,
25:48memorable last statement in a terrifying moment.
25:50The historian and Irish Civil War expert Dermot Ferreter called these supposed last words
25:55classic propaganda.
25:57On October 30, 1984, India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi told a crowd of supporters,
26:02"'I'm not interested in a long life.
26:04I'm not afraid of these things.
26:06I don't mind if my life goes in the service of this nation.
26:08If I die today, every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation.'"
26:12Her statement proved prophetic.
26:14The next morning, Gandhi was assassinated.
26:16For two years, some militant Sikhs had been rebelling against Gandhi's government, turning
26:20their religion's Golden Temple into an armed compound.
26:23In 1984, Gandhi ordered Indian troops to take back the temple by force, and hundreds died
26:28— mostly Sikhs.
26:30It was notable to those around her that, after this bloody event, she still used Sikh bodyguards.
26:35Some questioned the decision, but she believed it was important symbolically to help heal
26:39the nation.
26:40But the men wanted vengeance.
26:41On October 31, Gandhi came down in the morning and greeted her two bodyguards.
26:45In response, they drew their guns and shot her to death.
26:47Her last word was the traditional Hindu greeting, Namaste.
26:51"'Despite of our best efforts, we could not save her, and she expired at about 2-2-23.'"
27:01There are few events in history that have been more minutely analyzed than the assassination
27:05of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.
27:09As Kennedy's motorcade drove through Dealey Plaza, Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed Kennedy
27:14from the Book Depository building.
27:16Oswald was captured shortly thereafter and then murdered by Jack Ruby while being transported.
27:20From this, a thousand conspiracy theories blossom.
27:23But for all the details about the Kennedy assassination that you probably know just
27:27from existing in a world that is obsessed with it, you know the president's last words.
27:32Even though his widow, Jackie Kennedy, publicly revealed them during her testimony before
27:35the Warren Commission.
27:37According to the former first lady, right before the shots, the wife of the governor
27:40of Texas, who was in the limousine with them, said to the president,
27:44"'You certainly can't say that the people of Dallas haven't given you a nice welcome.'"
27:48As to what the president replied, Jackie answered,
27:50"'I think he said, I don't know if I remember it or I've read it.
27:54No, you certainly can't, or something.'"
27:56While her memories are the best available source, her response also shows how trauma
28:00can warp those memories, though we may never know for sure exactly what was said.
28:05Benazir Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a majority Muslim country when she
28:09became prime minister of Pakistan in 1988.
28:11She served two non-consecutive terms, but things became more complicated after that.
28:16In self-imposed exile, she claimed Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf called to intimidate her in
28:212007, saying,
28:22"'He threatened me.
28:23He told me not to come back.
28:24He warned me not to come back.'"
28:26She ignored the threats in return.
28:29On December 27, Bhutto attended a political rally.
28:32After her speech, as she left the rally, she again waved through the vehicle's sunroof
28:35and shouted,
28:36"'G.A.
28:37Bhutto!''
28:38She was yelling this, which translates to,
28:40"'Long live Bhutto!''
28:41when an assassin fired at her.
28:42Fellow politician Saftar Abbasi was in the car with Bhutto and told the Sunday Telegraph,
28:47"'She did not say anything more.
28:49There was the sound of firing.
28:50I heard the sound of a bullet.
28:51I saw her.
28:52She looked as though she ducked in when she heard the firing.
28:55She did not realize that she had been hit by a bullet.'"
28:58Her assassin, a 15-year-old boy, then blew himself up with a suicide vest, killing more
29:02than a dozen other people.
29:04Musharraf denied having anything to do with Bhutto's assassination, though Bhutto's son
29:08told CNN that Musharraf was behind it.
29:10"'You blame him for your mother's death?'
29:12"'He murdered my mother.'"
29:14In 2013, Musharraf was indicted for her murder.
29:16He ultimately died in exile in 2023.
29:20Pennsylvania treasurer is not the first role one thinks of when it comes to politicians,
29:23but in 1987, our Bud Dwyer made sure that he would never be forgotten.
29:28Having been recently convicted on corruption charges, Dwyer called a press conference.
29:32But as he gave a long speech that meandered, some of the reporters got visibly bored.
29:36That's when Dwyer pulled a gun out of a manila envelope.
29:39At first, it seemed like he was going to fire into the crowd, but he assured them that was
29:42not the plan.
