All this talk of the American getting beheaded by the terrorists got me thinking. Wasn’t beheading supposed to be a more humane (!?!) method of execution than, say, hanging? Would you die more quickly from decapitation than hanging? After all, in Europe, at least, wasn’t it seen as more appropriate for the “better sort” of people (aristocrats/royalty) as opposed to members of the lower classes, who generally were hanged? I just wonder if you could really compare the pain differential between the two techniques without conducting a seance…
In this particular instance I don’t think that anyone would agree that 5 repeated blows to the neck is in any way a “humane” method of death.
Beheading by guillotine (sp) or by the Turkish sword were fast and very likely physically painless (or extremely short spurt of pain, if any). What was done to Berg was nothing of the sort. It was while he was struggling and held down, and the act took a goodly time, it was meant to be brutal and savage, and filmed to illicit specific responses from the audience (us, and the other types who may approve of this).
A good hanging broke the condemned’s neck at the bottom of the fall, they were not supposed to die of strangulation.
Done correctly, and that means not with the victim sitting on horseback while tethered to a tree branch by his neck, death by hanging comes pretty quick. My bet is that unconsciousness follows the fractured neck immediately (see the beheading link below).
Done correctly, beheading … has been discussed by The Master.
Done, *really *correctly, a beheading victim can suffer for at least, what, 20 seconds?
If you are beheaded, just hope they pull out a huge machete. I wouldn’t want them hacking or sawing away with a knife.
A quick decisive decaptition is much different than a decaptitation with a crude instrument.
All decapitations are not swift.
The idea of the “long-drop” hanging didn’t really gain prominence until the mid-19th century. Prior to that, hangings were ol’ fashioned strangulations—sometimes the condemned’s friends or kin would pull on his legs to hasten death. Of course, I wouldn’t call those ‘good’ hangings.
Wikipedia has an informative article on this.
I did not realize that the terrorists had beheaded him in that manner. Yuck! I am not sure if I actually want to see the video (I probably will not). This incident being in the news just brought back vague memories of history class, where my professor mentioned that beheading was generally reserved for nobility, while peasants were executed by other means which prolonged suffering. I also remember watching a History Channel show about the guillotine that mentioned that the device was heralded as a sign of progress and democratization, since all those executed would get the same (supposedly relatively painless) treatment.
Yes, unfortunately, this wasn’t done with nice effective instruments, but just a large hand-held knife 
I didn’t see this video, although i started to, and then I went “Why the hell do I want to do this???”
But to answer your question, it depends on how it is done. I DID see an absolutely horrifying video of a man whose through was cut in Serbia, supposedly, and they did something I’d never heard of before: they plunged the knife into the center of his neck from the side, and pulled the knife outward. I think this would be a horrible, but relatively efficient way to kill someone with a big knife.
It was remembering that video that made me realize how much i did NOT want to see Nick Berg die. The guy in that video was a complete mystery to me. Nick Berg isn’t.
Stoid it ain’t quite as scary to see someone efficiently slaughtered with a good big knife as it is to see someone poorly slaughtered with a good-sized kitchen knife. :blergh:
** Maybe you can help me, I watched the Berg video and I don’t think it’s real. I have a thread in IMHO about that.
I’ve seen the unedited video, and you’re right, you don’t.
Although its pretty blurry and shakey, Berg definitely lives for at least 15 to 20 seconds. It takes more like 45 seconds to finish the job. Its totally done with a ‘sawing’ action, there is never any attempt to swing the blade quickly.
How does say 30 seconds of excruciating pain/absolute terror in Berg’s case stack up against other forms of execution? Not a troll by the way, just a genuine question in the same vein as the OP.
Well it certainly depends on the executioner. In our state-sponsored events the naughty person’s involvement in the actual deed is brief.
Our hangings are engineered to provide immediate mental relief from the stresses of being on Death Row.
Our firing squads, well, they are supposed to aim for the heart so death is by exsanguination. I’d assume 4 .30 cal rounds would pretty much knock you out on impact, but I’m sure there are exceptions.
“The electric chair” is all over after 30 seconds. Usually. Again I’d assume consciousness is pretty much lost after 5-10 given the thoroughness of the cooking.
The gas chamber is absolutely awful. Doubly so as it is the victim who causes his own death by breathing.
Lethal injection, if it goes right, is relatively stress free–apart from knowing that you’re about to die painlessly…again, if it’s done right.
As you can see, while the intent is to provide a “humane” execution, stuff can go wrong and the reults are probably a lot worse than if we just dropped an anvil on the victim’s head when he wasn’t expecting it (and who would?) or maybe lopped off his head with an axe while he slept. but I think the anticipation of death is supposed to be an unwritten part of the punishment.
I find it all barbaric and support the use of high output, low overhead concentration camps (making socks, paper cups, license plates, etc) for capital punishment. But nobody ever listens to me.