All language subtitles for Dark.Marvels.S01E01.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
Tonight, the most notorious
methods of execution...

Bones breaking, skin ripping,
blood flowing...

...and the diabolical devices
used to carry them out.

It's gonna slice through
whatever's in its path.

From a seemingly
ordinary wheel...

The execution would weave them
around the spokes of the wheel.

...to an infamous chair...

Blood vessels are bursting
in his face.

It looks like
he's sweating blood.

...we'll reveal
the surprising origins

of these lethal objects.

The darkest marvel of all
is the human mind.

People get an idea of a way
to be cruel to one another

and then they build it.

Narrator:
Not all inventions are made
with good intentions.

Unlock the twisted history

behind the world's
darkest marvels.

Throughout history,
the death sentence,

that most final
of punishments,

takes many forms.

( screaming )

And one of the most infamous

begins with an accident.

Buffalo, New York, 1881.

A drunken worker named
Lemuel Smith

touches a live circuit
in an electrical plant.

( electricity buzzing )

He got a very heavy jolt

of electricity
all the way through him,

and he fell over dead.

In the 1880s,
the electrical industry

is very much in its infancy.

Ordinary people saw electricity
as something magical,

maybe even divine.

You've got Mary Shelley's
"Frankenstein",

where the monster
of Frankenstein

is brought
to life by a spark.

At the time,
there were experiments
that doctors would do

where they would administer
electric current to corpses,

causing the corpse to twitch.

So there was this
incorrect assumption

that electricity had something
to do with powering life.

So news of Smith's death
travels very quickly.

This creates
a sense of apprehension.

People start to realize

that electricity
is a really lethal

and potentially
life-ending force.

Narrator:
And that sparks a thought

for local dentist
Alfred Southwick.

Alfred Southwick is living
in Buffalo at the time

Lemuel Smith dies.

Seeing the news
of Smith's death,

which by all accounts
was instantaneous,

was probably painless,

gives Southwick some ideas.

Maybe electricity can be used

to put people to death humanely
in the United States.

At the time, the dominant
mode of execution

in the United States
was hanging.

There were a lot of people who
were concerned about hanging.

Bungled hangings had been
turning people off

of capital punishment
as a practice.

LaChance:
Part of the problems
with hanging

were a lot of the time
the neck did not break,

and as a result, the person
asphyxiates to death.

Sometimes people are left
dangling for 20, 30 minutes.

Hangings took too long,

and they caused
incalculable distress

to the people that were hanged,

but also to the people
that had to do the hanging

and the people that
had to watch the hanging.

Narrator:
Among the most publicized

of these botched executions

was the hanging of a woman
in New York.

LaChance:
In 1887, Roxalana Druse

was put to death
for the crime

of murdering
her abusive husband.

And because
of her petite size,

Roxalana doesn't die quickly.

And this is one of the many
cases of this period

that galvanizes public
sentiment against hanging.

Narrator: The state
creates a commission

to look for alternatives.

On that commission
is one Alfred Southwick,

who suggests electrocution.

They just need
the right device.

There were a bunch
of different options
that they were considering.

One of them was
to put the condemned

in a telephone booth
type structure.

Another option was to put
the condemned on a table

and strap them down
to the table

and electrocute them
in a prone position.

Now remember,
Southwick is a dentist,

so Southwick proposes
the dental chair.

Now in many people's minds,

the dental chair
is an instrument of pain,

but in Southwick's mind

the chair would give
just enough dignity

so that it didn't look like
the person was a specimen
being operated on.

But it also wouldn't create
the collapse of the body

and the dramatic sort
of evidence

of the violence of the state

that a standing execution
would create.

Narrator:
But the chairman of the
commission isn't convinced.

Mark:
Elbridge Gerry had been an
advocate of using a poison,

probably morphine, as a means
of capital punishment.

One of the objections
to executing somebody
with a dose of morphine

was that it would be too easy,

that it would be too peaceful,

that it wouldn't be
scary enough.

There was still the idea
that executions should serve
a deterrent effect.

You didn't just want to just
put somebody to sleep.

You wanted to make it fearsome.

No one kills other people
with electricity.

The state would be
the only entity

that was using electricity
to inflict on death on folks,

and its violence would have
that kind of godlike,
awe-inspiring authority.

