The predominant school of thought suggests that if someone's head is removed swiftly and cleanly, the resulting dramatic loss of blood pressure means you become unconscious straight away. One of the most obvious relationships is fainting. Fainting can occur even with only a small drop in blood pressure. We may feel faint for a short time but our loss of consciousness is sudden and often dramatic. When we recover we rarely remember fainting or what happened during the period of unconsciousness.
The decapitated person essentially dies from a massive hemorrhage that stops any oxygen going to the brain. Lack of oxygen after three minutes results in catastrophic death of brain cells.
Historically, heads were held up following execution in the belief that the person remained conscious for about 10 seconds following decapitation. But where did that idea come from? During the French Revolution, the condemned were apparently seen to blink their eyes for up to 30 seconds and open their mouths following their beheading.
The story about a French chemist, Antoine Lavoisier, who lived between 1743 and 1794 has fueled this belief. He apparently told his friends he would blink for as long as he could following his beheading. He was observed to do this for many seconds. This story however may be just that as no real facts are available to support it.
More interesting records come from studies carried out by Dr Jean-Joseph Sue, a German anatomist Samuel-Thomas Sommering, French anatomy professor Dr Séguret, Dr Dassy de Ligniéres, and Dr Beaurieux. During the French Revolution one of them, Dr Séguret, conducted experiments that exposed the eyes of two heads to sunlight. The eyes shut. Their exposed tongues were pricked and the tongue withdrew into the mouth. Séguret found the eyes of one victim followed the voice of whoever was talking for more than 15 minutes. Whether the doctors' findings were signs of mental activity or just involuntary spasm following muscular and nervous stimulation is unknown.
In 1905 Dr. Beaurieux carried out an experiment with the head of a murderer called Languille who had been guillotined. He called the deceased name. The head opened its eyes and looked the way of the caller. The eyes then closed and his name was called again. Again the eyes fixed themselves on the doctor. A third attempt after about 25 to 30 seconds brought no response. The doctor reported that after decapitation the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds.
There is evidence that decapitation is painful but this appears to depend on the skill and type of beheading. The Duke of Monmouth in England took 3 strokes to have his head severed from his body. Mary Queen of Scots let out a long anguished moan when the executioner failed to get the job done at his first strike. However, if the spine is severed completely then the perception of pain is also immediately removed.
The evidence of various abolitionists and the concerns that a human may be aware of their fate following death by guillotine lead to its abolition, but not until 1981. The last execution in France was in 1977, but certain countries still use decapitation as a mode of execution.
