# How long would a decapitated head live? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 19, 2005, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271 "2005-12-19T07:02:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/21 "2005-12-19T22:09:34Z")
I’m pretty sure a _head_ cannot be decapitated, for much the same reason your intestines can’t be disemboweled, or a snake’s pointy teeth defanged… [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/22 "2005-12-19T22:39:06Z")
Aren’t the parts of the nervous system that produce true blushing below the neck? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/23 "2005-12-19T22:54:56Z")
Well, if you cut off **my** head, and then tried to get a reaction by slapping me or calling my name, I’d ignore you out of pure spite. The _nerve_ of some people! ---
**Author:** ![ombre3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@ombre3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre3)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/24 "2005-12-20T02:19:09Z")
I think it is quite likely you could see for a few seconds, – —would make you a little queasy I guess with your head flopping downwards and aroundwards----if you had a stomach to be queasy with, which you don’t anymore. And hear for a few seconds. Also quite likely you would feel pain for a few seconds. Like a very bad sore throat I guess. Probably why even the French don’t do it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/25 "2005-12-20T03:19:06Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > **Diceman** seems to have it. If anyone can give a good reason why a decapitated head _wouldn’t_ survive for twenty seconds or so we’re all ears. If the head is elevated and you open up the jugular vein, it dumps massive amounts of blood in just a couple of seconds (seen it firsthand). I imagine this is more than enough to drop the intracranial blood pressure to a level that couldn’t support consciousness. Survive and spasm, perhaps, but consciousness… I’d bet against it. ---
**Author:** ![ombre3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@ombre3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre3)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/26 "2005-12-20T03:26:18Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > If the head is elevated and you open up the jugular vein, it dumps massive amounts of blood in just a couple of seconds (seen it firsthand). I imagine this is more than enough to drop the intracranial blood pressure to a level that couldn’t support consciousness. Survive and spasm, perhaps, but consciousness… I’d bet against it. A couple seconds can be a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/27 "2005-12-20T03:30:18Z")
> [@ombre3](#): > > A couple seconds can be a very long time. In fact, a quick look at the dictionary shows that it is in fact _two_ seconds. (cue spooky music) ---
**Author:** ![ombre3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@ombre3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre3)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/28 "2005-12-20T03:35:33Z")
One thousand one. One thousand two. Can be an awful long time. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/29 "2005-12-20T03:56:15Z")
> [@ombre3](#): > > A couple seconds can be a very long time. But not long enough for all of the anecdotal stories to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/30 "2005-12-20T06:06:07Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > **Diceman** seems to have it. If anyone can give a good reason why a decapitated head _wouldn’t_ survive for twenty seconds or so we’re all ears. As other have pointed out, one issue is a lack of blood pressure. The brain has some fancy mechanisms in play to keep blood pressure at acceptable levels, and any fluctuation will produce unconsciousness. Now the pressure receptors themselves are mostly located in the neck, so it might be possible in theory to severe the head without initiating a fainting response, but not using something as crude as a guillotine or a car crash. Those methods simply apply way too much pressure to the neck for them to allow someone to remain conscious. The next issue is simply one of breaking the spinal cord. There’s a lot of nerves in their, and when the spinal cord is broken they all fire. The resulting overload almost inevitably causes blackout. It used to be thought up to 20 or so years ago that breaking the spinal cord always caused instant loss of consciousness, but apparently there is some evidence that some breaks in the lower spine may be possible without causing unconsciousness. I’ve tried looking for the evidence for this but while it is regularly cited I can’t find the actual original. But the point is that breaking the spinal cord is terribly traumatic for the brain. Once again I’m willing to concede that someone’s neck could just possibly be neatly severed and allow consciousness to be retained, but not using a guillotine or a car crash. We obviously can’t know for certain that any method of death is ever instantaneous. But WRT decapitation as it ‘normally’ occurs it’s about as certain as we can be. It would require some really contrived circumstances for someone to suffer that sort of trauma to the neck and remain conscious. Maybe the brain itself remains alive for 30 seconds but I can’t see any way of regaining consciousness within that time. The difference between instantaneous unconsciousness and instantaneous death in this case is practically non-existent. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/31 "2005-12-20T06:42:38Z")
