# Is this a common method of suicide? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411 "2010-08-25T16:05:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/21 "2010-08-26T00:01:30Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > It was demonstrated in the movie _House of Sand and Fog_ and used as a plot device in an _NCIS_ episode, “Sub Rosa,” I believe. It was also the method that cancer patient, Megan O’Hara – mistress to Sean McNamara – used to off herself when she discovered her cancer has metastasized in Season 1 of Nip/Tuck. She also washed the pills down with milk to coat her stomach so she wouldn’t puke up the drugs on the advice of the disembodied head Sean was performing his surgical re-certification exam upon. Great show. Creepy as all get out, though. ---
**Author:** ![eightysix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@eightysix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eightysix)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/22 "2010-08-26T00:16:15Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > > [@limegreen](#): > > > > Yes, what was the significance of the $5.75? > > I think they were big haiku fans. I like this one! Yes, it’s common. As some have said, drugs alone can be unreliable, especially if you’re relying on over the counter ones. Plastic bags over the head are a sure thing if no one finds you, but the sensation of suffocation is very very unpleasent. When combined, often the strategy is to take a high dose of a drug which will put you to sleep, then put the bag over your head, with a rubber band securing it about the neck. The person then holds the rubber band with their thumbs, so to keep the bag open and avoid the feeling of smothering. When one nods off, the hands drop and the bag is secured. You then die “in your sleep”. The method is described in the book Final Exit, which also reccomends wearing some kind of mask over the mouth to further decreased the unpleasentness. This method is also kind to those who find the body, as the method is clean and the bag contains the vomit, often an agonal event. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/23 "2010-08-26T03:06:53Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Many do the overkill just to be positively sure they won’t fail. > Last year here there was a case of a man, put a bag over his head, tied a rope around his neck, tied the rope to a bridge railing and jumped off the side. The macabre bit (if so far it wasn’t bad enough) is that the rope nearly severed the neck on the first bounces so the body swung a few times splattering the side of the bridge with blood, finally the neck gave up and the body fell 25 or 30 meters while the rope tightened around the plastic bag closing it; so the scene to be found was a head in a plastic bag hanging from the side of a bridge sprayed with blood. You didn’t mention whether this method was successful. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/24 "2010-08-26T14:35:38Z")
ISTR a story that screamed “Urban Legend!!!” but actually turned out to be true. A fellow tried to commit suicide with multiple redundant back-up plans, and they all failed. He took a bunch of poison, tied a noose around his neck, jumped off a cliff, shot himself with a gun on the way down, etc. But through a series of tragic-comic failures, all of his redundancies failed and he lived. Anyone remember who I’m talking about? ---
**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:** [August 26, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/25 "2010-08-26T14:44:48Z")
A couple in Canberra committed suicide by making nooses at both ends of a rope. They then, in their panel van, went somewhere isolated. Put the noose around one partner’s neck, passed it out the back of the van, around a tree, then back into the van. Put the other noose around the other partner’s neck and then he accelerated away. And tore both of their heads off. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/26 "2010-08-26T14:48:03Z")
My all time favorite suicide was the French guy who decided to gas himself in his car. He decided to have a last cigarette and in lighting it ignited the petrol fumes. He decided that burning to death was not a good plan and ran from the car to immerse himself in the nearby water tank. There he drowned. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/27 "2010-08-26T16:58:59Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > ISTR a story that screamed “Urban Legend!!!” but actually turned out to be true. A fellow tried to commit suicide with multiple redundant back-up plans, and they all failed. He took a bunch of poison, tied a noose around his neck, jumped off a cliff, shot himself with a gun on the way down, etc. But through a series of tragic-comic failures, all of his redundancies failed and he lived. > > Anyone remember who I’m talking about? The sounds a lot like [Vigo the Carpathian](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097428/quotes), except he actually died. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/28 "2010-08-26T17:11:50Z")
It was mentioned in [Darwin Awards](http://www.darwinawards.com/legends/legends1999-03.html): > [@](#): > > In France, Jacques Lefevrier left nothing to chance when he decided to commit suicide. He stood atop a sheer cliff and tied a noose around his neck. He tied the other end of the rope to a large rock. He drank some poison and set fire to his clothes. He even tried to shoot himself at the last moment. He jumped and fired the pistol. > > The bullet missed him completely and cut through the rope above him. Now freed from the threat of hanging, he plunged into the sea. The dunking extinguished the flames and made him vomit the poison. He was dragged out of the water by a kind fisherman and was taken to a hospital, where he died of hypothermia. According to them, it’s not a true story. ---
