 |
The alt.suicide.holiday (a.s.h) FAQ
The following is the last update of the first real ash faq which
was first written by falcon in 1995. It has been superseded by
a major rewrite in 1999. Some of the questions which exist in falcon's
faq were deleted in the later revision. This version is still
kept for historical purposes.
Information in this FAQ comes from falcon, the Suicide FAQ, (written
by Graham Stoney)
and various sources from a.s.h itself.
Excerpts from the Suicide
FAQ are copied with explicit permission of Graham Stoney. This FAQ is
currently maintained by
rapids@nym.alias.net.
1.0 What is a.s.h? (and are you people for-real?) 1.1 Why the heck do people want to talk about suicide? 1.2 I don't like the group, can't you all just go away? 1.3 I just wanna die. What's the most painless and easy way?
2 Psychological Issues
2.1 So why *do* people commit suicide? (or want to?) 2.2 Whats the difference between a 'suicide' and an 'attempt'? 2.3 Aren't all suicide people crazy? 2.4 Doesn't talking about suicide encourage it? 2.5 So what sort of things can contribute to someone feeling suicidal? 2.6 What about those left behind?
3 Legal Issues
3.1 But isn't it illegal? Doesn't that stop people? 3.2 If it's not illegal, aren't people free to kill themselves if they want to? What about their rights?
4 Posting and reading a.s.h
4.1 What *shouldn't* I post to a.s.h? 4.2 Why such posts are pointless... 4.3 Is it safe to post to a.s.h? 4.4 Can I post anonymously? 4.5 Should I post anonymously? 4.6 Are there other ways to read/post to a.s.h?
5 Other Sources
5.1 Are there other online forums about suicide? 5.1.1 Newsgroups 5.1.2 Irc channels 5.1.3 Mailing lists 5.2 Whats the methods file? 5.3 Whats the ash WWW site? And whats in it? 5.4 What books are related to a.s.h and/or suicide? 5.5 What other online information is available?
6 Miscellaneous
6.1 Have any famous people committed suicide? 6.2 Do lemmings commit suicide?
1 INTRODUCTION
1.0 What is a.s.h? (and are you people for-real?)
a.s.h, is the common abbreviation for alt.suicide.holiday. It is one of the many usenet news groups, where people can talk about a particular topic.
It was set up in late 1987/early 1988 to discuss why suicides increased during the holiday seasons. This topic however, quickly ran thin and people began to post dark humour, poetry, and to discuss suicide from all angles.
Most people find a.s.h a good place to swap ideas and feelings, and the majority find some support in the fact others are going through feelings similar to their own.
And yes, we are for-real....
To the newcomer to the group, it may seem a little out of the ordinary,
that people talk day in, day out, about death and killing themselves.
But remember, this isn't the outside world, but it does deal with it.
It also differs heavily from the other Usenet news groups....
Feel free to post and read, but please read this FAQ first, and come with
an open-mind.
1.1 Why the heck do people want to talk about suicide?
Basically, suicide is a fact of life. It happens. Life is by no means perfect and a lot of people have numerous reasons to kill themselves.
The 'net offers a huge deal of anonymity. And some people may fear discussing the topic with people they know 'in the flesh', or they fear discussing it as they may lose their jobs, benefits, or be referred for 'help'.
a.s.h can basically be viewed as a very large, worldwide support platform where people can go and rant, receive advice or simply talk. With little fear of recrimination.
If you want to see what people think of a.s.h and the ashWWW, go to the ashWWW and view the guestbook...
1.2 I don't like the group, can't you all just go away?
Suicide has traditionally been a taboo topic in our society, which has led to further alienation and only made the problem worse. Even after their deaths, suicide victims have often been alienated by not being buried near other people in the cemetery, as though they had committed some utterly unforgivable sin.
We could go a long way to reducing our suicide rate by accepting people as they are, removing the social taboo on talking about feeling suicidal, and telling people that it _is_ OK to feel so bad that you'd think about suicide. A person simply talking about how they feel greatly reduces their distress; they also begin to see other options, and are much less likely to attempt suicide.
a.s.h, a.s and a.s.f have been around for some time now. They help. If you don't like the group, no-one forces you to read it!
1.3 I just wanna die. What's the most painless and easy way?
No-one knows.!
If someone kills themselves, and it was painless, we can hardly ask can we?
It's doubtful wether people video themselves in the act for others to view either.
