[explains those few seconds before a Quickening starts] The AFU and Urban Legend Archive Medical decapitated head blinking Guillotined persons remain conscious long enough to blink. I consulted Dr. Ron Wright, most recently Chief Medical Examiner of Broward County Florida. His response to me was: After your head is cut off by a guillotine you have 13 seconds of consciousness (+/- 1 or 2). The first time I ever learned this was when I put a patient into ventricular fibrillation. The "no blood pressure" alarms came on and the patient said "what is that?" I said I suppose you will find out soon enough, and he did. The 13 seconds is the amount of high energy phosphates that the cytochromes in the brain have to keep going without new oxygen and glucose. This is reasonably well known to the forensic community, but not often found in the literature. I believe I touched upon it in one of my articles on asphyxia. At any rate, not only can you blink, but you can do two for yes and one for no; and it is said to have been done. .................. Source: email & person conversation with: R.K. Wright MD JD rkw@xanadu.ftl.fl.us -- The AFU and Urban Legend Archive Medical decapitated head blinking more From: cg7495@u.cc.utah.edu (christine gazak) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban Subject: Re: The blinking guillotine Date: 5 Nov 1997 17:50:32 GMT : In article <63fh00$77p@panix.com>, iayork@panix.com (Ian A. York) writes: : >[snip] : >I'm profoundly skeptical. I think it's a case of over-focusing; ignoring : >the multiple other factors and asking what would happen, hypothetically, : >if asphyxiation was the only thing to worry about. : > : >Ian "may I have some volunteers from the audience?" York I found one! Ok, damnit, where is it? Here: found while researching the pros and cons of endoscopic sphinterotomy for the removal of small bile stones if anyone's remotely interested. I'm retyping it in its entirety because I find its musings on the necessity of capital punishment and its retort to those whose "sentiments" oppose it, quite a different tack from the current pro and con debates surrounding death and physicians. From the British Medical Journal, Vol 294:February, 1987 page 474 100 Years Ago (quoted without permission, but I suspect strongly that the original researchers are dead by now. Original punctuation retained) The _Proges Medical_ of July 9th (likely:1886) publishes a paper by Drs. Regnard and Loye on the examination of the head and body of a convict immediately after his decapitation by the guillotine. The prisoner was calm to the last, and not pale, even when his neck was fixed ready to receive the fatal knife. Two seconds after decapitation the cheeks were still rosy, the eyes wide open, with moderately dialated pupils, the mouth firmly closed. No fibrillary contractions could be observed. When the finger was placed close to one eye, no change of expression took place; but on touching an eye or the tips of the lashes, during the first five seconds, the lids closed just as in life. This reflex action could not be elicited from the sixth second after decapitation. The jaws were tightly clenched, and could not be opened by manual force; no similar muscular contraction could be detected in the trunk or extremities. One minute after death the face began to turn pale, the trunk remained flaccid, the carotids countinuing to throw out blood remaining in the circulatory area. At the end of four minutes the face was quite pale, the upper lids were half closed, the jaws less firmly clenched than before. Irritation of the cut surfaces of the spinal cord failed to produce reflex movements either in the trunk or on the face. For twenty minutes there was no change; then the necropsy was begun. There were signs of old pleurisy and alcoholism. The heart beat actively. On opening the pericardium, the ventricles and aurcles continued to pulsate for twenty-five minutes; the former then ceased to beat, but the auricles went on for forty minutes longer. Thus the heart beat for an hour after decapitation. Then its chambers were laid open; the left ventricle was firmly contracted, the right relaxed. There was emphysema at the edges of the left lung, as is nearly always observed after death by the guillotine. There were bubbles of air in the vessels of the pia mater, and much air in the subarachnoid space. The knife had passed through the lower part of the fourth cervical vertebra. These researches show that not a trace of consciousness remains two seconds after beheading; that reflex movements of the cornea can be excited for a few seconds; that the heart may beat for an hour, the auricles continuing to pulsate alone for half that period; and that, putting aside the reflex movements of the eyelid, the contraction of the jaws and the jets of blood from the carotids, it seemed in this case as though a corpse had been decapitated, so inert were the remains of the convict. The entry of air into the inextensible and incompressible cranial cavity, after the escape of blood from its vessels, was only to be expected. Drs. Regnard and Loye note how calm and free even from physiological death-struggle symptoms is death by the guillotine. There is not even asphyxia; death is rather due to inhibition similar to that described by M. Brown-Sequard in animals who succumb to certain irriations of the nervous system. In this country we take on ourselves the responsibility of destroying life judicially. That so grave a task should be done as mercifully as possible is self-evident. Hanging is a very different matter from decapitation. Anglo-Saxon sentiment is against the headsman, but surely a contrivance for a "mort calme et sans angonie" might be devised to replace the ill-favored gallows. (BMJ 1887, ii:195) Christine "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" Gazak http://www.urbanlegends.com/ Copyright Information [a mans decapitated body, lying next to his severed head, a head which at this time has no name...] [...I know his name] Yahoo! Headlines Friday March 17, 7:35 AM Police search for body after head found on railway LONDON (Reuters) - Police are searching for the body of a man whose severed head was found by a railway line. The head was identified as that of a man from Derbyshire who has been missing since August last year, police said. His head was found in a bag by a railway line behind the West Meadow Industrial Estate in Derby. Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Reuters Limited Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Yahoo! Headlines This is London Monday May 29, 5:05 PM Man found decapitated in park The decapitated body of a man has been found in a Birmingham park.West Midlands Police said the discovery was made at 7am by a man walking his dog near a car park at Cofton Park, Rednal, south Birmingham.A police spokesman said the death is being treated as suspicious, adding: "The body, with the severed head lying nearby, is that of white man."At this stage we cannot determine his age and it is not clear how long the body had been there."A full forensic post-mortem examination will take place later to determine the precise cause of death, the spokesman added.The area where the body was discovered has been preserved for forensic examination and a pathologist, scenes of crime officers and detectives are at the scene. Click here to visit the This is London website Copyright © 2000 Associated New Media. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Associated New Media Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Yahoo! Headlines Monday May 29, 1:18 PM Severed head mystery The decapitated body of a man has been found near a car park in Birmingham. The body was discovered at 7am in Cofton Park, Rednal, opposite Rover's Longbridge factory. West Midlands Police were called to the scene after the body of a white man was discovered by a man walking his dog. His severed head was close by. Pathologists, scenes of crimes officers and detectives are still at the scene and the investigation is being led by Detective Superintendent Barrie Simpson of the murder investigation unit. Copyright © 2000 BBC News Online. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of BBC News Online Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Yahoo! Headlines Monday May 29, 4:35 PM Headless body found in park West Midlands Police have launched a murder inquiry after the decapitated body of a man was found in a Birmingham park on Monday. A man walking his dog made the grim discovery at 0700 BST in Cofton Park, near to Rover's Longbridge factory in Rednal, south Birmingham. Police said no attempt had been made to hide the man's fully clothed body, which was discovered near to a car park. The head was found lying nearby. A police spokesman said the death was being treated as suspicious, adding: "The body, with the severed head lying nearby, is that of white man. "At this stage we cannot determine his age and it is not clear how long the body had been there." A full forensic post-mortem examination was due to take place later on Monday to determine the precise cause of death, the spokesman added. The area where the body was discovered has been preserved for forensic examination and a pathologist, scenes of crime officers and detectives have been investigating the scene. "We would urge anyone with any information about this incident or the identity of the man to contact the police or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111," said a West Midlands police spokesman. Copyright © 2000 BBC News Online. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of BBC News Online Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Monday, 29 May, 2000, 04:24 GMT 05:24 UK Severed head mystery The decapitated body of a man has been found near a car park in Birmingham. The body was discovered at 7am in Cofton Park, Rednal, opposite Rover's Longbridge factory. West Midlands Police were called to the scene after the body of a white man was discovered by a man walking his dog. His severed head was close by. Pathologists, scenes of crimes officers and detectives are still at the scene and the investigation is being led by Detective Superintendent Barrie Simpson of the murder investigation unit. Yahoo! Headlines Tuesday May 30, 4:47 PM Appeal to solve headless man mystery West Midlands Police are appealing for public help in identifying the decapitated body of a man found in a Birmingham park on Monday morning. An elderly man walking his dog discovered the body and severed head at 0700 BST on Monday in Cofton Park, near to Rover's Longbridge factory in Rednal, south Birmingham. Detective Chief Inspector Dave Unwin said the body of a white man, thought to be aged 18-30, was discovered in plain view near a car park close to a wooded area. The victim was of slim build, between 5ft 9in and 5ft 11in tall, with close-cropped dark hair, sideburns and two or three days' beard growth. Although the body was clothed, police have not said what the man had been wearing. "We have yet to establish the identity of the young man and we are obviously seeking information from the public," he said. "There is a family out there that has lost a son or husband and we need to establish who this man was as quickly as we can." DCI Unwin appealed to anyone whose son or partner has gone missing to contact Birmingham's