Johnson died on August 16, 1938, at the age of 27, near Greenwood, Mississippi. He had been playing for a few weeks at a country dance in a town about 15 miles (24 km) from Greenwood. The cause of death is still unknown. There are differing accounts and theories about the events preceding his death. One story has Johnson flirting with a married woman at a dance, where she gave him a bottle of whiskey poisoned by her husband. Fellow blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson allegedly advised him never to drink from an opened bottle—according to Williamson, Johnson replied, "Don't ever knock a bottle out of my hand." Soon after, he was offered another poisoned bottle and accepted it. Johnson is reported to have begun feeling ill the evening after and had to be helped back to his room in the early morning hours. Over the next three days his condition steadily worsened and witnesses reported that he died in a convulsive state of severe pain.