Death of Napoleon — Mystery Solved?

For those you not familiar with French history, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of St. Helena after his defeat at Waterloo. He subsequently died May 5, 1821.

There’s long been a bit of a mystery regarding the death of Napoleon. Rumors of arsenic poisoning, foul play and cancer have always abounded. A bit of a historical mystery and always a great source of discussion and speculation amongst historical minded folks (like your friendly Mysterious Earth crew).

Well, a team from the UT Southwestern Medical Center undertook a pretty rigorous analysis of all available information – autopsy records, historical records, etc. The culprit? Gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer was more likely at fault, Dr. Genta said. Other scholars have recently found that the plump emperor lost at least 20 pounds in the last six months of his life, a sign of gastric cancer. The autopsy descriptions show that Napoleon’s stomach was filled with a dark material that resembled coffee grounds, an indication of gastrointestinal bleeding that likely was the immediate cause of death, Dr. Genta said. The most important description was of a large, ulcerated lesion on his stomach, and a smaller ulcerated lesion in another part of his stomach that had penetrated the wall and reached the liver.

Apparently, the long standing mystery of Napoleon’s death has been solved. While this is not the type of subjects we usually cover, we found it pretty interesting.

Read the entire report on the investigation into Napoleon’s death.