But Gerry isn't persuaded
by these kinds of arguments,

so Southwick decides he's
gonna contact Thomas Edison.

Now Edison was against
the death penalty.

He saw it
as a barbaric activity

that humans shouldn't do.

Southwick wrote
to Thomas Edison and said,

"Your personal opinions
about the death penalty
don't really pertain.

While it is the law of the land,
don't we have a responsibility

to make it
as humane as possible?"

And that sways Edison.
Edison writes back and says,

"I would be pleased to speak
with your commission
about electricity."

Now Edison genuinely cared

about reducing pain
and suffering in the world,

but he also had
his own financial interests.

Edison had started
to really feel the squeeze
of competition

from a man named
George Westinghouse.

Narrator:
George Westinghouse is
a Pennsylvania engineer

who in the mid-1880s

is promoting a different
form of electricity

than Edison's direct current.

It's called
alternating current,

and Westinghouse's success

makes the two men
bitter rivals.

LaChance: Alternating
current is superior

to Edison's direct current
in a number of ways,

so to Edison, alternating
current is nothing short
of an existential threat.

His whole company is invested
in direct current.

Greg: Edison is convinced
that direct current is safer
than alternating current

because the voltage
is so much lower.

Sure, it can hurt you,

but he says
it's not gonna kill you.

Narrator: Spotting
the perfect opportunity
to undermine his enemy,

Edison agrees to help
create the electric chair
on one condition.

He said the best tool
for the job

would be alternating
current generators,

and he even specified,

manufactured by George
Westinghouse of Pittsburgh.

What better way to demonstrate

how unsafe
alternating current is

than to have that be the current
that's used by the state

in its execution
of condemned criminals.

Narrator:
In June 1888,

the state of New York
approves execution

by electric chair
as the primary form

of capital punishment.

But the state of New York
has still not settled on

what the current for
the electric chair will be.

Mark: Edison released
an illustration

of the first design
he proposed,

and on that generator
he made a point

of putting
the Westinghouse label on it.

Edison starts a rather
gruesome series of tests.

LaChance:
He convenes a who's who

in the world of electricity
at these demonstrations,

and what happens is
by all accounts

a really horrifying scene.

Mark: There were many dogs,
several horses,

a bunch of calves,
all with the goal of
establishing AC

as the preferred
current of death

and establishing the correct
amount of current required.

Well, nobody thinks
this is a good experiment.

The people
are looking on in horror.

They're watching these animals
be tortured in front of them.

Narrator: Despite
the negative reactions,

Edison hopes
he's made his point.

And the Edison Company, they're
talking about with delight

the idea maybe people would
start referring to executions

by electricity as being
"Westinghoused."

Narrator:
But as the first live human
to experience it

is about to find out,
the early electric chair

is far from perfect.

Narrator: In early 1889,
after a gruesome

demonstration
electrocuting animals,

Edison's campaign to make
alternating current

power the electric chair
pays off.

Mark: The experiments
at the Edison laboratory

convince New York State
that alternating current

is what should be used in
killing condemned prisoners.

So Governor David Hill
signs into law a bill

that funds the construction
of three electric chairs

for the state's
three prisons--

Clinton, Sing Sing,
and Auburn.

Narrator:
The first electric chair
has a sturdy oak frame,

leather straps
to bind the person

at the chest, arms,
waist, and legs,

and two metal electrodes
placed at the head and back.

When the switch is flipped,
a thousand volts of current

will surge
through the victim,

supposedly killing them
instantly.

Greg: William Kemmler is
the unfortunate first person
to be sentenced to death

under the state's
Electrical Execution Act.

William Kemmler has been
convicted of murdering
his common law wife.

One day,
after a long bender,

Kemmler came home
and accused his wife Tillie

of stealing from him
and cheating on him.

They begin to fight,

and in the heat
of the moment,

he suddenly just
stops fighting

and calmly leaves...

...finds a hatchet...

- ...comes back...
- ( screaming )

( screaming, crying )

...and murders her.

Narrator:
On August 6th, 1890,

Kemmler is escorted
to the electric chair

at New York's Auburn Prison.

He is strapped in.
A mask covers everything
but his mouth.

He is, by some accounts,

the calmest person
in the room.

