This day in history: Arthur Lucas, originally from the U.S. state of Georgia, was one of the two last people to be executed in Canada, on this day (December 11) in 1962. Lucas had been convicted of the murder of a police informant from Detroit and his common-law wife. The murders took place in Toronto. Lucas, along with fellow prisoner Ronald Turpin, was executed at the Toronto (Don) Jail by hanging, the only form of civilian capital punishment ever used in post-Confederation Canada, although the military employed execution by firing squad.
Chaplain Cyrill Everitt attended the double hanging and in 1986, shortly before his death, he revealed that Lucas's head was "nearly torn right off" because the hangman had miscalculated the man's weight.
In the far past, execution methods were often creative, if not downright cruel and painful. The methods used were:
The breaking wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel or simply the Wheel, was a torture method used for public execution primarily in Europe from antiquity through the Middle Ages into the early modern period by breaking the bones of a criminal or bludgeoning them to death. "The victim's limbs were tied to the spokes and the wheel itself was slowly revolved. Through the openings between the spokes, the torturer usually hit the victim with an iron hammer that could easily break the victim's bones. Once his bones were broken, he was left on the wheel to die, sometimes placed on a tall pole so the birds could feed from the still-living human." Source
Keelhauling: a form of punishment and potential execution once meted out to sailors at sea. The sailor was tied to a line looped beneath the vessel, thrown overboard on one side of the ship, and dragged under the ship's keel, either from one side of the ship to the other, or the length of the ship (from bow to stern).
Sawing: the act of sawing or cutting a living person in half, either sagittally (usually midsagittally), or transversely.
Hanging, drawing, and quartering
Burning at the stake
Flaying, also known colloquially as skinning, was a method of slow and painful execution in which skin is removed from the body. Generally, an attempt is made to keep the removed portion of skin intact.
Slow slicing, also known as Lingchi and death by a thousand cuts, was a form of torture and execution used in China from roughly 900 until 1905 where a knife was used to methodically remove portions of the body over an extended period of time, eventually resulting in death.
Death by boiling was a method of execution in which a person is killed by being immersed in a boiling liquid. Due to the lengthy process, death by boiling is an extremely painful method of execution. Executions of this type were often carried out using a large vessel such as a cauldron or a sealed kettle filled with a liquid such as water, oil, tar, or tallow, and a hook and pulley system.
Impalement
Mazzatello, or more properly mazzolatura (to hit with a mace), was a method of capital punishment occasionallly used by the Papal States for the most loathsome crimes, involving the infliction of head trauma. The method was named after the implement used in the execution: a large, long-handled mallet or pollaxe. If you've seen Midsommar, you know what this is.
Blowing from a gun, which was a method of execution in which the victim is typically tied to the mouth of a cannon which is then fired.
Schwedentrunk, aka Swedish drink, was a method of torture and execution in which the victim is forced to swallow large amounts of foul liquid, such as excrement.
Scaphism, also known as the boats, was an ancient Persian method of execution. It entailed trapping the victim between two boats, feeding and covering them with milk and honey, and allowing them to fester and be devoured by insects and other vermin over time.
One legendary method of execution was the blood eagle, where the ribs were severed from the spine with a sharp tool, and the lungs pulled through the opening to create a pair of "wings". There is continuing debate about whether the rite was a literary invention, a mistranslation of the original texts, or an authentic historic practice.
Another ancient method that is questioned by historians is that of the brazen bull. The brazen bull, also known as the bronze bull, Sicilian bull, or bull of Phalaris, was a hollow bull made out of bronze with a door in one side. According to legends the brazen bull was designed in the form and size of an actual bull and had an acoustic apparatus that converted screams into the sound of a bull. The condemned were locked inside the device, and a fire was set under it, heating the metal until the person inside was roasted to death.
54 countries still have capital punishment today, with China being the leader in executions.
See also Suicide and Philosophy - 50 Books on CDrom or The Mysteries of Death - 250 Books on DVDrom
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