# Can a human actually tear into an abdomen using bare hands? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2015, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271 "2015-03-18T09:02:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/1 "2015-03-18T09:02:48Z")
Going back to Tom Savini’s SFX work in zombie movies there is a tradition of zombies tearing people apart, and this has always bugged me. Try it, try to say tear half a face off a human being using only your strength. Can’t do it right? Same for tearing into an abdomen. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/2 "2015-03-18T09:38:18Z")
Well, to be fair, zombies are animated by some magical force that can make them stronger. Also they feel no pain or care about breaking their own flesh and bones when tearing apart some guy. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/3 "2015-03-18T09:43:55Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Try it, try to say tear half a face off a human being using only your strength. Can’t do it right? Kind of. The face is the one spot where you might be able to do a lot of cosmetic damage because it has a lot of holes an weak spots. I’ve seen someone get their ear basically ripped off in a match fight by an opponent who wasn’t even trying to do it, I’ve seen people with cheeks gashed open and upper lips split so badly you can see the teeth through the hole. The face is kind of weak that way. I don’t know how easy it would be, but since you can tear an ear off with little effort, that would suggest that someone with “superhuman” strength could then proceed to deglove the entire face fairly fast by tearing open the hole. > [@](#): > > Same for tearing into an abdomen. Yeah, no hope. There are no weak spots in the abdomen to make a hole in the skin, and without any starting point to tear from, there just isn’t enough strength in a human arm to tear through skin. And that’s without even considering the underlying muscle. I will add that the only zombie scene i can think of where someone was rapidly disemboweled was in the Walking Dead, and IIRC the zombie in that case had a jagged bone stump for one arm, and used that to make a hole which it then ripped open. That’s a little more plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/4 "2015-03-18T12:58:21Z")
Bare hands at1:05. Concur: Unpossible for the unundead. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/5 "2015-03-18T13:11:10Z")
You have to cut the movies some slack. Otherwise you’ll be wondering how the Bad Guys in 1984’s **Dreamscape** and **Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom** could simply reach into their victim’s chest and rip out their hearts with their bare hands. And have the victim survive the ordeal. (Having Kate Capshaw witness in both cases is just the icing on the cake). I’d like to point out that in the original **Night of the Living Dead** , in the scene where we see the zombies eating a couple of bodies, they’ve presumably been killed, sliced up, and partially cooked in a car crash, so the zombies didn’t have to use their bare hands to do the dismembering and evisceration. In **Dawn of the Dead** , George Romero and company just seemed to take it for granted that if the zombies wanted to eat people, they’d just have to be able to render them into chunks, without worrying too much about the logic or mechanics of being able to do it. And simply ripping up Tom Savini’s latex torsos was just too photogenic not to use. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/6 "2015-03-18T13:52:16Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Try it, try to say tear half a face off a human being using only your strength. Hmm, I did as you asked, and now they’ve locked me in a cell. Darn you! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/7 "2015-03-18T14:18:28Z")
I’ve read mention in old books of vengeful mobs tearing people to pieces. Was that probably hyperbole? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/8 "2015-03-18T14:25:16Z")
Get a clump of people on one side pulling with all their might on one limb, and another clump pulling with all their might on another, and I think it’s possible to literally tear someone apart via combined human effort. That’s different that just one person trying to punch through belly skin. If said vengeful mobs employ improvised clubs/rocks/bricks/tire irons/etc. to, um, tenderize the victim first by breaking bones, popping bones out of joint, and such it becomes more plausible. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/9 "2015-03-18T14:34:33Z")
_Really_ sharp fingernails? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/10 "2015-03-18T14:42:18Z")
Human fingernails just aren’t that strong. You _might_ get through the surface of the skin, but there’s no way you’d be able to claw through the abdominal muscles and fascia to get the belly truly open. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/11 "2015-03-18T14:47:55Z")
Try tearing a raw chicken apart. It’s a surprisingly difficult thing to do. They are more lightly put together than a human and have bits its easy to get a good hold on. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/12 "2015-03-18T14:57:21Z")