Everything's secured
and attached to his body

to send these volts
jolting through him.

He's been assured
that this is going to be
a rather humane experience.

LaChance: The doctors
standing next to the chair,

they have a plan to put
1,000 volts into Kemmler.

The appointed time happens.
The knock happens.

The dynamo runs.

Narrator:
Among his final words are,

"Take it easy,
and do it properly.

I'm in no hurry."

Mark:
They turned the current on.

It flowed for 17 seconds.

( electricity buzzing )

Jordan: Multiple different
things occur

when the body
is electrocuted.

You can have sparks
flying out of somebody.

Your eyes could
actually pop out.

You're gonna have
a significant amount

of muscle contraction,

and if they're fighting
against it,

the amount
of muscle contraction

could also
cause bones to break.

But at the end of the day,
if you have enough energy

and it gets to your heart,
it's gonna stop,

and you're gonna die.

LaChance:
Everyone immediately
starts to celebrate

because it looks like
Kemmler is dead.

Men approach what they think
is Kemmler's corpse...

Initially they think,
"All right, that's done."

LaChance:
One person reaches out
to touch it.

( groans )

Then he starts
gasping for breath.

Kemmler is not dead,

and they realize that they
have not completed their task.

Everyone in the room
is appalled.

You have a lot of witnesses.

Narrator:
They recharge the chair

for another attempt,

this time doubling
the voltage.

They amp up the voltage
to 2,000 volts

and this creates
a gruesome spectacle.

He's convulsing,
foam is coming out of his mouth,

bits of Kemmler's jacket
began to smolder
and catch on fire.

It looks like he's sweating
blood as blood vessels
are bursting in his face.

Smoke was rising from
his head by some accounts.

An ungodly smell was filling
the execution chamber.

You have grown men
fleeing from the room

feeling that
they're about to vomit.

By the time they flip it off,

he looks absolutely grotesque.

This has been anything but
a humane execution.

What happened in Auburn
that day was a nightmare.

Reformers had wanted this quick
and painless execution.

What they got was
this eight minutes of hell.

( coughing )

The main problem with
Kemmler's botched execution

was the placement
of the electrodes.

Instead of at the head
and the middle the back,

it should've been placed
at his head and his feet.

That path would've ensured
that most of the current

would've passed near
or through his heart,

which would've killed him
much quicker

than what the botched
execution actually did.

They cooked him
rather than electrocuted him.

LaChance:
So in the aftermath of
Kemmler's horrific execution,

Westinghouse goes on the record
by saying simply,

"They would've done better
by using an axe."

Narrator:
The botched execution

prompts engineers
to redesign the chair.

Later incarnations
of the electric chair

improved upon
that first design

by changing the electrodes
from metal to brass,

a copper mesh was introduced
to the top of the scalp,

and it ensured that
the current path

would actually
pass through the heart,

killing the person quickly.

Narrator: These upgrades
eventually reduce

the chair's failure rate
to less than 2%.

As of 2023,
the electric chair

is an approved method of
execution in eight states.

There are 4,374 people

who have died
by the electric chair
in the United States.

And when
you think about this,

this device that probably
wouldn't have existed

if Thomas Edison
hadn't wanted to damage

the business interests
of one of his rivals,

that that device could end up
killing so many Americans,

it's astonishing
and it's horrendous.

Narrator: Ironically,
Edison suffers his own loss

when his direct current
loses out to his rival.

In the end, alternating current
won the war of currents

because the electricity
that we use every day

is in the form
of alternating current.

Alternating current offered
such an advantage

in terms of carrying electricity
cheaply to more people

that it just left
direct current in the dust.

Narrator: The electric chair
is a stark reminder

that modern technology
can be twisted to serve
unintended ends.

Narrator:
The wheel is often called

the most important invention
in human history,

but for centuries
this seemingly simple object

delivered more
than transport.

It also delivered
excruciating death.

The darkest marvel of all
is the human mind.

And what we see over time

is that people
get an idea of a way

to be cruel to one another,

and then they build it,
and then they implement it.

- ( screams )
- ( electricity buzzing )

So if we start with a wheel,

all right,
a wheel is a wonderful thing.

And then somebody had
this bright idea,

oh, how to make this wheel
more lethal.

