# How Long Does It Take to Die from Burning at the Stake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2012, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163 "2012-08-02T12:26:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/21 "2012-08-03T04:04:39Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Would you really want to advertise yourself as friendly to someone who’s getting burned at the stake? People weren’t stupid back then. They knew who the executed person’s friends and family were just like would be known today. They wouldn’t have needed to see being friendly to the excecuted person at the execution. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/22 "2012-08-05T15:34:53Z")
How can people survive so long with such an extremely high temperature? If your legs are on fire and blood still pumping, it doesn’t seem like it would be too long before your temp was too high to live. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/23 "2012-08-05T16:59:06Z")
At a certain point the blood vessels in your legs sear shut and thus blood is no longer pumping through them. Meanwhile, the rest of the body that isn’t quite as toasty is still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Infectedglory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bc8723/32.png) [@Infectedglory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infectedglory)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/24 "2013-01-10T02:29:42Z")
> **[Alice Arden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Arden)** > > Alice Arden (1516–1551) was an English murderess. She was the daughter of John Brigantine and Alice Squire, who conspired to have her husband, Thomas Arden of Faversham, murdered so she could carry on with a long-term affair with a tailor, Richard Moseby. The murder took place on 14 February 1551. She was tried, convicted, and burnt at the stake for her part in the murder. > The murder was described by Raphael Holinshed in his Chronicles and later had entries in both The Newgate Calendar and th... Wow, poor Elizabeth Stafford, at such a young age of 16 to be burned to death for being a simple accomplice. She has got to be one of the youngest people to be legally executed in such a gruesome manner, actually might be one of the youngest girl to die in the most painful manner. Has there ever been a younger girl who died a in a more painful manner? ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/25 "2013-01-10T02:47:38Z")
I’m wondering if the flames would burn off your pain receptors. There is a video on YouTube showing people being burned to death. They are suspected witches. I realize they must have accepted their fates but still they seem to be taking it relatively in stride and are not bound in any way. If it was as painful as I imagine it to be I think I would involuntarily running and fighting for everything I was worth. I won’t link to the video as it’s extremely graphic, but if you want to view it, google: The Religious in Africa burning suspected witches. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/26 "2013-01-10T03:08:05Z")
My first assumption would be that any such video found on YouTube would be fake. Others have mentioned the condemned having gunpowder with them. Were there any confirmed incidences of the condemned smuggling in gunpowder unknown to the executioners, or packing shrapnel in with it, as alluded to by Pratchett and Gaiman? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/27 "2013-01-10T03:47:39Z")
If you ask me, this YouTube video showing “witches” being burnt in Africa is no fake. Not recommended for more sensitive folks.[spoiler][- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5qYhmf-boE%5B/spoiler%5D) ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/28 "2013-01-10T04:08:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Were there any confirmed incidences of the condemned smuggling in gunpowder unknown to the executioners, or packing shrapnel in with it, as alluded to by Pratchett and Gaiman? Packing it with shrapnel wouldn’t work. Gunpowder is a low explosive, which basically means that it will only explode if it’s confined until it builds up enough pressure to blow apart the container. Gunpowder out in the open, or in a bag, will burn really fast and really hot, but it won’t explode and so won’t fling shrapnel. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/29 "2013-01-10T04:30:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > My first assumption would be that any such video found on YouTube would be fake. It’s not faked. Next time maybe you could do me the courtesy of actually viewing the video before dismissing my comments out of hand. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/30 "2013-01-10T04:54:30Z")
