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Coroner's Report: Cleopatra (2:34)

Legend has it that Cleopatra took her own life by succumbing willingly to the bite of a cobra. If this story is true, was suicide by snake venom an easy way to go, or did the last Egyptian pharaoh die in excruciating pain?

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Videos (13)

  • Coroner's Report: Cleopatra
    Coroner's Report: Cleopatra

    Video Clip (2:34)

    Legend has it that Cleopatra took her own life by succumbing willingly to the bite of a cobra. If this story is true, was suicide by snake venom an easy way to go, or did the last Egyptian pharaoh die in excruciating pain?

    Video Clip (2:34)
  • Coroner's Report: Titanic
    Coroner's Report: Titanic

    Video Clip (2:01)

    When the "unsinkable" ocean liner Titanic was lost after hitting an iceberg on April 15, 1912, lifeboats saved only 700 of her passengers. What did the 1,500 people who went down with the ship experience in the icy waters of the North Atlantic?

    Video Clip (2:01)
  • Coroner's Report: Stonewall Jackson
    Coroner's Report: Stonewall Jackson

    Video Clip (2:35)

    The Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was accidentally shot by his own men during a major Civil War battle, but it wasn't his wounds that killed him eight days later. How exactly did the commander die?

    Video Clip (2:35)
  • Coroner's Report: Seppuku
    Coroner's Report: Seppuku

    Video Clip (2:26)

    Seppuku was a ritual form of suicide used by samurai warriors to avoid surrender or atone for a shameful act. What were their painful final moments really like?

    Video Clip (2:26)
  • Coroner's Report: Aztec Sacrifice
    Coroner's Report: Aztec Sacrifice

    Video Clip (2:59)

    When Aztec priests made human sacrifices to their gods, they would tear out the victim's heart and hold it in the air. Would the heart really still be beating?

    Video Clip (2:59)
  • Coroner's Report: Guillotine
    Coroner's Report: Guillotine

    Video Clip (3:14)

    The guillotine, the notorious killing machine of the French Revolution, was used to behead thousands, including King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Why was it a humane form of execution for its time, and did victims' brains continue functioning after decapitation?

    Video Clip (3:14)
  • Coroner's Report: Julius Caesar
    Coroner's Report: Julius Caesar

    Video Clip (2:01)

    The Roman leader Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times by a mob of mutinous senators in 44 B.C. Could he possibly have survived long enough to utter his famous last words?

    Video Clip (2:01)
  • Coroner's Report: Hanging
    Coroner's Report: Hanging

    Video Clip (2:08)

    One of the oldest forms of capital punishment, hanging kills--but not the way most people think. What makes the dreaded hangman's noose so lethal?

    Video Clip (2:08)
  • Coroner's Report: Al Capone
    Coroner's Report: Al Capone

    Video Clip (2:38)

    Al Capone survived assassination attempts, brutal gang wars and an attack by a fellow inmate at Alcatraz. How did unprotected sex finally take down one of history's most notorious gangsters?

    Video Clip (2:38)
  • Coroner's Report: Plague
    Coroner's Report: Plague

    Video Clip (2:37)

    In the 14th century, a devastating plague known as the Black Death claimed an estimated 75 million lives. How did the people who contracted it know their luck had run out?

    Video Clip (2:37)
  • Coroner's Report: Pompeii
    Coroner's Report: Pompeii

    Video Clip (2:37)

    The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. obliterated the Roman city of Pompeii, burying it under tons of volcanic ash. While many of its resident fled to safety, what happened to those who dared to stay behind?

    Video Clip (2:37)
  • Coroner's Report: Atomic Bomb
    Coroner's Report: Atomic Bomb

    Video Clip (2:17)

    In August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What happened to people on the fringes of the blasts?

    Video Clip (2:17)
  • Coroner's Report: King Tut
    Coroner's Report: King Tut

    Video Clip (2:18)

    According to one theory, an accident caused the untimely death of teenage pharaoh King Tut. How might a broken leg have sent him to his tomb?

    Video Clip (2:18)

Read More about Coroner's Report

Medical examiner Shiya Ribowsky explores some of history's most famous and mysterious deaths.

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