# How do you prefer to die? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116 "2010-12-14T14:55:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/21 "2010-12-14T17:43:44Z")
I want to have my head cut of by a guillotine so that my head falls over a cliff for that full couple of seconds I’m still in control. An irreplaceable experience. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/22 "2010-12-14T17:46:20Z")
When I die, I’m taking all of you with me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/23 "2010-12-14T17:50:18Z")
I want to die of extreeeeeme old age. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/24 "2010-12-14T18:10:37Z")
Thermonuclear detonation. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/25 "2010-12-14T18:11:47Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I want to have my head cut of by a guillotine so that my head falls over a cliff for that full couple of seconds I’m still in control. An irreplaceable experience. Amen, though for different reasons. If I must die, I’d prefer that it be at the hands of the revolutionary mob that’s just swept my brutally authoritarian regime from control of an Empire that puts those of Britain or Rome to shame. And I’d spit at the rabble before they put my head on the block. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/26 "2010-12-14T18:30:02Z")
I have no first hand experience. However, I saw relatives and others die what seemed like painful drawn out deaths in the hospital. I have other relatives that died at home, hopefully quite peacefully. One aunt was waiting in a chair for the bus to take her for acataract follow-up visit and when the bus came her daughter discovered she had passed away in that chair. How cool is that!? My first choice, whether painful or not, is to die at home or not in a hospital setting. If I get hit on the street, OK. People who supposedly die peacefully in bed may actually have spent some time in pain having a heart attack. If I can stay on the painless side of the equation at home, that’s my goal. Some folks have no choice. Other times there can be choices to reject treatment and stay home. I feel more in control in my home. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/27 "2010-12-14T18:30:13Z")
I want to die like Anthony Hopkin’s character in Meet Joe Black. At my fabulously opulent birthday party, which is held on my enormous mansion on the waterfront, with hundreds of rich and powerful friends who all came to celebrate how much they love me. There will also be fireworks. Instead of death being incarnated as Brad Pitt, death will be a gorgeous woman. Then instead of dying I’ll disappear in a flash of light. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/28 "2010-12-14T18:45:24Z")
I want to die quickly and painlessly. In my sleep, or at the centre of a nuclear explosion, or something. What I do _not_ want is painful or terrifying preliminaries. Though there’s this little voice in the back of my head wondering what it would be like to jump off a very tall building, or better yet, a very tall [cliff](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Preikestolen_Norge.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/29 "2010-12-14T18:47:39Z")
Hit by a cold fusion powered flying car. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/30 "2010-12-14T18:54:46Z")
Painlessly. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/31 "2010-12-14T19:00:37Z")
Considering my current health problems, I can extrapolate a time when things would progress so far that life would not be worth living. I see no reason to continue a life that’s filled with unbearable pain or difficulty or dementia. I have actually discussed this issue with my partner, and he has agreed to assist me, if that time ever comes. It would probably involve a lot of sedatives. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/32 "2010-12-14T19:10:06Z")
Autoerotic asphyxiation. [sub]I just don’t want to be _discovered_ like that.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/33 "2010-12-14T19:33:57Z")
My great-grandmother closed her eyes at an evening church service and, as her daughter told it, didn’t stand up for the last hymn. If I get a choice that’s the one I’d make. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/34 "2010-12-14T20:20:55Z")
My best ways to die: 1. Massive brain hemorrhage in my sleep 2. Overdose of narcotics and alcohol 3. Shot through the brain stem 4. Hypothermia Worst ways: 1. Being burned alive 2. Drowning ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/35 "2010-12-14T20:21:45Z")
Today, as painlessly as possible, by having my entire mass convert to energy, I believe this would result in a sizeable hole where the San Francisco Bay Area is now. Really, I just want to lie down and not wake up again, the sooner the better. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/36 "2010-12-14T20:35:10Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > My best ways to die: > > 1. Massive brain hemorrhage in my sleep > 2. Overdose of narcotics and alcohol > 3. Shot through the brain stem > 4. Hypothermia > > Worst ways: > > 1. Being burned alive > 2. Drowning [Anal impalement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impalement#Torture_and_execution) should be on one of these two lists (you decide which). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/37 "2010-12-14T20:38:10Z")
Death by supernova. Definitely worth waiting for, wouldn’t you say? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/38 "2010-12-14T21:57:47Z")
I prefer to die standing over a pile of bodies of my enemies, …“singing and crying Valhalla I am coming.” But this would not please the Druidess, so…we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/39 "2010-12-14T22:12:42Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I want to have my head cut of by a guillotine so that my head falls over a cliff for that full couple of seconds I’m still in control. An irreplaceable experience. I’d also pick Mademoiselle Guillotine. Finally I’d get to find out for myself how long a severad head can remain conscious and alert. Ideally I’d be hooked up to electrodes and have researchers present to see if I could still respond to commands and blick my eyes in a pattern for a few seconds. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116/40 "2010-12-14T23:04:12Z")
Easy…old age! Seriously, I’m not planning on dying…I plan to enter “coldsleep”. See you all on August 21, 2347. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-to-die/564116.md?page=3)