6. Electric Chair
In the face of a shortage of lethal injection drugs, the US are thinking of bringing back the old electric chair. This, however, is a terrible way to go.
Even if all goes well, there is no getting around the fact that the inmate is essentially cooked to death.
As the current zaps through the body, the heart stops, the blood boils and the nervous system jams, causing asphyxiation. Bodies will swell up and boiling hot blood will pour out of every orifice – sometimes the eyeballs pop out and flames burst from under the skin. The body temperature is so hot that the flesh cooks and can fall away.
That’s if you’re lucky.
If you’re unlucky, then the voltage might not quite be high enough to kill you, at least not quickly enough. There have been instances where the process has taken up to ten minutes, slow cooking the inmate as opposed to the preferable flash fry. As the current renders them unable to control movement or speech, they will have to just silently cook, still conscious.
With the lethal drugs running out, some states are seriously considering bringing back Old Sparky so as not to fall behind on the whole “killing people” thing. If they must, then they might actually be better off going back to the guillotine.
5. Crucifixion
As far as execution methods go, crucifixion is probably one of the most high-profile, and it’s definitely no barrel of laughs.
Many of us tend to think of it as almost purely symbolic, but the reality is that it was an unbelievably brutal method of torture and execution. Everybody probably has a pretty strong mental image of a crucifixion, but the actual cause of death is less well known.
Although sticking nails through a person’s hands and feet and leaving them on a remote hilltop will probably not do them much good, it is thought that the actual cause of death for most crucified people was actually suffocation.
Initially, when a person is nailed to a cross, they will instinctively try to support their weight on their injured hands and feet, but once the strength gives out in the legs, the arms are pulled from their sockets and the chest hangs down. This makes it incredibly difficult to fully exhale and the carbon dioxide levels in the body will go up and up as they can do little else but take tiny sips of air.
This process can take many hours, even days. In fact, it was considered the kinder practice to break the victim’s legs first so that their period of suffering is shortened.
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