# Saw a man cut in half, everything spilling, alive, alert for a long time...how?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 16, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185 "2015-05-16T17:59:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/21 "2015-05-17T15:05:22Z")

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I just watched the other links. Those were pretty real, especially the last one being particularly gory and visceral. Though I still have my doubts on the one linked to in the OP. He was quite relaxed and talkative, while the others were pretty damn out of it, confused or just passed out/dead.

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**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/22 "2015-05-17T16:10:16Z")

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For the record, I have now seen _ **two more** _!😕:eek:

Bringing the current total of Men Violently Torn In Half Yet Remaining Alive And Aware And Able To See Their Horrific Situation For A Shockingly Long Time Afterwards to _ **SIX** _. Fuck!

No links, one in Brazil, the other looks like it could be here in the US…guy sorta up on his elbows, shaking his head…

Not one of them is hysterical. Amazing.

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**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/23 "2015-05-17T16:49:39Z")

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Stoid, have you even read any of the other responses?

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**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/24 "2015-05-17T17:14:22Z")

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Every single one.

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**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/25 "2015-05-17T17:34:15Z")

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Definitely the best use of spoiler alerts ever.

> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Yeah, I am fascinated by that stuff. And I’m a girl! (The one type of thing I won’t watch is beheadings - never seen one, don’t wanna. I saw a video of a man getting his throat cut from a side-stick out the front and that was all I ever need to see of that sort of thing. Actually, I’m generally not that big on living people suffering and dying, but once they are dead they are just meat. Fascinating meat.)
> 
> Easily the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen. Vietnamese policeman was run over by a truck. Judging from the condition of his torso, he was torn completely apart just above his hips. His lower half was lying at a right angle beside him, nothing attached.
> 
> So he’s lying there, his intestines completely spilling out, because, well, he had nothing to hold them in. He’s talking, his hands are weirdly touching his guts and the ends of his skin as he talks, looks around, and even tries to sit up a few times. But of course he can’t, because he has no hips. (Amazingly, he’s extremely calm…but that must have been extreme shock, because it’s hard to imagine someone _not_ in shock calmly observing their lower half lying at their side and their guts spilling out without screaming hysterically)
> 
> There’s blood, but not nearly what you’d suppose, given the insane nature of his “injury” and there doesn’t seem to be any gushing from anywhere. His guts are very pale, however. I think the video is about… 6 minutes? Not sure about that, but it is WAY longer than you would ever dream someone in that condition could remain alive, never mind conscious.
> 
> The video ends before any paramedics arrive, and while he’s still clearly alive and aware.
> 
> Here’s what I wanna know: how in the world did he not bleed out? Can you tear someone in half at some perfect spot in their torso and somehow not hit an artery? That makes no sense, given that someone can bleed out from having the artery in their leg cut. Is it possible that in the process of ripping him in two, the truck also managed to “seal” whatever artery HAD to have been torn in the process?
> 
> And no, it was not faked. I’m very familiar with real gore vs. fake gore. this was real. It was on the street, people were milling, cars honking, slowing… it was really strange, but clearly real.
> 
> And someone’s gonna ask, so I’m linking behind this spoiler. Don’t look if you don’t wanna see it.
> 
> [spoiler]PLEASE: do NOT follow this link if you are not prepared to see what I have described!
> 
> [spoiler]Again: DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK UNLESS YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO SEE THIS!
> 
> [spoiler]I MEANT IT! Don’t come crying’ to me about how nasty it is!
> 
> [spoiler] **YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**
> 
> [Best Gore](http://www.bestgore.com/road-accidents/vietnam-police-officer-cut-in-half-after-bad-accident-extremely-graphic-video/%5B/spoiler%5D%5B/spoiler%5D%5B/spoiler%5D%5B/spoiler%5D)

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**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/26 "2015-05-17T18:13:40Z")

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> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> So why are beheadings worse and simply unwatchable? To me, it would seem like a person getting ripped in half would be a bit more traumatic to watch than a beheading.

Maybe because you know after a beheading that at least the person’s dead and it was quick and relatively painless. Whereas something like this they’re still alive and suffering.

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**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/27 "2015-05-17T18:21:12Z")

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> [@pool](#):
>
> I know exactly what video you are talking about without even clicking the link, I’m unaware if it looked fake or not since its been many years since I saw it. I have heard a case or two where a person got caught or something between a subway car and the platform and were kept alive even though there lower body was crushed I think because it basically acted as a giant tourniquet.
> 
> One of the cases I heard about supposedly they called the person’s next of kin or something that came to see them one last time before they moved the train, after which the person invariably died. Not sure if the story was true or if I just have a bad memory, but it seems pretty similar to the scenario in the movie Signs with Mel Gibson’s character’s wife being pinned between the car and the tree.