And if someone fails in a suicide bid, then chances are they will experience
pain (be it physical or mental) afterwards.
2 PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES
2.1 So why *do* people commit suicide? (or want to?)
People often attempt suicide to block unbearable emotional pain, which is caused by a wide variety of problems. It is sometimes a cry for help. A person attempting suicide is often so distressed that they are unable to see that they have other options: we can help prevent a tragedy by endeavoring to understand how they feel and helping them to look for better choices that they could make. Suicidal people often feel terribly isolated; because of their distress, they may not think of anyone they can turn to, furthering this isolation.
You must of course remember, that as well as possibly being a cry for help, a lot of suicides are not. If people truly want to die, more often than not, they will methodically plan their own demise and carry it out.
Others, simply do not want to live. Not for reasons of pain, suffering etc,
but simply because they are tired of life.
2.2 Whats the difference between a 'suicide' and an 'attempt'?
There is a very obvious difference, but it covers a few 'grey' areas. A suicide is when a person *has* killed themselves. An attempted suicide is where a person has tried, and failed.
Most people are ready to put the 'attempters' aside and believe that it was a cry for help. But remember, some times the attempts were actual tries to die, and either went wrong, or the people were found in the attempt.
A lot of people find that waking up in hospital, after thinking you were
dead, is more harrowing than living.
2.3 Aren't all suicidal people crazy?
No, being suicidal does not imply that you are crazy. Acutely distressed perhaps, but not crazy.
As Appleby and Condonis[1] write:
The majority of individuals who commit suicide do not have a diagnosabl mental illness. They are people just like you and I who at a particular time are feeling isolated, desperately unhappy and alone. Suicidal thoughts and actions may be the result of life's stresses and losses that the individual feels they just can't cope with.
The idea that suicide is usually due to mental illness is a myth which unfortunately tends to perpetuate the problem, particularly in our society where there is much stigma and ignorance regarding mental illness. A person who feels suicidal may fear that other people will think they are "crazy" if they tell them how they feel, and be reluctant to reach out for help in a crisis. Which is why a large number of them turn to a.s.h.
On the other hand, people who are suffering from a mental illness such as
schizophrenia do have much higher suicide rates, although they are still in the
minority of attemptors. For these people, having their illness correctly
diagnosed can mean that an appropriate treatment can begin.
2.4 Doesn't talking about suicide encourage it?
No, talking about the feelings surrounding suicide promotes understanding and can greatly reduce the immediate distress of a suicidal person. In particular, it is OK to ask someone if they are considering suicide, if you suspect that they are not coping. If they are feeling suicidal, it can come as a great relief to see that someone else has some idea how they feel.
This can be a difficult question to ask, so here are some possible approaches:
"Are you feeling so bad that you're considering suicide?"
"That sounds like an awful lot for one person to take; has it made you think
about killing yourself?"
"Has all that pain you're going through made you think about hurting yourself?"
Talking exclusively about how to commit suicide can give ideas to people who
feel suicidal, but haven't thought about how they'd do it yet. Media reports
that concentrate solely on the method used and ignore the emotional backdrop
behind it can tend to encourage copycat suicides.
2.5 So what sort of things can contribute to someone feeling suicidal?
People can usually cope with isolated stressful or traumatic events and experiences reasonably well, but when there is an accumulation of such events over an extended period, our normal coping strategies can be pushed to the limit.
Risk factors that can contribute to people feeling suicidal include:
- Significant changes in:
- Relationships.
- Well-being of self or family member.
- Body image.
- Job, school, university, house, locality.
- Financial situation.
- World environment.
- Significant losses:
- Death of a loved one.
- Loss of a valued relationship.
- Loss of self esteem or personal expectations.
- Loss of employment.
- Perceived abuse:
- Physical.
- Emotional/Psychological.
- Sexual.
- Social.
- Neglect.
2.6 What about those left behind?
Suicide is often extremely traumatic for the friends and family members that remain. In addition to the feelings of grief normally associated with a person's death, there may be guilt, anger, resentment, remorse, confusion and great distress over unresolved issues. Anyone burdened with unresolved feelings and issues because someone they were close to has suicided should seek some form of counselling or other appropriate help to ease the burden and help resolve their feelings. The stigma surrounding suicide can make it extremely difficult for survivors to deal with their grief and can cause them also to feel terribly isolated.