The wheel, of course,
was never intended

for men to be splayed on it,
have all their bones broken.

- ( screaming )
- But for 2,000 years,

it was used as a means
of punishment and death.

Narrator:
Known as the breaking wheel,

the exact origin of this
execution device is unclear,

though some historians
trace it back

to a notoriously cruel
Roman ruler.

Commodus is a second century
Roman emperor

who's known to have
a particular bloodlust.

Commodus famously killed

80 lions all by himself
with 80 spears

just to show off how powerful
and masculine he was.

Cord: So if indeed the wheel
was invented by him

for uses of punishment,

it would be fitting

for what we know of him.

Commodus uses the wheel

because he likes
the entertainment,

if you will,
out of the death.

He was a ( bleep ) up guy.

Narrator:
In early versions,

the wheel is outfitted
with iron spikes

that roll across
the victim's body.

Later, a gruesome
variation emerges

that makes very clear
why it's called
the breaking wheel.

After tying a victim
to the wheel,

executioners use a hammer
to break their bones.

There were
essentially two ways

of going about
killing somebody

on the breaking wheel
like this.

One was to do it
from the bottom up,

which is to say to start
at the extremities

at the bottom of the body
and start breaking
the bones going upwards.

That's not the way
you wanted this to happen
if you were the victim.

You wanted to go
from the top down,

which means
that the initial blows
were done to the head,

to the top part of the body,
which is going to
kill you faster

so you suffer less.

So it was usually
an act of mercy

for somebody
to get it top down.

At that point, the executioner
would simply take the limbs

and weave them around
the spokes of the wheel.

Cord: If you've ever broken
a single bone,

you know how painful
that can be.

This would be having
all four of your limbs

shattered so completely

that they could
then be manipulated

and tied around
a spoke of wood.

That is extraordinary pain.

Narrator:
For the truly unfortunate,

the wheel
does not kill quickly.

The point of the breaking wheel,
especially in public,

was to have the largest amount
of visible suffering,

and the bones breaking,
the skin ripping,

the blood flowing,

and the screams
from the individual,

who would not die.

That is what
the executioner wanted.

In one case, we have a report

that somebody lives
for four days

woven onto the wheel
in horrific agony,

but they're kept alive
for that long

in what must've been
to the executioner
and those involved

a real horrible
high-five moment,

but absolutely incredible,
awful pain

for the person involved.

Ultimately what's going to
kill you on the breaking wheel

is not the pain and the agony
of the injuries,

it's the decreased amount
of blood in your body,

and it doesn't sustain life

because you don't have
any oxygen to your tissue.

( screams )

Narrator:
Once the victims do succumb,

their mangled corpses
are left on display.

Jordan: This kind
of execution is public.

You're wanting people
to see this, to hear it,

to be horrified by it,

because people are often
fascinated about death.

There's also an element
of social control

whereby displaying
a broken body on the wheel,

everyone who's looking on
is reminded

that you,
the powers that be,

have the power
to do that to them, too.

Narrator: Twisted tales
of the breaking wheel

reverberate
throughout history.

But the most famous story

may be the legend
of Saint Catherine,

a Christian tortured
by Roman Emperor Maxentius

in the fourth century AD.

Emperor Maxentius was
persecuting Christians

because he wants to unify

the whole Roman empire
in his worship.

Catherine was a young woman,
only 14 years old,

and she had already heard
about Christianity

and persuaded many others
to follow Christ.

And so the emperor
had her arrested.

And first they tortured her
down in the dungeons.

The beat her and starved her.

Then he finally decided to bring
out the worst torture of all,

the breaking wheel.

She was raised on the wheel.

They were ready
to break her bones,

and the wheel fell down.

Joyce:
When she touched the wheel
and it broke to pieces,

finally they gave up in
despair and cut off her head.

Real or not,

because of this story,
the breaking wheel

has been associated
with Catherine so fully

it's called Catherine's Wheel
across time.

Narrator: It remains
one of the more popular forms

of public execution
in Europe for centuries,

until the late 1700s
when the citizens of France

start to question
the barbaric practice.

In 1788, seven years
after Marquis de Lafayette

plays a pivotal role
in the American revolution,

his countrymen are still
being broken on the wheel.

