When a prominent political or religious figure
suddenly dies, conspiracy theories inevitably
pop up. And yet the following stories may be
more than just paranoid speculation. Each of
these men may have fallen victim to a secret
murder.
10 Arius
(d. A.D. 336)
Arius, the Presbyter of Alexandria, believed
that Christ was a lesser, separate being from
God the Father. For this reason, he and his
Christian followers were bitterly opposed as
heretics by those who believed in the Trinity.
This issue divided the fourth-century Church,
and the pendulum swung as the Roman
emperor Constantine alternately favored one
faction over the other.
In 324, the Council of Nicea condemned
Arius, and Constantine banished him. The
emperor soon got fed up with the continuing
debate, however. He reinstated Arius,
ordering Constantinople’s Patriarch Alexander
to receive him at communion. Unable to
disobey the imperial command, yet unwilling
that the host should be desecrated by the
heretic, Alexander asked his orthodox
followers to pray that Arius die before he set
foot in the church.
Arius had an audience with the emperor at
the palace then joined the procession of his
followers to Alexander’s church. Suddenly,
according to chronicler Socrates
Scholasticus, Arius was seized by bowel
cramps and sought the nearest toilet. There,
his innards—spleen, liver, and intestines—
erupted in a bloody mess, killing him. The
orthodox called it a miracle of answered
prayer; the Arians called it murder.
By all accounts, 80-year-old Arius had been
in good health when in conference with
Constantine. It is entirely possible that poison
was administered to him through the food
and drink served there. The above account of
his death in a toilet, written nearly a century
after the fact, may be Catholic embellishment
to further embarrass Arius and stain his
memory. But his sudden and unexpected
death ensured that suspicion will always
hound the Trinitarians about their role in the
tragedy.

9 King William II Rufus
(d. 1100)
William II was the second surviving son of
William the Conqueror. Vain and ill-tempered,
he ruled England badly.
On August 2, 1100, William joined a hunting
party that included his younger brother Henry
in New Forest. The party split off into two
groups, leaving William with a companion
named Walter Tirel. He gave Tirel two of his
six arrows, commenting, “It is only right that
the sharpest arrows goes to the man who
knows how to inflict the deadliest shots.” A
short while later, one of those arrows was
buried in his chest.
Apparently, Tirel had aimed at a stag but
missed, hitting the king instead and killing
him. Such hunting accidents were common.
William himself had lost his elder brother and
a cousin to wayward arrows. Tirel fled the
scene, presumably fearing the consequences
of being blamed for William’s death.
But William may not have been a victim of a
simple accident. Could Tirel have been part of
a plot to assassinate the king?
William’s younger brother Henry, who
succeeded him, certainly had a strong
motive. And he galloped off in a hurry to
secure the crown at Winchester, even as the
servants were still carting away his brother’s
body. Moreover, he became particularly
generous to Tirel’s family. Was this to reward
him for carrying out the murder?
More recently, another theory was put
forward that Tirel worked with a French
agent, Raoul d’Equesnes, who wanted William
dead to prevent his projected invasion of
France. If so, the plot worked, for King Henry
called off the invasion as soon as he gained
the throne.

8 King Charles XII
(d. 1718)
Called the “Lion of the North” by his admirer
Voltaire, Charles XII led his country of Sweden
into disastrous conflicts that cost her dearly
in men, money, and territory. Charles became
unpopular with many Swedes for such
needless sacrifices.
In December 1718, Charles was leading yet
another invasion, this time of Danish-held
Norway. During the siege of the hilltop
fortress of Fridrikshald, the king went to the
front line to supervise the building of a
trench. It was a dangerous spot well within
range of Danish muskets. Charles exposed
himself above the breastworks, and a bullet
struck his head. Though there were many
troops around Charles, no one witnessed the
exact instant of his death.
Questions arose. Did the bullet come from
enemy fire, or was the king shot deliberately
by one of his own men? Based on the
orientation of the trench and where Charles
was standing, a bullet coming from the left
would indicate a shot from the fort; one from
the right would point to a Swedish soldier as
the triggerman. Charles skull contained two
holes, one on each side, leading to
unresolved debate over which was the entry
wound and which was the exit.
Documents show that some of the king’s
companions behaved oddly just before he
was killed. Prince Frederick, for one, exhibited
extreme nervousness that only subsided after
he heard Charles was dead. Frederick’s
secretary, Andre Sicre, actually confessed to
the murder while in feverish delirium, though
he retracted the confession once he
recovered. The king’s surgeon had a dream
in which the dead king, when asked if the shot
came from the fortress, replied, “No—One
came creeping.”
The strangest twist to this mystery was the
discovery in 1924 of a curiously formed bullet
made from a button in a gravel pit in
Oxnevalla. Tradition says it was the very
bullet that killed Charles, picked up by a
soldier returning from Fridrikshald. Folklore
said that Charles was impervious to ordinary
bullets. It was theorized that the superstitious
assassin made a bullet from Charles’s own
coat button to penetrate the king’s
supernatural shield.
The theory seems ridiculous and farfetched
but for one thing. Blood traces on the bullet
matched DNA on Charles’s bloodstained
gloves.

