# Death by hanging **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115 "2015-05-15T16:16:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmdrpiffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b4bc9f/32.png) [@cmdrpiffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmdrpiffle)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115/21 "2015-05-17T11:33:11Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Got a cite for this? No creep. It’s simply what the poster advised. Not everything in your pathetic little life needs a ‘cite’ Grow up. Learn to join a discussion and question what you don’t understand/agree with instead of asking of a f’ing interweb ‘cite’. Tool ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115/22 "2015-05-17T12:15:01Z")
> [@cmdrpiffle](#): > > No creep. It’s simply what the poster advised. Not everything in your pathetic little life needs a ‘cite’ > > Grow up. Learn to join a discussion and question what you don’t understand/agree with instead of asking of a f’ing interweb ‘cite’. > > Tool **MODERATOR WARNING** **cmdrpiffle**. This is another warning for personal insults in General Questions. The next time, if there is one, will be an automatic ban. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115/23 "2015-05-17T15:16:18Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Don’t know what pills to take, can’t afford a car and certainly not a garage, and there are strict gun control laws where I live (if I was in the U.S., though, I’d probably go the gun route). > > Hey, you asked. But he said she did this in her garage. And I’m with him. If you’re even barely resourceful, there are much, much less excruciating/horrific ways to take yourself out of this world, if you’re that determined. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115/24 "2015-05-18T03:47:01Z")
> [@cmdrpiffle](#): > > No creep. It’s simply what the poster advised. Not everything in your pathetic little life needs a ‘cite’ > > Grow up. Learn to join a discussion and question what you don’t understand/agree with instead of asking of a f’ing interweb ‘cite’. > > Tool The claim that **Blake** made is central to the question of why long-drop hanging is regarded as more merciful than suspension or short-drop. I’ve never heard before that the complete severing of one’s spinal cord induces unconsciousness, so it seems fair to ask for a cite. If **Blake** happens to be a neurologist, then I’ll happily take him at his word. Barring that, I’d be interested in in hearing confirmation from (or about) quadroplegics who report that they lost consciousness at the moment of their injury. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115/25 "2015-05-18T11:25:21Z")
Would you need the word of a neurologist to convince you that to be beheaded by a guillotine would be less painful than having your head hacked off with a rusty penknife? In essence, a hanging is similar to a decapitation. The severing of the spinal cord and the rupture of the carotoid artery means death is almost instantaneous with the long drop. There’s no nice way of putting people to death, but, properly carried out (I nearly said ‘executed’ there) it was probably making the best of a bad job. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115/26 "2015-05-18T11:39:20Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > In essence, a hanging is similar to a decapitation. The severing of the spinal cord and the rupture of the carotoid artery means death is almost instantaneous with the long drop. “severing of the spinal cord = almost-instantaneous death” is different from what **Blake** was claiming, which was that severing the spinal cord causes unconsciousness. Again, these are important details, so I’m looking for expert opinion or authoritative documentation that confirms exactly what the acute effect of severing the spinal cord is, whether it’s near-instantaneous death, unconsciousness, or just quadriplegia. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115/27 "2015-05-18T11:49:53Z")
Read link in post 19. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115/28 "2015-05-18T12:54:13Z")
Pole hanging is interesting: the victim was jerked up by a released counterweight. It required less futzing with drop table calculations, and seems more humane: that long walk down the corridor to the death chamber, or the climb up the 13 steps was a form of psychological torture (which the Brits negated as much as possible by hustling the condemned to the trapdoor in seconds after moving the wardrobe cabinet out of the way). Garroting was even worse: a loop around the neck that was tightened with a crank. Later this was mitigated by a blade that was released into the spine at a set number of “he’s suffered enough” twists. IME, hanging was the preferred method of suicide for teens, in homes without firearms or a second car left in the garage when mom and dad were gone. Though it may be less popular, now that the default assumption is that a hanged teenage boy was practicing autoerotic asphyxiation. They want us to know they were in emotional pain, not just jerking off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-hanging/720115.md?page=1)