if you're overweight, can full suspension hanging decapitate you?

[marabellasol]

saw something saying that if overweight people try hanging, the rope is more likely to decapitate, i'm around 90kg - is there anyway to avoid this?

 

[Grav]

It depends on the size of the rope, the drop, and your weight. A thinner rope (wire being the thinnest) would cut through more than a 1" diameter rope and a drop from greater height would increase the chances of decapitation. You want enough drop to break the neck. There should be the old west drop height-weight charts out there, don't know if they're still accurate though.

 

[marabellasol]

It depends on the size of the rope, the drop, and your weight. A thinner rope (wire being the thinnest) would cut through more than a 1" diameter rope and a drop from greater height would increase the chances of decapitation. You want enough drop to break the neck. There should be the old west drop height-weight charts out there, don't know if they're still accurate though.

thank you 🩷, i'll try to find a much thicker rope then haha

 

[Grav]

There was a guy in the old west (Arizona I think) who ended up sitting in jail so long he put on a bunch of weight. When hanging time came his head popped off, it's in a written account. I think either this case or another one (have to check my books) the rope was wet/soaked for some reason and that contributed to the decapitation. If I'm remembering, there was a guy in the 80's that was going to be hung for the death penalty but he purposely gained a bunch of weight to claim "cruel and unusual" to stop it; can't remember how it turned out.

 

[marabellasol]

There was a guy in the old west (Arizona I think) who ended up sitting in jail so long he put on a bunch of weight. When hanging time came his head popped off, it's in a written account. I think either this case or another one (have to check my books) the rope was wet/soaked for some reason and that contributed to the decapitation. If I'm remembering, there was a guy in the 80's that was going to be hung for the death penalty but he purposely gained a bunch of weight to claim "cruel and unusual" to stop it; can't remember how it turned out.

i found a rope, https://www.ropeservicesuk.com/prod...17j7GQzTRr2mFZviGV-EzkAqiYwSWDkhoCkTMQAvD_BwE

do you think this would be sufficient enough? i haven't been able to find that height chart yet that you mentioned

 

[Hollowman]

If you're going for short drop (kicking a bucket/chair etc.) you don't need the chart.