Regarding A Case Of Suicide By Guillotine

[DeadButDreaming]

On Mr Ballen's youtube channel is a video called 'You will never guess what was hidden in this home'. It tells the story of a man who CTB via guillotine.

Rather than face the blade while awake, he took a large number of sleeping pills and positioned himself so his neck was under the blade. The falling of the blade was triggered by a timer.

What interests me is whether the decapitation would have woken him, or his head at least. I know conciousness continues for a fair time after the decapitation, I'm guessing for 20 or so seconds afterward. I would have thought the blow of the heavy blade would be enough to render a person unconscious, but apparently this isn't always so. One of the reasons why the guillotine got abolished as a form of capital punishment is an experiment that was done with the recently severed head of a guillotine victim. Commands were given to the severed head (look right, look up, etc.) and the head (the person?!) obeyed.

I don't know how strong the pills were, but what do you think: would someone be awoken by the head being severed?

 

[locked*n*loaded]

I know conciousness continues for a fair time after the decapitation

How do you know this?

 

[everlastinghistory]

How do you know this?

I know this post is old but I find it while searching for something and wanted to respond.

This is actually a myth. It's scientifically impossible to remain conscious after beheading for more than a few milliseconds, and even then: Your brain can't process the pain or anything like that.

My theory is that people way back in the day were told consciousness lasted afterwards to scare them away even more from committing actions that could lead to executions. It's probably just something that people kept telling their kids and then when the internet finally came around it spread even more.

 

[Aisley]

I know this post is old but I find it while searching for something and wanted to respond.

This is actually a myth. It's scientifically impossible to remain conscious after beheading for more than a few milliseconds, and even then: Your brain can't process the pain or anything like that.

My theory is that people way back in the day were told consciousness lasted afterwards to scare them away even more from committing actions that could lead to executions. It's probably just something that people kept telling their kids and then when the internet finally came around it spread even more.

There are vids of heads, and the eyes looking around after decapitation. Can't concretely link nerve actions to consiousness, but people do.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

I know this post is old but I find it while searching for something and wanted to respond.

This is actually a myth. It's scientifically impossible to remain conscious after beheading for more than a few milliseconds, and even then: Your brain can't process the pain or anything like that.

My theory is that people way back in the day were told consciousness lasted afterwards to scare them away even more from committing actions that could lead to executions. It's probably just something that people kept telling their kids and then when the internet finally came around it spread even more.

I have no idea and was just questioning the poster's claim. In reality, unless someone actually experienced having their head chopped off, there really is no way to know what someone feels and for how long afterwards. I do understand that cells still have interaction with blood, even when new blood flow is suddenly disrupted. Also, thinking about another scenario, maybe not entirely related, but interesting nonetheless, chickens will continue to run around headless for quite some time after their heads are chopped off. Same is true of snakes that have their heads chopped off - the rest of their bodies are still able to slither. It's definitely an interesting topic.