# "Ninja Death Touch" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 24, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601 "2005-11-24T16:58:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/61 "2005-12-04T14:08:37Z")
> [@dahumal](#): > > Oh im a red belt in chung la kwan (which is just a style of tae kwan do for those who don’t know) by the way. Later Er, cite? I’m no taekwondo master, but I’m pretty sure there is no style of taekwondo called chung la kwan. The term doesn’t even sound remotely Korean. I googled it and got no information to tell me otherwise. Please enlighten me. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/62 "2005-12-04T18:38:52Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Er, cite? I’m no taekwondo master, but I’m pretty sure there is no style of taekwondo called chung la kwan. The term doesn’t even sound remotely Korean. I googled it and got no information to tell me otherwise. Please enlighten me. There is a [Chung Do Kwan](http://www.uscdka.com/). ---
**Author:** ![dahumal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@dahumal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dahumal)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/63 "2005-12-04T21:34:27Z")
:smack: wow that makes me look retarted lol. it is chung do kwan thank you for correcting me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/64 "2005-12-05T00:18:04Z")
Thanks for the info, **alterego**. I did see that site while googling but I figured there was no way someone would mistake the character do for la. I see I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/65 "2005-12-05T00:21:51Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Thanks for the info, **alterego**. I did see that site while googling but I figured there was no way someone would mistake the character do for la. I see I was wrong. An understandable shift. It’s only five steps up on the major scale. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/66 "2005-12-05T16:42:36Z")
So, it’s theoretically possible that a hard enough blow to a few specific places might kill somebody on the spot – but is there any known mechanism that could possibly account for delaying death by, specifically, seven years? That’s the part that seems patently ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![sagitta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@sagitta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sagitta)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/67 "2005-12-05T22:57:49Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > is there any known mechanism that could possibly account for delaying death by, specifically, seven years? Yes. Your target is carrying his (or possibly her) shaving mirror in his breast packet, to protect against stray bullets. Unfortunately for you, this absorbs the blow and shatters, and the victim continues to blight your life until your run of bad luck runs out seven years later. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/68 "2005-12-05T23:47:40Z")
Good one! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/69 "2005-12-06T01:17:59Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > So, it’s theoretically possible that a hard enough blow to a few specific places might kill somebody on the spot – but is there any known mechanism that could possibly account for delaying death by, specifically, seven years? That’s the part that seems patently ridiculous. Not by a specific length of time, but you could inflict an injury that would lead to a delayed death thru infection, a sub-dural hematoma, or some other long-term phenomenom. There is even a delayed rupture of the spleen, where a small tear can gradually worsen over time, and lead to death. I never saw the combat utility of killing someone a week from next Thursday as opposed to, say, right now. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/70 "2005-12-06T01:39:44Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I never saw the combat utility of killing someone a week from next Thursday as opposed to, say, right now. Gives you time to set up multiple life insurance claims. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/71 "2005-12-06T13:28:03Z")
> [@sagitta](#): > > Yes. Your target is carrying his (or possibly her) shaving mirror in his breast packet, to protect against stray bullets. works against stray laser beams as well. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/72 "2005-12-06T15:13:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Gives you time to set up multiple life insurance claims. Ah, but are pre-existing ninja death touches covered? ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/73 "2005-12-06T18:19:17Z")
> [@inkleberry](#): > > IF you hit a very small point between two ribs you can, in fact, nail the heart’s capacitor, thus ‘short-circuting’ it momentarily. The blood doesn’t rush out, the heart basically skips a few beats. It has the effect of being deeply disturbing psychologically to the victim besides being painful. The best way to do it is with a punch with one knuckle slightly more extended- a palm strike is a flat strike, and you want to poke a small spot fairly hard. I wonder if this what happened with me a few years ago. A friend and I were screwing around and I gave him a light punch to the chest and he just collapsed. Jumped right up after just a second or two and was acting extremely confused for maybe a few minutes and then he was fine. I offered to take him to the hospital but he said there was no need. It was very odd. What’s funny is that we joked that I had used my one Ninja Death Touch that everyone is alloted. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/74 "2005-12-07T13:25:35Z")
