What happens if a person loses his head, that is, it is separated, along with the brain, from his body? Most of us will say that this means lightning death. No wonder in the old days beheading was considered an instant and therefore humane method of execution.
However, sometimes truly incredible accidents happen when a person with a critically injured or even severed head continues to move and even perform meaningful actions. History stores dozens of such information. Below we will highlight some of the more surprising ones.
The incredible execution of Diez von Schaunburg
This famous event took place in 1636. King Ludwig of Bavaria captured the nobleman Dietz von Schaunburg and four of his mercenary infantrymen for revolting against the legitimate government. This behavior was punishable by death, so all five, it seemed, could not escape the executioner's ax. According to knightly custom, before his execution, the king invited von Schaunburg to fulfill his last wish. And then Diez amazed everyone with his answer.
The nobleman asked the monarch to pardon the Landsknechts, but only if the decapitated von Schaunburg was able to rise from the ground and run past his mercenaries. Moreover, in order to make this task more difficult, the rebel clarified that all the condemned, including himself, will stand at a distance of eight steps from each other, and it is necessary to pardon only those whom the headless Dietz will be able to run past. Ludwig of Bavaria, intrigued by this deal, graciously agreed to fulfill such an unusual last wish of the courtier.
Von Schaunburg immediately placed the infantry in a row, measured out the necessary distance between them in large strides, then walked away to the agreed distance himself, knelt down and crossed himself three times. As the executioner's sword whizzed through the air, the rebel's blond head rolled to the ground. Those present froze. Suddenly the body of the executed man jumped to its feet and, to the horror of the king and his courtiers, rushed to the landsknechts, spraying blood from his throat. Having passed the last convict, that is, having made more than thirty-two steps, the dead man stopped, jerked convulsively and fell to the ground, after which he no longer showed signs of life.
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This history is chronicled and is confirmed by a state document. The king, by the way, considered then that the devil himself was involved, but he kept his word and pardoned the landsknechts.
How a headless soldier fired a rifle
Another similar incident occurred in the early nineteenth century during the British conquest of India, and it is also officially documented. Corporal Robert Crikshaw then drew up a curious report, which was later discovered in the archives of one of the United Kingdom War ministries. This document sets out the simply surreal circumstances of the death of Captain Terence Mulveney.
Mulveny was the commander of the second company of the first Yorkshire line regiment and was killed during the assault on Fort Amara. During hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, the English soldier took out a saber and blew it off the head of a Pathan soldier. However, the decapitated body did not immediately stop showing signs of life. First, it raised its rifle and shot straight into the heart of its killer at point-blank range, and only then, as if nothing had happened, fell to the ground.
The sailor who survived without a quarter of his head
In 1888, the New York Medical Gazette published the story of a startling incident that had recently occurred to a sailor working in a river tug. The man climbed onto the boxes transported by the barge in order to check the strength of their fastening. The ship was passing at that moment over a low bridge, and the sailor was so carried away by the work that he did not notice the sharp beam of the bridge span, which literally cut off his skull just above the eyes.
The American fell, bleeding, and his colleagues felt that the man had only seconds to live. Nevertheless, when the barge came ashore, the sailor was still showing signs of life. He, of course, was immediately taken to the hospital. There, the doctors were shocked that their patient, like a medical saw, was carefully cut off a whole quarter of the head, but he did not die. When the doctors treated the gaping wound, trying not to touch the open damaged brain, the unfortunate man opened his eyes and calmly asked what had happened to him.
When the doctors performed the operation and bandaged the remains of the patient's head, the latter suddenly got up from the operating table, asked for his clothes and said that he wanted to go home. Less than two months later, he returned to his previous job. The sailor regularly performed his duties and did not seem to have changed much - except that he sometimes felt dizzy. Only twenty-six years later, his gait became uneven, and then the American's left arm and leg were partially paralyzed. In addition, the man, according to doctors, developed a tendency to hysteria. Nevertheless, he lived for several more years and died at an old age …
Brain Shot Boy
In 1987, the then fourteen-year-old African American Ahad Israfil worked part-time on vacation in one of the gun shops in his city. Once the owner of the shop accidentally hit the floor with the butt of his gun. The gun, unfortunately, turned out to be loaded and fired. The bullet hit Achad right in the head, destroying a large part of his skull. But the boy did not die, although the right hemisphere of his brain was damaged so much that doctors were forced to remove it almost completely.
