# killing people on traintracks **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980 "2000-10-30T22:12:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colin\_Trainer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Colin\_Trainer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colin_Trainer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/1 "2000-10-30T22:12:16Z")
Has there ever been documented proof of somebody killing a woman by tying her to traintracks, like how they do it in the cartoons? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/2 "2000-10-30T22:41:59Z")
Would there be much left of any person who got run over by a train if it were going anywhere near full speed? ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/3 "2000-10-30T22:52:59Z")
Not much help as far as answering the OP… But I believe the cartoons got their inspiration for the “villian” types to tie young women upon the tracks from the earlier silent movies depicting the same event. As to where the silent movies got the idea from, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Rock-n-Rolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/22d042/32.png) [@Rock-n-Rolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rock-n-Rolga)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/4 "2000-10-31T00:52:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > \*\*Would there be much left of any person who got run over by a train if it were going anywhere near full speed? \*\* It would be possible that the person would be knocked off the tracks, especially if the train has a “cow catcher” type attachment on the front that’s designed to lift large objects up and away from the train. Someone tied to the tracks may be a different story, however. Not to get too garish, but I saw a case like this on Unsolved Mysteries about ten years ago where someone in Florida stabbed two young boys to death and then placed their bodies on a train track in the hope that they would be destroyed enough to hide the stab wounds. Instead, the train knocked them away and the wounds were found. Whether the killer was caught, I have no idea. Does this case ring a bell with anyone? Now someone who is tied to the tracks may be a different story… ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/5 "2000-10-31T01:51:02Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Squee \* > \*\* > But I believe the cartoons got their inspiration for the “villian” types to tie young women upon the tracks from the earlier silent movies depicting the same event._\* I could be wrong, but I think the most famous serial using this plot device was “The Perils of Pauline.” IIRC, the villain tied her to the RR tracks so she wouldn’t be knocked safely out of harm’s way. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/6 "2000-10-31T02:23:47Z")
- - - When I as in high school, a student killed himself by jumping into the path of a train. He was _not_ knocked out of the way, but he may have put some effort into it, so to speak. - MC ---
**Author:** ![Chickenhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Chickenhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenhead)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/7 "2000-10-31T03:08:05Z")
Trust me, it happens. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/8 "2000-10-31T03:11:56Z")
I don’t think being “knocked away” by the cow-catcher of a train would be a pleasant experience either. Tied up or not, the result of any train-human impact would favor the train. In the silent films, the heroine wasn’t tied to the tracks as much as she was just tied up so she couldn’t move. I doubt that your standard melodrama villain is going to take the time to fasten the ropes to the ties. That would be much too labor intensive for your average Snidley Whiplash type. ---
**Author:** ![Kakkerlak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bb73d2/32.png) [@Kakkerlak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kakkerlak)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/9 "2000-10-31T04:25:18Z")
Um, cow-catchers aren’t for the cow’s benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Rock-n-Rolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/22d042/32.png) [@Rock-n-Rolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rock-n-Rolga)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/10 "2000-10-31T05:26:23Z")
Ummm, I never said that being knocked off the tracks wouldn’t kill you, although I can see how you might think that from my posts. I thought that the point would be sorta self-evident - my mistake! And where did I say that cow-catchers benefitted cows? That’s just what they’ve been called from the start… ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-people-on-traintracks/38980/11 "2000-10-31T07:14:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > \*\*Would there be much left of any person who got run over by a train if it were going anywhere near full speed? \*\* There _used_ to be a picture of a person who committed suicide at rotten dot com[sup]\*[/sup], looks like it’s gone now. Yes, there is quite a bit left. ☹ [sup]\* Unless sickening pictures of corpses interest you, don’t go here. No, they don’t interest me either.[/sup]