7 Napoleon Bonaparte
(d. 1821)
Traditional history says Napoleon died on
May 5, 1821 from stomach cancer. The
disease had earlier killed his father Carlo.
But evidence purports to show traces of
arsenic poisoning in Napoleon’s hair. The
poisoning theory was popularized by Swedish
physician Dr. Sten Forshufvud, who alleged
an act of premeditated murder by one of
Napoleon’s companions.
Other theorists point out that the ingestion of
arsenic was not necessarily murder. Arsenic
was a common ingredient in many household
products in the 19th century. A particular
culprit has been singled out: a wallpaper
color called Scheele’s green that was used in
Napoleon’s home in St. Helena. The dye
releases arsenic when it gets damp. It may
well be that the emperor took in the arsenic
from the environment.
The theory has several flaws. Hair samples
from Napoleon showed no more arsenic than
those taken from his son and his wife
Josephine . The man showed none of the
characteristic symptoms of arsenic poisoning
(in fact, Napoleon died obese, while chronic
arsenic poisoning causes extreme weight
loss).
The cancer theory, however, is also
unproven. Autopsy reports indicate that the
cancer was not yet in an advanced stage, so
he can only have died of complications
(gastrointestinal hemorrhage rather than
direct cancer). Absolute proof of cancer can
only come from direct examination of body
tissues, and Napoleon’s descendants refuse
any access to his remains. So, we should
expect this debate to rage on in the
foreseeable future.

6 Warren G. Harding
(d. 1923)
The 29th president of the United States lived
an unhealthy lifestyle that favored alcohol,
cigars, and late-night poker games. He was
the perfect candidate for a heart attack.
In July 1923, Harding took a long, grueling
trip across the country, with stops in
Vancouver, Alaska, and Washington State.
The president was clearly weak and tired and
had to cancel his speeches in Portland and
San Francisco. He died on August 2, 1923,
officially due to “some brain evolvement ,
probably an apoplexy.” History records it as
heart attack.
Yet the four physicians attending to him
during his last week could not agree on the
exact cause of death. The autopsy that could
have settled all questions was never
performed— on the orders of the First Lady,
Florence Harding. These suspicious
circumstances suggested that something
was being covered up.
Accounts of the president’s final moments
contradict one another. Harding seemed to
be recovering from an attack of indigestion
and pneumonia on the evening of August 2
and was in the company of Mrs. Harding in
his hotel room. According to this version of
events, Florence left to go to her suite, and a
nurse came in and saw Harding’s face twitch.
She raised the alarm, but Harding was dead.
Another version put Dr. Charles Sawyer, a
homeopathic doctor trusted by the Hardings,
on the scene, ministering to the doomed
president.
If the president was killed, the strongest
suspect would be the First Lady, who had the
motive, means, and opportunity to carry out
the assassination. Harding was a notorious
philanderer and may have even sired a
daughter by his lover Nan Britton. This was
motive enough, but there was also Harding’s
affair with a married woman named Carrie
Phillips. Her husband had threatened the pair
with exposure, and some suggest Florence
killed Warren to stave off public humiliation.
She could easily have administered poison
when she was alone with her husband.
Just over a year after the president’s death,
Dr. Sawyer died in much the same way , after
a visit from none other than Florence
Harding. The possibility is thus raised: Did
Florence commit the murder with help from
Dr. Sawyer, and was he in turn killed to
assure his silence? Florence died two months
later, taking the secret with her to the grave.

