Quote:
Originally Posted by jimthefiend
Hangings can last a bit. Like 5 minutes or some shit. I know this because there were a few of my ancestors who met that particular fate and the details of that sort of thing tend to get passed down.
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I'm waiting for some bright spark to say "Not enough, they missed some."
Sorry if that's harsh, just my sense of humour and I'm glad they did miss a few.
How long it takes depends on how they do it, the drop breaks your neck and should be instantaneous, but can go wrong. In olden days they use to do it by strangulation, just letting you hang there.
Your friends would then rush over, if they were allowed to, and pull on your legs to hasten the departure. Hence the saying "Pull the other one, it's got bells on it." Pulling on the legs strangled you faster and made the victim croak more.
If you had been a bad boy, not paid the executioner enough or he was just being an arsehole, your friends were not allowed to help you off.