# What happens when you get stoned? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2000, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-you-get-stoned/41684 "2000-11-17T23:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![superdenseprotohippy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@superdenseprotohippy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superdenseprotohippy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-you-get-stoned/41684/1 "2000-11-17T23:40:10Z")
In the sense of being executed that is. How is execution by stoning achieved? It seems unlikely that the guilty party just has stones thrown at them 'till they shuffle off of the mortal coil. I have a dim memory of reading somewhere that you’re progressively crushed, starting at the feet, by large heavy stone blocks. Of course, we all know how reliable a hazy recollection of something you read sometime is ;). Sounds a bit grisly. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2000, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-you-get-stoned/41684/2 "2000-11-17T23:51:45Z")
> [@](#): > > How is execution by stoning achieved? It seems unlikely that the guilty party just has stones thrown at them 'till they shuffle off of the mortal coil. Why? It’s “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”, no “roll the first block”. exit, singing Rainy Day Women #12&35, wishing this thread was about what I thought it would be. ---
**Author:** ![superdenseprotohippy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@superdenseprotohippy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superdenseprotohippy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-you-get-stoned/41684/3 "2000-11-18T00:05:31Z")
I dunno. It just seems sort of … inefficient. Unless you’re throwing REALLY big rocks. ---
**Author:** ![retsin2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@retsin2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retsin2000)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-you-get-stoned/41684/4 "2000-11-18T00:10:59Z")
And I was ready to open this thread and make a smart ass remark about getting hungry. Anyway, I don’t think efficiency was much of a consideration when it came to ancient forms of execution. I think the more slow and painful the better was more of the rule. I also would imagine that there were a bunch of people throwing rocks and that eventually enough hard blows to the head would cause death. It probably wasn’t quick but I think it was effective. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-you-get-stoned/41684/5 "2000-11-18T03:56:52Z")
> [@](#): > > The condemned are wrapped head to foot in white shrouds and buried up to their waists. > > Then the stoning begins. The stones are specifically chosen so they are large enough to cause pain, but not so large as to kill the condemned immediately. They are guaranteed a slow, torturous death. – [Stoning to Death in Iran: A Crime Against Humanity Carried Out By the Mullahs’ Regime](http://www.iran-e-azad.org/stoning/) (quoting an article from the _Washington Times_) > [@](#): > > According to sharia, men convicted of adultery are buried to their waist and women buried to their armpits, before they are showered with stones thrown by a crowd. > > The stones must not be large enough to kill the person immediately nor too small to be “effective.” The condemned are acquitted if they are able to break free while the sentence is being carried out. > > A man in northern Iran was acquitted in November after managing to unearth himself while being stoned for adultery. – [Iranian newspaper calls execution by stoning un-Islamic](http://www.iranian.com/News/Nov98/stoning.html) [This source](http://www.jtsa.edu/lists/rmsg/msg00301.html) describes a completely different procedure, in which the accused was first pushed off a platform; if that failed to kill them, a boulder would be dropped on them, and only if that failed would they be stoned with smaller stones. I believe this method may have been used only later in Jewish history (i.e., during the Roman period); I don’t know exactly how Israelite stonings were carried out in earlier times. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-you-get-stoned/41684/6 "2000-11-18T04:32:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by superdenseprotohippy \* > \*\*I dunno. It just seems sort of … inefficient. Unless you’re throwing REALLY big rocks. \*\* That is the whole POINT. It IS inefficient. The phrase “death of a thousand cuts” comes to mind. They are supposed to suffer a slow death. And remember, nobody is allowed to start throwing stones until _I_ say so, even _IF_ I say the word “Jehovah.” ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-you-get-stoned/41684/7 "2000-11-18T05:48:14Z")
Even really big rocks aren’t very efficient, apparently. Giles Corey was pressed to death - meaning they piled large stones on him until he died - in Salem, Mass in 1692. It took two days to polish him off, even though he was 80 years old! [This site](http://www.ida.net/users/dhanco/witch2.htm) (~midway down the page) provides some details of the ordeal. > [@](#): > > “Do you confess?” the Sheriff cried over and over. More and more rocks were > piled onto him, and the Sheriff, from time to time, would stand on the boulders > staring down at Corey’s bulging eyes. Robert Calef, who was a witness along > with other townsfolk, later said, “In the pressing, Giles Corey’s tongue was pressed > out of his mouth; the Sheriff, with his cane, forced it in again.” What fun-loving folk, our ancestors! (Adjusting my false beard and looking for some good stones.) ---
**Author:** ![KP235](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@KP235](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP235)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2000, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-you-get-stoned/41684/8 "2000-11-18T08:06:00Z")
[quote] According to sharia, men convicted of adultery are buried to their waist and women buried to their armpits, before they are showered with stones thrown by a crowd. The stones must not be large enough to kill the person immediately nor too small to be “effective.” The condemned are acquitted if they are able to break free while the sentence is being carried out. What was the reason that we gave this practice up ?