#Death from laughter is a rare form of death, usually resulting from cardiac arrest or asphyxiation, caused by a fit of laughter. Instances of death by laughter have been recorded from the time of ancient Greece to the modern day .
Cleopatra, ruler of Egypt in 51-30 BC , said her retainer died from laughter after witnessing her husband's death.
Zeuxis, a 5th century BC Greek painter, is said to have died laughting at the humorous way he painted the goddess Aphrodite after the old woman who commissioned it insisted on modelling for the portrait.
One ancient count of the death of chrysippus, the 3rd century BC Greek Stoic Philosopher, tells that he died of laughter after he saw a donkey eating his figs, he told a slave to give the donkey neat wine with which to wash them down , and then, having laughted too much, he died.
In 1410 King Martin of Aragon died from a combination of indigestion and uncontrollable laughter triggered by a joke told by his favourite court jester.
In 1556, Pietro Aretino is said to have died of suffocation from laughting too much .
In 1799, William Cushing, pauper who lived in the paris of St Andrew's , Norwich England, died from a fit of excessive laughter, which lasted five minute .
In 1893, farmer wesley parsons laughted ton over a joke told in Laurel, Indiana. He laughted for nearly an hour . Then he died two hours after the incident.
On march 1975, Alex Mitchell, from King's Lynn,England, died laughting while watching the "kung Fu Kapers" episod of The goodies. After continuous laughter he died from heart failure.
In 1988 movie comedy A Fish Called Wanda features a scene where actor gets some french fries stufed up his nose and a pear in mouth. In 1989, a Danish audiologist named Ole Bentzen found the scene so funny that his heart rose to an estimated 250-500 beats , per minute , leading to a fatal heart attack .
