Retired analytical chemist here. We once had an accident in the lab which released a small amount of cyanide gas. I can tell you, even a slight whiff is very painful, like breathing in fire. The whole building needed to be evacuated and a hazmat team was called. When I think of 'the gas chamber' a rush of horror runs through me.
That is not true. I worked in a plant for 38 years that dealt in sodium cyanide as well as hydrogen cyanide and breathing it is not like "breathing in fire". I think you are just against the death penalty and want to make it sound more painful than it is.
In the case of Jimmy Lee Gray, the executioner was drunk. Intoxicated on the job, he failed to mix the chemicals correctly and therefore the cyanide gas initially failed to kill him. This is on public record and verifiable.
@stever5599 No one is arguing that it is humane. It is an absolutely horrifying way to die. Regardless however, human error was at least partially at fault in this particular case.
I remember in science class as a kid I accidentally got exposed to chlorine gas during an experiment. All I remember is falling to the floor gasping for breath. My lungs were badly burned and I passed out only to come round in hospital. It was horrible experience and the closest to death I had ever been.
You should get checked again by a doctor, you can easily become sick later on in life now, and you can sue for a whole lot of money. That was the schools responsibility to make sure that didn't happen.
Had a close call with cyanide in a lab and again with bromine. The reaction called for liquid hydrogen cyanide, no big deal do it in a fume hood. However the filter on it was not cleaned, AFAIK never. After a few minutes I smelled the cyanide and felt tingly. The smell is sorta like amerreto liquor. Paused the reaction, opened the windows and evacuated the lab came back an hour later with the supervisor wearing gas masks rated for hcn and put the stuff in the hood on a bucket and sealed it then found the hoods filter was completely clogged. The bromine one was even more scary. A student knocked a half full 4 liter jug of bromine off the bench. Same deal except opened the windows as running for the door while holding my breath. Pulled the fire alarm on that one and a couple students had to go to the hospital.
ODs can either be the most peaceful death ever or a terrifying nightmare where you suffocate to death while being paralyzed. Honestly, the best way to go would be getting vaporized by an explosion or implosion. Lol You're literally dead quicker than your nerves can even send pain signals to the brain. A "Soviet style" headshot to the base of the skull is pretty damn effective the vast majority of the time though. Disconnecting the nervous system from the brain stem like that is instant lights out.
I remember when a guard told Barbara Graham, who died in the gas chamber, to take a deep breath and it would go quickly . Graham said how would you know?
I appreciate how down to earth and free from clichés your videos are. Very informative with no sensationalism yet still totally accessible. Thanks for your work. By the way - it's crazy that States think it's 'too expensive' to use greater quantities when you look at how much an execution costs anyway. It's not plutonium! So glad we don't have it in the UK.
If I had to choose I would sign up for the nitrogen every time, I assume it’s like diving deep underwater and getting oxygen narcosis’s (narked) which can actually make a person euphoric or give a drunk sensation depending on depth. Seems much more preferable than sitting in a cloud of acid fumes
There's actually an interview with one of the guards who was present at jimmy lee grey's execution (he would be named state executioner that night), he said that the ekg readout showed that grey's wicked heart stopped beating less than 90 seconds after the gas was released. what happened afterwards was just his death throes.
I can't believe I clicked on this! I was a correctional officer at Nevada State Prison in 1979 when Jesse Bishop was executed... in the very same gas chamber shown here. His execution wasn't even close to what the public was told, & still believes today. It was THE most horrific thing I've ever seen. That's really saying something considering I'm a Vietnam vet and retired peace officer. Jesse's death was actually a legal suicide of sorts. He himself had the power to stop it and the governor was standing by. He just wouldn't. He preferred to die. Jesse began the ordeal by taking the deepest breath he could, then went into violent convulsions, foam exiting his mouth and nose. By my watch, it took 17 minutes for him to die! I'll NEVER get over seeing that! I quit my job soon after & went to work for the sheriff's dept. I understand that the death penalty is necessary in some extreme cases but... I believe we have a responsibility to find a better way.
These people who killed don't deserve a better way. The ways executions are carried out are far too humane. The victims suffered, the ones executed didn't, unless it was botched. It's NOT fair. If you truly were a Vietnam Vet his execution wouldn't be the worst thing you've seen. It would be from the war.
@@joewas2225 That's really easy to say not having witnessed it. As for the war, I was a pilot. I wasn't up close & personal like those on the ground. Colossal difference in what I had to see.
All the US executions are vile and vindictive. The current lethal injection system is a mixture of the worst kind of drugs, the mix is to cause the longest and most painful death that is possible to have. Inert gas would have had no side effects other than hypoxia and euphoria until cell death. Vicious revenge on the condemned regardless of guilt.