29:43As some people rushed forward to stop him, Dwyer exclaimed,
29:46"'Don't!
29:47Don't!
29:48Don't!
29:49This will hurt someone.'"
29:50Then he died by suicide on live television.
29:52Before the news conference, Dwyer gave his deputy press secretary Greg Penny an envelope
29:56containing his organ donor card.
29:58But in the end, due to procedural delays, only his corneas and ear cartilage could be
30:02donated.
30:03Penny told PennLive in 2022,
30:05"'That was another sad thing.
30:07Here was something he wanted to do as a gesture.
30:09It didn't happen the way he wanted to.'"
30:12By the time the end came for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on March 5, 2013, he'd been suffering
30:17for a long time.
30:19Two years earlier, he had announced on television that he had already undergone surgery for
30:22pelvic cancer.
30:24After that, he needed repeated rounds of chemotherapy and surgeries as the cancer kept returning.
30:29By the end of 2012, it was impossible to hide the fact that he was extremely unwell and
30:33most likely dying.
30:35The government even released a photo of Chavez with a breathing tube.
30:38General Jose Arneo Ferreira was with Chavez when he died.
30:41Despite his cancer battle, it was a heart attack that would be the leader's cause of
30:44death.
30:45The day before, Chavez went into a coma.
30:48Before that, he managed to get his last words across.
30:51According to Ferreira,
30:52"'He couldn't speak, but he said it with his lips.
30:54I don't want to die, please don't let me die,' because he loved his country.
30:58He sacrificed himself for his country."
31:01The revolution that took place on August 4, 1983 brought a young army officer named Thomas
31:05Sankara to power in the West African country that would come to be known as Burkina Faso.
31:10He took power at a difficult time in the continent's history, but planned radical improvement projects
31:15for his country.
31:16Under his program, millions of people were vaccinated, infant mortality plummeted, and
31:20he started unraveling ties with colonial-powered France.
31:23However, these good works did not make Sankara popular with everyone in the country.
31:28Some had been doing well for themselves under French imperialism and would be happy to go
31:31back.
31:32Others were forced to comply with new directives through coercive measures.
31:36And the military, broadly speaking, was not a fan of Sankara.
31:39A journalist later reported what happened on the last day Sankara was alive.
31:44It seemed like a regular day, full of meetings, making plans with his wife, and taking a nap.
31:48Nancy's 4.30 p.m. meeting was supposed to be quick, but it had barely started when those
31:52present heard a car approaching the building.
31:54There were gunshots, and someone demanded those inside come out.
31:58Sankara said,
31:59"'Stay, stay.
32:00It's me they want.'"
32:01He walked out of the room with his hands raised, but a surviving witness said,
32:04"...he had barely stepped out of the door before he was shot.
32:07The attackers had come to kill."
32:10Nancy Esther was born and raised in the United States, but her second husband, Waldorf Esther,
32:14whom she married in 1906, was British.
32:17Nancy threw herself into the political scene in the U.K., as Waldorf was a member of Parliament.
32:21But when Waldorf's father died in 1919, he became a Viscount and had to give up his elected
32:25position to sit in House of Lords, as there are rules against aristocracy sitting in House
32:30of Commons.
32:31Nancy seemed to be the perfect candidate to replace him, despite the fact that no woman
32:35had ever been elected to Parliament before.
32:37Indeed, only about two-thirds of the women in the U.K. were allowed to vote, and even
32:41that had only been the case for a year, after a long struggle for equal voting rights.
32:45"...I realized that I was there because of what they'd done, and that gave me great courage."
32:52Nancy won the election in a landslide and took her place in Parliament, where she stayed
32:56until 1945.
32:58She used soft diplomacy to influence foreign policy while concentrating her activities
33:02on education and temperance.
33:04She also famously had problems with her social acquaintance, Winston Churchill.
33:07In April 1964, Lady Esther suffered a stroke.
33:11Before she died on May 2nd, it is reported that she called out for her late husband,
33:15Waldorf.
33:16But her last known words, according to her son, were more lighthearted.
33:19Nancy reportedly opened her eyes, looked around at all of her loved ones gathered at her bedside,
33:22and quipped,
33:23"...Am I dying, or is this my birthday?"
33:26Over the course of his astonishing life, Winston Churchill spent six decades in the British
33:30Parliament, wrote dozens of books, won the Nobel Prize for Literature, was instrumental
33:35in winning the Second World War, and became prime minister not once, but twice.
