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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
If you ask me, this YouTube video showing “witches” being burnt in Africa is no fake. Not recommended for more sensitive folks.[spoiler]- YouTube
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.
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.
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.
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.
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: 
For third and fourth degree burns, apparently yes.
See: Burn - Wikipedia
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yes, there was some screaming up front, which stopped, and the whistling came not too long later.
I recall that in The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco claimed your heart explodes rather soon. Something about pressure from the heat buildup?