The last person
to be sentenced to death
in France by a breaking wheel

was a convicted murder
Jean Louschart.

People were so angry that
a whole mob rushed forward

and basically rescued
Louschart from this device.

He is pulled off and taken away
by the crowd to freedom.

Rebecca: King Louis XVI
actually ended up

banning the use of
the breaking wheel in 1791.

Narrator: And so a new form
of execution is needed,

one that's more humane.

And among the next
death machine inventors,

a French doctor
whose name is forever tied
to the Reign of Terror.

Narrator:
France, 1789.

Fueled by immense gaps
between the rich and the poor,

a social revolution
is starting to boil.

Since the time
of King Louis XIV,

we are seeing a lot
of excessive spending
coming from the crown,

such as the building
of the Palace of Versailles,

which practically bankrupted
France in the early 1700s.

We are also seeing
a long time period of famine
due to weather crises.

Harvests aren't going
very well,

and France goes
into a lot of debt

because of various wars
against England.

So we're seeing a lot
of people who are hungry,

they're exhausted,
they're angry,

and this is going to kick off

what becomes known
as the French Revolution.

Young: One of the other causes
of the French Revolution

was the American Revolution.

The American Revolution
spread the mystique
of revolution.

It showed an example
of a successful revolution,

and that served as a powerful
role model for the French.

Narrator:
The French Revolution

officially begins
in late spring of 1789

with the formation
of the National Assembly,

a governing body
of the people

meant to represent
all classes.

Kelly: With revolutionaries
now in control in France,

they start looking at things
that would change society,

and one of them even was
how to put people to death.

Rebecca: The major problems
of inequality in France

even extended into death.

The different classes
got different treatments

in terms of execution.

If a member
of the upper class

was going to be executed,

they would get
the most humane way--
being beheaded.

Those of
the lower classes though

were given
really harsh punishments.

These included things
like hanging.

These included things
like drowning,

burning at the stake,

or being put
onto the breaking wheel.

Narrator:
On October 10th, 1789,

a prominent French physician
steps forward

with an innovative idea--

using an efficient
sharp blade

to kill everyone
sentenced to death,

regardless of class.

That doctor's name,
Joseph Guillotin.

Guillotin hated public
executions of any kind.

But he knew there
was no chance in eliminating
the death penalty,

so what he advocated was
at least making the execution

more humane if possible.

The practice of beheading
was far from perfect

because it didn't guarantee

a quick or painless
or clean death.

Sometimes the axe
might be dull,

and it would require
multiple attempts

to actually sever
the head from the neck.

The executioners
would often show up drunk
and miss their mark,

or they wouldn't
swing hard enough and it
would be very messy.

So what Guillotin
was proposing

is we have to create some
sort of mechanical device

that will make it
so any sort of beheading

will automatically be
very clean and painless
and immediate.

Narrator:
The National Assembly agrees
and commissions a prototype.

The project is overseen by
the king's physician
Antoine Louis,

who looks at other beheading
machines around Europe
for inspiration.

The Halifax Gibbet
is essentially a frame
of about 14 feet high,

and there's an axe blade
that's attached
to a wooden piece

that then drops with a rope
and a pulley.

The Scottish Maiden
is more sophisticated.

It works on an arm lever,
and you have the blade drop.

It's a sharper blade.

It is more effective,

and because
it's in use until 1710,

it is an immediate inspiration
for the guillotine.

Narrator:
Though it was initially
called the Louisette

after Anton Louis,

the death device
is soon renamed

after the man
whose idea triggered it.

The first guillotine
is a tall wooden frame

with a heavy blade suspended
at the top by a rope.

When the rope is released,
the blade falls

severing the head
in one swift, fluid motion.

Rebecca: Legend has it,
King Louis XVI
also gave an idea

of how to make the guillotine
even more effective--

make the blade slanted

so it could go in with a
sharper and even cleaner cut.

You have essentially
an 88-pound weight

that's hoisted 14 feet
above the ground.

And released from rest,

it's gonna accelerate
very quickly.

And at the end,
it's moving 15 miles an hour.

It's gonna slice through
whatever's in its path.

In this case,
it's the human neck.

In 1792,
they start testing it out.

So first they release it
down onto bales of hay

to see how
it would slice through.

