Does beheading hurt?

[D.B. Cooper]

And if so, for how long is the severed head aware of its plight?

[fieldmarshal]

Depends on who is doing it.

It shouldn't hurt if it is done with one swift blow. I mean you will still feel it for a second or less as the sword passes though your neck. But there should be no pain.

But if you have amateur terrorists beheading you..well yeah that is going to hurt..a lot.

[hellheaven1987]

It should be hurt, theorically, for a few seconds.

[D.B. Cooper]

I see, so would you lose consciousness immediately after being beheaded? Are there even a few seconds where you are aware of what's happened?

[LSJ]

Its possible for a person to feel no pain at all before such a death. One example could be during war: a soldier becomes a victim of a mortar attack, has his leg blown clear off, and appears unaware of his injuries while laying on his back as the medic comes rushing in. A person having his head removed would have major rapid blood loss and massive damage to the spine. He may black out almost instantly.

It could be a case-by-case basis. A person may be unaware of the pain, or may feel great pain for a very short time.

[fieldmarshal]

I see, so would you lose consciousness immediately after being beheaded? Are there even a few seconds where you are aware of what's happened?

Perhaps you are aware for a few seconds, since its theoretically possible for the brain to be alive for a fews seconds, but you don't feel anything, since all the nerves have been cut.

[NLegari]

You would probably feel pain for a few seconds, I am sure.

Oh, and I will be the first to ask: Why do you want to know?

[scottishranger]

You would probably feel pain for a few seconds, I am sure.

Oh, and I will be the first to ask: Why do you want to know?

Can I be the first to troll "Why dont you find out yourself?"

[CtrlAltDe1337]

Most beheadings weren't (and still aren't) done with one blow. They chop at your neck several times before your head falls off. Even a clean blow that beheaded you in one hit would still hurt a LOT for a while, but you would die after a few seconds obviously.

[Kjertesvein]

I don't have the link to it, b/c it was from a news paper here in norway(Aftenposter). They had a article about this. I remember several things:

- There were reports of people back in Victorian age, when the ladys of the kings would be be-headed, and that the head could be "alive" for up to 20-30 secounds. When we speak about beheading, when I was in Africa, the dinner partys were quite un-western. It started with the kids pulling the feather of chickens. Then the man of the village started cutting the head of the goat. I remember a huuuge amount of blood, and the head twisting and turning a while after wards.

- The least pain-full way to die is drowning.

[Gerald The Herald]

- The least pain-full way to die is drowning.

I beg to differ; dying in your sleep's probably the most painless.

[gobbothegreen]

- The least pain-full way to die is drowning.

The lest painfull way to die is probably takign a Heroin overdose.

[NZSkep]

- The least pain-full way to die is drowning.

i've read the exactopposite, that it is actually one of the most painmful ways to die

One myth about drowning that survives to this day is that it is a painless, almost pleasant way to die. Survivors testify otherwise:

"...When the cramp hit me, I sank to the bottom of the lake 12 feet down, in a doubled-up position. Compounding the wracking pain in my trunk was a mounting choking sensation. (Try holding your mouth and nose after taking a deep breath. Hold your breath until it becomes unbearable; then try holding it a few seconds past the unbearable point. It's a horrible sensation and would give you a dim idea of just one aspect of how it feels to drown.) The pressure of the water caused a stabbing pain in my eyes and ears... try to keep your head when water begins to seep into your already tortured lungs and your body is a mass of pain and you know you are dying... I remember that I screamed down there against a solid wall of water�I remember that I threshed and bobbed, but only succeeded in burrowing my head into the slime of the lake floor...."

http://www.lib.niu.edu/1992/ip920721.html

also, think Waterboarding whichis basically simulated drowning. If it were all peaceful and painless do you think it would be used for a torture method?

I doubt it.

[Alexius 17]

Drowning? Really? You cannot be serious. Water filling up your lungs, them burning as you gasp for air and only water comes in?

[awisler]

Well the body has to send the signal it is receiving on an area of its body to the brain which then tells it that the sensation it is feeling is pain. If you chop the head off in one blow, i doubt the brain message to tell you to be in pain would have time to be sent from the neck to the head and back.

I am also fairly certain you would instantly black out as cutting that area of the neck would probably shut down the RAS, after all you can karate chop the RAS on the back of your neck and knock yourself out. I imagine a sword or axe would do the same. Plus, going into a state of paralysis from breaking the spine would likely not allow you to feel anything.

But, blood would still be in your brain for a few seconds and I think you may be able to see and hear for a couple seconds, but you definitely could not look around as you would need a functioning spinal cord and nerves to do that.

[Claudius Gothicus]

Depends, I assure you, if anyone were to be beheaded with a bread knife it would hurt like .
But a Guillotine kind of beheading? mmm It's really fast medule so probably it doesn't.

[Kjertesvein]

Drowning? Really? You cannot be serious. Water filling up your lungs, them burning as you gasp for air and only water comes in?

There is no cut, penetration, blunt crushing impact, etc. There is only water running down your loungs, blocking the air way. Ooooofcoooouurse you freak out and you might panic, but does it really (physically) hurt? From the report( of several people who have died, then revived again) that drowning gives a feeling of something soft and cushy. Hard to describe through the lanuage barrier, but I bet you get it.

[Imperator Romani]

Drowning? Really? You cannot be serious. Water filling up your lungs, them burning as you gasp for air and only water comes in?

Once you breathe in the water your out. Pretty painless.

[Julius Barca the Great]

I had always heard drowning is the most peaceful mode of death, provided you don't panic. If you hold your breath, you will soon pass out from lack of oxygen, thus dying without ever realizing it. Passing out first ensures you feel nothing.

[Dayman]

I had always heard drowning is the most peaceful mode of death, provided you don't panic. If you hold your breath, you will soon pass out from lack of oxygen, thus dying without ever realizing it. Passing out first ensures you feel nothing.

I doubt that. Dying from the cold is probably the most painless. I remember when I was young I played too long outside in the dead of winter, maybe like five hours, I lost my internal "frame of reference" and felt like I was outside my body and was inside it at the same time, it fell very peaceful and warm and I wanted to go to sleep. Eventually someone realized what was going on, took me inside, laid me down and put warm rags on me, I fell asleep and woke up having the best rest of my life. I wager that's the best way to go, except just passing in your sleep.