Survivors often find that people relate differently to them after the suicide, and may be very reluctant to talk about what has happened for fear of condemnation. They often feel like a failure because someone they cared so much about has chosen to suicide, and may also be fearful of forming any new relationships because of the intense pain they have experienced through the relationship with the person who has suicided.
People who have experienced the suicide of someone they cared deeply about can benefit from "survivor groups", where they can relate to people who have been through a similar experience, and know they will be accepted without being judged or condemned. Most counselling services should be able to refer people to groups in their local area.
3 LEGAL ISSUES
3.1 But isn't it illegal? Doesn't that stop people?
Whether it is legal or not makes no difference to someone who is in such distress that they are trying to kill themselves. You can't legislate against emotional pain so making it illegal doesn't stop people in distress from feeling suicidal. It is likely to merely isolate them further, particularly since the vast majority of attempts are unsuccessful, leaving the attemptor in a worse state than before if they're now a criminal as well. In some countries and states it is still illegal, in other places it's not.What legislation does manage to do is deter people from helping others to commit suicide. Such help could cause them to be charged of murder.
Helping people to deal with their problems better, see their options more clearly, make better choices for themselves and avoid choices that they would regret empowers people with their rights; it does not take their rights away. Ultimately, it is the person's own responsibility what they choose to do.
Morally, there are numerous questions.
Everyone has the human right to *life*, but few people are comfortable with
the idea of letting people have the right to *die*.
What about the families and people left behind?
Do they have a right to keep you alive?
It is these kind of questions that give people more torment than they had
in the first place.
But, it is your life. You choose your career, your partner. You had no say in being born, but you have a say in dying.
4 POSTING TO A.S.H
4.1 What *shouldn't* I post to a.s.h?
DON'T post things like :
- 'Don't do it!'
- 'God will never accept you into heaven'
- 'You're all losers'
- 'You're all wacked out sickos'
Basically, use your common sense. Don't come on and flame or spam, as now,
people are getting used to having peoples net access revoked, even from the
other side of the planet......
You're alot better off looking before you leap as it were....
Read for awhile before you jump in....just so you know what to expect....
So, if you're thinking of advertising, go away.... :)
We also admire some peoples willingness to say 'life is not worth giving up'.
But you're preaching to the wrong audience. If you must go on a crusade,
please do it somewhere else.
4.2 Why such posts are pointless...
There are a lot of reasons these sorts of posts are pointless. These are :
- People will no doubt ignore you, or think you are a do-gooder/nutcase
- You are wasting your time and everyone elses
- Some people pay for downloads of news and dont want to read it!
- You can offend people, and in doing so, may get reprisals.
- The net may be an anarchy...but as such, the justice can be rough.
- You may get a reply and find out how intelligent people can be..... :)
4.3 Is it safe to post to a.s.h?
99% of the time, yes.
It is a fact however, that there *may* be a risk your posts are monitored
or archived.
Postings are basically e-mail. When you send it, it is relayed through
numerous computers so everyone can read it.
Some machines, in particular government ones, monitor posts. A good example was a net gateway machine on the Russion border. Peoples posts were monitored for words like 'kill, bomb, president, drugs' etc. EVERY post with a flagged word was sent to a human operator to be checked. Hackers of the time simply placed a block of suspect words at the end of the mail so that hundreds of thousands of mails would get sent to the poor operator, and more often than not, get ignored.
Some machines archive usenet posts. The most well known of them is dejanews. This machine archives all posts (except ones which contain an explicit request not to be archived). Anyone can then search dejanews for all the articles you posted in the past.
There are two main sources of danger from posting to ash. In the short term somebody may act upon something you posted.
For example, collage friends of one poster found out about her posts. The collage got involved in what developed into quite an embarrassing situation...
There is also one rumoured incident of someone having their children taken into custody as he was suicidal, but this is uncomfirmed..... You are much more likely to be snooped upon by YOUR sysadmin than anyone else.....
In the long term, people might try to search for your old posts
in an archiver like dejanews. This could be an employer trying
to check you out before hiring you.
4.4 Can I post anonymously?
With e-mail, unless you are a hacker, your name and site are sent along with
your mail.
However, some sites allow you to 'remove' your identity from the mail.
You send your mail, with instructions on where it is to be sent to a 'remailer' which then strips your name off the mail, and sends it to its destination with a new 'anonymous' identity.
