It's pretty ironic, I think, that the father of tragedy died comedically.

He was killed by a tortoise that fell out of the sky.

I'll tell you the story.

The guy's name was Escalis.

He was a Greek playwright, the first to write tragedy, and he was sitting outside thinking

when a large bird mistook his bald head for a rock

and attempted to drop a tortoise on it to crack open the reptile shell.

Instead, it was Eskilas's skull that cracked and he died.

His life story could be considered tragic in the sense that tragedy often revolves around the

misfortune of a good person.

But I mean, come on, a falling tortoise.

That's kind of funny.

Maybe your sense of humor isn't as dark as mine, so here's the real kicker.

He was staying outside with only the sky above him, to avoid a prophecy.

The prophecy said he would be killed by a falling object.

This story might be a bit too good to be true.

It could easily be half true or not true at all, but if it is true,

I have an idea about what bird might have done it.

And we'll look at the evidence together today.

The story, as it's usually told, says an eagle dropped the tortoise on his head.

But many biologists and historians, and believe me, there are plenty of them who are into

this kind of thing, identifying the real animals and stories.

...