Well, there’s certainly pressure points – Dad always described them as where nerves cluster and meet – that REALLY REALLY hurt when you hit them hard enough. Some can even kill you if you’re stupendously unlucky (lucky?). But it’s the same stuff Cecil described – a very small place on the chest you’ll be lucky to find on anyone with their shirt on, the side of the neck, and (something Cece didn’t mention but he didn’t need to, everyone knows this) in the kidneys, where if you smack someone hard enough you might rupture one. The body’s toilet does not take well to suddenly overflowing. 😃 The whole “taking very trusted members and teaching them” smacks to me of my favorite Chick tract, where the D&D gamer whose character reaches a high enough level gets taught REAL MAGIC. Perform your katas well enough and get REAL. ULTIMATE. POWER. It seems reasonable enough to figure that what started from students learning about pressure points continued to Joe Blow-san scaring people off with threats of his Death Touch or bragging about it in a bar. Nihil novi sub sole,\* and all. 😉 _for the Latin-impaired – nothing new under the sun, hearkening back to the night when I sat in stunned amazement on the back patio of a club whilst a very… convinced young man suddenly and without warning told me everything he knew about ninjas. To his credit, about half of it was verifiable. I didn’t even ASK if he was a ninja._\* \*\*I’m less sure about the half-dozen crew-cutted East Asian fellows in identical black shirts and black cargo pants I saw at the 7-11 at two o’clock in the morning a few nights later. Coincidence? Coming to quiet him up? WHO KNOWS? \*\*\* \*\*\* Note: this is all really true. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/75 "2005-12-07T16:57:01Z")
> [@August West](#): > > I wonder if this what happened with me a few years ago. A friend and I were screwing around and I gave him a light punch to the chest and he just collapsed. Jumped right up after just a second or two and was acting extremely confused for maybe a few minutes and then he was fine. I offered to take him to the hospital but he said there was no need. It was very odd. > > What’s funny is that we joked that I had used my one Ninja Death Touch that everyone is alloted. Has it been seven years yet? You might want to find a good lawyer, just in case. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/76 "2005-12-07T17:41:18Z")
> [@dahumal](#): > > i dont know about this touch of death but you can stop the heart. My master (she is a 3rd degree in tae kwan do) learned from her master that there is a move where you hit the chest a certain way and it squzzes all the blood out of the heart and cause the heart to stop beating, but from what she told me it sounds like you strike infront of the heart and on the side of the rib cage with a palm heel but i dont suggest trying it out lol. Oh im a red belt in chung la kwan (which is just a style of tae kwan do for those who don’t know) by the way. Later I’m sorry to tell you that your instructor is incorrect in her explanation. Yes, there are pressure points all over the human body that cause every reaction from intense pleasure to intense pain. You can even knock someone out briefly with a few of them. However, there is no pressure point on the human body that you can poke and have someone die, either immediately or after an hour or whatever dim mak claims. What your instructor is describing (incorrectly) sounds a lot like a condition known as commotio cordis. > [@](#): > > Commotio Cordis is a syndrome that results from a blunt impact to the chest which leads to cardiac arrest. It is a poorly recognized and underreported event that happens to healthy young athletes as a result of a low-energy, non-penetrating blow to the chest. Commotio Cordis does not result solely from the force of a blow. It is largely the result of the exquisite timing of the blow during a narrow window within the repolarization phase of the cardiac cycle, 15 to 30 msec prior to the peak of the Twave. > > Young athletes are especially at risk because of the pliability of their chest walls. Athletes wearing chest protectors have died while playing baseball, lacrosse, hockey and softball. 75 cases have been well documented since the formation of the United States Commotio Cordis Registry (Minneapolis, MN) three years ago. The true number of deaths is unknown because of underreporting and misclassification. [http://www.la12.org/articles/commotio\_cordis.htm](http://www.la12.org/articles/commotio_cordis.htm) CC is a very rare occurance. I would venture a guess that if you lined up 100 people and punched them in the chest area, they would not be terribly happy about it, but none of them would drop dead on the spot. It is most assuredly not an outcome that I would plan for if I were in a fight defending my life. Plan and simple, folks - there just isn’t an “on/off” switch for humans as Dim Mak claims there is. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/77 "2005-12-07T18:10:24Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > What your instructor is describing (incorrectly) sounds a lot like a condition known as commotio cordis. [right…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6835815&postcount=25) ---
**Author:** ![canyonoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8797f3/32.png) [@canyonoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/canyonoak)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/78 "2005-12-08T15:31:10Z")
So if someone, wearing a chest protector or not, dies from a sudden blow, this is a little understood but documented occurrence of sudden death, given a latin name so we will all know that it is Important and Classified and Documented. But if someone who has studied the body intensely for several years, and same amount of time or greater, has developed physical speed, strength,timing,etc., says that s/he can reproduce the above phenomenon–this is a joke, worthy only of witticisms? Just trying to understand the basic assumptions, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/79 "2005-12-08T16:04:16Z")
> [@canyonoak](#): > > But if someone who has studied the body intensely for several years, and same amount of time or greater, has developed physical speed, strength,timing,etc., says that s/he can reproduce the above phenomenon–this is a joke, worthy only of witticisms? I don’t know if I’d call it a joke but you do have to question the veracity of his/her claim. OK, so you’ve studied it and can hit hard and think you know where the correct point is, how do you know you’re doing it right? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601/80 "2005-12-08T16:27:48Z")
> [@canyonoak](#): > > … if someone … says that s/he can reproduce the above phenomenon–this is a joke, worthy only of witticisms? Considering that the described phenomenon seems very unlikely to be true, for reasons listed many times in this thread, simply “saying” one can reproduce it is meaningless. The OP has been prompted several times to produce some sort of verifiable evidence and has not been able to. So yes, in my personal opinion, this is a joke, worthy only of witticisms. But that is _not_ to say I cannot be dissuaded from my opinion. Give me some real evidence, hard facts, and I’ll change my mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ninja-death-touch/332601.md?page=5)