"Miss-ur Head", Way to Die #402, is the sixth death to be featured in "Dead Before They Know It", which aired on March 23, 2011.
Plot[]
Nathaniel was a scientist on a mission, he was in a French prison in 1925 and wanted to prove that the guillotine was inhumane, he asked the prison and a prisoner named Nicholas Davilliers for permission to watch his execution and study his head after it was cut off, don't waste your grief on this guy, if Nicholas were guilty of only half of the murders and rapes of which he was accused, he would still deserve to die, they put Nicholas on the guillotine, his declaration of death sentence was read and they prepared for the guillotine to do the job while Nicholas was terrified, Nathaniel believed like many others that the brain could maintain consciousness for several seconds after decapitation, if correct, Nathaniel could argue that the guillotine was inhumane, then the blade fell and decapitated Nicholas and his head fell into the basket, Nathaniel took the head, looked into his eyes and began to speak to him, but he only saw an involuntary blink so he failed in his experiment and threw the head of the deceased into the basket, sending this murderer and rapist to Hell where he belonged and ending his crimes forever.
Transcript[]
Narrator: Nathaniel is a man on a mission. The year is 1925. The location, a Paris prison. Nathaniel is determined to abolish one of history's most notorious methods of execution....
Narrator: The guillotine. Don't waste your pity on this guy: if Nicholas was only guilty of half the murders and rapes he was accused of, he would still deserve to die.
Cathee Schultz: The guillotine was invented in 1792 and replaced the axe as a more humane form of execution. The heavy, angled blade sliced through the victim's neck, quickly and cleanly. Guillotine executions were common in France for over three centuries, with the last one taking place in 1977.
Narrator: Nathaniel has gotten permission from prison officials and from Nicholas, to study his head, right after being severed.
Narrator: Nathaniel believes, as many do, that the brain retains consciousness for several seconds after the blade does its dirty work. If this was true, the argument could be made that death by guillotine was inhumane.
(The guillotine drops and Nicholas is executed)
Narrator: The big moment came; Nathaniel stared into the eyes of the severed head.
Nathaniel: Nicholas!
Narrator: Whatever Nathaniel was hoping to find wasn't there. Just some involuntary twitching.
Narrator: We've gone back and looked at executions and tortures throughout the ages. But out of all of them, the guillotine will kill you... in the blink of an eye.
Alternative Name[]
Also known as "Off With Your Head" as seen on Spike TV's website
Alternative Description[]
Description as seen on Spike TV's website
"A French scientist conducts an experiment to see if a head remains alive (and for how long) after being severed by a guillotine."
Trivia[]
- This is one of the few deaths that is not based on stupidity or unusual circumstances. Instead, it is an experimental procedure and a means of capital punishment.
- An executioner before this event tried to prove that the victim could stay alive after having his head chopped off by - shouting the name of the victim, like in this segment. However, the books say that wasn't true at all.
- This shows flashbacks of Ex-Squeezed, My Big Fat Greek Death and Back Stabbed.
- It was filmed at Hollenbeck Park in Los Angeles.
Cast & Interviewees[]
- Jean-Louis Darville - Nicholas Davilliers (Lead: Intended victim)
- Avihai Yaffe - Executioner (Lead: Uncredited)
- Cathee Shultz - Death Historian
- Michelle Noonan - Neurologist
Segment Nicknames[]
- Off With Your Head (Spike TV)
- Head-on Horror
- Oh, Head off!
- Caputless Cad
Foreign Names[]
- Decapitado (Decapitated) - Latin American Spanish dub
- Perder la Cabeza (Losing the Head) - Spanish dub
Gallery[]
Behind The Scenes[]