5 King Ananda Mahidol
(d. 1946)
At about 9:20 on the morning of June 9,
1946, the sound of a gunshot shattered the
quiet of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. A page
rushed into the royal bedchamber and found
the 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol lying
face-up on the bed, a bullet wound in his
forehead and a Colt .45 by his left hand.
Hours later, his younger brother Bhumibol
was proclaimed king.
Initial reports said the death was an
unfortunate accident. Ananda loved firearms
and had always kept one close. But in the
following days, the possibility of suicide
arose. The man had been depressed about
his breakup with his Swiss girlfriend. He’d
had intestinal problems and often quarreled
with his mother. But the gun was found in the
king’s left hand, while he was actually right-
handed.
By the end of the month, a commission of
inquiry concluded that Ananda’s death was
“definitely murder.” But who shot him?
Louis Mountbatten, Earl of Burma, wrote to
King George VI that “ King Bhumibol shot his
brother to obtain the crown.” Bhumibol was
the last person to see Ananda alive. He
testified to going into his brother’s room at
9:00 and leaving when he saw Ananda was
still asleep. But no other evidence implicated
Bhumibol. Another possibility was that
Bhumibol killed his brother by accident,
perhaps as they were playing around with the
gun.
The government eventually arrested three
suspects: Ananda’s secretary and two
servants, including the page who found the
body. A fourth suspect was Premier Pridi
Phanomyong, who evaded arrest by fleeing.
Though evidence against them was sorely
lacking, the three prisoners were executed by
firing squad in 1955.

4 Jan Masaryk
(d. 1948)
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk was
found dead in the courtyard of Prague’s
Cernin Palace on the morning of March 10,
1948. The body lay directly beneath the
window of his flat, so it was concluded that
the 61-year-old Masaryk had committed
suicide by jumping to his death.
Masaryk had been the only liberal remaining
in the government when the Communists took
over in February 1948. He had been
despondent in the days prior to his death,
brooding about the situation of his country.
His secretary, Antonin Sum, believed that
Masaryk had sacrificed himself to protest
Communist terror. Yet Masaryk left no suicide
note that gave his motive.
Only certified Communists were allowed to
approach the body before it lay in state. Even
the request of Masaryk’s personal physician
to attend the post-mortem was turned down.
A crowd of hundreds of thousands thronged
Masaryk’s funeral, many thinking him a
victim of assassination ordered by Stalin.
Masaryk, a heavyset man, would have landed
much closer to the building had he jumped.
The body lay more than 2 meters (6.5 ft)
away, indicating he was flung out by
unknown assailants. Masaryk also landed on
his feet, as if he were attempting to save
himself from the fall. Traces of plaster under
his fingernails suggest that he had clutched
at the wall to escape being thrown out. The
police doctor who wrote out the death
certificate was himself found dead a few
weeks later, also an apparent suicide.
Russian authorities still refuse to provide the
materials to help identify the killers. The Jan
Masaryk case remains a mystery to this day.

3 Emperor Haile Selassie
(d. 1975)
Emperor Haile Selassie (meaning “Might of
the Trinity”) of Ethiopia was a larger-than-life
figure who traced his ancestry to the fabled
biblical King Solomon and the Queen of
Sheba. He was called the Conquering Lion of
the Tribe of Judah and the Elect of God . He
tried to bring his backward country into the
20th century, but he ruled as an autocrat.
Unemployment, famine, and political
ineptitude provoked an army mutiny against
Selassie in 1974. Declaring the emperor
deposed, military officers imprisoned him in a
small apartment in his palace.
On August 27, 1975, the Marxist military
government announced that a servant had
found the 83-year-old Selassie dead in his
bed. The cause was presumed to be
respiratory failure due to complications from
a prostate operation. But many, including
Selassie’s personal physician, didn’t buy this
official version and claimed the emperor had
been assassinated.
Crown Prince Afsa Wossen, claiming his
father had been in excellent health,
demanded an autopsy . But Ethiopian custom
decreed that the body must be buried within
24 hours, and it seemed the world had seen
the last of the Lion of Judah.
The remains were discovered only in 1992,
buried under a concrete slab beneath a
lavatory on the palace grounds. Selassie was
finally given a decent burial in 2000, after an
investigation into his mysterious death. Even
then, many refused to believe Selassie was
really dead, particularly the Rastafarians who
claim that Selassie was the immortal Son of
God. The bones, they argue, were too small
to be those of the Emperor. Ethiopia’s High
Court is satisfied that the bones are
Selassie’s—and that his successor, the brutal
dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, strangled
Selassie in his bed with his own hands.

