People Who Hang Themselves

[LaMont Cranston]

We all have our mysteries in life, and one of mine is wondering why some people choose to commit suicide by hanging themselves. Please understand, I am not suicidal, but if I was, I sure as Hell wouldn't hang myself. Obviously, this is a decision that people make to end their lives, and, if I was ever in that mental state, I'd want to ingest as much morphine as I possibly could and just sort of mellow on out.

One of the problems with hanging yourself is that you have to get it exactly right the first time, or you just hang there like a stupid asshole, or maybe you evidentially die a slow death. In order to get it right the first time, do you practice tying knots or what?

We also might want to exclude those people who accidentally hang themselves while engaged...or is that engagged?...in auto-erotic asphyxiation. Hey, it's one thing to wank it when you want to, but those people who feel that they need to do it while hanging from their light fixture...I just don't get it.

OK, if any of y'all have any ideas why people choose to do this stuff, let's hear about it.

[Feck]

And what method would you use ?

[LaMont Cranston]

I told you what I would do. I would take as much morphine as I could and mellow on out.

[owtth]

I hate to seem insensitive but this doesn't piss me off as much as hearing that someone was 'hung'. I'm generally not a grammar Nazi but I've read far too many novels were a character was 'hung' instead of hanged. I love George R. R. Martin but I nearly threw his books out the window for repeated 'hung'ishness. He seems to have gotten his shit together in recent novels (or got his shit together...depending on an unrelated viewpoint) but then I sometimes work as an English teacher and pedantry sometimes becomes me.

Edit: I realise this has nothing to do with the original post, but I'm pissed and World Cup celebrations are erupting from every orifice.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Imagine someone deciding this is not how they want to go and having no way to change it. "Good news, mate, it will all be over in five minutes. Bad news, it's going to be a LONG five minutes."

"Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

[charlou]

Suicide hmmm ... Unfortunately, people don't always have a quick and/or dignified method at their disposal. They must be very determined (not to mention whatever other mental state they're in) to opt for doing whatever it takes, including dodgy methods that prolong death, or even cause serious and permanent injury instead.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I suspect that a lot of the time a person might use the method of suicide as a statement.
Some time ago a guy I knew (one of twins who lived together) took his life by hanging and even went to the trouble of zip-tying his hands to his belt in case he changed his mind. - His motive was woman-trouble.

[LaMont Cranston]

I get it that some people, because of women trouble, money, depression, etc., choose to end their lives by suicide. I'm not making any kind of moral judgement about people who choose that permanent solution to dealing with a (usually) temporary problem. However, it does seem to me that it is rather irrational to choose hanging yourself. There have even been cases of people being executed by hanging where the hangman's knot didn't do the job the first time. (Talk about catching a bad break.)

We had some friends over to dinner a couple weeks ago, and the husband of the couple said that if, 25 years or so down the road, he was in horrible pain with an incurable illness and everything else looked fucked up, he'd go up in an airplane or helicopter and jump out over the ocean without a parachute because he'd prefer to be fish food. This guy has been US Marine and done lot of other things in his life, and I thought, for him, it was a pretty reasonable way to do it if he's ever in that situation.

Like I said, if I was in that spot, I'd do what I could to get my hands on morphine. If I couldn't do that, sticking a gun in your mouth and blowing your brains out is probably pretty fast and relatively painless. (Although, some people even manage to fuck up doing that.) But hanging yourself? Even if you're depressed, and you life looks like shit, I just don't get it.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Hanging is the second most common method of suicide (after gunshot) in the US. Here in the UK, where guns are illegal, it is the most common method for males and the second most common method for women after poisoning.
I haven't seen any statistics regarding the length of drop generally employed. There is a formula for doing it 'correctly and cleanly' based on body-mass and drop etc. which should result in about 1000 lbs force being applied to the neck. - The guy I knew just used a chair so I'm assuming he was up there concious for a good time while he choked.

It's certainly not the way I'd want to go out, regardless of how quick it was.

[Pappa]

Regarding morpheine and similar drugs, unless you have the right connections, they're not that easy to get hold of. Heroin may be sold in every city in the world and most towns, but unless you know a dealer you're unlikely to get your hands on some.

People can easily get barbituates from the doctor for various reasons, but they might not be planning things that way. Also, perhaps many people don't realise the 'risks' involved in hanging, as it's often presented as fairly quick in film. Btw, does anyone actually have any stats on how long it takes on average for people to die by hanging (and the likelihood of slow strangulation at the one extreme and decapitation at the other)?

[chaggle]

Would decapitation matter too much in the end? It would be far preferable to slow strangulation anyway.

[Feck]

Hanging is the second most common method of suicide (after gunshot) in the US. Here in the UK, where guns are illegal, it is the most common method for males and the second most common method for women after poisoning.
I haven't seen any statistics regarding the length of drop generally employed. There is a formula for doing it 'correctly and cleanly' based on body-mass and drop etc. which should result in about 1000 lbs force being applied to the neck. - The guy I knew just used a chair so I'm assuming he was up there concious for a good time while he choked.

It's certainly not the way I'd want to go out, regardless of how quick it was.

Albert Pierrepoint's book gives lot's of information on length of drop and given the choice I wouldn't want to go with much less than an 8' drop .

I'm not sure that most suicides are in a sensible rational frame of mind . A medical student friend of mine hanged himself using a tie from some bannisters .I know he didn't give a damn about a few moments of pain .A neighbour drank Paraquat weedkiller . I have books by Exit so I know there are more peaceful ways to go .

I don't think many suicides have the time, the ability or the inclination to go and get a sensible collection of drugs to do the job .Paracetamol overdose is the most common in the UK (ithink) and that is tragic because because it is a stupid way to do it .

Hanging needs little time ,little equipment and is a method available to almost everybody .

[BlackBart]

I been witness to several more hideous and inefficient ways of topping oneself than hanging. If someone was in a rational enough state of mind to weigh up the pros and cons of a given method, they probably wouldn't be suicidal in the first place.

[Animavore]

I used to train with a guy (kung-fu) who hung himself from the door of his bedroom with his black-belt. He basically closed the door on it and made a slipknot of some sort (not a noose to my knowledge) and jumped up and pulled his feet up coming back down knees pointed to the ground. He was found by his girlfriend barely breathing. He died 3 days later. It's not an ideal way to go.

If you really must do it, and maybe some day when you're old and in pain, if euthanasia still isn't legal, the best way is to take a load of sleeping pills then put a plastic bag around your head and cellotape it tightly around the neck.

[Trolldor]

Thanks for the advice.