Theories About What Really Killed These Historical Leaders

Even today, with our fancy science and thousands of years of experience behind us, we just barely understand the process of death. But because of all that fancy science, we have come to expect a level of certainty on the subject, especially when it affects celebrities or our political leaders. When a head of state or party leader dies, we assume there will be an autopsy and a coroner's report explaining exactly how they went.

That kind of scientific certainty about causes of death is a relatively recent development, though. It wasn't all that long ago when figuring out why someone had just dropped dead in front of you was more guesswork than science—and even in the modern era there's often a lot of mystery and doubt when people die under difficult circumstances, or when autopsies are prevented. That's what we invented conspiracy theories for, after all.

That's why this list exists, to explore the theories about what really killed these historical leaders. Some of them died in the days when doctors literally believed something called "humors" caused disease, some died exhibiting conflicting symptoms—and some under extremely sketchy circumstances. What ties them all together is a lack of certainty about how they died, and the elaborate theories that have sprung up around that question.

When Alexander the Great was just 32-years-old, he was the ruler of one of the largest empires ever created. And then, after a rapid decline which saw him suffer fevers, increasing paralysis, and eventual loss of the ability to speak, he died suddenly in 323 B.C. Oddly, his body didn't decompose for several weeks after his death.

It's not uncommon for kings and emperors and the like to be assassinated, of course; as Live Science reports, one of the most popular theories concerning Alexander's unexpected death was poisoning. But there's a new theory that is even crazier: As Smithsonian Magazine notes, Alexander the Great may have suffered from Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), an incredibly rare autoimmune disease that attacks the nervous system. GBS matches every symptom Alexander is reported to have experienced, including the creeping paralysis that left him mute but still rational. GBS can be contracted from bacteria that Alexander could have easily encountered while trooping around the world killing his future subjects.

Even crazier, as History notes, GBS might also explain why his body didn't decompose: Because maybe he wasn't actually dead yet. GBS may have depressed his respiration to the point that his breathing wasn't obvious. Which means the greatest military mind of the ancient world might have been very much alive when he was declared dead.

When Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in 2004, he was 75-years-old and according to The New York Times had been the target of Israeli assassination teams for decades. But initially his death seemed to be the result of a sudden illness, possibly influenza. He was briefly and intensely ill before being transported to France for treatment. He fell into a coma and died about a week later of a massive stroke.

But as The Washington Post reports, his wife, Suha, believes Arafat was poisoned using the radioactive material polonium. A 2013 investigation found some evidence that this might be the case—a lot of Arafat's possessions were found to be slightly more radioactive than they should have been. Which is to say, radioactive at all.

As CNN reports, polonium-210 is not terribly dangerous as long as it remains outside the body. It emits alpha particles, which are so weak they can't even pass through a sheet of paper. But once inside us, they get into our bones and organs, and their effects look like end-stage cancer very quickly. That fits perfectly with the sudden illness Arafat suffered, which also resembles known cases of polonium poisoning like Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. Polonium poisoning has become very popular for political assassinations because it's very difficult to detect and very effective at killing people.

Pakistan can be an exciting place to live—as long as you consider "exciting" the right word to describe a place where tensions with India are always threatening to boil over, society is roiled by religious conservatism, and a former president can be indicted for conspiracy to murder a former prime minister.

In 1988, however, things were much worse in Pakistan because it was ruled by a military dictatorship under General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Zia was ostensibly president but had seized power during a military coup. Then in 1988 he traveled via plane with the U.S. ambassador to watch a demonstration of U.S. M1 tanks. On the way back, the plane crashed, killing everyone on board. As OZY notes, Zia's death led to the first free election Pakistan had in years, ultimately transforming the country. And many people suspect Zia was assassinated.

As The Guardian notes, the suspects range from Russia to Israel to the CIA (naturally). According to the Los Angeles Times, most of the theories focus on a crate of mangoes loaded onto the plane just before it took off. Some suspect a bomb was hidden inside—though no evidence of a bomb was found at the crash site—or that the fruit was coated with a substance that emitted poisonous fumes.

Most people can name at least a few kings and queens of England, and a couple are pretty widely well-known: Both Elizabeths, for example, or Henry VIII. An exception to that is England's second king: William II, also known as William Rufus. The son of William the Conqueror inherited the throne when his father died in 1087, and he reigned for 13 years, avoiding disaster but achieving little. He isn't mentioned much in the modern day except for the manner of his death.

According to historian Emma Mason, William went hunting with his younger brother Henry and several nobles, including Walter Tirel. William distributed the arrows he had brought among his friends, and set off with Tirel to hunt stag. Seeing their quarry, the king shot and missed, calling out to Tirel to take his shot. Tirel somehow managed to sink his arrow directly in the king's chest, killing him instantly.

An accident, perhaps—as Unofficial Royalty notes, hunting accidents like this were really, really common in those days, and several of William's relatives had died that way. But as the BBC reports, his brother Henry wasted no time claiming the throne for himself, and many suspect that Tirel—who fled the scene, and then the country—murdered William on Henry's behalf.

Eight of our 45 presidents have died while in office—four due to assassination. Or maybe that should be five, because there's a theory that our 29^th president was poisoned by his wife. As The Mercury News reports, there's a lot of suspicion that Warren G. Harding might have been murdered by Florence Harding.

There's many reasons to like the theory. For one, Warren Harding wasn't only one of our worst presidents (CBS News ranks him as fifth worse all-time), he was also a pretty terrible husband. As detailed by Politico, Harding had numerous mistresses and fathered an illegitimate child. Florence remained married to him for appearances.

Warren's death came in the midst of a lengthy and exhausting trip around the country, and it's possible Florence was poisoning him slowly the whole time. In a San Francisco hotel room, he was alone with Florence when she suddenly raised the alarm, and Warren was found dead in bed. The doctors issued several causes of death before settling on a heart attack, but Florence refused to allow an autopsy. The hotel president—summoned by Florence and accused of killing Warren with the hotel's terrible food—claimed that a glass of water next to the president's bed smelled "noxious," but Florence grabbed it and poured it down a drain.

Known as "The Princes in the Tower," Edward and Richard had the bad luck to have a healthy claim to the throne of England just when their uncle, Richard III, usurped it. According to the BBC, it all started when Edward IV, who had just established some stability in the country after the Wars of the Roses, died unexpectedly. Although his son was officially proclaimed Edward V, his uncle Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, got himself named his nephew's protector. Richard placed Edward in the Tower of London, and soon after sent Edward's younger brother, Richard, to join him. The boys were never seen again, they were declared illegitimate, and a few weeks later Richard was crowned king.

It seems very obvious that Richard III, knowing his claim to the throne was tenuous, murdered the young boys. But as noted by The History Press, many people theorized that the boys were smuggled out of the Tower and lived on under assumed names, waiting for their chance to claim the throne. Many of their relatives behaved in ways that implied they did not believe the king was a murderer.

On the other hand, as History Extra notes, the new king didn't have to explicitly order their deaths: Plenty of people would have been happy to kill them just to curry favor with the new king.