Method Drop hanging megathread (?)

[BQ27500]

Drop (meters) ÷ weight (kg) × 0.3048. This is a painless method if you know how to make a anchor hitch knot and a arbor knot. Contrary to what people may tell you, DO NOT USE A NECKTIE. It will most likely snap. Use a piano string or a BRAIDED fishing line. You could use a regular old rope from the store, but honestly, you are best off using something thin and strong. It has to be strong to hold your weight, and if it is thin, it will be much more likely to decapitate you. Piano strings are probably too short, so a braided fishing line, emphasis on the braided, is needed. Contrary to what some people tell you, partial hanging is NICHE and probably won't work. You will get survival instincts and STAND UP. Another contrary, the more fat you are, the BETTER it is for hanging. I need to drop 3 meters for long drop to KO me and kill me within 6-10 minutes. If you are like 120 kilograms, you will need to drop just 1.5 meters to get KO'd. Does this mean that you should bulk a lot and stop hitting the gym? Maybe. But even if you are the most obese person in the world, I would still recommend taping some weights to you. I don't know how heavy do you have to be in order to get decapitated, but you should tape at the bare minimum 10 kilograms worth of weights and medicine balls. The heavier you are, the better, as long as you can still climb over whatever railing you need to. YOU SHOULD STRIVE TO GET DECAPITATED! This is my main point. If you make a perfect long drop, you can still be found within those 10 minutes, and be rendered a vegetable. If you get decapitated, you will have a 100% chance to die, at least until they make a technology that can revive decapitated people. This method needs a braided fishing line and the knowledge of some crazy knots, but you can always just make the arbor knot preemptively, put it around your neck, and make the anchor hitch knot later. @RainAndSadness I need you to pin this.

 

[Worndown]

This is an execution calculation. Maybe a bit excessive.
Not your average home setup.

 

[Claymore7274]

Sounds solid, though partial does actually work, with enough pressure.

Suspension with no drop might just be good enough not gonna lie

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

The physical connection isn't as simple as the familiar formulas might suggest. The crucial point is that the rope is much stiffer than your neck; this is the know-how of professional executioners.

Furthermore, it's not certain that the spinal cord will be severed if the cervical vertebrae are broken. And even if the spinal cord is severed, that only means you're paralyzed from the neck down, not that you're unconscious. Even in the case of decapitation, science isn't certain when unconsciousness occurs. If unconsciousness, as in hanging without a long drop, is caused by interrupting the blood supply to the brain, then the situation is particularly unfavorable because the knot would be located under the chin.

 

[BQ27500]

This is an execution calculation. Maybe a bit excessive.
Not your average home setup.

You can use a calculator

 

[JesiBel]

It's the most difficult hanging method to execute (Drop 'Judicial' Hanging). You can't perform any prior tests to verify the safety of the setup and results.

With Partial and Full Suspension, you can perform all the necessary tests to ensure the method works correctly, test your materials, and understand how your body will react. You can determine what to do, what not to do, and adjust the procedure until everything works as smoothly as possible.

(Drop Hanging) It's risky because you can only do it once; a small mistake will be enough to cause a traumatic death.

For this reason, there were professional executioners (yes, it was a job like any other) trained and specialized to carry out this task for those condemned to death. And even then, they often made mistakes.

It's not as easy as reading a table and doing some calculations... Even finding a suitable location/place is complicated.

My advice is to refrain from this type of hanging.

To complete my post, I'm adding some interesting information, just to delve deeper into the topic.

---

This method (Drop Hanging) includes two variants:

Spoiler: Standard drop hanging

• Standard drop hanging: the prisoner drops a predetermined amount, typically 4-6 feet, which may or may not break their neck. (Method adopted in America in the later 19th and early 20th centuries)

This was not worked out against the weight of the individual, but was often equivalent to their height. A drop of this distance was often not sufficient to break the prisoner's neck, however, and many still died by strangulation, although in a lot of cases they were knocked unconscious by the force of the drop and the impact of the heavy coiled knot against the side of the neck. Occasionally, they were decapitated when the drop proved to be too long, as happened at the execution of Eva Dugan in Arizona in 1928.

Standard drops were given to the eleven senior Nazis executed after the Nuremberg trials and several were reported to have died slowly.

The Lincoln conspirators were given a drop of five feet at their hanging in 1865 and at least two of the four struggled for some time after they were suspended.

The force generated by a drop of 5 or 6 feet is very considerable and does great damage to the skin, muscles and ligaments of the neck but does not necessarily induce asphyxia any sooner. Some prisioners were rendered unconscious by the force of the drop, even though their spinal cord was not severed.