2 Pope John Paul I
(d. 1978)
The gentle, smiling Archbishop Albino Luciani,
an outsider to the Roman Curia, was elected
Pope in August 1978. As John Paul I, he
immediately showed his humility and
refreshing simplicity by refusing to wear the
papal tiara or be carried aloft on the papal
chair. It was thus a grievous shock when he
died on September 28 after a mere 33 days in
office, apparently from heart attack.
Conflicting testimony about his death soon
raised questions of a Vatican cover-up,
possibly murder. At first, it was reported that
the body was discovered by the Pope’s
secretary, John Magee, around 5:30 AM. It
turned out that it was a nun, Sister Vincenza,
who found the Pope in calm repose on his
bed with some reading material in his hands.
Such a posture did not suggest death by
heart attack. No autopsy was ever performed
on the body.
The Pope, it is theorized, actually died from a
dose of digitalis administered in the medicine
he was taking for low blood pressure. The
Pope’s missing slippers and eyeglasses were
presumably removed because they were
stained by vomit when the poison took effect.
Later, officials explained that the items had
been taken away previously by John Paul’s
sister.
It has been speculated that John Paul, who
was already disliked by Vatican bureaucrats,
was ready to clean up the scandal-tainted
Vatican Bank of its reputed organized crime
ties. So some find it suspicious that the
bank’s president, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus,
was seen hanging about the papal residence
at an unusually early hour on the morning of
the Pope’s death. Marcinkus deflected this by
saying he was a habitual early riser.
Suspicion also focused on the Pope’s
secretary, who may have rearranged the
Pope’s body to make it look as if he died
peacefully.
To counter the poisoning theory, it is claimed
that the Pope died of pulmonary embolism.
He had been suffering from violent coughs
and pain the night before. But embolism
could not have killed fast enough to explain
John Paul’s serene posture on the bed. With
no proper autopsy, the case of John Paul I
remains open.

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ok,am showing some love,now kwontinue

1 Muhammad Zia Ul-Haq
(d. 1988)
On August 17, 1988, Muhammad Zia Ul-Haq
of Pakistan was returning to Islamabad on a
Lockheed C-130 Hercules after watching a
demonstration of an American battle tank in
the desert. Ten minutes into the flight, the
plane nose-dived and crashed to the ground.
All aboard died, including US Ambassador
Arnold Raphel and most of Pakistan’s top
military brass.
American investigators concluded that the
plane had suffered a mechanical malfunction.
Their Pakistani counterparts, however,
became suspicious when they discovered
snapped cables and problems with the
elevator boosters that hinted at sabotage.
Zia’s son Ijazul Haq accused Vice-General
Aslam Beg of conspiring to kill his father. He
claimed that Beg removed some of the
plane’s wreckage to hide evidence of an air-
to-air missile attack. Beg had refused orders
to board the doomed plane. His motive might
have been to prevent his impending
replacement as vice-chief.
Beg wasn’t the only one with a motive. There
was no shortage of suspects who wanted Zia
dead. There were the Indians, Pakistan’s
traditional enemy. Or the Russians, irked by
Zia’s jihad on the Soviets in Afghanistan. The
Bhutto family, out to avenge Zia’s ouster and
the execution of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto? Pakistani secularists, resisting Zia’s
implementation of Sharia law? Shiite Iranians
alarmed at Zia’s Sunni Islamic republic?
The most intriguing suspect of all is the
Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence
agency. Mossad may have ordered the hit on
Zia to prevent him from developing a nuclear
bomb, which he could share with other
Muslim nations and enemies of Israel. Indeed,
Zia had ominously called his project the
“Islamic Bomb.”
But there is no solid evidence against any of
these suspects. Zia’s murder, if murder it
was, might forever remain unsolved.

Interesting read, where is Gen. Sanni Abacha.

aprokomania: hey readers show some love so I can have enough energy to post the last one

Am loving this man can u add more to the list?

Fp material! #following

Interesting, I love History

McWhillion: Interesting read, where is Gen. Sanni Abacha.

YES, WHERE IS GEN. SANI ABACHA & CHIEF M.K.O ABIOLA
Still can't figure out THE APPLE & TEA THEORY

A lot of lessons to take home.

Interesting.

very informative. well done op.

let me book space . its is a front page material

hazyfm: Interesting, I love History

Makes two of us.

Pope john Paul 1 was definitely killed. Read "In God's name" by David yellow and you will understand what I mean.

Pope john Paul 1 was definitely killed. Read "In God's name" by David yallop and you will understand what I mean.

Good work Bro!

chimoz: Pope john Paul 1 was definitely killed. Read "In God's name" by David yellow and you will understand what I mean.

Nobody argues otherwise, how was he killed and who killed him is what is the mystery.