I have read but cannot remember where or when that the sufferes were sometimes wetted down before the fire was lit, to prolong the heat agony. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/31 "2013-01-10T04:58:19Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Well, gosh, so many variables - what is fueling the fire? Obviously, items that generate toxic fumes are likely to kill you quicker. Is there a breeze/wind that might push toxic fumes and smoke away from you, leaving you to die of burns, or is it blowing it toward you, so you suffocate? How intense is the fire? … Are the perpetrators of this deed wanting to get it done quickly or do they want to torture awhile? > [@The\_Great\_Cornholio](#): > > In practice, most people burned at the stake were strangled by the executioner before the flames got to them, or paid to have sachets of gunpowder put about their person to speed their death. Bloody Mary decreed that the Protestant martyrs she had burned were no to be strangled and no green wood to be used so they suffered as long as possible, but no-one knows how long it took them to die. > > Bishop John Hooper was burned to death in 1555 and “suffered agonies for nearly an hour” before he died. What else had been done to the condemned beforehand and what else was done as part of the execution process also affected the outcome. The sentences can get pretty gory. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/32 "2013-01-10T07:04:08Z")
Last year I watched some movie (Tudors TV series perhaps?) in which the burnees screamed for help: “Help us! It’s not hot enough!” :eek: :eek: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/33 "2013-01-10T08:31:35Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > I’m wondering if the flames would burn off your pain receptors For third and fourth degree burns, apparently yes. See: [Burn - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_degree_burns#By_depth) Second degree burns are apparently the worst. Third degree apparently are (relatively) painless – but you gotta savor the second-degree experience on the way to getting there. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/34 "2013-01-10T18:33:11Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s not faked. Next time maybe you could do me the courtesy of actually viewing the video before dismissing my comments out of hand. What difference would that have made? I and probably everyone else in this thread lack the expertise to be able to tell a real video from a fake. It’s not like I expected it to be a high-school drama production with crepe paper blowing in a fan for the flames. Rather, I expect that it would look just like a real burning, or close enough that nobody who hasn’t seen a real burning could tell the difference. Plus, of course, if it is real, then you’re doing everyone else a great disservice by expecting us to watch it. Most people don’t want to see things like that. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/35 "2013-01-10T19:41:18Z")
And your doing a great disservice to everyone by making the choice for everyone. I’ve seen the video several times and I just watched it again. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/36 "2013-01-10T21:39:23Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > To better cook the condemned and maximize the sensory experience for the guest of honor, the [Brazen Bull](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazen_bull) was a handy utensil. It was a large, hollow metal sculpture of a bull with a hatch in the side. Put the prisoner inside, build a fire underneath, cook thoroughly until well done. > > It is said that the inventor, just like Dr. Guillotine, ended up being a guest of honor. On the History Channel (or something like that) they mentioned that since the body is mostly water, after not too long the victim would boil, releasing steam through the vents, and that’s what was used to made the sounds. Basically a big teakettle. When things cooled down later and the bull was opened, there was very little material, charred, left inside. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/37 "2013-01-11T00:30:34Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > On the History Channel (or something like that) they mentioned that since the body is mostly water, after not too long the victim would boil, releasing steam through the vents, and that’s what was used to made the sounds. Basically a big teakettle. When things cooled down later and the bull was opened, there was very little material, charred, left inside. I can’t imagine that the guest of honor (“victim” in your terminology :eek: ) could boil and scream at the same time. I would think that the screaming comes first, but would stop when (or well before) the boiling begins. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/38 "2013-01-11T01:11:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Plus, of course, if it is real, then you’re doing everyone else a great disservice by expecting us to watch it. Most people don’t want to see things like that. Re-read my post. I said nothing about expecting anyone to watch it. I specially didn’t include a link for that reason. If you don’t want to watch it, fine. But then don’t comment on its veracity. There are several new stories covering the event that are googlable without having to watch the video. All of which completely misses my point. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/39 "2013-01-11T01:50:46Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I can’t imagine that the guest of honor (“victim” in your terminology :eek: ) could boil and scream at the same time. I would think that the screaming comes first, but would stop when (or well before) the boiling begins. Yes, there was some screaming up front, which stopped, and the whistling came not too long later. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/40 "2013-01-11T03:06:51Z")
I recall that in _The Name of the Rose_, Umberto Eco claimed your heart explodes rather soon. Something about pressure from the heat buildup? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163.md?page=3)