Only asking because of Saddam hanging. Does being hung by your neck till your dead hurt?

Question

I realise that no one that it has happened to can be asked!

Answer 1

From my studies of the central nervous system (spinal cord, brain, etc) Princess4 said it well. It is as painless as any death could be, short of beheading with a very sharp instrument, unlike the knives used in beheadings we hear about in the Middle East.
The person being hanged would feel a dropping sensation then, nothing. The brain would be immediately cut off from feedback to other parts of the body, blood circulation stopped. The heart may beat for a time, but the person is brain dead nearly instantly.
Two things could go wrong:
Rope too short: Neck does not snap.
Rope too long for body weight, person is decapitated or nearly so.
I hope I have not been too graphic but I thought my training may come in handy at this point.
--That Cheeky Lad

Answer 2

These days, the technique used is called 'the long drop' (Another glorious British invention) and the idea is that the neck is broken, snapping the spinal cord and causing instant death. It was not always thus, death used to be by slow strangulation, hence the legal phrase 'hanged by the neck until dead'. It was also possible to be hung until you were almost but not quite dead, then drawn and quartered! Such a death by slow hanging was agonising, and often friends of the executed would try and swing from their legs to hasten the end and stop the suffering. The victim would often writhe and jerk from the rope, hence euphemisms like 'Dancing the tyburn jig'. And of course, some people did survive.
With the long drop system, things have to be done just right if the death is to be painless, the noose and in particular the knot have to be placed just right, and the lengh of the fall has to be calculated precisely, taking into account the weight of the victim. Presumably they did so with Saddam!

Answer 3

If it's done right, no.
Technically once a person falls though the gallow, their neck should break and they should feel no pain because of the cutting off of the spinal cord which of course connects sensors to the brain and the cutting off of the airway makes it so they suffocate.
There have been botched hangings in the past, though, where even the head comes off. That would hurt.

Answer 4

The English Pierrepoint family perfected the technique of instantaneous death by hanging. They calculated weight and length of drop, this ensured the fifth vertabrae was snapped. An executioner called i think Berry miscalulated once and the victims head was decapitated. The American way of hanging was by strangulation, sometimes taking as long as an hour for the victim to die; it was,nt until WWII they perfected the same technique as the Pierrepoint's. as Albert Pierrepoint did quite a few of the executions.

Answer 5

For only a split second. If the job is done right the Neck is snapped and the individual goes into what is called medical shock. This renders him unconscious and he/she feels no pain. In less than eight min. he/she then strangles to death (though they are not aware of it, being out of it with a broken neck. ) In six min. brain dead... in eight heart dead at which time the doc proclaims death and they are cut free.

Answer 6

this depends on the way they are hung. if they are dropped through a trapdoor in the ground then no they wouldn,t feel pain as the action causes the spinal cord to snap meaning instant death. this is the most humane way to carry out the procedure. some countries though still carry out the old style of hanging where by the victim is just hoisted up therefore meaning they die a slow painful death by asphyxiation.

Answer 7

It's the snapping of the neck which kills by the force caused by body mass falling and breaking the neck or spinal column. Some don't die instantly and experience a terrible agony.
My thoughts go out to the victims of violence.
Peace

Answer 8

Not if it's done properly. Britain had an official executioner, a man called Albert Pierpoint, and he was expert in assessing just how much it would take to make sure the execution was swift and painless. I would advise you not to take too much interest in this sort of thing. It's perfectly normal that you should be curious but there are happier and healthier things in life to think about.

Answer 9

If it is done correctly, death is instantaneous, your spinal cord is severed as your skull is separated from your spine, therefore your body receives no signals from your brain. If done incorrectly the results can be slow strangulation and in more horrifying cases the complete severance of the head from the body .

Answer 10

Not for very long as the fall breaks your neck which is a shame as saddam should have suffered for years in agony for his awful treatment of humans.