@@moosecat Thank you! I doubt you have any idea just how much those words are appreciated. Far cry from the treatment we received coming home from Vietnam. Most of us hid the fact that we were veterans until after The Gulf War when public opinion finally began to change. Even then, far too many remain in the shadows barely talking to other vets about it. So yeah... those words mean quite a bit.
Surely Carbon Dioxide would have been a better choice. Easy to obtain, no horrible burning and only lethal if that’s all you have to breathe. Many people have died accidentally through CO2 poisoning while sleeping - it wasn’t uncomfortable enough to wake them.
So you think bad actions justifies torture… Only someone twisted would think that. If you allow that kind of suffering your as bad as the people that committed the crime you’re “punishing”
@@daysgoneby3527ok then I’m just as bad as them then. so what? still don’t feel sympathy! i can acknowledge this wasn’t a proper way to execute someone simultaneously while not feeling bad for the schmuck they experimented with. only people i feel bad for are the staff and the victims who had to witness it
@@brenamal your phucked… you’d feel bad for the ones inflicting this and not the sufferer… Just because someone does something bad doesn’t mean they should be tortured. Torture isn’t justified
Well beheading someone via a guillotine is almost instantly fatal. I mean beheading is an infallible way to kill a person, simply because you can’t live without a head. I think a nearly instant beheading would be a lot less suffering than dying in a gas chamber
Actually there were several cases in the 20th century where the guillotine blade didn't go all the way through or got stuck and the executioner had to hack away at the condemned persons neck with what was basically a modified large kitchen knife to complete the execution. It's known that at least one person did survive long enough after that happened to mouth the words "please kill me" too the executioner as he was trying to finish the job. The issue was that after the french government decided there would only be one appointed state executioner in france it put dozens of other executioners out of work, and some of them became assistants too "the man from paris" and they'd go out of their way to try and sabotage executions As a result of that once the last family of executioners took over in the 1880's the post of assistant executioner would always be given to family members, that's how five generations of that family served the state as headsman until 1981. There's actually a fascinating interview that was done with the last french headsman by a french tv network back in the late 00's (a few years before he died) where he discussed his former job and said he considered himself a skilled master craftsman when it came to "the widow" becuase he'd been trained from a young age on the intricacies of its design maintenance and use, he even had some of the old blades in his possession and showed them, including one that was still stained with the blood of the last man executed in france.
Yep. I believe Xyclon B ( not sure of the spelling) was dropped and Jews, my ancestors included, suffered horribly. I wish the Nazis faced the same fate. Showers, dig a pit, shoot them. Cremation. I am so grateful for my grandpa who saved my grandma, aunts and uncles from getting on the train. Bribery, being a sergeant in the German army helped to have an officer look the other way and he told them to RUN until they got at my great grandmother’s house.
Most pigs you eat (bacon, ham, pork) are killed in gas chambers. They scream and squeal and writhe on the ground in agony, as they're exterminated in groups of 5 or 6 at a time, after being funneled through and fearfully descending into their death pit. Their final moments are excruciating pain that can last up to multiple minutes as they slowly lose consciousness (and sometimes they're still conscious when they're hung upside down by their leg and their throats are slit). You can find footage here on RU-vid if you search 'How gas chambers are used to slaughter pigs'. No one should wish a gas chamber death on their worst enemy, let alone such gentle, emotional and intelligent beings as pigs. The only way to truly respect animals is to be vegan and not pay for their exploitation, suffering and murder.
Doesn't that make you as bad as the person who did it though? And explain how does killing someone painfully benefit anyone? It doesnt bring the victim back.
Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith Show was well informed on Crime and Punishment. He had his True Detective magazines bound and they contained some very interesting articles such as “I married a Fink” or “How it feels to pull the switch” or “I picked a pocket and paid.”
This is such an interesting and horrifyingly detailed analysis. It’s hard to believe that a “civilized society” would ever even think of subjecting anyone to such a thing. You’ve done an outstanding job elucidating it.
Something I’ve wondered on this subject: why don’t we use Carbon Monoxide? From what I have heard from investigations, those who die from this basically fall asleep without any sign of panic. Seems that would be a humane way to do this. Am I not seeing a problem that I should?
The gas chamber at the beginning of the video is at the Frontier Prison in Rawlins, Wyoming. I have a few nice photos of it. The terrible 1987 B movie "Prison," starring Viggo Mortensen was filmed here. The gas chamber was featured in the movie, though it was shown as an electric chair.
