# Do decapitated heads briefly remain conscious? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 10, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-decapitated-heads-briefly-remain-conscious/187463 "2003-07-10T14:07:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![IBBen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85f322/32.png) [@IBBen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IBBen)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-decapitated-heads-briefly-remain-conscious/187463/21 "2003-07-26T03:38:34Z")
OP time: It’s been years since I watched Wolfen, _circa 1981_ ‘stop exploiting the land – or large wolves will come and eat you’ (borrowed from a fan site), but I must wonder if the turkey/Cecil head was a Slug-like depiction of a particular movie scene. Perhaps the Wolfen ‘converted’ the innocent humans with an insidious chemical (i.e. bottle of lupus)? Unfortunately time, and insidious chemicals have wiped the memory of this fine movie from my already limited memory. Or maybe I’m just barking up the wrong tree 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-decapitated-heads-briefly-remain-conscious/187463/22 "2003-07-26T03:45:39Z")
Frankly, I have my doubts about a lot of heads that are still capitated. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-decapitated-heads-briefly-remain-conscious/187463/23 "2003-07-26T07:08:36Z")
I think the illustration shows a man trying to poison a decapitated turkey head that won’t die. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-decapitated-heads-briefly-remain-conscious/187463/24 "2003-07-28T18:44:15Z")
Thank you **x-ray vision** , > [@](#): > > I think the illustration shows a man trying to poison a decapitated turkey head that won’t die. This conclusively demonstrates once and for all that my metaphor is correct–that Slug is perpetually trying to kill off Cecil. (Re: “Let that be your Last Battlefield” – Star Trek Episode #70). (So the analogy breaks down–so sue me.) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-decapitated-heads-briefly-remain-conscious/187463/25 "2003-07-29T01:17:30Z")
> [@](#): > > This conclusively demonstrates once and for all that my metaphor is correct–that Slug is perpetually trying to kill off Cecil. ( I vote otherwise. Slug is suggesting that Cecil, whom he DOES liken to a turkey, is invincible, and can’t be killed, even though his body is gone. Knowledge is forever. The medium of delivery is temporal. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-decapitated-heads-briefly-remain-conscious/187463/26 "2003-08-04T13:41:27Z")
Anatomically, the blade would pass through the medulla oblongata where the reticular activating center resides. This is the body’s “alarm clock” when compromised, it shuts down consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-decapitated-heads-briefly-remain-conscious/187463/27 "2003-08-04T13:53:36Z")
[When blood pressures gets to high the receptors stretch and send impulses to the brain telling it to slow heart rate] The heart rate slows in response to vagas nerve stimulation, which can be acomplished by carotid pressure. The carotid sinus is more akin to an oxbow lake formed in a river. They are filled with arterial blood, by no means empty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-decapitated-heads-briefly-remain-conscious/187463.md?page=1)