> **[The Last Kiss](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-last-kiss/)**
>
> Man mangled in accident is kept alive long enough for one last kiss from his wife.

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**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/28 "2015-05-17T19:51:52Z")

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> [@Colibri](#):
>
> The earliest posts of this video seem to be from 2009. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more discussion of the video on line, whether it is real or fake. Snopes has [a thread](http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=50240)on it, but apparently no page.
> 
> It certainly appears to be faked to me. The amount of blood and the movements and reactions of the victim are inconsistent with such an extremely traumatic injury, nor do the exposed intestines seem realistic. An object that appears to be a light meter is placed on his chest at 1:52. It’s hard to imagine why someone might place some other object on such a severely injured victim. Although he moves his torso somewhat, the area around his waist never shifts even slightly, consistent with his lower body being in a hole.

They do have an [article](http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/peng.asp) on the guy that it supposedly happened to, but it says nothing about there being a video available for it. So while there’s definetly a Peng Shuilin who suffered from a horrible accident like that, that doesn’t mean it’s him in the video. And I’d bet it’s fake, if only by how casual he seems – wouldn’t he have passed out from shock?

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**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/29 "2015-05-17T21:59:14Z")

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I once ran a finger into a table saw.

There was no pain initially and I got to the ER before shock set in.

Sometimes a life-threatening injury leaves one alert and clear-headed - quite useful if you are going to survive.

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**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/30 "2015-05-17T22:03:09Z")

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> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Yeah, I am fascinated by that stuff. And I’m a girl! (The one type of thing I won’t watch is beheadings - never seen one, don’t wanna. I saw a video of a man getting his throat cut from a side-stick out the front and that was all I ever need to see of that sort of thing. Actually, I’m generally not that big on living people suffering and dying, but once they are dead they are just meat. Fascinating meat.)
> 
> Easily the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen. Vietnamese policeman was run over by a truck. Judging from the condition of his torso, he was torn completely apart just above his hips. His lower half was lying at a right angle beside him, nothing attached.
> 
> So he’s lying there, his intestines completely spilling out, because, well, he had nothing to hold them in. He’s talking, his hands are weirdly touching his guts and the ends of his skin as he talks, looks around, and even tries to sit up a few times. But of course he can’t, because he has no hips. (Amazingly, he’s extremely calm…but that must have been extreme shock, because it’s hard to imagine someone _not_ in shock calmly observing their lower half lying at their side and their guts spilling out without screaming hysterically)
> 
> There’s blood, but not nearly what you’d suppose, given the insane nature of his “injury” and there doesn’t seem to be any gushing from anywhere. His guts are very pale, however. I think the video is about… 6 minutes? Not sure about that, but it is WAY longer than you would ever dream someone in that condition could remain alive, never mind conscious.
> 
> The video ends before any paramedics arrive, and while he’s still clearly alive and aware.
> 
> Here’s what I wanna know: how in the world did he not bleed out? Can you tear someone in half at some perfect spot in their torso and somehow not hit an artery? That makes no sense, given that someone can bleed out from having the artery in their leg cut. Is it possible that in the process of ripping him in two, the truck also managed to “seal” whatever artery HAD to have been torn in the process?
> 
> And no, it was not faked. I’m very familiar with real gore vs. fake gore. this was real. It was on the street, people were milling, cars honking, slowing… it was really strange, but clearly real.
> 
> And someone’s gonna ask, so I’m linking behind this spoiler. Don’t look if you don’t wanna see it.
> 
> [spoiler]PLEASE: do NOT follow this link if you are not prepared to see what I have described!
> 
> [spoiler]Again: DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK UNLESS YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO SEE THIS!
> 
> [spoiler]I MEANT IT! Don’t come crying’ to me about how nasty it is!
> 
> [spoiler] **YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**
> 
> [Best Gore](http://www.bestgore.com/road-accidents/vietnam-police-officer-cut-in-half-after-bad-accident-extremely-graphic-video/%5B/spoiler%5D%5B/spoiler%5D%5B/spoiler%5D%5B/spoiler%5D)

GOD!! Why didn’t you warn me??