Spoiler: Famous case

The execution of Major Raymond Lisemba on May 9th, 1942; at San Quentin prison in California.

Clinton Duffy was the warden there from 1942 to 1954 and relates to the execution:

"The man hit bottom and I observed that he was fighting by pulling on the straps, wheezing, whistling, trying to get air, that blood was oozing through the black cap. I observed also that he urinated, defecated, and droppings fell on the floor, and the stench was terrible".

It took ten minutes for the condemned man to die. When he was taken down and the cap removed, "big hunks of flesh were torn off" the side of his face where the noose had been, "his eyes were popped," and his tongue was "swollen and hanging from his mouth. His face had turned purple."

Spoiler: Measured or "long drop" hanging

• Measured or "long drop" hanging: the distance the person falls when the trapdoors open is calculated according to their weight, height and physique and is designed to break the neck. (This method became universal in Britain from 1874, and was adopted in British Colonies)

The long drop method was designed to break the prisoner's neck by allowing them to fall a pre-determined distance and then be brought up with a sharp jerk by the rope. At the end of the drop, the body is still accelerating under the force of gravity but the head is constrained by the noose. If the eyelet is positioned under the left angle of the jaw it rotates the head backwards, which combined with the downward momentum of the body, breaks the neck and ruptures the spinal cord causing instant deep unconsciousness and rapid death.

The drop given in the later part of the 19th century was usually between 4 and 10 feet depending on the weight and strength of the prisoner. The weight used to calculate the correct drop is that of the prisoner's clothed body.

The length of the drop was worked out by the formula 1,260 foot pounds divided by the body weight of the prisoner in pounds = drop in feet. Between 1892 and 1913, a shorter length of drop was used, presumably to avoid the decapitation and near decapitations that had occurred with old table.

After 1913, other factors were also taken into account and the drop was calculated. The Home Office issued a rule restricting all drops to between 5 feet and 8 feet 6 inches as this had been found to be an adequate range.

From around 1939 it became customary to add a further nine inches to the drop calculated from the 1913 table.

The Evolution of the "Long Drop" in the 19th Century

The Evolution of the "Long Drop" in the 20th Century

It takes between a half and three quarters of a second for a person to reach the end of the rope after the trap opens, depending upon the length of drop given. The force produced by the prisoner's body weight multiplied by the length of fall and the force of gravity, coupled with the position of the noose is designed to violently jerk the person's head backwards and sideways. In medical terms this is known as hyperflexion of the neck, which causes dislocation of the upper neck vertebrae and may also cause fracture of the vetebrae, ideally between the C2 & C3 vertebrae, crushing or severing the spinal cord leading to immediate unconsciousness.

This leads to a number of factors, all of which can cause death.

The Phrenic nerve which controls the diaphragm emerges between the C3 and C4 vertebrae and thus if the dislocation occurs above C4 the person's breathing ceases immediately, leading to asphyxia.

The rope constricts the carotid arteries and the jugular veins. The neck is constricted by as much as five inches from its original circumference.

Fractures of the hyoid bone and larynx typically occur which on their own can prove fatal as breathing is severely restricted or prevented. The normal cause of death is given as comatose asphyxia. Some slight movements of the limbs and body may occasionally occur but are almost certainly due to muscular reflexes.

Spoiler: Famous case

• Andrew Carr became the first man to be hanged within Dublin's Richmond prison on 28 July 1879 using Haughton's formula and he was decapitated by the drop. It was shown that the rope used on this occasion was not thicker than the finger of a man's hand. The convict was a heavy man, and this thin rope literally beheaded him.

• Martin M'Hugo, a tall, powerfully built man, was hanged at Galway prison on 16 January 1880, by William Marwood. Dissection of the neck revealed that most of the tissues were torn through and the third cervical vertebrae was broken. The parts were separated by at least two inches and the spinal cord was also separated. The body was held to the head just by skin. Marwood gave much longer drops at this time than would be later used. This must have come close to decapitation. The same occurred with Patrick Higgins at Galway in January 1883 and Kinkead again attributed this to the excessive drop given.

• The execution of Henry Dutton at Kirkdale on 3 December 1883 was botched by Binns. Dutton was given a barely adequate drop of 7' 6" using an over thick rope of 1 1/8" diameter with the eyelet positioned at the nape of the neck. He struggled for two minutes and his heart beat for eight minutes after the drop. Dutton's neck had not been broken.