Once they perfected this,

they went through and
they began beheading animals.

Once they realized
it worked for that,

they began testing it
on corpses

to make sure it would
also work on human beings.

And they tested it
very quickly,

and they ironed out
the kinks very fast.

Within just one week,
the guillotine was ready

for use on live humans.

Narrator:
It's April 25th, 1792,

and a notorious
instrument of death

is about to make
its bloody debut.

The first person
to face the guillotine

is convicted robber
and murderer

Nicolas Jacques Pelletier.

Christine: The guillotine
was set up publically

in the square in front
of the town hall.

This was a big gravel pit

where all kinds of
executions,

even some market activity
were happening.

So people are kind of always
coming through this area.

It was really central
in Paris.

Rebecca:
This was such an event

that thousands
upon thousands of people

showed up because they had
heard about this guillotine.

They'd heard about
this new method,

and they wanted to see it
put into action.

Narrator:
The crowd watches intently

as Pelletier is escorted
to the guillotine.

He is secured
into the stocks.

The blade is released,

and he is
instantly decapitated.

It just happened so fast,
many people didn't even
see it happen.

Christine: And the crowd
is not satisfied

because they're used to
the spectacle of torture.

They start getting upset.
It hasn't taken long.

They wanted
a more lengthy execution.

They started to say,
"Bring back the gallows.

Bring back the gallows,"
so that they can see men
writhing in pain

for a little bit
before they finally
go to their maker.

Rebecca: The whole point
of this invention

was to level the playing field

and create a painless
and humane way of death

for all classes.

And instead of people
being happy,

people were actually furious

because they felt
they were missing out

on a grand public piece
of entertainment.

Narrator:
But as more citizens
are sent to the guillotine,

the public's attitude
starts to shift.

What people came to realize
was that the guillotine itself

offered a different type
of spectacle.

People could now watch
many executions in a row

because it made
the process so fast.

The crowds go
for an afternoon.

10, 12 people
would be executed.

Young: Some say it had a
carnival-esque quality to it.

There would be hawkers
or vendors in the crowd

selling food and drink
and souvenirs,

maybe even little models
of the guillotine itself.

People gawking at the murder
of a fellow human being.

We're seeing
so many executions

that the process kind of
restores that raucous

and social tradition
of public execution.

Narrator: As public executions
continue to draw crowds,

those in the front row
begin to notice
something peculiar.

Larissa: Because
the guillotine was so sharp,

there are reports
of a severed head

being so quickly severed

that the eyes
and mouth of the head

would open and close.

And the implication is that

because it was so swift,
so clean,

the neural impulses,
the electrical impulses

were still
going to the brain.

Narrator: Soon the efficient
new killing machine

becomes a symbol
of the French Revolution,

an era that's so deadly

it's referred to
as the Reign of Terror.

Rebecca:
So many people in Paris
got executed a day

that by halfway
through the day

the blade
would've gotten dull.

And what happened
is that people had to

start releasing the blade
multiple times

just to behead somebody,

and so this humane method
of execution

became an absolute horror.

Kelly: Initially
the guillotine's victims

were nobles,
they were the bourgeoisie.

Pretty soon though
it's pretty much anybody
who doesn't agree

with those in power
will be sent to the guillotine.

We get musicians,
we get painters,
we get teachers.

Young:
Anybody who might be viewed
as an enemy of the revolution

could be guillotined.

Nobody was safe during
the Reign of Terror. Nobody.

Narrator: Eventually,
even King Louis XIV

is convicted of treason
and conspiracy

and condemned to die.

The ruler who outlawed
the breaking wheel

will meet his end
at the guillotine
on January 20th, 1793

before a crowd of thousands.

Christine: He's there
on the scaffolding

looking out
at all of these people

who are kind of lusting
for his death,

and he finds out that,
of course,

the person that will be
setting the machine in motion

is his former employee
the royal executioner.

Narrator:
Ironically, King Louis XVI

dies by the very blade
he helped design.

By the end
of the French Revolution,

the list of guillotine victims

includes
Queen Marie Antoinette

and revolutionary leader
Maximilien Robespierre.

As nearly as we can tell,
some 17,000 people

were killed
by the guillotine.

Maybe 15% were
from the nobility,

leaving another 85% from
all the other walks of life.

