Suicide with determination

[danceswithcats]

No pills, razor blades, guns or such for this guy. First he heads off to the hardware store, buys the parts, and builds a guillotine (http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070912/UPDATE/709120468/1003/METRO), then gives it a personal test. It worked. Dayum.

[silenus]

All he had to do is walk into the right Texas bar and yell "Go, Horns!"

[Rick]

Actually I think go Sooners or Agies suck would work at least as well.

[KGS]

Talk about losing your head.

[Zebra]

Maybe he just really wanted to know if Cecil was right. (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_221a.html)

[Sage Rat]

This probably just shows how stupid most suicides are, while also illustrating why everyone should have access to a good and thorough method to do it. Bravo to this fellow. He probably was Dope material, going and researching the best and most certain method, and probably ran test cases with a turkey breast or something I'll bet. Though I feel a bit sorry that he had to do that for himself. That would be a rather grim job.

[Boyo Jim]

IIRC, there are a couple, possibly credible stories indicating consciousness may remain for some time after decapitation. They supposedly involved people saying they would blink, and then the severed head actually blinked. This guy wasted a valuable scientific opportunity.

[Snarky_Kong]

IIRC, there are a couple, possibly credible stories indicating consciousness may remain for some time after decapitation. They supposedly involved people saying they would blink, and then the severed head actually blinked. This guy wasted a valuable scientific opportunity.


The master speaks (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_262.html)

[Zebra]

Am I on everybody's ignore list?


Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

[Projammer]

I've always said that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing right.

[Little Nemo]

The most determined suicide I ever heard of was the guy who killed himself by drilling six holes in his head with a portable electric drill. At the time I read it I was thinking most people would have given up after drilling three or four holes and deciding to just take a bunch of sleeping pills.

[Captain_C]

That's no way to get ahead in life.




what?

[Paul in Qatar]

In Ellis' Social History of the Machine Gun he recounts the British soldier who served on the Frontier (of what is now Afghanistan). He had access to a wooden training model of a Vickers Gun.

Over a period of months he carved out the interior and made all the internal parts. It was rugged enough for one shot. Which was all he was after anyway.

[cmyk]

See? that's what happens when you shop at Home Despot.

[Kythereia]

The guy was able to build a working guillotine. He sounds like he was kinda cool.

And now I wish I knew more about him. :(

[danceswithcats]

The most determined suicide I ever heard of was the guy who killed himself by drilling six holes in his head with a portable electric drill. At the time I read it I was thinking most people would have given up after drilling three or four holes and deciding to just take a bunch of sleeping pills. Perhaps he was concerned about the potential for addiction.

[Chimera]

It's kind of curious that we haven't heard from Zebra in this thread.

:p

[blondebear]

How to lose 5(?) pounds of ugly fat.

[susan]

Seems like Cecil would have had something to say about this.

[cmyk]

he should have taken it even further by attaching a tag to his head that said, "If found, please return to..."

[Rick]

Am I on everybody's ignore list?


Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Did anyone hear something?

[IrreverentTone]

Seems like Cecil would have had something to say about this.

I'm terribly afraid that Cecil won't be advising us anymore (http://recipes.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Cecils_With_Tomato_Sauce_Recipe).

Man, I've got to get my ears cleaned. I swear I hear hoofbeats.

[jackelope]

The most determined suicide I ever heard of was the guy who killed himself by drilling six holes in his head with a portable electric drill.I'm still a bit shocked over the method chosen by Elliott Smith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Smith) in 2003: He stabbed himself through the heart.

TWICE.

Jesus. That's some determination.

(The Wikipedia page linked there indicates that there's at least some suggestion that it was homicide. This was news to me.)

[Yllaria]

That. Is the first geek suicide I've ever heard of.

[Regallag_The_Axe]

How to lose 5(?) pounds of ugly fat.
[Dr. Weird]I have to lose five more pounds! Or I'll never be pretty![/Dr. W]

More to the topic at hand: I'm imagining a Far Side comic with the caption "Determination is a good thing, but this is just ridiculous." Hee hee.
I am a bad person. Hee hee.

[Sock of Doom]

It was a "swing arm" guillotine. How exactly does that work? 'Cause right now, I'm just picturing a giant paper cutter.

[Mangetout]

I would imagine either:

-A big long arm with a heavy blade at the free end - sort of like a huge axe constrained to fall in the right place

or

- A big long arm with a weight at the free end, and a blade near the pivot, so as to use mechanical advantage to perform the cut.

