# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**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 11, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/41 "2013-01-11T04:11:24Z")
> [@Infectedglory](#): > > [Alice Arden - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Arden) > > 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? Your last question is meant for execution, presumably, as opposed to say house fire. In recent memory, and one which troubles my thoughts, obviously, are the untold infants and children tossed on pyres in concentration camps when corpse disposal and gas chambers were backed up, and corraling them and expending bullets was a waste of time. I always calm myself, so to speak, that the end came quicker because the body surface area was so small. > [@PlainJain](#): > > … 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 agree that you would, as no doubt would I. Some somehow don’t, in public social protest [self-immolation.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation) (Link is to Wiki.) The classic image is for most of us is the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Durc in Vietnam in the early 1960s. It is surprisingly “common” (very relatively speaking) today. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/42 "2013-01-11T06:46:47Z")
Watched the video. Fucking disgusting. However, I’m glad I did. I would rather know about this shit than not know about it. It gives me respect for law and order. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/43 "2013-01-11T07:00:02Z")
> [@Infectedglory](#): > > [Alice Arden - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Arden) > > 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? A ten (maybe eleven) year old boy was burned at the stake in Munich in 1600. It’s okay though. The rest of his family had been executed and burned at the stake a few months earlier. Look up the Pappenheimers sometime. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/44 "2013-01-11T08:28:27Z")
This scene is from the 2006 movie Silent Hill. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYo-1xrkIzk) (I have linked directly at 50 seconds into the video) Cybil is suspended quite some distance from the fire and she dies slowly and painfully. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/45 "2013-01-11T10:33:15Z")
Just chiming in to say that Bishop John Hooper (mentioned upthread) is apparently a distant ancestor of my wife; if you go to Gloucester Folk museum you can still see the (alleged) stake. [http://mary-tudor.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/hooper-stake.html](http://mary-tudor.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/hooper-stake.html) ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/46 "2013-01-11T14:01:49Z")
> [@Infectedglory](#): > > [Alice Arden - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Arden) > > 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? Yes. Our collective human history is wrought with countless, unimaginable terror. No snark intended, but have you not heard of the Holocaust, Nanking, Rwanda? These are just in our most recent history. The list goes on and on. Furthermore, on this topic, is an element of religion almost always involved in these things? I know I’ve never heard of torture being carried out in the name of Atheism, but is it the De-facto rule that religion always plays a part? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/47 "2013-01-11T16:08:32Z")
> [@Scotty Mo](#): > > Yes. > > Our collective human history is wrought with countless, unimaginable terror. No snark intended, but have you not heard of the Holocaust, Nanking, Rwanda? These are just in our most recent history. The list goes on and on. > > Furthermore, on this topic, is an element of religion almost always involved in these things? I know I’ve never heard of torture being carried out in the name of Atheism, but is it the De-facto rule that religion always plays a part? Sometimes it’s just plain sadism / racism / economic envy. Rwanda IIRC was more social than any religious component. The Irish situation for example was more a nationalist movement, it just happened that one side was catholic and one side was protestant. The English Catholics were not really considered “brothers” by the Irish IIRC from the news. Then the IRA degenerated into a mafia-organization, liberating money from banks, collecting protection money, etc - since it costs money to pay rent and buy bullets and beer for all those guys. Cambodia, OTOH - probably fits your scenario of an atheistic group setting out to destroy religion, along with any other signs of western influnece like actual education. (If you wore glasses, it meant you were likely using them to read - therefore, you are fertilizer.) Come to think of it, most communist purges were atheist against others - most recently the Falung Gong persecution in China, but there’s the Soviet suppression of religion, gulags, and their starvation of 3 million Ukrainian peasants who did not agree to the collectivisation; but I suppose starving babies over weeks and months is prefereable to tossing them on a fire. Sadism is an equal opportunity employer - religion has little to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/48 "2013-01-11T20:23:27Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Cornholio](#): > > Was it the Protestant priests Latimer and Ridley, burned in Oxford in 1554? Latimer died quickly, but Ridley suffered “great agony” until the flames were high enough for him to force his head into them, igniting a bag of gunpowder round his neck… The story goes that a noted British historian was once very ill and bedridden, and complained to a nurse that his feet were too hot. The nurse testily said, “Well, no one ever died from having their feet too hot.” The historian shot back, “Latimer and Ridley did!” I’ve seen the monument in Oxford on the spot where they were executed. > [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > … I’ve seen the video several times and I just watched it again. Dear Lord, _why?_ ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/49 "2013-01-11T21:03:45Z")
> [@Scotty Mo](#): > > Furthermore, on this topic, is an element of religion almost always involved in these things? I know I’ve never heard of torture being carried out in the name of Atheism, but is it the De-facto rule that religion always plays a part? “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” -Blaise Pascal ---
**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 11, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163/50 "2013-01-11T21:42:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Drunky Smurf** : > > And your doing a great disservice to everyone by making the choice for everyone. To whom was this addressed? > [@](#): > > Quoth **PlainJain** : > 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. You did say that you expected people to watch it if they were going to comment on its veracity. I see no logical reason for this: Watching it will not make anyone any more informed as to its veracity. I imagine that there are quite a few videos showing people burning to death on YouTube, and the vast majority of them would be fakes. Now, if you want to argue that it’s real because there are news sources reporting on the incident, that’s reasonable. But why wasn’t that your criticism in the first place? And why not include information on finding those news stories? “Africa” is a big place, and wouldn’t do much to narrow down a search. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-to-die-from-burning-at-the-stake/630163.md?page=2)