33:39His life is also proof — if proof were needed — that depression is a disease that
33:43can affect anyone.
33:45Churchill was plagued by what he called his Black Dog during certain periods of his life.
33:49While the International Churchill Society feels his mental health issues have been exaggerated
33:52in recent decades, they admit he sometimes showed signs of depression.
33:56With this in mind, it makes Churchill's last words especially poignant.
34:00While one should be suspect of all last word claims, Churchill's are pretty impeccably
34:04sourced.
34:05In a 1965 article, the New York Times reported that the London Evening Standard had it on
34:09excellent authority that, despite being in a comatose state for the better part of two
34:13weeks before he died after suffering a stroke, Churchill had at one point regained consciousness,
34:18looked at his son-in-law, and stated,
34:20"...I am bored with it all."
34:22Churchill died nine days after uttering what are believed to be his final words on January
34:2624, 1965, at the age of 90.
34:30In the case of these celebrities, their final words left a pretty haunting impression among
34:35their family, friends, and fans.
34:38Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was not a celebrity in the traditional sense — at least not
34:44at the start of his career.
34:46Before the 2000s, Jobs was better defined as a tech entrepreneur and businessman.
34:51And of course, he remained those things to the end of his life — a life cut short in
34:56October 2011 by pancreatic cancer.
34:59In the last decade or so of his life, as Jobs presided over Apple's rolling out of products
35:05like the iPod, iPhone, iPad, and ever-improved versions of the beloved Macintosh computers,
35:12he became a celebrity with an almost cult-like following.
35:15Clad in his signature black turtleneck, Jobs could command the attention of thousands in
35:21auditoriums, and many more watching remotely, as he unveiled Apple's newest creations and
35:27explained the implications they had for the world beyond.
35:30Today, we're introducing iPhone 4, the fourth generation iPhone.
35:39At the end of his eight-year battle with cancer, it seems as though he were looking into a
35:43world beyond as well.
35:46Jobs' last words, as heard by relatives, were,
35:49Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow.
35:53Who seemed to have known the end was upon him, so too did James Brown, the hardest-working
35:58man in show business.
36:00On the morning of Christmas 2006, Brown suffered congestive heart failure and uttered the words,
36:06I'm going away tonight, to his longtime friend and manager, Charles Bobbitt.
36:11Bobbitt initially didn't believe Brown was in any real danger, but quickly realized the
36:16severity of the situation when Brown slipped into unconsciousness and took his final breaths.
36:23The godfather of soul had spent more than half a century putting on high-energy performances
36:28with his band, and his infamous drug abuse had done irreparable damage to his body.
36:33How did all of this trouble begin?
36:35Living in America!
36:41Brown was not the type to settle into retirement, though.
36:44Despite being weak, confused, and near death in the final days of 2006, Brown was scheduled
36:51to play a New Year's Eve show just a few days later.
36:55Looking back on the life and death of John Belushi, the latter of which occurred on March
37:005, 1982, it's hard to believe the actor and comedian was just 33 years old when he died.
37:07From never-to-be-forgotten roles in movies like The Blues Brothers and Animal House to
37:12his time as one of the original seven cast members on Saturday Night Live, it's easy
37:17to think the man had been around much longer.
37:21More than a decade of hard drug use and a generally unhealthy lifestyle had wreaked
37:25havoc on the actor's body, and he looked to be a good decade older than he actually was
37:31by the last days of his life.
37:33His actual death came as a result of a drug overdose, after he was injected with a so-called
37:38speedball, a mixture of heroin and cocaine.
37:42His friend and drug dealer, Catherine Smith, was the one who injected the narcotics into
37:47Belushi and was the person who heard his last words,
37:50"'Just don't leave me alone.'"
37:52Smith did leave him alone, though, and would later serve time for manslaughter for the
37:57actor's tragic death.
37:59Despite becoming a real-life princess, the life story of Diana, Princess of Wales, was
38:05anything but a happily ever after tale.
38:08It was a life that commenced with an unhappy childhood in a broken home, and one in which
38:13she was rejected by much of her new family after marriage.
38:17It was a life in which a husband's affair led to a painfully public divorce, and a life
38:22cut short by tragedy.
38:24Unbeknownst to many, Diana did not die immediately following the tragic car crash both caused
38:30and documented by paparazzi who were tailing her car.