Logs ARE kept of who is who, so that people can reply to you. The theory was that no-one could find out who someone was, but alas, even this has been proved false. The anonymous remailer in Finland (which is now closed) had its files ordered open so that one individual (not from a.s.h) could be located. The odds on this happening to you however, are millions to one. Furthermore, in some remailers even the site administrators are not able to find out the real name of the poster; however, these remailers are more difficult to use.
For more information on anonymous posting try the following urls:
Anonymity and privacy on the Internet
http://www.stack.nl/~galactus/remailers/
Anonymous Remailer FAQ
http://www.well.com/user/abacard/remail.html
4.5 Should I post anonymously?
Setting up for usage of an anonymous remailer is a hassle,
but that is the only negative aspect. Nobody will mind you using
an anonymous name, especially on a newsgroup like ash.
Not everybody on ash really has a reason to go anonymous, but
you should try to query dejanews for all the articles you have posted.
It might give you quite a scare.
4.6 Are there other ways to read/post to a.s.h?
If your site does not carry a.s.h, there are other ways to read and post news to it. There are public NNTP servers which provide usenet service for anybody willing to connect to it. You might have to configure your news reader to use the public server. The disadvantage of public NNTP servers is that they might be very slow. Try to find a server near you. Lists of public NNTP servers can be found at http://www.jammed.com/~newzbot/ . If your web browser can read news, you can probably read news directly from this page.
For read only access, there is a gopher site which carries many usenet groups including a.s.h . The url is gopher://services.canberra.edu.au:4320
dejanews is a service for searching past posts of many newsgroups including a.s.h . It is updated daily and can be used, for example, to retrieve entire threads, or all articles posted by a particular author. The dejanews service is at http://www.dejanews.com/
The drawback of dejanews (which is also one of dejanews nice attributes) is that not all posts are archived. If you do not want your posts to be archived at dejanews, add the following line as the first line of your post:
x-no-archive: yes
If your newsreader lets you specify headers which will automatically be added to all your posts then it is preferable.
The "How to Receive Banned Newsgroups FAQ" at http://www.braxi.com/zatar/banned.html is a good source for the various ways to read newsgroups which are not on your local site. However, it is quite outdated. The previous URLs mentioned in this section give pointers to more updated information on each of the specific methods which are introduced in the banned newsgroups FAQ.
5 OTHER SOURCES
5.1 - Are there other online forums about suicide?
5.1.1 - Newsgroups
There most closely related group to ash is called alt.support.depression. As suicide is associated with depression, you may find some topics there are similar to a.s.h. Depression, on this group, is regarded as a mental illness (this fits psychiatric terminology). It tends to lean more towards therapy, in most cases with drugs. It is a conventional support group where people seek for the traditional solutions for depression.Some posters on a.s.h also read and post on a.s.d. however, it is quite different from a.s.h - where suicide is not necessarily considered a bad thing. Posts which might be considered helpful on a.s.d might be flamed on a.s.h since we are not seeking to be "cured" neither from depression nor from suicidal tendencies.
There are two other groups closely related to a.s.h. These are alt.suicide and alt.suicide.finals but you may find your server doesnt carry them. alt.suicide was the forerunner to a.s.h, but most people began to use a.s.h instead of a.s. From then on, few, if any posts have been made to a.s . alt.suicide.finals is a new group, set up for similar reasons to a.s.h, but to discuss why suicides occur or increase during final examination times. (Particularly degrees, A levels etc). This group carries little if any traffic until final examinations occur.
Also, some ISP's carry a group called alc.suicide but odds are your server doesn't....
This is not related to alt.suicide or a.s.h, but apparently carries some
similar material.
alt.angst and alt.life.sucks are also good places to look for peoples views on life, or what is troubling them in their lives.
The alt.support.grief group looks at the other side of the coin. It is a place for people to discuss and work on their feelings about the grief they feel over the death of someone who ment something to them. There are similarities to a.s.h and a.s.d, however, a.s.g is much "quieter" as people on a.s.g are very "respectfull" of the grief those around them might be going through.
There are numerous alt.support.* groups available for other topics.
5.1.2 Irc channels
Information on #ash (somewhat outdated) is at http://www.xanthia.com/ash/ircnow.html
Also, various IRC networks have a channel called #suicide, however, most of these channels are for traditional support.
The ash-l mailing list (once named lemminglounge) is a mailing list similar to ash, but with less noise, trollers, do-gooders, etc.
To subscribe, send the command "subscribe ash-l" to Majordomo@hollyfeld.org.
