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The Court Jester Whose Wit Saved His Life

How a court jester slapped the king's butt, then brilliantly convinced him not to kill him Triboulet served as court jester under King Francis I, who ruled France from 1515 to 1547 . Triboulet's quick humor rescued him from Francis I's deadly wrath, not once, but twice. Court jesters hold a unique place in history. Playing the fool for kings and queens meant they were always in close proximity to royalty, but so very far from their rank and station. Comedians often like to push boundaries, but that can be a dangerous business when your job is to entertain the peope who have executioners at their beck and call. Especially when you forget your place—or purposely ignore it, as the case may be—and playfully smack the reigning monarch square on the behind. That little whoopsie was the claim to fame of Triboulet, a court jester who served King Francis I in 16th-century France. But it was how he got away with slapping the king on the butt and living to tell about it that earne...
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Strange Death one of the most compelling unsolved mysteries

This Strange Death is one of the most compelling unsolved mysteries


Another great mystery from Japan. In the evening of February 24th 1989, a 26 year old sales manager for a company associated with the Fukushima Nuclear plant just finished having a conversation with his father. It was nothing out of the ordinary he just told his father that he was heading to town to collect some stuff, only to be never seen alive again.

Now just a few days later In Miyakoji village Tamura district, Japan, a 23-year-old elementary school teacher just ended her day. It was winter and the weather was cold. The teacher briskly walked back to her dormitory not far away from the school. She stayed in a single room with an attached toilet in each room.


As she went to relieve herself in the toilet she spotted a shoe half way between her squatting toilet and the septic tank below. Bewildered by the shoe she followed the pipe to the septic tank outside and removed the covering only to discover the body of man in the foetal position in the tank. The man in the tank was barefoot and topless with his t-shirt folded neatly on his chest.

The young man was no other then 26 year old sale manager Naoyuki Kanno who was reported missing by his father a few weeks earlier. When the coroner examined the deceased mans body they discovered only minor scrapes on his knees and that he died from hypothermia. With this information the police quickly declared the incident as an accidental death, after Naoyuki was trying to peep girls using the toilet.


This conclusion only served to infuriate Naoyuki friends and family who said that he was of great character and very well known and liked in his town. Even people of upstanding character can turn out to be bad, but this mystery deepens.


The septic pipe has a symmetrical design and a diameter of 14 inches. One end was located outdoors while the other was the toilet. The indoor toilet was installed with a squatting pan with an opening of only 8 inches. So one can only enter through the outdoor opening. The height of Naoyuki was 5 feet 7 inches. with a shoulder span of 16 inches. The diameter of the septic opening was only 14 inches. Therefore, impossible to get inside the pipe by himself and achieve the posture he was found in. Also the police had a very difficult time getting him out, they had to rip up a section of the pipe and removed part of the septic tank and toilet to get him out.


Later, Naoyuki ’s father used the cut-out septic pipe to re-enact the crime scene. He realized that with or without clothing, there’s no way to get in the pipe. Assuming that Naoyuki was really desperate to peep the women, how would he not know that it was impossible to get in the pipe, much less to come out unscathed? Also, who in their right mind would want to get in a septic pipe and submerge in faeces? The smell would have been unbearable and it seems like a lot of extra steps to just peep on women going to the toilet.


In February, it was still freezingly cold in Fukushima. It’s even colder in a wet and sludgy septic pipe. Moreover, the snow was 8 inches thick on the day of Naoyuki ’s death. Not only was Naoyuki found topless in such cold weather, what was even more peculiar was that he was holding his neatly folded t-shirt in his hands.

Naoyuki was found barefoot. Police searched through the septic pipe and found only one shoe. This shoe was later confirmed to belong to Naoyuki. The shoe was found near the head position, which is what the teacher saw at the beginning.

There was only one shoe on the scene. The police did manage to find the other shoe on the riverbed which was quite a distance away from the crime scene. Why did these two shoes appear in different places so far apart?

The timeline for me doesn't add up. February 24th happened to be the funeral of Japan Emperor Showa. So for those few days it was Japan’s national memorial day and everyone’s was on holidays. The teacher had taken leave from February 24th to 27th and went back hometown. It believed Naoyuki went into the septic tank on the 24th, so why get into a septic tank knowing no one was going to be using it for a few days.

Police also found Naoyuki ’s car near the crime scene. The car was parked in the lot near the dormitory. The car key was in the key hole and the door wasn’t locked. It seemed like he didn’t plan to park there for long.


A month before Naoyuki ’s death, there was an incident in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. A welded joint in a circulating pump of reactor number 3 gave way, causing a massive amount of metal fragments leakage. Eventually, the reactor number 3 was shut down. The person in charge of this reactor was a colleague of Naoyuki. He committed suicide soon after.

Naoyuki and the teacher who found his body knew each other. Naoyuki had became acquainted with the teacher through her boyfriend when the teacher started getting menacing phone calls. Naoyuki and the boyfriend helped record the calls and handed the tape to the police. He even assisted in the investigation of the phone harassment. They seemed to be well acquainted and would have known her schedule.

Was this a case of accidental death caused by deviant behaviour or is there something else amiss.

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