Bournville Lane police station. It is still unclear whether the victim had been killed at the spot where his body was found, or whether his remains were dumped at the site, he said. Test results No weapon has yet been recovered, he added, but police have set up a murder incident room staffed by 25 officers. Officers are awaiting the results of a full forensic post-mortem to determine the man's precise cause of death. The area where the body was discovered has been preserved for forensic examination and a pathologist, scenes of crime officers and detectives have been investigating the scene. The spot where the man's body was discovered is popular among dog walkers and courting couples. Anyone who was in the area between 1700 BST on Sunday and 0700 BST on Monday morning has been asked to come forward to assist police enquiries. Copyright © 2000 BBC News Online. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of BBC News Online Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Tuesday October 31, 12:11 PM Two held in headless body case Police investigating the murder of a man whose headless body was found in parkland have arrested two men. The body of Julian Sanders, 20, along with his severed head, was found by a man walking his dog in Cofton Park, Rednal, Birmingham, in May. Detectives have arrested two men from Shrewsbury on suspicion of murder. The two, aged 30 and 49, have been taken to police stations in the West Midlands for questioning. Detectives involved in the murder hunt appeared on the BBC's Crimewatch UK programme earlier this year in an attempt to identify the corpse. Mr Sanders was eventually identified with the aid of a computer-generated image and artist's impression of his head. Mr Sanders was originally from Shrewsbury. Copyright © 2000 BBC News Online. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of BBC News Online Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 13:48:56 -0400 Subject: THERE SHALL BE ONLY ONE! Colorado Headlines Yahoo News! Tuesday November 23, 1999 6:35 AM ET ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Headless Body Identified - (DENVER) -- Denver Police say they have identified one of two headless bodies found behind Union Station. Detectives say 46-year-old Harry Redden is one of seven transients to die violently since September. Although officers have identified the other headless victim, they are having trouble locating his relatives. Fear of the killers, combined with the first snowstorm of the season, is causing many homeless people to seek refuge in the area's crowded homeless shelters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 04:54:38 EST Subject: There can be only one 16/03 (09:45) SEVERED HEAD FOUND ON EMBANKMENT By Graham Hiscott, PA News Police were today investigating the discovery of a severed head on a railway embankment. The grim find was made behind the West Meadows Industrial Estate, near Derby city centre, at 4pm yesterday by a passer-by using the embankment as a short cut. Detectives are not treating the case as a railway suicide but are unwilling to confirm whether they believe it is murder. Mystery surrounds the identity of the victim, including whether they were male or female. The head was badly decayed, indicating the victim had been dead for some time. A post mortem examination was being carried out this morning, which should reveal vital information. The railway line is expected to be closed while officers search for the rest of the body. An incident room has been set up at Cotton Lane police station in Derby, headed by Det Supt Keiron Wright. Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 22:18:17 +0000 Subject: Decapitation in Halifax Halifax, a town of no little Fortean interest, if only for its peculiar history of recurrent head-lopping, unmentioned in the FT's recent 'Strange deaths' account of the auto-decapitation of local handyman Colin Vincent [FT133:27]. TW Hanson's "The story of old Halifax" (1920), recalls the sixteenth century tale of the founding of the Halifax Gibbet, telling of a clothier named Hodgekins who apprehended three thieves but could not find a willing hangman to execute the scoundrels. To quote Hanson: "At last, liberty was promised to the thief who would hang the others, but as they were loyal to each other, they had to be released, and thus they escaped the death penalty. A gray friar came upon Hodgekins while he was in the dumps over this business, and he said that, with the help of a carpenter, he would make a gin that would cut off their heads without man's help. Hodgekins went up to court and told the king that the privilige of Halifax for hanging thieves was not worth a pudding because they could not get a hangman to truss the thieves. However, a friar had invented a machine that dispensed with the hangman, and his majesty allowed Halifax men to use the new gibbet." The Halifax gibbet was thus a medieval precursor to the eighteenth-century "invention" of the good Dr Guillotine, and most likely the more immediate inspiration for Vincent's handywork. To activate the gibbet, all that was needed was to remove the pin holding the blade aloft. "If it was a case of stealing a horse or a sheep, the animal was yoked to the pin and set the axe in motion," Hanson notes. The gibbet saw its second golden age in the years following the Civil War. A new stone platform and gin was built in 1645 - a modern reproduction now stands on the sight, at the foot of Gibbet Lane, the main road into the town from the west (or, of course, leading out ot the west). Hanson again: "The Puritans were very strict about the morals of the people, and they so hated crime that they revived the