Quote:
Originally Posted by palo5
I don't understand why people do/did hanging as a method of killing. Is it a 'cultural thing'?  |
As you probably know palo5, many years ago public hangings were a spectacle with thousands attending...probably also to act as a deterrent. As for actual 'hanging', not sure about the history as for that method being used. I know some of the beheadings that were used as a method of execution went badly wrong with the executioner often having to sever the head from the neck with many strikes of the axe - this was sometimes down to ineptitude, losing their nerve, or having to be intoxicated to carry it out.
Sometimes the executioner would have to finish severing the head with a knife...doesn't bear thinking about
I think they viewed hanging as being the quickest (and less messiest) way of dispatch.