I'm not sure which one would be the *best* choice.

[UntouchedTakeaway]

When I read about this on cnn.com, I *immediately* thought of this short by Richard ("Rocky Horror") O'Brien:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0169703/

Here's a YouTube link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ROF8iY78CR4


VCNJ~

[Hypno-Toad]

If you want it done right...

It's a DIY DOA

[Pithy Moniker]

You can do it. We can help.

[jackelope]

When I read about this on cnn.com, I *immediately* thought of this short by Richard ("Rocky Horror") O'Brien:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0169703/

Here's a YouTube link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ROF8iY78CR4I am SO GLAD you posted that! That movie was on TV when I was at a New Year's party in maybe 1988 or so. I saw enough of it to be enthralled, but had no idea what it was called or who made it. I never forgot it, though.

(I guess I could have done some Googling, but it never occurred to me, the question being older than Google.)

[UntouchedTakeaway]

It has always stuck with me, too. I just totally pictured that poor man doing the same methodical thing. Sad.

VCNJ~


I am SO GLAD you posted that! That movie was on TV when I was at a New Year's party in maybe 1988 or so. I saw enough of it to be enthralled, but had no idea what it was called or who made it. I never forgot it, though.

(I guess I could have done some Googling, but it never occurred to me, the question being older than Google.)

[Swampwolf]

I'm terribly afraid that Cecil won't be advising us anymore (http://recipes.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Cecils_With_Tomato_Sauce_Recipe).

Man, I've got to get my ears cleaned. I swear I hear hoofbeats.

Just goes to show how rare someone like Cecil really is.

[Elendil's Heir]

Jeez, I wish Zebra would drop by this thread.

[Zebra]

Is there anybody out there?


Can anyone hear me?


Hello?


Hello?

[Santo Rugger]

It has always stuck with me, too. I just totally pictured that poor man doing the same methodical thing. Sad.

VCNJ~

I first saw that clip when I was at a friend's 15th birthday party. We were watching "Faces of Death", or "Traces of Death", I forget which. It creeped me out more than any of the others, and once I saw the clip, I remembered exactly what it was. The twitching at the end is morbidly funny.

[side story]We were doing Dynasty shots that night (where you take a shot every time something predetermined happens). Every time somebody died, we had to take a shot. We decided to quit when a plane crashed, and 212 people died. [/ss]

[Rick]

When I read about this on cnn.com, I *immediately* thought of this short by Richard ("Rocky Horror") O'Brien:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0169703/

Here's a YouTube link:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ROF8iY78CR4


VCNJ~
Along the same line it seems that the terrorists in Iraq have a new secrect weapon (http://www.strategypage.com/humor/articles/military_jokes_20073291.asp)
I am not sure if our military can come up with an effective counter measure.

[Auntbeast]

I knew a morbidly obese man who committed suicide by slashing through the veins in his thighs....with a paring knife.

He was a chef, I know he had better (bigger?) knives than that.

[ryobserver]

There've been other cases of suicide with homemade guillotines, but I can't recall the particulars of any offhand.

A while back I saw photos (in a textbook, if you're wondering) of a suicide who had assembled a wood-and-rope structure to support a large hunting rifle at the head level of a man sitting down. He then put on a 3-piece suit and tie, tied a string to the rifle trigger, sat in an armchair facing the structure, and pulled the trigger. The result was actually pretty close to decapitation, only even messier.

Then there was a case report I once read of a man who had on two separate occasions attempted suicide by shooting himself in the heart with a crossbow. His aim was fine; he punctured his left ventricle both times. But both times the bolt remained in the wound and mostly stopped the bleeding, so doctors were able to save him (even though the second time he suffered a near-fatal reaction to the anesthesia, which was what the case report was actually about, believe it or not). I think Uncle Dirtnap just didn't want this guy. Not yet, anyway.

[cmyk]

I would imagine either:

-A big long arm with a heavy blade at the free end - sort of like a huge axe constrained to fall in the right place

or

- A big long arm with a weight at the free end, and a blade near the pivot, so as to use mechanical advantage to perform the cut.

I'm not sure which one would be the *best* choice.

Ugh. Head scissors.

[Don't fight the hypothetical]

Uncle Dirtnap
Uncle Dirtnap? That's a new one.