I have seen a terribly clip of film from many years ago. A gas chamber was being prepaired before an execution. Just to be sure everything was working correctly, an innocent, beautiful rabbit was placed in the chair, in a cage and the chemicals allowed to take effect. As I say, it was many years ago I saw this, but the agony, struggle, panic and terror that bunny went through, as an inocent, pure, beautiful spirit has stayed with me every day of my life. If you HAVE to do it to humans, for God's sake, don't do it to innocent animals. God bless you wee bunny. You are not forgotten and you are very loved. ❤
I'm always amazed at how we got rid of firing squads, but among all this gun talk, old guys shooting themselves in the head for suicide is the number one cause of gun deaths. Meanwhile, we've tried almost everything, including smooshing with a sledge hammer, to be more humane. I suggest a suicide gunshot machine. Updated Hemlock. The condemned will place their head in the chamber and pull a string with varying give to disallow too much anticipation.
How about an automated firing of a rifle. A person sentenced to death is put/ fixed in place with say a rifle sighted via laser and small camera to hit the main target area, ie: the heart. The system after loading the fixed rifle with a bullet a computer program on a short timer is enacted. Thus completing the firing of the rifle. I suggest this as stories of riflemen in firing squads sometimes suffer forms of PTSD from such. It's not always easy even to execute scum bags. A computer doing the actual firing shifts that feeling away from people. Well I'm just spit balling.🤔
Computer programs can be maliciously tampered with unfortunately. Firing squad can be quick and relatively painless if the bullet destroys the brain before it can interpret what is going on. Human reactions are not as fast as a fatal bullet shot to the brain. However, firing squad is not a reliable form of punishment that you can guarantee is free from cruel or unusual behaviour. A firing squad member might decide to be sadistic and shoot him in an area designed to cause maximum pain and suffering. Or they may deliberately aim to miss. I think if you look at all of the execution methods throughout history, there are only a handful of supposedly "painless" execution methods, and they all come with the risk of it not working properly and causing suffering to the inmate. Even the guillotine had issues where it needed two or three blows to chop someone's head off. Hanging isn't perfect either, because the calculations have to be spot on in order to snap the neck of the inmate and it can quite often go wrong, leaving the inmate to suffer a long slow death of asphyxiation. There are many new proposed methods of execution such as anaesthesia and then a shock to stop the heart, or carbon monoxide gas. I don't think any method of execution is guaranteed to kill the prisoner without any cruel or unusual happenings, therefore I do not support the death penalty in any way, shape or form.
In firing squads (at least here in the US), I believe all members use the same model/caliber of rifle; one of the rounds is a blank, and is randomly issued. That way, each member can believe (well...in theory) that they fired the blank.
13:21 Just like being in the electric chair. As soon as the electric charge hits, all of your muscles (respiratory system and heart) seize up. But the high voltage surging through your body is cooking you from the inside out.
You know what I find so interesting? Nobody EVER comments this on videos made by men. Why do you think that is? Plenty of them use different variations of “vocal fry”. This is like the new “you should smile more”.
That’s not all what about the animals that’s are used for meat. Like cows cattle chickens pigs and etc. maybe you should turn vegan if you eat meat and dairy.
I think that just like in a hospital setting, they sometimes use smaller needles depending on the person, but considering that the people placing IV’s don’t always have a lot of experience, it’s setting them up for failure.💖
I worked in a lab for many years. Never had 16 Guage needles. Largest was a 20 Guage. For smaller veins or it's a 22 or 23 guage is used(called a butterfly needle). The higher number guage,the smaller the needle. No sympathy at all for such individuals & don't agree with a long drawn out sentence. If you do the crime,do the time. If given a death sentence, no appeal. Did the victim receive any? Accomplices should be dealt the same.
Once I was intoxicated with CO gas due to bad ventilation in the bathroom. Didn't feel anything but got sleepy and lose coordination. Somehow, I understood that i need to get out of the bath before I passed out. I even managed to put my underwear on. It's almost a miracle that I still alive.
I recently inhaled helium (to make my voice sound weird) and I expected it to feel weird because my lungs can´t absorb any oxygen from it. But it felt just normal like any other breath.
There are two internal alarms around breathing we have and most people only experience the first. That is the high carbon dioxide content within our lungs. Not sure what the exact values of oxygen to co2 are but you can do a simple experiment to see. Hold your breath until you begin to feel uncomfortable and simply exhale but do not inhale. As the co2 is purged from your lungs the anxiety goes away. The second alarm is low oxygen which comes after the high co2 alarm. Depending on too many factors to list everyone is different. This is at least my experience surrounding my respiratory system and a few others I've asked about this. i haven't tried holding my breath beyond that low oxygen alarm so i have no idea if I would involuntarily take a breath but its certainly interesting.
Drowning hasn’t been used a modern execution method, but it is part of a couple of ancient executions like The Sack execution. I can definitely make a video on drowning. There are so many possible scenarios like cold water and even salt water changes the experience.💖
About as close as drowning would have ever come to be an official execution method was the Dunking Chair used in Witch Trials. The person was strapped in and lowered into the water. If the person survived the drowning, they would have been burned as witches. If the person did not survive, they were considered to have proven themselves to be innocent, but were also dead.
