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Subscribe to RSSBERLIN - A 65-year-old man thought to be sleeping while sitting upright on a Berlin underground train as it crisscrossed the German capital was actually dead, police said on Sunday.
"It's tragic," a Berlin police spokeswoman said. "We don't know how long he was sitting dead on the train nor do we know the exact cause of death yet. There are no indications of foul play. He seems to have died of natural causes."
The man was found in the U-8 underground train line that runs all night at the Weinmeisterstrasse station at 5:45 a.m. when a rail worker tried wake the man up by gently shaking him. Medics were called in but could only pronounce the man dead.
A preliminary investigation showed no indications of the man being murdered. A more detailed autopsy is planned for Monday.
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What a sad way to die. Alone on a train with no one you know beside you, with the long darkness of the night stretching outwards.Most of us are usually welcomed into this world with happy parents, filled with great expectations for a happy long life for us.But it is how we leave it, that is almost always not what we expect in the end.This man's last journey in life is over. His one into eternity has begun. May he be at peace.
Life is a journey... He arrived at his final destination on a subway. RIP
I'll say, 'God bless him' just to see a Solstice Head explode.
To quote Michael Greer: " I adore cheap sentiment".
Cheetah,
You can "God bless him" all you want, trust me, our heads won't explode.
Bye the way, pagans believe in divine beings also, they just believe in a bunch of them, instead of just one.
Wil he ever return, no he'll never return - and his fate is still unlearned.....
Oh Poor Charlie (or Klaus in this case)...... ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston, (in this case Berlin).....
Great thought Gumps!
GRUMPS, you have your cities confused! But it was funny anyway!!
What a sad way to go, sitting alone on a train. I doubt he had been dead very long, if he had the smell would have gotten people's attention. Rest in peace.
It's almost symbolic and, well, like a dream.... Berlin, by the way, is a very nice city - clean, inspiring architecture, museums, peaceful, safe-feeling and great public transportation.
Windancersong, are you stoned?!
Commonsense -- Berlin is a nice city, except for the graffiti and the dog poop all over the sidewalks.
We know not the day or hour...RIP.
moto87, What would make you think windancersong is stoned? Do you have to be stoned to be kind?
Reminds me of the skydiver in the Netherlands who was found a week after plunging to his death. In many ways we experience death all by ourselves sometimes surrounded by loved one's....sometimes alone.
Death is a meal best eaten alone.................
Windancersong,
"What a sad way to die. Alone on a train with no one you know beside you"
I can feel the pathos of what you are saying about dying alone, and that is why I gave you a vote, but when you think about it, everyone of us dies alone. Even if you are surrounded with family and friends while you are dying, you are still dying alone because it is you and you alone who are dying; not your family or your friends. Their lives will go on until it is their turn to die.
What are you on, Windancer???
Hey, Gumps #1.5
so close ???
Well Ken, you were so right about Feisty, I have to eat my hat this time.
This is a "ripe" one.
Cheetah said: "Well Ken, you were so right about Feisty, I have to eat my hat this time."
Eh???
Ken N, whatever the poor man's beliefs were, I hope he went to a better place and/or found peace.
Sooner or later we'll all find out; we're all going to the same place.
Go spam somewhere else!
This man had peace in his last momemt of life...he didn't cause any attention the moment he passed away. He was on his way to the next stop in life.
Very sad for the gentleman, but what is "cross-crossed?"
That would be what passes for good grammar and reporting at NBCNews.com... :-)
Sad, but on the lighter side, the tune that immediately jumped to mind was The Man Who Never Returned. "He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston...."
Yah that's it.
You're not alone. That tune immediately popped into the recesses of my memory when I read the article. Haven't thought of it for years -- now it'll be in my head for the remainder of the day. Darn!
Something of a bittersweet story, though. Sad to think of him "shuffling off this mortal coil" alone on a subway, but nice to think that his passing must have been peaceful. Pretty difficult for those left behind, though.
Put me in mind of the old Kingston Trio song 'Charley on the MTA'. You probably have to be from Boston to know that song about Charley who rides forever because he lacked a nickel and still haunts the Boston subways. I have to go look it up now, its been several decades.