38:34In the immediate aftermath of the car crash, Diana reportedly had time to look about and,
38:40in confusion, say,
38:41"'My God, what happened?' as she saw the lifeless bodies of two other passengers in the vehicle.
38:48The specific cause of Princess Diana's death was a tear to a vein in her lungs caused by
38:53the crash doctors later found.
38:55It was a rare injury and, only adding to the tragedy, one that could have been avoided
39:01had Diana worn a seatbelt.
39:04When Heath Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in January 2008, he was at a
39:10point in which his career should have blasted off into the stratosphere.
39:14Instead, it was cut short at age 28.
39:17His final words show that the actor had no intention of dying, but he was indeed in some
39:22deep state of denial.
39:24On his last night, the Australian actor told his sister over the phone,
39:29"'Katie, Katie, I'm fine.
39:31I know what I'm doing.'"
39:32Ledger, who had earlier said he just needed to get some sleep, confided to his sister
39:37that he had taken several different prescription medications, and said his fateful and far
39:43from accurate last words in response to her warning him against mixing so many different
39:48drugs.
39:49The Toxicology Report run on Ledger found a deadly mix of sleeping pills and opioids
39:54in his system at the time of his death.
39:56When he died, Ledger was father to a toddler.
39:59He had an Academy Award-winning role as the Joker in The Dark Knight in the Can, and every
40:05indication he believed he would indeed be fine and live on.
40:09"'I think you and I are destined to do this forever.'"
40:13The similarities between the lives and deaths of John Belushi and Chris Farley are so striking
40:19as to be unsettling.
40:21It's almost as if these two men's lives followed the same script.
40:24Like Belushi, Farley cut his teeth in comedy at the famed Second City Theatre in Chicago,
40:30and went on to national and even international fame, thanks to his years as a cast member
40:35on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s.
40:39Farley later ended up landing starring roles in several films that are unlikely to ever
40:44be forgotten, most notably his performance alongside SNL co-star David Spade in the comedy
40:50Tummy Boy.
40:51Tragically, Farley was just 33 when he died from a major drug overdose.
40:56His last known words are almost a word-for-word rehashing of Belushi's, too.
41:02Farley's last words spoken to another person were,
41:05"'Don't leave me.'"
41:06His final words were spoken to a reported sex worker who, before leaving him to die
41:11alone in his Chicago apartment, stole his watch and took pictures of the actor and comedian
41:17as he lay on the floor near death.
41:19The medical examiner said Farley had alcohol, cocaine, morphine, and marijuana in his system
41:25when he died, just months after participating in a rehab program.
41:31Everything about legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel was larger than life, right down
41:36to her last words.
41:37Born into poverty, Chanel pulled herself up by her bootstraps, using her wit, charm, and
41:43her undeniable ability as a designer and businesswoman to launch an empire that would include clothes,
41:50accessories, perfumes, and more.
41:53During World War II, Chanel became romantically involved with a Nazi intelligence officer,
41:59and when her nephew was imprisoned by the Germans, she even made a deal to use her contacts
42:04in European high society to work as a spy for the Nazis in exchange for his release.
42:10By the time of her death in 1971, the 87-year-old Chanel, or at least her brand, was a household
42:17name.
42:18Chanel clearly knew when the end was imminent, even though she didn't seem ill despite her
42:22advanced age.
42:24True to her character, her final words were a flourish that topped off an amazing, if
42:29controversial, life.
42:31On January 10th, 1971, Chanel reportedly said to her maid, Celine,
42:37"'You see, this is how you die.'"
42:40And shortly thereafter, she did just that, her bed becoming a deathbed.
42:45The last words spoken by legendary actor and comedian Groucho Marx would be haunting and
42:50tragic if spoken by most people lying on their deathbeds.
42:54But when Marx said,
42:55"'This is no way to live,' shortly before dying, he was making one last quip for the
43:00ages.
43:01So in this case, his last words are actually pretty hilarious, and it's okay to laugh.
43:06He was in on the joke."
43:08Marx was 86 years old when death came for him in 1977.
43:12He had been in poor health for two months, suffering from respiratory ailments that worsened
43:17into the pneumonia that would eventually kill him.
43:20Marx seems to have been well aware he was near the end, and his last words were perhaps
43:25the ultimate example of superb comic timing.
