1,000 Cuts

This is truly a horrible way to die. Most people have heard of this as a Chinese method of torture, but I don't know if everyone knows exactly what this entails.

I know I always had a sort of vague and childish image of people "merely" being cut into repeatedly as a method of torture that may or may not lead to death due to loss of blood.

Oh, that it were that simple. Also known as "slow slicing," língchí in Chinese, what is really involved is the slow removal of body parts over a period of time. Each bit was removed by a series of slices; although the practice was referenced in Chinese law, not much detail was given and the actual methodology probably varied. Pictures, however, show both women and men with breasts removed, thighs cut to the bone, etc., with the people still being forced to stand upright. This was then escalated to removal of limbs or parts of limbs. The victim was often finished off by being stabbed in the heart or beheaded--with earlier death being given to people whose families could afford to pay it.

Mercifully, most would pass out early in the process, although opium was sometimes used to cut the pain and keep the victim awake. There are varying reports about how long the process took, but what seems to be clear is that it's often performed in front of a large crowd as a form of humiliation.

This seems to have been used as a form of punishment for murderers, especially those who killed members of their own families or government officials (or other acts of treason).

This practice was wildly exaggerated in Western accounts (although to me it seems not to need exaggeration), especially during the 19th century, which led to its being defended by Westerners as "not as bad as you think." The practice was officially abolished in China in 1905, with the last recorded execution in this manner being that of a guard who killed his master.

Defenestration

Defenestration is not solely a way to die. It is defined as merely, "The act of throwing something out of a window" (OED). There is an underlying implication that the window is closed at the time, thus requiring the glass to break as well, but this doesn't have to be the case.

"Defenestration" is a great word that came into being to describe an historical event, The Defenestration of Prague. (Isn't etymology great?!?) Here's what the OED has on that: "Defenestration of Prague, the action of the Bohemian insurgents who, on the 21st of May 1618, broke up a meeting of Imperial commissioners and deputies of the States, held in the castle of the Hradshin, and threw two of the commissioners and their secretary out of the window; this formed the prelude to the Thirty Years' War."

The word has since evolved to mean throwing anything out of a window, not just people, but clearly it started as a way to die--or, perhaps more accurately, a way to kill someone. It seems that suicide by jumping out of a window doesn't fall under the auspices of defenestration. The general sense of the word is to remove an enemy quickly, however, so it doesn't even need to lead to death. If defenestrated through a first-story window, one might suffer only some cuts from the broken glass. It is the height of the window and the availability (or lack thereof) of emergency assistance that can lead to death. What is certain, though, is that a window must be involved. Throwing someone off a roof does not count.

What makes this method worthy to me as an "interesting" way to die is not so much the methodology as the fact that there was a word was invented to describe it. Although the term wasn't coined until 1618, people died by defenestration well before the word existed.

One notable person was a woman--Jezebel (of 1 and 2 Kings in the Bible)--who was ordered defenestrated by her own son. She had been the wife of a Hebrew king, Ahab, but she was a Phoenician and worshiped a different god. She attempted to convert her husband and was unsuccessful. After the death of Ahab, there was a political battle between Jezebel and her son, and he eventually ordered her death and then trampled her body with his horse. Now that's cold.

Explanation

AKA Introduction

I'm not morbid--well, no more than any other English major. In doing research for something else I was writing, I came across a woman who had been put to death in an interesting way, and it got me thinking about all the different ways that people have died throughout history. In fact, American culture is somewhat obsessed with people dying. We have the Darwin Awards, lists and lists of bizarre diseases, torture museums, etc. I'm just adding my own list to the mix.

So, my plan is for each post to be a different way that someone has died, with a description (not too graphic!) and some people in history who have died that way. I hope you enjoy it!