Weekend at Bernie's part Two? European style.
Mikesfriend. Know it well and I'm not near Boston. "He may ride forever neath the streets of Boston".
Where is the Skulysquare station anyway? I rode the MTA last summer and didn't see it listed.
message deleted
Skollay square I think...don't know if it still exists...just a New Englander, not a Bostonian.
I remember the old story of 'Ed' where a woman sat alone with 'Ed' who was left alone with her from two friends saying "Good night, Ed!". The subway would go on for a short while with 'Ed' staring at her, when she move her position because of him staring at her, the train turned and he moved his head toward her direction, finally after a while of silent and him staring at her, she demanded him to stop and suddenly the train turned a corner and he fell over to show he's dead.
It's a shame he died alone, but at lease he died peacefully and that's what counts.
If this happened in Chicago, the man would have been picked clean of any valuables before anyone but the crooks noticed he was dead. If he wore nice clothes, he might have been found naked.
Weekend at Bernie's ending on a subway train.
I can't think of a more peaceful way to die. I would hope to go the same way, sleeping on a train on my way to another 'road less traveled'.
Gayle19- I agree with you, just sleeping and slipping away no pain, no suffering, not hooked up to machines. Shock for the family but a peaceful way to pass away. R.I.P. Condolences to his family.
If in USA he would have been picked clean.
I suspect that he missed his stop.
I wonder if he bought a round trip ticket?
Kingston Trio (Awaits German Translation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.T.A.#Overview
The song's lyrics tell of Charlie, a man who gets aboard an MTA subway car. Charlie can't get off the subway as he didn't bring enough money for the "exit fares" that had just been established to collect an increased fare without upgrading existing fare collection equipment.
The song goes on to say that every day Charlie's wife is able to hand him a sandwich (but not, for some reason, a nickel) "as the train comes rumbling through." It is probably best known for its catchy chorus:
After the third line of the chorus, in the natural break in the phrasing, audiences familiar with the song often call out "Poor Old Charlie!" or "What a pity!"
In the Kingston Trio recording, after the final chorus, the song's lead singer Nick Reynolds speaks the words: "Et tu, Charlie?", an echo of Julius Caesar's famous "Et tu, Brute?" ("You too, Brutus?")
http://www.mit.edu/~jdreed/t/charlie.html
Lyrics
Chorus:
Chorus:
...
Kingston Trio - M.T.A.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VMSGrY-IlU
Rise Up Singing: (Charlie on the) MTA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJaCwozK5zk
All Charlie had to do was spew some politically incorrect words and they would have thrown him off.
I guess he literally took the night train.....
At least he would have been a quiet passenger! Oh, that's not nice. RIP
This is the kind of incident had it happened on a New York subway,people around the world would be be saying that's typical.
They would have robbed him if it happened in NYC.
It's Scollay Square in Boston. The Scollay Square station no longer exists, and neither does Scollay Square, which is now Government Center. The Square had an interesting history and was famous for the Old Howard Theatre where decent and "indecent" burlesque shows were held, but, alas, it was closed down after the vice squad took picture with a hidden movie camera. We used to skip school every now and then to go to see some of shows usally done by hacks---worth the laughs.
Dying in your sleep is what most of us can only hope for when the time comes. He was at peace with himself while sleeping and probably without pain. Death is just the end of the full circle of life, he closed the circle quietly.
Agreed.For those who doubt,look in a critical care area at any big hospital.Denying death makes for very gross corpses
Weekend at Bernie's?
...Sind Sie Schwarzfahrer oder was???..Fahrkarte BITTE!!!
rip - thats the way i want to go ... away from all thugs - oh wait ... that cant happen in the usa ... they havent figured out how to exterminate thugs within a year or less , my luck will be on a public bus , robbed , stabbed ect ect ....
With due respect towards the dead man, there is no reason for this to be a headline story in North America.
Groucho, is that you? I knew you were not dead.
Advice: don't get on a subway car in Berlin, they will wrap you up and put you in the ground, even if you tell them you are still alive. Once someone there says they think you might be dead, it is almost impossible to get them to change their minds. It is a German thing...
My guess is that the guy was actually just asleep.