To subscribe to the digest, send the command "subscribe ash-l-digest" to Majordomo@hollyfeld.org.
For more help on using majordomo, send the command "help" to 'Majordomo@hollyfeld.org'.
Note that commands are sent by putting them in the message body (and not in the "subject:" field).
For more details, the ash-l web page is at
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Lagoon/5562/
5.2 Whats the methods file?
Since a.s.h began, a topic of conversation has been 'How many ways are there to kill yourself?'.
This has ranged from humourous to serious to downright silly.
However, all the answers to this question have been saved, silly or serious,
and the methods file was born.
It should not be viewed as a manual to suicide, nor something that
is promoting it, but simply a post from alt.suicide.holiday which has become ingrained into a.s.h
The file is available from a link in the ash WWW site.
Or from ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/alt/suicide/holiday/
Or you can get an HTML version
at http://www.minet.uni-jena.de/~erik/ash/ash.html.
5.3 Whats the ash WWW site? and whats in it?
WWW is now a very large chunk of the internet.
There is a set of WWW
pages with a.s.h related information.
The URL for the a.s.h WWW site is :
http://www.xanthia.com/ash/
The site carries poetry, the FAQ's,
the methods file, information on people
from ash, suicide notes, contact info, lyrics, information and contacts,
links to other suicide pages on the net, and more.
5.4 What books are related to a.s.h and/or suicide?
This list of books was taken from the methods file.
(This section is being reorganized.
If you have read any of these please tell me about it.
I would like to actually know what each book is about.
I might delete reference to books for which I can find
bibliographies.)
Suicide methods
"Final Exit - The Practicalities of Self-Deliverence and
Assisted Suicide of the Dying" Derek Humphry
The most important and well known source for
suicide methods. It also contains other legal, moral and
practical information about ending ones life in case of
a terminally illness. (More information is at
http://www.FinalExit.org/)
"A Guide To Self-Deliverance" EXIT (Britain)
EXIT is an English euthanasia group. The book provides
information about how to end ones life. In 1983 the
book's distribution was banned in England.
Euthanasia
"Let Me Die Before I Wake" Derek Humphry
"Suicide, Mode d'Emploi" Claude Guillon, Yves Le Bonniec
"Zorg jij dak ik niet meer wakker word?" Klazien Sybrandy, Rob Bakker
"How To Die With Dignity" George B Mair, EXIT (Scottish)
"Autodeliverance" Michel L Landa
"Justifiable Euthanasia" Pieter V Admiraal
"First You Cry" Betty Rollin
"Last Wish" Betty Rollin
"Death of a Man" Lael Wertenberger
"Jean's Way" Derek Humphry
"The Savage God: A Study of Suicide" A Alvarez
"Double Exit" Ann Wickett
"Voluntary Euthanasia: A Comprehensive Bibliography" G Johnson (Hemlock)
"The Woman Said Yes" Jessamyn West
"The Bell Jar" Sylvia Plath
"Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products" Williams & Wilkins Company
"Suicide: The Gamble with Death" Gene & David Lester
"Crisis Intervention in the Community" Richard K McGee
"Wanting to Die" Anne Sexton
"Bitter Fame" (bio about) Sylvia Plath (author is) Anne Stevenson
"Letters Home" (bio about) Sylvia Plath (author is) Aurelia S Plath
"Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones & his People" Dutton
"Essays in Self-Destruction" (ed) Edwin S Shneidman
"Suicide: A Study in Sociology" Emile Durkheim
"Suicide and Attempted Suicide" Erwin Stengel
"Endangered Hope: Experiences in Psychiatric Aftercare Facilities" David K Reynolds,Norman L Farberow
"Death Wishes? The Understanding & Managment of Deliberate Self Harm" H G Morgan
"The Final Months: a Study of the Lives of 134 Persons who Committed Suicide" Eli Robins
"Suicide: Inside and Out" David K Reynolds, Normal L Farberow
"Attempted Suicide: A Practical Guide to its Nature and Management" Keith Hawton, Jose Catalan
"The Negative Scream: A Story of Young People Who Took an Overdose" Sally O'Brien
"Caring for the Suicidal" John Eldrid
"The Samaritans: to help those tempted to suicide or despair" Chad Varah
"Mishima: A Biography" John Nathan
"Self-Mutilation: Theory, Research, and Treatment" Barent W Walsh, Paul M Rosen
"Defeating Depression: a Guide for Depressed People and Their Familes" C A H Watts
