# Hanging oneself by accident

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-oneself-by-accident/737157>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 10, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-oneself-by-accident/737157 "2015-11-10T01:43:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-oneself-by-accident/737157/1 "2015-11-10T01:43:07Z")

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A family member was found dead. It appears he strangled on a rope he was attaching an outdoor toy to a tree (sorry, being intentionally vague). No apparent reason for suicide. How common would you think accidental hanging is as a cause of death? (Aside from autoerotic play gone wrong).

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**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-oneself-by-accident/737157/2 "2015-11-10T01:46:42Z")

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I don’t suppose it’s very common, but I’ve seen people do a lot of stupid stuff on Youtube and nothing surprises me anymore. I cringe at some of the unplanned accidental events that people get themselves into. Sorry for your loss.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-oneself-by-accident/737157/3 "2015-11-10T07:03:16Z")

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My sincere condolences for your loss.

I’ve heard of this happening to people (esp children) playing unsupervised with rope swings. You only need get into a situation where the rope is twisted into a loop (the first part of a clove hitch) and gravity/rope tension can make it impossible to undo. This can happen even if neither end of the rope is free.

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**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-oneself-by-accident/737157/4 "2015-11-10T20:54:15Z")

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I, too, am sorry for your loss.

I did find this (a PDF with very some graphic but not salacious death images) online:

[http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1393596338\_Dhiab%20et%20al.pdf](http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1393596338_Dhiab%20et%20al.pdf)

> [@](#):
>
> Accidental hangings are rare and only represent 2% of  
> the 250 cases of hanging autopsied at the department of  
> Legal Medicine of Sousse (Tunisia) for 15 years