# Is it possible for a person to pull off someone else's arm? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834 "2003-07-07T19:01:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/21 "2003-07-08T19:49:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ratatoskK \* > Maybe there’s something in the air in New Orleans… My sister’s former boyfriend used to insist that he had seen someone do some kind of martial arts maneuver that literally ripped someone’s heart out of their ribcage. He insisted this was true. However, the boyfriend was pretty on his last legs of alchoholism and I didn’t believe the story to be true. \*\* Yeah…it’s called being drunk and possibly on drugs. Well it is possible to disrupt a mans Chi with the poke of a single finger so that his organs explode. I’m starting to get worried now. If it’s possible to pull a persons arm off, could I try to lift something that’s so heavy I pull my own arms off trying to lift it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/22 "2003-07-08T20:18:32Z")
Another possibility: The victim had an advanced case of leprosy. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/23 "2003-07-08T21:15:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by msmith537 \* > \*\*Well it is possible to disrupt a mans Chi with the poke of a single finger so that his organs explode. \*\* I don’t think I’ve ever said this before: cite? ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/24 "2003-07-09T01:13:18Z")
Auntie Jack could do it… and then she’d beat you around the head with the soggy end. Sorry, that joke will only be understandable to Australian’s who watched a certain ABC comdey series in the 1970s ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/25 "2003-07-09T01:34:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Trinopus \* > \*\*Grin! I’m reminded of an old Gahan Wilson cartoon. A guy is at his typewriter, writing one of those awful “True Crime” stories. > > “It takes time to cut a man’s heart out with a rusty knife…” > > Then he pauses, thinks, gets up, puts on his coat, and goes outdoors. A bit later, he comes back, and resumes typing. > > “It takes a good twenty minutes…” > > Trinopus \*\* Thanks for that I haven’t thought about Gahan Wilson for years and I don’t know that one. My favourite was the Arab displaying to a bemused tourist a box containing a hand wearing a ruby ring and saying, “Well how much for just the ring?”. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/26 "2003-07-09T04:31:31Z")
Possible? Yes. In a street fight?..Can you say “Urban Legend”? ---
**Author:** ![Apoptosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Apoptosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apoptosis)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/27 "2003-07-09T05:07:49Z")
Hey **Controvert** , > [@](#): > > Another possibility: The victim had an advanced case of leprosy. Negative. _Mycobacterium leprae_ can damage the peripheral nerves, leading to a lack of sensitivity to painful stimuli, and, possibly, the loss of extremities. The loss of extremities is directly related to the victim’s inability to feel pain, and is not due in any way to weakening of the tissues. Leprosy is extremely difficult to contract, and is relatively easy to treat. Unfortunately, the rampant ignorance of the disease that made it a stigma so many years ago continues to this day. [http://www.who.int/lep/disease/disease.htm](http://www.who.int/lep/disease/disease.htm) -Apoptosis ---
**Author:** ![Atlantis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Atlantis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atlantis)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/28 "2003-07-09T05:32:37Z")
The arm? As stated about a dozen times, with bracing and all whatnot it’s probably possible. I think I like the Urban Legend idea best. As for the removal of the heart, nada. Speaking as an experienced and knowledgable martial artist, without some sort of weapon or other sharp implement, there’s really no technique to remove the heart with your bare hands, despite countless maneuvers to stop the heart and damage it and the surrounding organs. Unless, possibly, you were strong enoug and enough of a state of rage that you were to reach under the ribcage and pull the heart out. That, aside from not being so much a technique as a fit of anger, seems unplausible, however, because the amount of tissue and etc. that you’d have to first rip through, then rip apart in order to remove the heart. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/29 "2003-07-09T10:23:51Z")
[Here is a cite](http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:Pdfv3MAxjSIJ:urlwww.thegoodgamblingguide.co.uk/spotlight/players/johnaspinall.htm+%22arm+ripped+off%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) for an eight year old boy having his arm ripped off by a chimpanzee. It doesn’t give many details, and when I do other related searches my work’s web filter blocks them. I don’t believe that a chimp is significantly stronger than a man, so maybe it would be possible to at least pull a child’s arm off, or that of a small woman or very weak and small man. Many other animals can inflict similar wounds, but mainly predators with large teeth. A [lion](http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,2763,886104,00.html) can rip your arm off, a [wolf](http://www.natureswolves.com/human/hybrid_attacks.htm) or a [tiger shark](http://www.outdoorlife.com/outdoor/newsandfacts/snapshots/article/0,13285,195444,00.html) can rip a child’s arm off, and I’m sure a shark could do the same to an adult, although it may be classed as biting rather than ripping. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/30 "2003-07-09T10:48:35Z")