43:30Legendary singer Bob Marley was only 36 years old when he died in 1981, a fact that is hard
43:36to believe when one considers the outsized impact the man had on music and culture at
43:42large.
43:43What's less surprising is that his last known words, spoken to his son Ziggy, were sage
43:48and sorrowful, uttered shortly before succumbing to complications of a malignant form of melanoma
43:54that, over the course of half a decade, spread from one of his toes throughout his entire
44:00body.
44:01The cancer that killed Marley may well have been treated had he allowed the amputation
44:05of his toe, but his Rastafarian faith forbade such an operation.
44:10And also, in keeping with the type of messaging he had espoused his whole life, Marley's last
44:15words to Ziggy were,
44:17"...money can't buy life."
44:19One can speculate that he meant money cannot buy the treatment needed to sustain life,
44:24but more likely Marley meant money cannot bring happiness and fulfillment in life.
44:28Only a life well-lived can do that.
44:31My richness is life, forever.
44:34Say what you will about John Lennon and Yoko Ono's relationship breaking up the Beatles
44:38or about Lennon's notorious arrogance and eccentricities, he was an excellent musician.
44:44And he was a human being who deserved to live a lot longer than he did.
44:48But due to the actions of Mark Chapman, who was determined to kill a famous person and
44:53resented Lennon's comments about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus, his life was cut
44:59short.
45:00Chapman shot Lennon in the back multiple times at close range on December 8, 1980.
45:05His last words were long thought to be the gut-wrenching,
45:08"...I'm shot, I'm shot."
45:10But it later came out that his last spoken word could also have been a soft,
45:15"...yes."
45:16whispered in response to being asked if he was John Lennon.
45:20There's something morbidly fascinating about a criminal's last words.
45:24By definition, a death row prisoner has a better idea of when their time will come than
45:27the rest of us.
45:28They know when they'll make their final statement.
45:30Here we'll explore the haunting last words of criminals.
45:33Some criminal acts seem to come straight out of a monster movie.
45:36A person with no record of criminal activity seemingly out of the blue turns sadistic to
45:40the point of implausibility.
45:41At a glance, that's the story of Karla Faye Tucker.
45:44According to police reports, Tucker was out partying when she and her accomplice Danny
45:48Garrett decided the time was right to rob and intimidate 27-year-old Jerry Lynn Dean.
45:52Having stolen keys to Dean's apartment, they entered, and Karla Tucker took a pickaxe to
45:56his head and body 28 times, later telling friends she received a sensual thrill with
46:00every blow.
46:02Because of the death, Karla became a national media phenomenon, drawing interest with her
46:05charismatic persona and reported conversion to Christianity.
46:08I'm so far removed from the person that I used to be out there.
46:13The New York Times says there's an argument to be made that her sentencing even caused
46:16a dip in Texans' approval of the death penalty.
46:18In 1998, Tucker died by lethal injection, the first woman executed by the state of Texas
46:23in over 20 years.
46:25Depending on your point of view, her last statements were either reflective of her turn
46:28to religion or an ominous portent.
46:30I will see you all when you get there.
46:32I will wait for you.
46:34The 1920s were a grim period for Ireland.
46:36Civic strife and gruesome bloody civil war led to sweeping reforms like the Army Emergency
46:40Powers Resolution of September 1922.
46:43Among other things, it instituted martial law across the country, allowing trial by
46:47court-martial, and made the possession of firearms by civilians an offense punishable
46:51by death.
46:52Robert Erskine Childers, meanwhile, was an Englishman, author, and soldier, a decorated
46:56Boer War and World War I veteran.
46:58It's unknown when exactly he became enamored with Irish nationalism, but he was passionate
47:02on the subject, smuggling weapons and even being accused of writing propaganda for the
47:06Nationalist Cause or the IRA during the war.
47:08A close eye was kept on Childers, and in November of 1922, his home was raided and he was arrested
47:13for possession of a revolver.
47:15Before being put to death by firing squad, he was reported to have shaken hands with
47:18his executioners and to have said,
47:20"...take a step or two forward, lads.
47:22It will be easier that way."
47:24In the pantheon of film and literature, you'd be hard-pressed to find a fictional criminal
47:27with a more cartoonishly abhorrent personality and lifestyle than the all-too-real Karl Pansram.
47:33According to his own writings, Pansram had killed at least 21 people by the end of his
47:36life, expressing no remorse.
