how long could you live with your head cut of

[als1618]

would you just instantly die or would you be alive for a split second to realize you've lost your head.

[Fluffybunny]

Without bloodflow to the brain you loose consciousness in just a second or two. Maybe enough to realize that your head is no long attached.

There was a rumor back when the guillotine was popular that they could pick up the head and actually look the person in the eyes as they died. I don't know if that is true or not, but I do know that you have very little time after the head comes off to know what is going on.

[Sweetpumper]

You could probably email O.J. - he's got the answer.

[questionmark]

would you just instantly die or would you be alive for a split second to realize you've lost your head.

As Fluffy said above, you would loose conscientiousness within less than a minute, but you would probably "live" for another two minutes. That is how long it takes for your brain to suffer irreparable damage from loss of oxygen.

[sunburst]

hey, when you do lose your head, are you in you head, or in your headless body? I think you die like in 20 seconds after you lose your head.

[DSTM]

From what I can find,you are pretty much dead near instantly.

http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinvent...uillotine_2.htm

[Lotus Flower]

I believe you would die almost instantly.

Interesting thought though - I mean would the brain immediately shut down, or would it wind down rather like a computer?

tsk now I am confused

[raoulduke666]

this site i just found should answer your question...pretty interesting read too Facts about Beheadings

[greggK]

Your heart has a separate brain called the bundle of His. But it will last for quite awhile. Have you ever heard of aginal heartbeat? I put a heart monitor on a man who had been dead for about 12 hours and I got some aginal heartbeats. But, he had his head though. Think about brain-dead people like Terri Shivo; how many years did she live? She had a head too, didn't she.

I'd say about 2 minutes because there is no brain control.

[kenshinx]

a month ? and i'll die starving

[bloodyfish]

I heard you stay conscious for a few seconds in horrible pain. I'm not sure how long you live, but I do think it would be interesting if you could keep the body alive. Like that headless chicken that lived for a month.

[sunburst]

Like that headless chicken that lived for a month.

there was a HEADLESSS chicken that stayed alive for a month!!!!! holy penny savers!!!!!!! do tell!!!!!!

[sunburst]

HEY!!!!

no one answered my question, a guess will just do good!!!!

when you're head is chopped off, are you in your head, or your body?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JustNormal]

HEY!!!!

no one answered my question, a guess will just do good!!!!

when you're head is chopped off, are you in your head, or your body?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The moment you are decapitated you are dead, instantly. You are not anywhere except moving to the next plain..JN

[glorybebe]

The moment you are decapitated you are dead, instantly. You are not anywhere except moving to the next plain..JN

When people were put through the guillotine, there were reports of their mouths opening in screams and their eyes blinking. There are still electrical impulses flowing through the nerves.

[She-ra]

Okay. just. ew.

[swtp]

When people were put through the guillotine, there were reports of their mouths opening in screams and their eyes blinking. There are still electrical impulses flowing through the nerves.

I would hope thats all it is! Because i certainly wouldn,t want to feel or be aware of anything once my head left my body!

[kenshinx]

there was a HEADLESSS chicken that stayed alive for a month!!!!! holy penny savers!!!!!!! do tell!!!!!!

i think is not headless chicken. the head still conected. that poor chicken still eat corn but the corn fall from its neck hole. (that's what i read)

headless chicken only live about a day, until its die from blood loss. i've seen some of them.. freaky...

[InHuman]

We're are never going to now unless we try, fluffy sir, find some noname and lets answer this mystery.

[glassvampire]

a month ? and i'll die starving

Now that was funny!

Thanks man

[when.i.am.queen.]

Would you be able to register the pain?

Or would your brain be shutting down so quickly that is would not go through?

[goalienan]

Back to the guillotine...Who would want to pick up a head and watch the eyes till it's dead...ewwwwww...

[1.618]

would you just instantly die or would you be alive for a split second to realize you've lost your head.

this is from;http://www.metaphor.dk/guillotine/Pages/30sec.html

Read this report from 1905. The report is written by Dr Beaurieux, who under perfect circumstances experimented with the head of Languille, guillotined at 5.30 a.m. on June 28th, 1905

" I consider it essential for you to know that Languille displayed an extraordinary sang-froid and even courage from the moment when he was told, that his last hour had come, until the moment when he walked firmly to the scaffold. It may well be, in fact, that the conditions for observation, and consequently the phenomena, differ greatly according to whether the condemned persons retain all their sang-froid and are fully in control of themselves, or whether they are in such state of physical and mental prostration that they have to be carried to the place of execution, and are already half-dead, and as though paralysed by the appalling anguish of the fatal instant.

"The head fell on the severed surface of the neck and I did not therefor have to take it up in my hands, as all the newspapers have vied with each other in repeating; I was not obliged even to touch it in order to set it upright. Chance served me well for the observation, which I wished to make.

"Here, then, is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds. This phenomenon has been remarked by all those finding themselves in the same conditions as myself for observing what happens after the severing of the neck...

"I waited for several seconds. The spasmodic movements ceased. The face relaxed, the lids half closed on the eyeballs, leaving only the white of the conjunctiva visible, exactly as in the dying whom we have occasion to see every day in the exercise of our profession, or as in those just dead. It was then that I called in a strong, sharp voice: "Languille!" I saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contractions – I insist advisedly on this peculiarity – but with an even movement, quite distinct and normal, such as happens in everyday life, with people awakened or torn from their thoughts.

Next Languille's eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine and the pupils focused themselves. I was not, then, dealing with the sort of vague dull look without any expression, that can be observed any day in dying people to whom one speaks: I was dealing with undeniably living eyes which were looking at me. "After several seconds, the eyelids closed again, slowly and evenly, and the head took on the same appearance as it had had before I called out.

"It was at that point that I called out again and, once more, without any spasm, slowly, the eyelids lifted and undeniably living eyes fixed themselves on mine with perhaps even more penetration than the first time. The there was a further closing of the eyelids, but now less complete. I attempted the effect of a third call; there was no further movement – and the eyes took on the glazed look which they have in the dead.

"I have just recounted to you with rigorous exactness what I was able to observe. The whole thing had lasted twenty-five to thirty seconds.

[truethat]

I wouldn't think there would be pain. People who have reported losing limbs or even being attacked by a shark report a vice like grip. I would imagine that's what a clean decapitation would feel like and the pain would grow but by then you'd be unconscious.

[als1618]

I belive you would be instantly dead because the blade would sever the spine killing you instanly.