How to Die Down East

50 Ways (From Silly to Serious) to Kick the Bucket in Maine

Maine is certainly an exciting place, with a plethora of outdoor activities to pursue. It’s also generally a safe place and most of those activities can be done by those with little to no experience. Don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security however, there are numerous ways to perish in Maine’s outdoors. Now, renowned wilderness medicine expert and storyteller Buck Tilton casts his glance on these dangers.
Tongue planted firmly in cheek, Tilton takes a humorous look at just how you might die in Maine, and what he finds runs the gamut from downright deadly to uncomfortable, but unlikely to kill, to just plain silly. Some of nature’s methods are distinctly possible without proper precautions, from rogue waves to rip currents to great white sharks. Others amount to simply wishing you were dead, like stepping on a sea urchin. And others cross the boundary into the nonsensical, such as being singled out by Sasquatch.
Broken into sections depending on severity and likeliness of actually dying, all the entries are told with a storyteller’s ear for humor and whimsy. Many are illustrated in full color by Maine cartoonist David Jacobson