• Robert Goodale at Norwich Castle on 30 November 1885. He was decapitated by the force of the drop.

• John Conway on 20 August 1891, at Kirkdale. He was given a drop of six feet. This tore open Conway's throat and led to a bloody mess in the pit.

Spoiler: Execution equipment

• The gallows:

Simple gallows, having an upright with a projecting beam cross braced to it were commonly used in many countries, even up till the end of the World War II.

From 1783, the gallows at Newgate in London had a trapdoor and as the concept of giving the prisoner some drop became more widely used.

The present day gallows in Washington's Walla Walla prison consists of two massive iron eye bolts through which the rope passes, each set over a single leaf trap operated by an electromagnetic release mechanism.

America typically used a single leaf trap whereas Britain and countries which adopted British style hanging typically use(d) a two leaf trap.

South Africa used a metal beam that could accommodate up to seven prisoners simultaneously at Pretoria Central Prison prior to abolition.

In early 20th century British execution rooms there were no uprights, the ends of beam being set into the walls, while later a concealed beam running above the ceiling was used, as was the case at Pentonville and Wandsworth prisons in London up to abolition.

• The Noose:

The traditional hangman's noose has from 5 to 13 coils which slide down the rope delivering a heavy blow to the side of the neck.

This pattern was used in America and countries such as Iran and Iraq.

The modern American coiled noose is prepared in accordance with a procedure laid down in a U.S. army manual, from 30 feet of 3/4″-1″ diameter manila hemp rope, boiled to take out stretch and any tendency to coil. It is formed into six coils and then waxed, soaped or greased to assure that the knot slides easily. Generally the knot is placed under the prisoner's left ear (the subaural position) as was seen in the photographs of Saddam Hussein.

Britain and most Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth countries use(d) a simple noose consisting of a loop worked into one end of the rope with the other end passed through it. In the 20th century the eyelet was typically placed below the angle of the jaw, (the submental position).

The noose was improved in the 1870's by William Marwood. He used a brass eyelet inside of the loop to allow the rope to run more freely and to avoid the need for lubrication with soap. The eyelet was initially held in place by a leather washer and later by a rubber one. This type of noose has been shown to cause a quicker death. It is usually made from a 13 foot length of 3/4″ diameter hemp rope. Later, the part of the rope that would come into contact with neck was bound with leather. This type of noose is used in present day Egypt, Kuwait, Singapore and Malaysia and in former British colonies.

Source (all info)

---

Bonus, a curious case...

Spoiler: Too heavy to be hanged

Mitchell Edward RUPE, was a convicted murderer who achieved notoriety when a federal judge determined that Rupe was too obese to hang.

Juries twice sentenced him to death, but higher courts overturned the sentences. In 1994, a federal judge upheld his conviction but agreed with Rupe's contention that at 400 pounds, he was too fat to hang because of the risk of decapitation.

At the time, Washington's only manner of execution was hanging. (1)

(1994) In Washington, execution by judicial hanging is carried out at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, and is generally conducted pursuant to the Washington Field Instruction.

The Washington Field Instruction uses a "long drop" method of hanging, in which the condemned person is dropped a particular distance based on his or her weight. The Washington Field Instruction contains altering drop lengths for persons ranging from 120 pounds to 220 pounds. Under the Washington Field Instruction, persons weighing more than 220 pounds will be dropped a distance of five (5) feet.

The Court concludes that there is a significant risk that Rupe's hanging would result in decapitation, such a hanging would also violate basic human dignity. (2)

 

[BQ27500]

It's the most difficult hanging method to execute (Drop 'Judicial' Hanging). You can't perform any prior tests to verify the safety of the setup and results.

With Partial and Full Suspension, you can perform all the necessary tests to ensure the method works correctly, test your materials, and understand how your body will react. You can determine what to do, what not to do, and adjust the procedure until everything works as smoothly as possible.

(Drop Hanging) It's risky because you can only do it once; a small mistake will be enough to cause a traumatic death.

For this reason, there were professional executioners (yes, it was a job like any other) trained and specialized to carry out this task for those condemned to death. And even then, they often made mistakes.

It's not as easy as reading a table and doing some calculations... Even finding a suitable location/place is complicated.

My advice is to refrain from this type of hanging.

To complete my post, I'm adding some interesting information, just to delve deeper into the topic.

