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Hunter Stephen Whinfrey paid with his life after tracking a rabbit down its burrow on a New Year's Eve hunting trip.

Stephen, 50, tried to spot his prey he got his head stuck in the hole and suffocated.

An inquest heard the former pit worker from Doncaster, South Yorks, had gone out hunting alone with just his dog and his judgement may have been affected by alcohol.

But tragic Stephen is certainly not the first person to have departed this life in extraordinary circumstances. We took a look at some other epic exits

Snake's alive....he's dead!

(Image: Getty)

Chef Peng Fan from Foshan, Southern China was bitten by a cobra's severed head, which he'd cut off twenty minutes earlier. Fan had put the head aside while using the body to prepare a soup in 2013. Police said the case was "highly unusual".

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Fatal Snore Cure

Chronic snorer Mark Gleeson tried to cure his problem by shoving two tampons up his nostrils before going to bed. But labourer Mark, 26, from Hampshire, suffocated as he slept in 1996.

Insecticide

Edward Archbold, 32, from West Palm Beach, Florida died after winning a cockroach eating contest in 2012.

The cause of death was determined to be accidental choking due to "arthropod body parts.

Call the undietaker

(Image: Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office)

Unfortunate Denver St Clair, 58, was found dead in Oklahoma, USA - with the waistband of his underpants wrapped around his neck.

Cops discovered he died in a boozy row when his soldier stepson Brad Davis, 33, yanked the elastic of his under-pants up over his head. Davis has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and will be sentenced in July.

Tail End

When a dog fell out of a 13th floor window in Buenos Aires in 1983 it landed on a passing pensioner and killed her.

Onlookers gawping at the 75 year old victim were hit by a bus, and a second woman was killed.

Then a male witness to both tragedies suffered a fatal heart attack.

Sky Diver

In 1988 experienced skydiver Ivan McGuire, 35, decided to film his two mile jump above North Carolina.

He remembered his camera but forgot his parachute and filmed his own death.

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Tinny Mallet

In 1981 Paul Gauchi, 41, from Malta, made himself a mallet by welding an old tin can onto a metal pipe.

The can turned out to be butterfly bomb, which exploded and killed him.

Pig Out

Farmer Terry Vance Garner, 69, from Coos County, Oregon, was eaten by his own pigs.

Nothing but his dentures and a few body pieces were recovered.

Investigators believe the hogs may have knocked Garner over before eating him.

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Nasty coffin fit

French undertaker Marc Bourjade was killed when a pile of coffins at his workshop fell on top of him in 1982.

Fittingly, he was buried in one of the caskets that killed him.

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Chuckled off this mortal coil

(Image: Getty)

In 207 BC Greek philosopher Chrysippus died laughing after getting his donkey drunk on wine and watching it try to eat figs.

Remote-controlled plane

In 2001 Roger Wallace was killed by a head on collision with his own radio-controlled plane.

Roger, from Arizona, lost sight of the 3kg machine in the sun and it crashed into his head at 40mph.

Killed in the throes of passion

Lovebirds Brent Tyler and Chelsea Tumbleston, both 21, tumbled 50ft from a roof-top in Columbia, South Carolina.... while caught in the throes of passion.

Their naked bodies were found on the road by a taxi driver in 2007.

Fatal four-play

Nigerian businessman and polygamist Uroko Onoja died after being forced by five of his six wives to have sex with each of them.

Onoja was caught having sex with his youngest wife by the remaining five, who were jealous of him paying her more attention.

They demanded that he also have sex with each of them, threatening him with knives and sticks.

He had intercourse with four of them in succession, but stopped breathing before having sex with the fifth.

Gone in a flash

Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed as he fell through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was burgling in Lompoc, California.

Death was caused when the long flashlight he had placed in his mouth to keep his hands free rammed into the base of his skull as he hit the floor.

Ecky-Slump

Alex Mitchell from King's Lynn, Norfolk, laughed so hard at the Ecky-Thump episode of hit BBC comedy The Goodies in 1975 that he died of a heart failure.

His widow later wrote to the show's stars to thank them for making her husband's last minutes so happy.

Splurger King

Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden ate himself to death in 1771 after gorging on a meal of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring and champagne, topped off with 14 servings of his favourite pudding.

Dying for a Wii

Jennifer Strange, 28, from Sacramento, California died of water intoxication while trying to win a Nintendo Wii console in a local radio station competition in 2007.

Called 'Hold Your Wee for a Wii' contestants had to drink as much water as possible without going to the loo.

Claws of Death

In Canada in 2013 a 25-year-old woman and a 40 year old man died when a flying black bear smashed through the windscreen of their SUV near Luskville, Quebec.

The bear had been hit by another vehicle, launching it into the air and landing on their vehicle.

Crocodile

(Image: Reuters)

In 2010 in the Democratic Republic of Congo 20 crew and passengers died in a plane crash when a crocodile being smuggled by a traveller in a sports bag, freed itself.

Panicked passengers all ran towards the flight deck and the tiny plane unbalanced and crashed.

One passenger and the crocodile survived.