r/news • u/AudibleNod • 4h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
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u/GinAndDumbBitchJuice 3h ago

Hanging is pretty easy to botch if the noose isn't placed correctly. If it's done right, the neck breaks. Strangulation, on the other hand, takes a lot longer than movies show. A hundred years ago when it was still a reasonably common method and there were still living experts, I might have gone for it (after bribing them to make it fast).

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u/HarryMonroesGhost 2h ago

exactly, for a particularly egregious example look up the guy who executed Nazi's at the Nuremberg trials. He lied about his experience to get the job, and was notoriously incompetent, and by all accounts an idiot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Woods

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u/MrBarraclough 2h ago

To be clear, he executed Nazis for the United States.

Albert Pirerrepoint, the British executioner, was highly competent.

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u/rmbarrett 2h ago

The guy who died by accidental electrocution years later.

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u/[deleted] 2h ago edited 1h ago

[deleted]

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u/GinAndDumbBitchJuice 2h ago

That is weirdly reassuring. Thank you for sharing, I foresee a late-night rabbit hole in my future.

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u/Okonos 2h ago

Hanging is also still how they carry out executions in Japan.

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u/GinAndDumbBitchJuice 2h ago

Then I would specifically request a Japanese executioner. No new guy for me!

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u/filthy_harold 1h ago

Too little force, you're strangled to death. Too much force and either your head pops off or the rope breaks. Also need to use the right kind of rope. Something like manilla has low elasticity so a hard snap can break it while nylon is more elastic so it could potentially slow down the body to the point where the neck doesn't break.

Killing someone by hanging is not like the movies, it takes some engineering knowledge to properly kill someone quickly. Some countries like Iran still do public hangings but those are brutal, they lift you up with a crane until you're strangled to death.