Hung by the arms until dead?

Mike Martyn · May 12, 2008

I have an MC who gets his wrists tied by the bad guys and is suspended from the rafters with feet off the ground and therefore has no place to rest his weight.

Other than death by hunger or thirst, is this fatal perhaps by slow aphixiation? If so how long would it take? In need a window of time for his rescue.

If he can have hallucinations brought on by hypoxia, that would be good.

Kalyke · May 12, 2008

It's really a form of crucifixion. The lungs fill up with water. Probably could catch pneumonia. You have to watch the tightness of the ropes and so on too. with out blood circulation, your hands would start to rot. Also the shoulder bones could be dislocated. I'm sure someone else can add to this.

Appalachian Writer · May 12, 2008

I would think that it would be very much like being crucified. Wouldn't it become increasingly difficult to breathe until you finally suffocated? I'd check that out. I wouldn't imagine it would be difficult to find on the net.

Appalachian Writer · May 12, 2008

Hey! Use Her Name and I were writing the same thing at the same time! Great minds do think alike.

Kalyke · May 12, 2008

Appalachian Writer said:
Hey! Use Her Name and I were writing the same thing at the same time! Great minds do think alike.

HeronW · May 12, 2008

Crucifixion causes death by inability to exhale, not inhale. A healthy person can take up to 4-5 days to die. Secondary issue would be dehydration which would cause headaches, muscle cramps--also caused by hanging by the wrists--nausea, vomiting and delusions. If carrion birds are around, bolder ones might peck at the soft spots: eyes, cheecks, even before death. Rats climbing down the rope to feed could also be an icky issue.

Jersey Chick · May 12, 2008

This thread's gettin' gruesome...

Sarpedon · May 12, 2008

If he's hanging from the rafters, that implies that he's indoors, so death would probably take even longer, as he won't get dehydrated by sun and wind.

GeorgeK · May 12, 2008

It would be faster if the arms are tied behind the back. If it's normal brachiation motion then the Romans who considered it an appropriate and common means of execution, expected people to last about 3-5 days, a week at the extreme. It's also important to note that if the arms are behind the back, it would not be unusual to cut off the blood supply to the arms and so even if the person was rescued, after about 12-24 hours the necrotic arm tissue would release a horrendous amount of myoglobin into the bloodstream, along with other toxins that would likely result in kidney failure and death in under a week.

Mike Martyn · May 12, 2008

Jersey Chick said:
This thread's gettin' gruesome...

A lot of these threads are gruesome. Oh the things we do to our poor characters!

Appalachian Writer · May 12, 2008

Use Her Name said:

back at ya!

rtilryarms · May 13, 2008

Actually, crucifixion lasted 3 – 5 days only because they did not dangle free as the thread-starter says. They had their feet fastened to the crucifix to allow them to lift themselves up. This prolonged the punishment and cruelty of it. In the fight for survival, instinctively we try to live for just one more breath no matter how much we hunger, thirst of suffer.
When the executioners tired of it, or after a court-ordered predetermined time, the executioners took boards to the victims’ shins to shatter them. They died soon after due to asphyxiation.

Smiling Ted · May 13, 2008

Hanging someone with their arms suspended behind them was a form of torture in Renaissance Italy. Machiavelli was tortured and interrogated this way when the Republic of Florence was dissolved by the Medici (he was an official in the Republican government).

GeorgeK · May 13, 2008

Mike Martyn said:
A lot of these threads are gruesome. Oh the things we do to our poor characters!

yes, we read history texts..........what would authors do if people actually were nice to each other? No offense, just a rant.

Mike Martyn · May 14, 2008

GeorgeK said:
yes, we read history texts..........what would authors do if people actually were nice to each other? No offense, just a rant.

What would lawyers do if people were nice to each other for that matter.

Thanks everyone for your input.

GeorgeK · May 14, 2008

Mike Martyn said:
What would lawyers do if people were nice to each other for that matter.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Thanks for the laugh

Kathie Freeman · May 15, 2008

I could be mistaken here, but it seems to me that the notion of hanging by your hands interfering with breathing is a bit problematic. You breathe mostly from your diaphram down, not from your rib cage up. When I was a kid we used to hang and swing by our hands, and never had any problems breathing. I know they say that a lot on TV, but I knd of doubt it.

Hung by the arms until dead?

Mike Martyn

Kalyke

Appalachian Writer

Somewhere in the hills....

Appalachian Writer

Somewhere in the hills....

Kalyke

HeronW

Down Under Fan

Jersey Chick

Up all night to get Loki

Sarpedon

GeorgeK

ever seeking

Mike Martyn

Appalachian Writer

Somewhere in the hills....

rtilryarms

Crossbows and Handgonnes

Smiling Ted

Ah-HA!

GeorgeK

ever seeking

Mike Martyn

GeorgeK

ever seeking

Kathie Freeman

That Crazy Cat Lady