Gibbet Law. The remarkable thing about the Halifax Gibbet, is that men should be beheaded for stealing goods of so paltry a value as thirteenpence half-penny, and the custom retained so long after it had fallen into disuse in other places. Most people considered it to be a barbarous practice, and wondered that it should survive at Halifax" The last gibbet trial took place in 1650, of two Sowerby men accused of stealing cloth. The town's Gibbet Book notes: "the Gibbet and its Customary Law got its suspension because some Persons in that Age judged it to be too severe." Even Oliver Cromwell spoke out against capital punishment for petty thefts at the opening of the second Protectorate Parliament. Damned liberals. . . To add a further twist, the town of Haliax is said to owe its very existence to an act of lovelorn decapitation. Around the year 1850, the noted antiquary William Camden visited the town while researching his great almanac of England, "Brittania". There he was told the following story, as related by Hanson: "A certain clergyman, being in love with a young woman and not being able to persuade her, cut off her head. It was afterwards hung up in a yew tree, and was esteemed and visited by the people as holy. So many pilgrims resorted to the place that it became a large town, and was called Hali-fax or Holy Hair." However, Hanson also notes: "There is not one iota of proof for the story, or the derivation, nor the slightest hint of such a tradition in any early accounts of our town." Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 18:14:31 +0100 Subject: There Can Be Only One Yahoo! Headlines This is London Monday May 29, 5:05 PM Man found decapitated in park The decapitated body of a man has been found in a Birmingham park.West Midlands Police said the discovery was made at 7am by a man walking his dog near a car park at Cofton Park, Rednal, south Birmingham.A police spokesman said the death is being treated as suspicious, adding: "The body, with the severed head lying nearby, is that of white man."At this stage we cannot determine his age and it is not clear how long the body had been there."A full forensic post-mortem examination will take place later to determine the precise cause of death, the spokesman added.The area where the body was discovered has been preserved for forensic examination and a pathologist, scenes of crime officers and detectives are at the scene. Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 18:19:07 +0100 Subject: More TCBOO Yahoo! Headlines More BBC Top Stories Monday May 29, 4:35 PM Headless body found in park West Midlands Police have launched a murder inquiry after the decapitated body of a man was found in a Birmingham park on Monday. A man walking his dog made the grim discovery at 0700 BST in Cofton Park, near to Rover's Longbridge factory in Rednal, south Birmingham. Police said no attempt had been made to hide the man's fully clothed body, which was discovered near to a car park. The head was found lying nearby. A police spokesman said the death was being treated as suspicious, adding: "The body, with the severed head lying nearby, is that of white man. "At this stage we cannot determine his age and it is not clear how long the body had been there." A full forensic post-mortem examination was due to take place later on Monday to determine the precise cause of death, the spokesman added. The area where the body was discovered has been preserved for forensic examination and a pathologist, scenes of crime officers and detectives have been investigating the scene. "We would urge anyone with any information about this incident or the identity of the man to contact the police or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111," said a West Midlands police spokesman. Click here to visit BBC News Online Severed head mystery The decapitated body of a man has been found near a car park in Birmingham. The body was discovered at 7am in Cofton Park, Rednal, opposite Rover's Longbridge factory. West Midlands Police were called to the scene after the body of a white man was discovered by a man walking his dog. His severed head was close by. Pathologists, scenes of crimes officers and detectives are still at the scene and the investigation is being led by Detective Superintendent Barrie Simpson of the murder investigation unit. Tuesday May 30, 4:47 PM Appeal to solve headless man mystery West Midlands Police are appealing for public help in identifying the decapitated body of a man found in a Birmingham park on Monday morning. An elderly man walking his dog discovered the body and severed head at 0700 BST on Monday in Cofton Park, near to Rover's Longbridge factory in Rednal, south Birmingham. Detective Chief Inspector Dave Unwin said the body of a white man, thought to be aged 18-30, was discovered in plain view near a car park close to a wooded area. The victim was of slim build, between 5ft 9in and 5ft 11in tall, with close-cropped dark hair, sideburns and two or three days' beard growth. Although the body was clothed, police have not said what the man had been wearing. "We have yet to establish the identity of the young man and we are obviously seeking information from the public," he said. "There is a family out there that has lost a son or husband and we need to establish who this man was as quickly as we can." DCI Unwin appealed to anyone whose son or partner has gone missing to contact Birmingham's Bournville Lane police station. It is still unclear whether the victim had been killed at the spot where his body was found, or whether his remains were dumped at the site, he said. Test results No weapon has yet been recovered, he added, but police have set up a murder incident room staffed by 25 officers. Officers are awaiting the results of a full forensic post-mortem to determine the man's precise cause of death. The area where the body was discovered has been preserved for forensic examination and a pathologist, scenes of crime officers and detectives have been investigating the scene. The spot where the man's body was discovered is popular among dog walkers and courting couples. Anyone who was in the area between 1700 BST on Sunday and 0700 BST on Monday morning has been asked to come forward to assist police enquiries. Click here to visit BBC News Online Copyright (c) 2000 BBC News Online. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of BBC News Online Copyright (c) 2000 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. FT105 10 On me 'ead!: A children's football game in the Belgian city of Ghent was cut short after police confiscated the round object being kicked around the street- a human skull. Passers-by had seen the children playing with the 100-year-old skill, probably unearthed from a disused cemetary during roadworks. FT119 11 Make My Day The body of a man was found decapitated by a train in a tube tunnel near Leytonstone station, London, in late October. The only distinguishing mark was a vertical scar on his abdomen. He was wearing a black t-shirt with white lettering saying "Have A Very Bad Day". There were no clues to his identity. /Leyton Guardian, 5 Nov 1998/ FT142 09 Ancient Rite: John Hawk, 43, from Toledo, Ohio, was under psychiatric investigation after sawing off the head of his dead uncle, saying he planned to eat the brain to resurrect his spirit. /Scotland on Sunday, 6 Aug 2000/ Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2000 12:45:50 -0700 (PDT) Subject: There are brain-eaters in every town http://www.toledoblade.com/editorial/news/0h04corp.htm Toledo [Ohio] Blade | 4 August 2000 Corpse beheading not a shock to all CELINA, O. - For nearly all of his 22 years with the Celina police department, Dave Slusser has known John Hawk, not as a criminal or prominent citizen but as one of this Mercer County city's more unusual characters. When Mr. Hawk, 43, was arrested for allegedly beheading his embalmed uncle's corpse just hours before the funeral Saturday morning, it was not a total shock to Chief Slusser. Mr. Hawk had stopped by the police department more than a few times to discuss his unconventional religious beliefs. "When I found out about it, I thought it went with some of the stuff he had talked about," Chief Slusser said. "My initial feelings were just for the family of the victim involved. Of course, that is his family too. "I know that over the years, the family has had to put up with a lot trying to help him. That's what I thought about when I heard it happened: how much can people be expected to put up with?" Mr. Hawk, who has been charged with abuse of a corpse, a fifth-degree felony, was taken to a Dayton psychiatric hospital after his arrest to be evaluated. Chief Slusser said Mr. Hawk was polite and cordial and generally kept to himself. "If he went off his medication or there was some event in his life that would stir him up, he would go out and try to profess to others his concepts or take part in activities that he felt were necessary," the chief said. "Those type of activities usually drew people's attention enough that they would call us." Mr. Hawk had developed some bizarre religious beliefs, many of which were spelled out in flyers he printed on his home computer and distributed in town. In one, he described a method for resurrecting a loved one that first called for obtaining and consuming the deceased's brain, the chief said. As horrific as that sounds, Chief Slusser said he does not think John Hawk would have seen it that way. "There was nothing malicious or any criminal intent to what he did," he said. "In his mind, he was helping." Mercer County Sheriff Paul Gray, whose office handled the investigation, declined to comment on the case yesterday, referring all questions to county Prosecutor Andrew Hinders, who was out of town. According to the sheriff's office, an official from the Ketcham-Ripley Funeral Home in Rockford, a village north of Celina near the Van Wert County line, reported the crime about 7:40 a.m. Saturday. Mr. Hawk reportedly had asked if he could have a few moments alone with his deceased uncle, William Hawk, then allegedly used a hand saw to cut off his head, which he took to his house. Mr. Hawk was arrested about 30 minutes later, and the body part was returned to the funeral home for the 10 a.m. service. The family decided to proceed with the funeral, said Marcia Stansbury, one of the funeral home owners. Ms. Stansbury said she was getting ready to go to the funeral home when an employee called her at home about what had happened. She immediately dialed 911 and rushed to work. "I've gone over it and over it in my mind. It's just so bizarre," she said. What didn't seem bizarre initially was Mr. Hawk's request for a few private moments with the corpse early in the morning. "It's not unusual for someone to come in early because we're a farming community," Ms. Stansbury said. "We try to accommodate everyone. "The chances of that happening are what? One in a million. It's just hard to believe it happened at all. We're a small town - a village of 1,100 people." Chief Slusser said individuals like Mr. Hawk are in every town, big and small. "Everybody has their John Hawks living in their community, maybe just down the block," he said. "Usually they go through their lives never doing anything to attract enough attention to be noticed." Satow Kashow, Close to the Edge (1998)