47:38Writing about his crimes, including murder, robbery, and arson, he wrote,
47:42"...for all of these things I am not the least bit sorry.
47:44I have no conscience, so that does not worry me.
47:46I don't believe in man, God, nor devil.
47:49I hate the whole damned human race, including myself."
47:52"...I think he was so full of hatred, and with such a need, a compulsion, to kill."
47:59While he was never arrested for murder, Pansram garnered the death penalty when, while serving
48:03a 25-to-life sentence in Leavenworth, he beat prison employee Robert Warnke to death with
48:07an iron bar, leaving the man's wife a widow and his son without a father.
48:11At his hanging on the 5th of September, 1930, Karl Pansram kept true to form, spitting in
48:16the face of the man who put the bag over his head.
48:18Just before the execution commenced, he was asked if he had any last words.
48:22His response?
48:23"...Hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard.
48:24I could kill ten men while you're screwing around."
48:27To his last breath, John Arthur Spenkelink swore he was innocent in the killing of 45-year-old
48:31Joseph J. Zemankiewicz in February of 1973.
48:35According to Spenkelink, he had picked up Zemankiewicz hitchhiking, then accidentally
48:38shot him in an act of self-defense after Zemankiewicz sexually assaulted him in a Tallahassee motel.
48:44According to prosecutors, however, Spenkelink waited until Zemankiewicz was asleep, then
48:48shot him in the head and back and beat him with a hatchet.
48:51Spenkelink then skipped town with another hitchhiker, Frank Broom, and the two were
48:54arrested for suspicion of armed robbery in California a few days later.
48:58John Spenkelink made headlines when he became the first man executed in the state of Florida
49:02after a 10-year moratorium on government-sanctioned criminal executions.
49:05"...I don't think there's anybody on death row now that does want to die."
49:11His last words before being electrocuted mirrored his claims that he was only being put to death
49:14because he couldn't afford better court representation.
49:18For the uninitiated, Aileen Wuornos was the subject of the 2003 motion picture Monster,
49:25where she was played by Charlize Theron.
49:27Her life was a series of horrifying events.
49:29Her father died in prison while serving time for child molestation, and her mother left
49:33her to be raised by an alcoholic grandmother and an abusive grandfather.
49:37Adult life didn't treat her much better, and she had soon turned to prostitution and petty
49:40crime.
49:41Over the course of 12 months, in 1989 and 1990, she killed six men, and, after property
49:46taken from the victims was recovered from several pawnshops with Wuornos' fingerprints,
49:50she was apprehended and confessed to the crimes, claiming each of the men had attempted to
49:54assault her and that she was acting in self-defense.
49:56Then, in 2001, Wuornos experienced a change of heart, volunteering for the death penalty
50:01and saying keeping her alive would be a waste of taxpayer money.
50:04CNN quoted her, saying,
50:05"...I killed those men, robbed them as cold as ice, and I'd do it again, too.
50:09There's no chance in keeping me alive or anything, because I'd kill again.
50:12I have hate crawling through my system."
50:14Before being subjected to death by lethal injection, Aileen Wuornos gave one final message,
50:19as chilling as it was mysterious.
50:20"...I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back like Independence
50:24Day with Jesus, June 6th.
50:26Like the movie, Big Mother Ship and All, I'll be back."
50:29A product of a time in American history when high-profile criminals were given nicknames
50:33like Dick Tracy villains, Barbara Bloody Babs Graham was a fascinating case.
50:37It's been noted by KCET she was something out of a noir detective story, a hypnotic
50:42beauty with a willingness to kill.
50:44As is often the case, the reality is a lot more tragic.
50:47Graham's mother, an unwed teenager, was sent to live at a reform school shortly after Barbara's
50:51birth, leaving Barbara to be raised in foster homes and orphanages.
50:55After an arrest for vagrancy as a teenager, Barbara was sent to the same school.
50:59She was released in 1939 at the age of 16, immediately married, and gave birth to her
51:03first child in 1940.
51:05A couple of divorces, a heroin dependency, and a remarkably pragmatic approach to a career
51:09in prostitution later, Graham was implicated in the death of a Burbank woman named Mabel
51:13Monaghan during a botched robbery.
51:15While the evidence against her was largely circumstantial and dependent on the testimony
51:18of an accomplice turned state's witness, Graham was sentenced to death.