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**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/31 "2015-05-17T22:08:40Z")

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This reminds me of a few accounts I’ve read of a beheading, after which the head seemed to have consciousness. The evidence included opening and closing eyes, opening mouth, and having an expression of “complete horror and shock.” Weird, but documented more than a few times.

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**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/32 "2015-05-17T22:50:23Z")

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> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> They do have an [article](http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/peng.asp) on the guy that it supposedly happened to, but it says nothing about there being a video available for it. So while there’s definetly a Peng Shuilin who suffered from a horrible accident like that, that doesn’t mean it’s him in the video. And I’d bet it’s fake, if only by how casual he seems – wouldn’t he have passed out from shock?

Peng Shulin is Chinese and he was injured in 1995, I think, it’s not him in the video.

As for being “casual”, as you put it (he seems spacey to me…I’d love it if someone who speaks Vietnamese could enlighten us with some translation), that appears to be a defining feature of men violently cut in half but remaining conscious.

I now provide the other two links to add to the four already provided, showing that all six are conscious, but none are responding in a manner that suggests they are in the degree of physical agony logic tells you they ought to have been, nor do they appear to be in the psychological agony logic tells you they ought to have been. I think all of them are experiencing some kind of protective endorphin rush. Truman Duncan was cut in half by a train, and while he was crushed under it, helping to prevent him from bleeding out (still lost s blood supply), he was having largely the same experience as these other men. He said:

> [@](#):
>
> “The pain was real severe, and then it just kinda like it wasn’t there,” Duncan said. “I think something else kicks in and then you try to do things necessary to stay alive.”

He stayed awake for 45 minutes, called his family, and 911.

So the final two:  
(VERY GROSS, don’t click unless you are ready for that)

Brazil, truck:  
[http://www.bestgore.com/road-accidents/man-cut-in-half-truck-brazil/](http://www.bestgore.com/road-accidents/man-cut-in-half-truck-brazil/)

Location unknown:  
[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvd44w\_cut-in-half-and-still-alive\_creation](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvd44w_cut-in-half-and-still-alive_creation)  
And a bonus video of a man apparently cut in two by a motorcycle during a race, for those who question if vehicles can do that: (blurry, not entirely clear if he’s actually cut in two, but his clothes are blown off!)

> **[ItemFix - Social Video Factory](https://www.itemfix.com/?r=ll)**
>
> Social Video Factory

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**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/33 "2015-05-18T01:10:27Z")

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> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> Maybe because you know after a beheading that at least the person’s dead and it was quick and relatively painless. Whereas something like this they’re still alive and suffering.

Um, no, you’re confused. Go back and re-read.

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**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/34 "2015-05-18T01:26:51Z")

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. . . climbed a mountain, and I turned around . . .

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**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/35 "2015-05-18T09:59:33Z")

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> [@Stoid](#):
>
> I now provide the other two links to add to the four already provided, showing that all six are conscious, but none are responding in a manner that suggests they are in the degree of physical agony logic tells you they ought to have been, nor do they appear to be in the psychological agony logic tells you they ought to have been. I think all of them are experiencing some kind of protective endorphin rush. Truman Duncan was cut in half by a train, and while he was crushed under it, helping to prevent him from bleeding out (still lost s blood supply), he was having largely the same experience as these other men. He said:

You are way too into this stuff.

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/36 "2015-05-18T17:39:06Z")

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> [@Penfeather](#):
>
> You are way too into this stuff.

For a girl, especially!! The rest of us got the vapors just reading the title.

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**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/37 "2015-05-18T17:55:21Z")

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I question whether someone with that kind of injury would be able to speak normally, as one’s diaphragm, and the nerves to it, have to be intact, and it can’t be impeded by swelling, abnormal blood flow, or displaced organs.

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**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/38 "2015-05-18T19:07:16Z")

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> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> For a girl, especially!! The rest of us got the vapors just reading the title.

I know, it’s weird, isn’t it? Been like that since I was a kid. For some reason we had medical book on amputation and I was all over it when I was like, 8. Weird.

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**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/39 "2015-05-18T19:23:33Z")

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> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Been like that since I was a kid. For some reason we had medical book on amputation and I was all over it when I was like, 8.

Wow, my dad just left a Playboy out for me.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saw-a-man-cut-in-half-everything-spilling-alive-alert-for-a-long-time-how/720185/40 "2015-05-19T01:37:15Z")

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> [@lieu](#):
>
> Wow, my dad just left a Playboy out for me.

Well my dad left those out, too. I loved Little Annie Fannie. And Gahan Wilson.

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