Israfil is now almost forty years old and is still alive. True, a man can move only in a wheelchair. Interestingly, his psyche did not suffer at all. He communicates with others like an ordinary person. Moreover, before the terrible injury, the black American could not stand study, however, having lost a part of his brain, he suddenly felt an unprecedented thirst for knowledge and began to devote all his free time to reading. Ahad graduated with honors from school, and today he periodically flashes on American television, telling viewers about his life, amazing them with his memory and arudition.
The amazing story of Phineas Gage
In 1848, twenty-five-year-old American worker Phineas Gage set out to blow up a rock while laying a railroad in the vicinity of Cavendish, Vermont. The man punched a hole in the stone and put a powder charge there, and then began to tamp it with a metal rod. By chance, the iron stick hit the rock and struck a spark, causing the gunpowder to ignite.
An explosion thundered, a steel rod, flying out of the rock, pierced the worker's head through and through. A metal rod entered Phineas's left cheek and exited near the crown, piercing the brain. However, as a result of this accident, Gage lost only an eye and a tooth. Another person, having received such an injury, would have died on the spot, but a real miracle happened. The American felt well and, with the help of colleagues, reached the medical center, discussing his misfortune along the way. The worker developed an infection, but he recovered from it and lived for another twelve years, dying in 1860 in San Francisco.
Phineas's speech, memory, mental abilities, control over the body and perception of the surrounding reality remained almost unchanged. But the man's character has changed significantly. Gage became hot-tempered and irritable and lost all desire to continue to engage in physical labor. After leaving the railroad, the American began to make money by traveling around the United States and showing visitors to fairs his scars, as well as that same ill-fated rod.
Headless Russian Lieutenant
During the Second World War, an interesting incident happened with Russian soldiers. During the raid behind the Nazis' rear, the lieutenant in command of the reconnaissance group stepped on the so-called "frog mine". The shell jumped up and exploded. One of the splinters tore off almost the entire head of the lieutenant, leaving only the lower jaw and chin. However, the soldier's body did not fall immediately.
The Russian unhurriedly unbuttoned the quilted jacket, took out a map with the route and handed it to his comrade in arms. Only after that did the lieutenant's body collapse to the ground. The corpse of the commander, who even after death did not stop thinking about his soldiers, was carried away by the scouts and buried near the regiment headquarters.
Russian mushroom picker with a blown-up head
This incident also happened to our compatriot. Journalist Igor Kaufman writes about him.
After the Great Patriotic War, one mushroom picker found an incomprehensible device near Leningrad. He raised it to his face and began to examine, naturally, trying also to open it. At that moment, an explosion struck, since it was a mine. The unfortunate man was completely blown off his head, but he managed to walk another two hundred meters.
Moreover, the mushroom picker, deprived of the organs of sight and hearing, in some incomprehensible way managed to cross the stream on a narrow plank. Materials about this accident are available in the archive of the criminal investigation department.
Why do people live without a head?
A huge number of such cases are known, and scientists still cannot explain how a person with a severed or crippled head continues to live and even just move. Why, then, such terrible traumas sometimes not only do not kill a person, but also do not have a big impact on his psyche and mental abilities?
The first thing that catches your eye is the gender of all these individuals. Yes, men lead a more risky lifestyle and work in more dangerous jobs, but maybe it is the stronger sex, due to some structural feature of the body, that in rare cases can survive with a mutilated head?
The above cases are united by something else. Military men, workers, sailors and similar individuals probably do not use their brain "one hundred percent", since they are engaged in monotonous and non-intellectual work all their lives. Perhaps that is why brain lesions have little effect on their general condition.
There is also a theory that a person has two control systems. The first, of course, is the brain and nervous system. They control our body with electrical impulses. But some scientists argue that a person is also equipped with an endocrine control system that regulates the work of internal organs through hormones. It is supposedly autonomous and independent of the central nervous system. Its cells are scattered throughout our body, that is, they are present in all types of tissues.
Therefore, it can be assumed that in case of damage to the brain, the endocrine system takes over its functions. If the injury is severe, then it allows the body to move for a matter of minutes. However, if most of the head is preserved, then the person may well continue to live for many more years.