Chimps are much stronger than humans - the chief has already dealt with the issue here : [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_001b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_001b.html) Hope this clarifies ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/31 "2003-07-09T11:34:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Buck The Diver \* > \*\*I don’t think I’ve ever said this before: cite? \*\* It was in that Jet Li documentary, _Kiss of the Dragon_. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/32 "2003-07-09T13:41:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*Another possibility: Was the “fight” he witnessed perhaps some sort of staged spectacle? If such a thing would be done anywhere in the world, I can imagine that it would be New Orleans. And there are probably ways to fake this convincingly enough. > > How does the answer change, by the way, if it’s not a man’s arm we’re trying to tear off, but a monster which has been terrorizing the local feasting hall? \*\* The monster-at-the-feasting-hall tangent went completely over my head. As for your staged-incident hypothesis, that is entirely possible. It may well have been an elaborate practical joke. Either that or one of the theories I outlined in my OP. BTW, this is not what I’d call an urban legend. I’m merely verifying the first-hand observations of someone I trust to be truthful. This is not some story that has spread far and wide via e-mail, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/33 "2003-07-09T17:41:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bordelond \* > **The monster-at-the-feasting-hall tangent went completely over my head.** [Beowulf](http://www.lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/), the oldest surviving epic in English literature (from about the 6th century), details the adventures of a Scandinavian warrior and his horde. In the course of his earlier escapades, Beowulf and his Geats deal with a horrible troll-like monster named Grendel, who is terrorizing the feast hall of Hrothgar, the Danish king. Beowulf confronts Grendel and rips off his arm. For an illustrated summary of Beowulf’s adventures that I, at least, found wildly amusing, go [here](http://runlevelzero.net/greg/beowulf/). ---
**Author:** ![JerseyDiamond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@JerseyDiamond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyDiamond)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/34 "2003-07-09T18:43:51Z")
Is there a reason why the arm couldn’t have been twisted off? Your arm is a good lever, after all. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/35 "2003-07-09T18:52:28Z")
**auRa** , that Illustrated Beowulf is GREAT! (GEAT?) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/36 "2003-07-09T19:53:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Trinopus \* > \*\* > Heck, apply Newton’s Law: equal and opposite forces… The force you’d have to apply to tear the other guy’s arm out…would be enough to tear _your_ arm out! > > Stick with the fried chicken, sez I! > > Trinopus \*\* Well, that would apply on a one arm to one arm basis, but if you’re pulling with two arms, you split the load. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/37 "2003-07-09T20:15:24Z")
It’s not having your arm pulled off, but it’s something similar … I’ve seen a couple of videos floating around the Internet where people are arm wrestling or engaged in other activities that place a lot of stress on their forearms, when the bones suddenly snap. (I’m not sure if what breaks is the radius, the ulna, or both.) My gut reaction to the video clips was that they didn’t look faked, and I think it’s _probably_ possible, but I’m not sure. Does anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/38 "2003-07-09T20:22:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by auRa \* > \*\*For an illustrated summary of Beowulf’s adventures that I, at least, found wildly amusing, go [here](http://runlevelzero.net/greg/beowulf/). \*\* Pretty funny. [This image in particular](http://runlevelzero.net/greg/beowulf/frame_15.html), for some reason, just cracks me up. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/39 "2003-07-09T22:00:10Z")
Perhaps the man who lost his arm was a terrible junky with infections and the arm was just barely hanging on to begin with. We are talking about New Orleans… ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2003, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834/40 "2003-07-11T13:01:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chorpler \* > \*\*It’s not having your arm pulled off, but it’s something similar … I’ve seen a couple of videos floating around the Internet where people are arm wrestling or engaged in other activities that place a lot of stress on their forearms, when the bones suddenly snap. (I’m not sure if what breaks is the radius, the ulna, or both.) My gut reaction to the video clips was that they didn’t look faked, and I think it’s _probably_ possible, but I’m not sure. Does anybody know? \*\* I’ll confirm…sort of. A common fracture in arm wrasslin’ is when the bone splits lengthwise - if that makes any sense. It splits like a piece of wood would split…up the bone, rather than across. The amazing thing is the sound, because it is just a brutal sudden snapping sound… and the look of horror on the person’s face. I tend to believe that the videos on the net are not genuine. I’ve seen one or two that showed one man inflicting a compound fracture to the other man’s forearm. It can look like a complete seperation of a limb, like many compound fractures do. However, the videos remind me of the movie remake of The Fly, starring Jeff Goldblum (where he arm wrassles a guy and leaves him clutching his nearly severed limb - a brutal compound fracture) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-for-a-person-to-pull-off-someone-elses-arm/186834.md?page=3)