51:22After being strapped into the gas chamber, Barbara was reportedly told by a corrections
51:26official that taking a deep breath would mean the cyanide gas wouldn't bother her, to which
51:29she sort of brilliantly replied,
51:31"...how would you know?"
51:33But her last words are the ones that really stick with you.
51:36Good people are always so sure they're right.
51:38The Salem witch trials were, to put it exceptionally mildly, not America's finest hour.
51:44Between February of 1692 and May of the next year, hundreds of people were accused of consorting
51:48with the devil, causing supernatural mayhem, and overall being whatever the opposite of
51:52peanut butter is to Puritanism's righteous chocolate.
51:55Sarah Good was one of the first unlucky ones.
51:57There were two cousins in Salem named Abigail Williams and Betty Parris, young women who
52:01wound up being, if their accusers were to be believed, two of the most bewitched and
52:05accursed human beings in history.
52:07While their peculiar behavior has in recent years been attributed to everything from epilepsy
52:11to bad wheat and even simply boredom, according to History of Massachusetts, it was blamed
52:15on witchcraft at the time, and the two put the blame specifically on three locals, a
52:20farmer named Sarah Osborne, a slave called Tituba, and Sarah Good.
52:23These would be the first three accusations in what would go on to be the Salem witch
52:26trials, a period of history synonymous with baseless claims and harsh, pointless punishments.
52:31Good, to her credit, was having precisely zero of it.
52:34Her last recorded words before being hanged were,
52:37"'I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life, God will give
52:41you blood to drink.'"
52:42How do we define a war crime?
52:44War, it's been remarked, is hell.
52:46It is by its very nature a series of atrocities committed chaotically in the pursuit, theoretically,
52:51of higher order, a safer world.
52:53It might even seem, after a cursory glance, the term war crime was invented by someone
52:57who never themselves saw war.
52:59Isn't the term itself almost redundant?
53:01Or at least, that's probably how Harry Breaker Morant felt when he was sentenced to die for
53:05war crimes committed during the Second Boer War.
53:08What exactly did the Australian soldier do that brought him to his end?
53:11Like with so many other corners of history, executed today says it depends a lot on who
53:16you ask.
53:17Some people say he was carrying out an unwritten order from British higher-ups to take no prisoners.
53:21Others will tell you that, after Morant's friend was captured and mutilated, he went
53:24on a revenge killing spree, taking out prisoners of war.
53:27Really, the one thing everyone can agree on is the intensity of his last words, shouted
53:31at the firing squad.
53:34Billy Conn Gardner maintained until the end he was innocent of the crime for which he
53:37was put to death.
53:38In 1995, Billy Gardner was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of Thelma
53:42Catherine Rauh, a cafeteria worker at a Texas high school.
53:46According to the New York Times, Gardner conspired with the husband of one of Rauh's colleagues
53:49and broke into her office while she was counting money, stealing $1,600 and shooting Rauh in
53:54the chest.
53:55Rauh passed away from her injuries 11 days later.
53:58At the time, Gardner was on parole after having been charged with burglary and assault, among
54:01other things.
54:02While on death row, Gardner was in regular correspondence with an attorney out of Wisconsin
54:06who tried unsuccessfully to convince the courts of Billy's innocence.
54:10Billy Gardner's last words before being executed were,
54:12"'I forgive all of you.
54:14Hope God forgives all of you, too.'"
54:16Then his mother, sitting in observation, said,
54:18"'I've never been more proud of you than I am now.'"
54:21According to Texas law, any participant in a fatal crime could be sentenced to death.
54:25That's how G.W.
54:26Green wound up executed for a crime he didn't commit.
54:29In November of 1976, Green and two accomplices broke into the home of John Denson, a juvenile
54:34probation officer for the county of Montgomery, in the hopes of stealing his gun collection.
54:37Denson and his family were held at gunpoint, and Denson lunged at one of the intruders.
54:41He was shot three times by Green's co-conspirator, Joseph Starvaghi.
54:45Denson's wife and young daughter were told by Green and company to hide under a blanket
54:49during the time when Denson was shot.
54:50They later claimed that Green screamed at Starvaghi to shoot the two of them, but Starvaghi
54:54refused.
54:55In 1991, his stay of execution for Green was denied.
54:59Asked if he had any last words before being killed by lethal injection, he said,
55:02"'Let's do it, man.
55:03Lock and load.'"
55:04Then, as the drugs began to take hold, he muttered,
55:06"'Ain't life a b----?'