---

This method (Drop Hanging) includes two variants:

Spoiler: Standard drop hanging

• Standard drop hanging: the prisoner drops a predetermined amount, typically 4-6 feet, which may or may not break their neck. (Method adopted in America in the later 19th and early 20th centuries)

This was not worked out against the weight of the individual, but was often equivalent to their height. A drop of this distance was often not sufficient to break the prisoner's neck, however, and many still died by strangulation, although in a lot of cases they were knocked unconscious by the force of the drop and the impact of the heavy coiled knot against the side of the neck. Occasionally, they were decapitated when the drop proved to be too long, as happened at the execution of Eva Dugan in Arizona in 1928.

Standard drops were given to the eleven senior Nazis executed after the Nuremberg trials and several were reported to have died slowly.

The Lincoln conspirators were given a drop of five feet at their hanging in 1865 and at least two of the four struggled for some time after they were suspended.

The force generated by a drop of 5 or 6 feet is very considerable and does great damage to the skin, muscles and ligaments of the neck but does not necessarily induce asphyxia any sooner. Some prisioners were rendered unconscious by the force of the drop, even though their spinal cord was not severed.

Spoiler: Famous case

The execution of Major Raymond Lisemba on May 9th, 1942; at San Quentin prison in California.

Clinton Duffy was the warden there from 1942 to 1954 and relates to the execution:

"The man hit bottom and I observed that he was fighting by pulling on the straps, wheezing, whistling, trying to get air, that blood was oozing through the black cap. I observed also that he urinated, defecated, and droppings fell on the floor, and the stench was terrible".

It took ten minutes for the condemned man to die. When he was taken down and the cap removed, "big hunks of flesh were torn off" the side of his face where the noose had been, "his eyes were popped," and his tongue was "swollen and hanging from his mouth. His face had turned purple."

Spoiler: Measured or "long drop" hanging

• Measured or "long drop" hanging: the distance the person falls when the trapdoors open is calculated according to their weight, height and physique and is designed to break the neck. (This method became universal in Britain from 1874, and was adopted in British Colonies)

The long drop method was designed to break the prisoner's neck by allowing them to fall a pre-determined distance and then be brought up with a sharp jerk by the rope. At the end of the drop, the body is still accelerating under the force of gravity but the head is constrained by the noose. If the eyelet is positioned under the left angle of the jaw it rotates the head backwards, which combined with the downward momentum of the body, breaks the neck and ruptures the spinal cord causing instant deep unconsciousness and rapid death.

The drop given in the later part of the 19th century was usually between 4 and 10 feet depending on the weight and strength of the prisoner. The weight used to calculate the correct drop is that of the prisoner's clothed body.

The length of the drop was worked out by the formula 1,260 foot pounds divided by the body weight of the prisoner in pounds = drop in feet. Between 1892 and 1913, a shorter length of drop was used, presumably to avoid the decapitation and near decapitations that had occurred with old table.

After 1913, other factors were also taken into account and the drop was calculated. The Home Office issued a rule restricting all drops to between 5 feet and 8 feet 6 inches as this had been found to be an adequate range.

From around 1939 it became customary to add a further nine inches to the drop calculated from the 1913 table.

The Evolution of the "Long Drop" in the 19th Century

The Evolution of the "Long Drop" in the 20th Century

It takes between a half and three quarters of a second for a person to reach the end of the rope after the trap opens, depending upon the length of drop given. The force produced by the prisoner's body weight multiplied by the length of fall and the force of gravity, coupled with the position of the noose is designed to violently jerk the person's head backwards and sideways. In medical terms this is known as hyperflexion of the neck, which causes dislocation of the upper neck vertebrae and may also cause fracture of the vetebrae, ideally between the C2 & C3 vertebrae, crushing or severing the spinal cord leading to immediate unconsciousness.

This leads to a number of factors, all of which can cause death.

The Phrenic nerve which controls the diaphragm emerges between the C3 and C4 vertebrae and thus if the dislocation occurs above C4 the person's breathing ceases immediately, leading to asphyxia.

The rope constricts the carotid arteries and the jugular veins. The neck is constricted by as much as five inches from its original circumference.

Fractures of the hyoid bone and larynx typically occur which on their own can prove fatal as breathing is severely restricted or prevented. The normal cause of death is given as comatose asphyxia. Some slight movements of the limbs and body may occasionally occur but are almost certainly due to muscular reflexes.

Spoiler: Famous case

• Andrew Carr became the first man to be hanged within Dublin's Richmond prison on 28 July 1879 using Haughton's formula and he was decapitated by the drop. It was shown that the rope used on this occasion was not thicker than the finger of a man's hand. The convict was a heavy man, and this thin rope literally beheaded him.