Perhaps the zombies could use their teeth to get started on the abdomen, and then tear into the incision with their fingers. Or if their fingers were damaged to the point where they could use exposed bone as **Blake** mentions to scratch/cut into the surface. The TV series _Deadliest Warrior_ did a Zombies vs. Vampires match up, and there was a segment where some strongmen attempted to tear open an abdomen on a dummy purportedly made up of flesh-like material, and they managed it after a while. FWIW. Maybe the victim has a weak abdominal structure in the first place - that would help. I love the SDMB - no question too bizarre for learned discussion. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/13 "2015-03-18T15:01:45Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Human fingernails just aren’t that strong. You _might_ get through the surface of the skin I can attest that _my_ skin has been broken through by the not-that-sharp fingernails of a toddler. Sharpened adult fingernails are going to be a lot worse than that. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/14 "2015-03-18T15:25:13Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I’ve read mention in old books of vengeful mobs tearing people to pieces. Was that probably hyperbole? I would rather guess that people didn’t use their bare hands to do the tearing apart. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/15 "2015-03-18T15:40:38Z")
Tangent: There are some accounts of captive great apes (just chimpanzees?) doing great bodily harm to humans. Chimpanzees get their teeth involved, though, right? They’re not simply using their fingers and arm strength to tear people apart like a Christmas present, correct? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/16 "2015-03-18T15:50:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You have to cut the movies some slack. Otherwise you’ll be wondering how the Bad Guys in 1984’s **Dreamscape** and **Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom** could simply reach into their victim’s chest and rip out their hearts with their bare hands. And have the victim survive the ordeal. (Having Kate Capshaw witness in both cases is just the icing on the cake). Not to mention, there’s like, this bone in the way. the one designed to prevent just such an occurrence. I can handle wrath of god, I can even abide (barely) Indy riding on the sub, but forgetting basic anatomy? Never. This scene alone would have prevented me from ever watching the movie again. The Disney wild mine ride just cemented it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/17 "2015-03-18T19:21:19Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Tangent: > > There are some accounts of captive great apes (just chimpanzees?) doing great bodily harm to humans. Chimpanzees get their teeth involved, though, right? They’re not simply using their fingers and arm strength to tear people apart like a Christmas present, correct? Yeah, chimps usually get the teeth involved, and the “great bodily harms” seems to typically consist of chewing off soft bits, like the nose, lips, and genitals, or removing fingers and toes. The individual bits aren’t that much but having your face eaten off would definitely qualify as “great bodily harm”, not to mention life-changing, and would the removal of most or all of your fingers. There was a case of a human thief in Chicago awhile back who, while snatching a ring off an elderly lady, inadvertently took her finger as well. If a human male could pull off a finger than unquestionably a chimp could, but a finger is a lot easier to yank off than an entire arm or leg. If two or more chimps got into a tug-of-war with a human being, pulling on different limbs, that might do it, but a single chimp I sort of doubt that would happen. But, moving back to people, I think it’s far more likely a human could _chew_ his way into a another human’s body than _claw_ his way in. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/18 "2015-03-18T20:05:51Z")
One sees all kinds of supernatural powers attributed to zombies. Super strength. Never need to sleep. Don’t feel pain. And so on. Why shouldn’t we all wish we were zombies? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/19 "2015-03-18T20:26:34Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > One sees all kinds of supernatural powers attributed to zombies. Super strength. Never need to sleep. Don’t feel pain. And so on. Why shouldn’t we all wish we were zombies? Because it dulls your brain and senses, so that you feel like you have the worst flu you ever had times a million. And apparently, in post-Romero versions, the only strong hankering you have is for human flesh. (In post-O’Bannon zombies, for brains.) And you lose all sense of personal hygiene. On the other hand, the other zombies don’t care. They’re a very non-judgmental crowd. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271/20 "2015-03-18T20:34:09Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > There was a case of a human thief in Chicago awhile back who, while snatching a ring off an elderly lady, inadvertently took her finger as well. If a human male could pull off a finger than unquestionably a chimp could, but a finger is a lot easier to yank off than an entire arm or leg. > > If two or more chimps got into a tug-of-war with a human being, pulling on different limbs, that might do it, but a single chimp I sort of doubt that would happen. Total hijack, but I had to note the interesting timing of this discussion coupled with another SDMB mention in [What If](http://what-if.xkcd.com/133/) this week, this time about ripping people’s arms off. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-actually-tear-into-an-abdomen-using-bare-hands/715271.md?page=2)