> [@START](#): > > Ok 15 -20 seconds not minutes…how scary. ☹ I think that was up to 20 seconds of _consciousness_—I imagine you might technically be “alive” (albeit clinically dead) for a few minutes more. (Not that it’d do you any good, unless you were cleanly guillotined next to an operating table with a surgical team standing by to attach your head to a new blood supply.) ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/32 "2005-12-20T07:06:38Z")
If no one has any problems with it, I would like to print this out for a patient of Mr.SCL’s - who is a quad. Please let me know by 12/24/05 if you don’t want your posts printed. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/33 "2005-12-20T09:15:55Z")
> [@Snakescatlady](#): > > If no one has any problems with it, I would like to print this out for a patient of Mr.SCL’s - who is a quad. Please let me know by 12/24/05 if you don’t want your posts printed. If you want, I could find a link or two about Dr. Robert White’s [head-transplant experiments](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_transplant) to go with it. (The good doctor claims that it could be performed on a human. The transplanted head would still be paralyzed, but hey, fresh new body! You could become an 8-foot tall Samoan woman, from the neck down!) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/34 "2005-12-20T16:34:59Z")
_Bodies_ are decapitated; heads are _disembodied._ In order for a “decapitated head” to be possible, one’s head would have to have its _own_ head, which would then be cut off. And even my head’s head is bigger than yours. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/35 "2005-12-20T16:57:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This was asked in the horror movie **The Wolfen** back in the 1980s, with a forensic examiner weighing in that the head would live a few seconds. > > I don’t think it was researched or meant to be taken seriously – it was really a set-up for a scene later in the movie where one of these guys gets himself decapitated by one of the titular werewolves. In the scene with the head on the pavement you see it moving its lips briefly, and you realize that the head is still alive and conscious. A nifty willies-inducing moment in a generaly overlooked flick. Yep, there was a thriller novel some years back where the villian would decapitate people and show them their headless bodies. The heads were then found with horrified looks on their faces. ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/36 "2005-12-20T17:28:04Z")
I work with research animals. A common way to euthanize rats is to use a miniture guillotine. I have seen heads twitch for a few seconds, but I think that is part of the involuntary movements the whole body does after death. Never seen anything that would make me think that the rat heads were aware, but then I don’t look very closely. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/37 "2005-12-20T17:32:05Z")
Aren’t they in a pointed pastry-bag-type thing too? So they can’t breathe either which you’d think would settle them down too. ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/38 "2005-12-20T18:35:04Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Aren’t they in a pointed pastry-bag-type thing too? So they can’t breathe either which you’d think would settle them down too. Ah, the Decapicones - the brand name of the “pastry-bag-type thing.” Honestly, its been a long while since I last worked with rats, but I think there is a hole at the end of the plastic cone. I wouldn’t want a rat to suffocate before the shuffling off the mortal coil. Anyway, once the head is separated from the body, breathing is the least of the subject’s worries. ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/39 "2005-12-20T18:40:34Z")
Something to think about. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1263758.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1263758.stm) ---
**Author:** ![ombre3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@ombre3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ombre3)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271/40 "2005-12-20T20:12:45Z")
Not to mean to sidetrack this thread. But------- It seems to me that most all forms of execution leave open the possibility of a very short moment in time when the executed might have some consciousness. (with the exception of course of lethal injection—at least I think so in that case) Hanging, even with a perfect job done and the neck broken, still leaves the brain alive and possibly conscious for maybe a few seconds. Firing squad-------heart is toast, but brain alive for a while. Not sure about the electic chair------but it seems like a slightly fried brain might have some consciousness in the first few seconds after the switch was pulled. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-would-a-decapitated-head-live/336271.md?page=3)