# Has anyone actually died from this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2001, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910 "2001-11-17T06:49:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TiffTZell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TiffTZell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiffTZell)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/1 "2001-11-17T06:49:17Z")
I remember my mom used to tell me not to hang upside down or else all the blood would rush to my head and kill me. She told me this when i was a kid, and i never thought about it again until I was reading an excerpt from the Marquis de Sade and it mentioned it as well…So is it truth or a myth? ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/2 "2001-11-17T07:01:08Z")
No. Absolutely not. It is without a doubt a my…AACCCCCHHHH ---
**Author:** ![TiffTZell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TiffTZell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiffTZell)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/3 "2001-11-17T07:08:56Z")
I wonder how it got started then ---
**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:** [November 17, 2001, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/4 "2001-11-17T07:14:00Z")
Maybe it started with St. Peter, who insisted on being crucified upside down, since that would be more humiliating than Jesus’ execution (or maybe he knew he’d just black out and be spared the agony) ---
**Author:** ![TiffTZell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TiffTZell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiffTZell)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/5 "2001-11-17T07:22:16Z")
SO have you guys ever heard about this before or am I nuts? ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/6 "2001-11-17T07:34:58Z")
When I was a kid I used to hang upside down on the monkey bars with frequency. As far as I know, I am not dead. I don’t really see the point in it anymore though. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/7 "2001-11-17T07:43:12Z")
I believe I was told something similar. Perhaps not that I would die, but that it would have some reverse effect… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/8 "2001-11-17T08:07:01Z")
I’m not a doctor nor do I play one on TV. But I do have a white shirt and that’s close enough for internet purposes. I’d speculate that hanging upside down would increase the blood pressure in your head. Obviously this isn’t enough to cause automatic death. But I’d theorize that if someone already had circulatory problems, this additional pressure might be enough to trigger a fatal condition like a stroke or aneurysm. So while hanging upside down is okay for eight year olds or test pilots, it might be a poor idea for a 65 year old pack-a-day smoker who’s eighty pounds overweight. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/9 "2001-11-17T08:10:36Z")
I never heard of it before; could be one of those things parents say to keep kids from doing potentially dangerous or undesirable things - like “if you keep making faces, one day it will freeze that way” or “you’ll go blind doing that:D”. Slightly off-topic, I read in an old bodybuilding magazine from the 60’s that boys around 12-17 should be hanging by their hands from chin-up bars or closet racks for half an hour a day to stretch their shoulder joints and make them grow broader:rolleyes:. ---
**Author:** ![TiffTZell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TiffTZell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiffTZell)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/10 "2001-11-17T08:31:51Z")
[http://www.illusions.com/sodoku/sodom.htm](http://www.illusions.com/sodoku/sodom.htm) check this out-freaky huh ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/11 "2001-11-17T17:08:12Z")
I died of that once. What? I got better. Fighter pilots do this all the time. It’s called negative g-force. can cause what are called “red outs”, but only at High negative g-forces. And they don’t usualy die, unless they don’t come to in time to prevent crashing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Gazoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Gazoo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/12 "2001-11-17T22:38:59Z")
Hasn’t anyone heard of Inversion Boots??? Exercise nuts use them to hang upside down - it does something, I know not what. Refreshes the blood?? You can still buy them in sporting goods and workout stores. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/13 "2001-11-17T22:41:49Z")
If this were true, you’d have to figure that a lot of existing bat species would be extinct by now. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/14 "2001-11-17T23:28:32Z")
Well, **Zenster** , I hear staying underwhater for several hours will kill you, buy da fishes do it all the time, so it must be OK. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/15 "2001-11-17T23:43:58Z")
I heard of an interrogation technichque based on this. Tie someone to an aircraft propellor, head out from the hub, and run the engine (slowly). The problem was that the pooling blood under Gs would burst brain vessels, leaving the visctim a drooling idiot or dead. This was in a novel, though. Don’t know if it happened in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Eosine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/67e7ee/32.png) [@Eosine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eosine)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/16 "2001-11-18T04:05:17Z")
Actually, I heard It has the opposite effect. I learned models do that to keep up their good looks, all the blood going to their head keeps their faces nice somehow. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2001, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-actually-died-from-this/93910/17 "2001-11-18T05:54:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Slithy Tove \* > \*\*Maybe it started with St. Peter, who insisted on being crucified upside down, since that would be more humiliating than Jesus’ execution (or maybe he knew he’d just black out and be spared the agony) \*\* St. Peter did not insist on being crucified upside-down because it was more humiliating. He did not think him self worthy of being killed in the same manner as his Lord, thus he asked to be hung upside-down.