I believe Branwell also died standing up, leaning against his mantle while smoking a cigarette, just to prove that he could. I'll see if I can find where I read that...
I'm still getting over pupaphobia, actually. Ventriloquist puppets especially freak me out to this day. Puppets and crickets (Especially after reading Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead back-to-back really late at night).