• Martin M'Hugo, a tall, powerfully built man, was hanged at Galway prison on 16 January 1880, by William Marwood. Dissection of the neck revealed that most of the tissues were torn through and the third cervical vertebrae was broken. The parts were separated by at least two inches and the spinal cord was also separated. The body was held to the head just by skin. Marwood gave much longer drops at this time than would be later used. This must have come close to decapitation. The same occurred with Patrick Higgins at Galway in January 1883 and Kinkead again attributed this to the excessive drop given.

• The execution of Henry Dutton at Kirkdale on 3 December 1883 was botched by Binns. Dutton was given a barely adequate drop of 7' 6" using an over thick rope of 1 1/8" diameter with the eyelet positioned at the nape of the neck. He struggled for two minutes and his heart beat for eight minutes after the drop. Dutton's neck had not been broken.

• Robert Goodale at Norwich Castle on 30 November 1885. He was decapitated by the force of the drop.

• John Conway on 20 August 1891, at Kirkdale. He was given a drop of six feet. This tore open Conway's throat and led to a bloody mess in the pit.

Spoiler: Execution equipment

• The gallows:

Simple gallows, having an upright with a projecting beam cross braced to it were commonly used in many countries, even up till the end of the World War II.

From 1783, the gallows at Newgate in London had a trapdoor and as the concept of giving the prisoner some drop became more widely used.

The present day gallows in Washington's Walla Walla prison consists of two massive iron eye bolts through which the rope passes, each set over a single leaf trap operated by an electromagnetic release mechanism.

America typically used a single leaf trap whereas Britain and countries which adopted British style hanging typically use(d) a two leaf trap.

South Africa used a metal beam that could accommodate up to seven prisoners simultaneously at Pretoria Central Prison prior to abolition.

In early 20th century British execution rooms there were no uprights, the ends of beam being set into the walls, while later a concealed beam running above the ceiling was used, as was the case at Pentonville and Wandsworth prisons in London up to abolition.

• The Noose:

The traditional hangman's noose has from 5 to 13 coils which slide down the rope delivering a heavy blow to the side of the neck.

This pattern was used in America and countries such as Iran and Iraq.

The modern American coiled noose is prepared in accordance with a procedure laid down in a U.S. army manual, from 30 feet of 3/4″-1″ diameter manila hemp rope, boiled to take out stretch and any tendency to coil. It is formed into six coils and then waxed, soaped or greased to assure that the knot slides easily. Generally the knot is placed under the prisoner's left ear (the subaural position) as was seen in the photographs of Saddam Hussein.

Britain and most Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth countries use(d) a simple noose consisting of a loop worked into one end of the rope with the other end passed through it. In the 20th century the eyelet was typically placed below the angle of the jaw, (the submental position).

The noose was improved in the 1870's by William Marwood. He used a brass eyelet inside of the loop to allow the rope to run more freely and to avoid the need for lubrication with soap. The eyelet was initially held in place by a leather washer and later by a rubber one. This type of noose has been shown to cause a quicker death. It is usually made from a 13 foot length of 3/4″ diameter hemp rope. Later, the part of the rope that would come into contact with neck was bound with leather. This type of noose is used in present day Egypt, Kuwait, Singapore and Malaysia and in former British colonies.

Source (all info)

---

Bonus, a curious case...

Spoiler: Too heavy to be hanged

Mitchell Edward RUPE, was a convicted murderer who achieved notoriety when a federal judge determined that Rupe was too obese to hang.

Juries twice sentenced him to death, but higher courts overturned the sentences. In 1994, a federal judge upheld his conviction but agreed with Rupe's contention that at 400 pounds, he was too fat to hang because of the risk of decapitation.

At the time, Washington's only manner of execution was hanging. (1)

(1994) In Washington, execution by judicial hanging is carried out at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, and is generally conducted pursuant to the Washington Field Instruction.

The Washington Field Instruction uses a "long drop" method of hanging, in which the condemned person is dropped a particular distance based on his or her weight. The Washington Field Instruction contains altering drop lengths for persons ranging from 120 pounds to 220 pounds. Under the Washington Field Instruction, persons weighing more than 220 pounds will be dropped a distance of five (5) feet.

The Court concludes that there is a significant risk that Rupe's hanging would result in decapitation, such a hanging would also violate basic human dignity. (2)

If you make a ridiculously long drop hanging, you are guaranteed to be decapitated. Decapitation is ideal because it guarantees death, and one that can not be prevented. Just attach a strong and long rope to something like rafters or railing, and fall down 4 meters plus.