"Depression: The Way Out of Your Prison" Dorothy Rowe
"The Oxford Book of Death" D J Enright
5.5 What other online information is available?
The latest version of the Suicide FAQ by Graham Stoney is at
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/suicide/info
The Suicide FAQ is also accompanied by a brief list of Internet and International Crisis Resources. The latest version is at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/suicide/resources
A hypertext version of the alt.support.depression faq is available at http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/ alt-support-depression/top.html
The Samaritans are also now on the net at http://www.compulink.co.uk/~careware/samaritans/. Their goal is to help people in distress, by phone or email. One of their guidelines is that a caller does not lose the freedom to make their own decisions, including the decision to take their own life, and is free to break contact at any time.
The February 1996 online version of Primary Psychiatry (http://www.primepsych.com/296index.html) is devoted to suicide. Primary Psychiatry is a journal dealing with applied psychiatric medicine. Other issues also might be of interest; the home page is at http://www.primepsych.com/. This issue includes an algorithm for the treatment and evaluation of suicidal patients, an article about the neurobiology of suicidal behavior, and detailed analysis of two suicidal patients.
ERGO's Euthanasia world directory ( http://www.FinalExit.org/) contains a wealth of information. Including lists of euthanasia organizations world wide, books and movies about suicide, information about Derek Humphry, Dr. Jack Kevorkian and much much more. ERGO stands for Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization; Derek Humphry is its president.
Deathnet (http://www.islandnet.com/~deathnet/open.html) is an international archive specializing in all aspects of death and dying. Works in collaberation with ERGO. Tons of links.
An organization (if you can call them that) called The Church Of Euthanasia, http://www.paranoia.com, believes the world will be saved if people stop breeding, eat eachother or kill themselves.....Not exactly linked to a.s.h, but some topics are in fact worth a look....
6 MISCELLANEOUS
6.1 Have any famous people committed suicide?
Kurt Cobain, 1967-1994, lead singer of Nirvana. gunshot to the head. http://www.addict.com/issues/1.06/Cover_Story/Kurt_Cobain/index.html
Michael Hutchence, 1960-1997, lead singer of INXS. Hanging with a leather belt. http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9711/22/hutchence.dead/index.html
Alan Turing, 1912-1954, eminent computer scientist, cracked german code "Enigma" in world war two, homosexual. cyanide coated apple. http://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/~ahodges/Turing.html
Ernest M. Hemingway, 1899-1961, famous American writer, his brother, sister and father also killed themselves. Shotgun. http://rio.atlantic.net/~gagne/hem/hem.html
Margaux Hemingway, 1955-1996, American actress, oldest granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway. Klonopin overdose (a barbiturate). http://cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9608/20/hemingway.suicide/
George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Kodak. http://www.it.rit.edu/~gehouse/
Sylvia Plath, 1932-1963, American poet. Cooking gas. http://www.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/privat2/beckmann/public_html/plath.html
Virginia Woolf, 1882-1941, English writer. Filled her pockets with stones and drowned herself. http://www.aianet.or.jp/~orlando/VWW/vwlife.html
Bohumil Sole,?-1997, One of the inventors of the plastic explosive Semtex. Blew himself up in the bathhouse of a spa.
David Munrow, 1944-1976, English musician, wind instruments, early music (pre-baroque). Hanged himself in front of the window so his wife would see him dangling there when she came down to breakfast.
Politicians who committed suicide: http://home.intranet.org/~polygon/tpg/pldsu.html
Rulers in office and ex-rulers who committed suicide: http://www.ehu.es/~ziaorarr/00as-6.htm
Porn stars who committed suicide (from alt.sex.movies FAQ):
http://www.rame.net/faq/deadporn/
6.2 Do lemmings commit suicide?
No. This is a myth, originating in the 1958 Disney nature documentary "White Wilderness", which staged the suicide of lemmings. The truth is that explosions in population occasionally induce lemmings to migrate to other areas. In such a migration, some lemmings die by falling over cliffs or drowning in lakes or rivers, but these are not deliberate "suicide" attempts. They are accidental deaths resulting from the lemmings' venturing into unfamiliar territories and being crowded and pushed over dangerous ledges.
More information can be found at the urban legends reference pages, http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lemmings.htm
REFERENCES
1. "Hearing the cry: Suicide Prevention", Appleby and Condonis, 1990. ISBN 0-646-02395-0
