It’s common to hear of someone dying of a broken heart, or being scared to death, common as in just kidding or pure jest…right? Well, maybe not.

According to an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, there have been cases documented of people actually dying from strong emotions.

Some of the examples include Roman emperor Nerva (A.D. 30-98), who died due to a fit of anger directed at some senator who offended him; a 13th century pope (Innocent IV) was said to have died of grief when his army was overthrown, and it was also told that some American patriots died of sheer happiness after finding out that General Cornwallis’s men had been defeated (more like creamed) at Yorktown.

G. L. Engel, author of the study, also gathered 170 recent accounts of death due to life disturbing events like the death of someone close, threat of injury or death, death upon reuniting with someone long lost, grief, death by mourning or on an anniversary, happy endings…etc.

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