Lilith Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Over at this website you will find every nursery rhyme you ever remembered as a child, and maybe a few you don't remember. While reading the one on Jack and Jill, I stumbled on this facinating little tidbit: On the gruesome subject of beheading it was the custom that following execution the severed head was held up by the hair by the executioner. This was not, as many people think, to show the crowd the head but in fact to show the head the crowd and it's own body! Consciousness remains for at least eight seconds after beheading until lack of oxygen causes unconsciousness and eventually death. A friend just told me that "they" have recently decided that death may have taken up to two full minutes after the beheading. To quote him directly, he says, "they have now discovered that it may have even been aware up to 2 minutes after..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megara Posted June 17, 2006 Share Posted June 17, 2006 Wow. Interesting website. -shudders at beheading- haha Ew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taphophilia Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 I think they are asuming that the head is sliced off quickly, like with a guillotine. It took 14 blows to get Queen Mary of Scotts head off of her. When they held her head up by the hair, it fell out of it's wig and rolled across the floor. Ann Boleyn asked her hubby, King Henry VIII, for a favor. She asked for an efficient executioner, so she wouldn't have to go through a botched beheading. He granted her request. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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