How would you like to be executed?
Well known visitors to death row John Albert Taylor and Gary Gilmore both got to choose how they met their demise and as regular readers will know, they both opted for the firing squad over a lethal injection.
And that got me thinking…if you really had to pick your own ticket to ride, which would you choose?
Cast your vote in our ridiculous and completely hypothetical survey:
“How would you like to be executed?”
Select your answer by clicking one of the options in the list below, then refresh the page to update the results graph.
The results so far:
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Execution of the day 
July 15 at 12:45 pm
I can’t believe no one wants to be burned at the stake. If you take a couple of lungfuls of smoke as soon as they light the twigs you’ll soon be dead anyway.
October 18 at 2:14 pm
By many primary source accounts in history that does nor occur at all. The couple of lung fulls of smoke refers to house, factory fires that contain chemicals, ect. Burning at the stake would be awfull. Also the fuel is twigs ect so it would start very slowly
December 28 at 6:30 pm
You ought to put some links here to explain some of the execution types. For example what is “Pressed” ?
September 2 at 3:43 pm
“Pressed” is where they stratch you out on the ground, tied by your limbs, and slowly lay weights onto you body until you can’t breathe. Not nice.
May 13 at 7:27 am
I’ve had a fasination with hanging ever since my mom got me a record of the soundtrack of Disney’s Robin Hood. I was about five. I would play it over and over. I then would act out scenes with my brother. The guillotine would be my second choice. At about the same age, I was watching a movie about the French Revolution at my friends house. It showed the blade falling, but did not show it hitting the person. I asked my friend what happened, he said “They’re killing the King.” Made me wonder about that. How? Now I know it’s quick and almost no pain.
February 18 at 8:36 pm
I chose hanging. All that has to be done to ensure that your neck is cleanly broken and the lights are out in less than a second: make sure the noose is behind the left ear. Tighten it, and make sure that the rope is long enough so that the fall gives your neck a force of exactly 1,260 pounds, and the rope has to be boiled and stretched, and tested on sandbags your weight to ensure that it does not stretch at the end of the drop and fail to break your neck. A test at France’s last guillotine execution said that the man was still conscious 15-30 seconds after the blade fell. Electric Chair… there are too many botched electrocutions. And the firing squad… One of my friends was shot before, and she said it felt like someone was branding her. Not much fun… Plus, the gas chamber seems like it’d hurt a lot. I’ve read lots of reports on people where they’re in the chamber, moaning and banging their heads against the metal pole on the back of the chair, like Jimmy Lee Gray and Robert Alton Harris. Not much fun, it seems. And some executioners like watching Garrote Vil victims suffer… they won’t turn the screw three times quickly, which breaks the neck. They will turn the screw gradually and slowly, so that the person suffocates. They did that with Puig Antich. The rest of those options aren’t fun, so I choose hanging definitely.
June 16 at 2:54 pm
Actually, the knot should be under the chin, (submental).
This makes sure the head snaps backward instantly putting all the force into the neck bones. Nose pointing straight up, toes pointing straight down, life over in an instant. No time for any flashbacks before your blindfolded eyes.
England used the submental knot after WW2. It was much easier on all concerned.
October 30 at 2:53 pm
Guillotine, not hanging. Hanging is too easily miscalculated. Amon Goeth was hung 3 times in succession. His neck didn’t break on the first two tries. Hanging the Nazi war criminals was bungled too. They had lost weight during the trail process. The hangman needed to add his own body weight to theirs to cause their necks to break. One might linger half a minute after beheading by guillotine, but that is swift in comparison to a bungled hanging.
May 9 at 11:08 am
It seems as though Lisa has really studied the art of execution. For me the method that appears to hold the most grandeur is one which isn’t actually listed and that is to be beheaded on the block. You’d have a crowd of onlookers as you climb the stairs upon which you would pay the executioner in the hope of him doing a clean job. You would then kneel whilst his assistant would lower your shirt thus leaving your neck open for the blade to fall upon. At this point you would rest your neck upon the groove of the block and the executioner would pick up his axe making one practice swing to the back of your neck before lifting it again swinging the blade with all of his might onto the back of your neck thus severing it from your body and have the head fall into the basket.
October 2 at 6:38 am
I would chose to be broken on the wheel.To have my legs broken above the knee and below the knee,then both arms smashed above the elbow and below the elbow.Then my body would be “threaded” through the spokes of the wheel and hoisted up to a horizontal position to be left to die.No quick painless deaths for me.A favourite of France and Germany back in the good old days.They would even nip you with a a red hot tongs before execution (first Offence).
June 16 at 9:19 am
Suicide-by-cop
July 3 at 5:10 am
I would be strapped into the Electric Chair completely naked. My head and right leg would be completely shaved for attachment of the Electrodes. My eyes would be bandaged and taped to prevent them from popping out of their sockets. The Electrocutioner throws the switch and I begin taking my Punishment! My body tenses and quivers as I feel the suffering current. Two thousand volts for two minutes! My hands go up in surrender as I feel the surge. I foam from the mouth. Smoke begins to rise from my head and above my right knee. After two minutes the current is shut off. I slump lifelessly in the Chair, Burnt toast!