**Author:** ![B2ST](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@B2ST](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B2ST)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/29 "2015-08-24T21:36:59Z")
Is it possible to die by putting a plastic bag over your head and making yourself hyperventilate? Apparently there’s a thing you can do by making yourself hyperventilate standing for 20 seconds, then kneeling and hyperventilating 20 seconds, then standing and blowing on your thumb without letting out air. Can someone actually die if they have a plastic bag over their head while doing that?😕 ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/30 "2015-08-24T22:00:13Z")
It takes a lot of practice. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > There are suicide societies? How long do they operate before they run out of members? 😉 Beware young men offering cream tarts. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/31 "2015-08-24T22:10:02Z")
> [@B2ST](#): > > Is it possible to die by putting a plastic bag over your head and making yourself hyperventilate? Yes it is possible. Don’t do it. (September can’t get here soon enough.) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/32 "2015-08-24T22:35:51Z")
Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson’s daughter Nikki committed suicide in a similar fashion about 10 years ago. She used a bag and a helium tank she purchased at a party store. IDK if she used any drugs to hasten the process. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/33 "2015-08-24T22:55:54Z")
The pills + bag method is not on the Be Kind to the Coroner Techs List. I don’t know if it’s true in every jurisdiction, but I know that for some jurisdictions the techs have to determine which method actually caused the death. So it’s twice the work. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/34 "2015-08-25T03:43:48Z")
Why not just bring in your charcoal grill, fill it with charcoal and light it, close the windows and drink a couple glasses of wine while you watch a movie until you doze off? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/35 "2015-08-25T03:58:42Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > There are suicide societies? How long do they operate before they run out of members? 😉 > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson’s daughter Nikki committed suicide in a similar fashion about 10 years ago. She used a bag and a helium tank she purchased at a party store. IDK if she used any drugs to hasten the process. > > ☹ IIRC there were some news articles a while back about suicide societies selling a suicide kit which was basically a plastic bag (to put over your head) and a helium tank. It wasn’t illegal in and of itself, but they got into hot water because it came with instructions on how to kill yourself with it. Again, IIRC, what makes your body panic isn’t the lack of oxygen, but the presence of CO2, so pushing that out (along with the oxygen) and replacing it with helium keeps you from pulling the bag off your head. There’s a wiki page on it and you can probably still find the news articles. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/36 "2015-08-25T04:01:50Z")
The Death Row inmate William Kogut was the MacGuyver of suicides, he made a pipe bomb using decks of playing cards: [http://gargles.net/suicide-at-san-quentin/](http://gargles.net/suicide-at-san-quentin/) ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/37 "2015-08-25T04:08:54Z")
> [@B2ST](#): > > Is it possible to die by putting a plastic bag over your head and making yourself hyperventilate? Apparently there’s a thing you can do by making yourself hyperventilate standing for 20 seconds, then kneeling and hyperventilating 20 seconds, then standing and blowing on your thumb without letting out air. Can someone actually die if they have a plastic bag over their head while doing that?😕 Too much like calisthenics. > [@pool](#): > > The Death Row inmate William Kogut was the MacGuyver of suicides, he made a pipe bomb using decks of playing cards: > > [http://gargles.net/suicide-at-san-quentin/](http://gargles.net/suicide-at-san-quentin/) I had to look that up on Snopes. It says it’s true. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/38 "2015-08-25T04:41:40Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > IIRC there were some news articles a while back about suicide societies selling a suicide kit which was basically a plastic bag (to put over your head) and a helium tank. It wasn’t illegal in and of itself, but they got into hot water because it came with instructions on how to kill yourself with it. There was a one-person “company” selling these several years ago, run by a 91-year-old lady in San Diego. She allegedly sold 1600 kits a year for $60 each, and didn’t always bother to deposit or cash the checks. What she sold was the plastic bag and tubing, packaged with instructions (this article says, a copy of Final Exit). I think you had to find your own helium. [The 91-Year-Old Woman Selling $60 Suicide Kits](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/04/27/suicide-kits-the-91-year-old-woman-selling-instant-death-on-the-internet.html) ETA: There was (and for all I know, maybe still is) a web site (I think it was on Cult of the Dead Cow) with a lot of discussion on ways to off oneself. There was a guy there who was a habitual self-offer, who apparently had committed suicide numerous times, and discussed all his experiences. Apparently he didn’t exactly commit suicide _to completion_ all that often :dubious: He wrote of how non-un-pleasant the bag and helium method was. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/39 "2015-08-25T05:47:15Z")
Always heartening to find people doing stuff purely because they love it. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411/40 "2015-08-25T09:51:44Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Also, who advertises in such a magazine? Probably just a lot of cigarette and alcohol ads that amount to, “hey - why not, right?” Maybe people who need organ transplants? When I knew someone on the list for a heart transplant I suggested that a good use of his money would be a series of advertisements in high school yearbooks. “None of the cool kids wear seat belts” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-common-method-of-suicide/551411.md?page=3)