Is there any evidence to support the contention that a person remains lucid following decapitation?

Question

Jimity B: LOL. Sorry that you are unable to intellectualize this historical practise. Perhaps another section at Y!A would better suit you. Thanx for your presumptuous, non-input, and for the name-calling, as well.

Answer 1

If brain death occurs through lack of oxygen, one could assume that there will be brief lucidity. Given the profound trauma of the event it would be short lived as shock set in before brain death.

I recall reading about a French physician testing the idea during the Revolution. He would shout the person's name and allegedly, on occassions the victim would open their eyes.

This may be apocryphal. Much like Miller's electric shock experiments, there is no way of testing the contention within a legal framework. Who'd volunteer?

My mistake lol Milgram is who I meant

Answer 2

I forget the guys name, but there was a frenchman who was highly interested in this very question during the french revolution when decapitations were frequent.  I remember his goal being to see if a blood supply to a decapitated head could keep it alive.  This was tricky because french customs won't allow for the immediate hook up of the head to a blood supply, but there are examples that indicate continued awareness.  One prime example of lucidity (if it's true) is that you could say the persons name and they would open their eyes and look at you. So it's perfectly reasonable to assume that it's possible to stay lucid for at least a few minutes before brain death. A more recent experiment had rhesus monkeys decapitated and then the heads were transplanted.  Once they woke the monkeys up they were as conscious (although a bit more angry) as they were prior to decapitation.  In addition there were several scientists who grafted the heads of dogs onto the bodies of other dogs.  Some pretty gruesome stuff, but I think it's interesting.

Answer 3

I'll assume that when you say "remains lucid" you mean for a very brief moment, rather than indefinitely.

The following is a link that discusses evidence (including the french revolution stuff described by kandinskys). Obviously nothing scientific/conclusive in this field.

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=495