Narrator:
In 1774, the Reign of Terror
draws to a close,

but the guillotine
remains in service

for another two centuries.

Rebecca:
Despite the horror
that the guillotine

came to represent
during the Reign of Terror

in the French Revolution,
it remained France's

only method of public execution,
because no matter what,

it was still seen as more humane
than any other method.

Narrator: France's last
beheading by guillotine

occurs on
September 10th, 1977

with the execution
of convicted murderer
Hamida Djandoubi.

And the death penalty
in France

would be abolished
ultimately in 1981.

So basically
during the 20th century,

we were putting people
into space

while we also still
chopping off people's heads.

Narrator: But the guillotine
is much more civilized

than one of
the most excruciating

and elaborate execution
methods ever conceived.

Narrator:
The electric chair...

...the breaking wheel,
and the guillotine

remain among humankind's
darkest objects of execution.

But they pale in comparison

to one medieval method

that begins with a rope.

One of the oldest forms of
execution is death by hanging.

That is tying a noose
around somebody's neck
and pulling them up,

stringing them up
until they strangle to death.

There are records of hangings
that go back centuries.

Shelden: The first
physical evidence of hanging

dates from 500 BC--

a person they now call
Tollund Man,

who actually has the rope still
attached around his neck.

There are other examples
in the Bible

and "The Odyssey,"
all sorts of literature,

but we actually have a body.

Larissa:
Because hanging could be
achieved almost anywhere,

over a tree limb,
over a beam,

hanging is very easy
and very common.

But towards the 13th, 14th,
and then 15th centuries

in England
in continental Europe,
hanging becomes a spectacle.

It is a public performance
of state sponsored execution.

As a consequence, some of
those sights of execution

become permanent structures.

By the Middle Ages,
gallows were being built,

and these were
outside of castles,

they were outside
of fortifications,

often at crossroads.

And this is where
people could observe

the hanged body for many,
many days afterwards

until basically
the birds ate it

or something
along those lines.

Narrator: To give onlookers
a better view,

gallows are often constructed
atop high platforms.

When the lever is pulled,
a trap door opens

allowing the victim
to fall straight down,

being strangled by the noose
and their own body weight.

Larissa:
The laws that you needed to
break in order to be executed

were few and far between.

Murder, theft, counterfeiting,

those warranted capital
punishment, mostly by hanging.

Narrator:
But the most brutal
form of punishment

is reserved for
the highest crime-- treason.

It involves three
excruciating forms of torture

that ultimately end in death.

Hanging, drawing,
and quartering,

this is something unique.

This doesn't happen
nearly as often,

and it's extremely gruesome.

Livingston:
The process of being hanged,

drawn, and quartered

really begins at the prison.

The person
is often stripped naked,
their hands are bound,

and then they are dragged

to the place
of actual execution.

The point of this
is humiliation.

It is to give people
the opportunity

to throw things, to cause
violence to the victim,

and then you start
with the hanging.

Narrator:
Unlike most hangings,

the goal at this stage
isn't death.

Livingston:
The idea here instead

is to put the noose around
and tighten it

and lift the body
so that they are choking.

You want to bring them
right to the point of death

and then bring them down
so that they're still alive.

And now you begin
the next stage.

Now the drawing part
of this punishment

basically had two methods.

One is you are
literally being drawn

across the cobblestones
by being attached to a horse,

or it's going to mean
that you're going to be
disemboweled alive,

meaning that
your organs are going to get
drawn out of you.

Basically,
your body is cut open,

and your intestines
are going to be removed.

Shelden: And then, finally,
came the quartering

in which either a man
with an axe

chopped off
your arms and legs,

or horses were gathered
on four sides of you

and a rope was attached
to your various limbs
and to the horse.

And someone said, "Giddy-up,"
and there went your limbs.

And at that point,
you probably should've
suffered death,

but just in case,
they also then follow that up
with a beheading.

And then usually
the parts of your body
are put on display,

all to say,
"Don't do what this person did

or the same fate
will await you."

Narrator: One of
the best known examples
of this barbaric practice

is the execution
of Scottish knight
William Wallace.

In 1305, William Wallace
helps to lead

a Scottish force that defeats
a far larger English force

in the Battle
of Stirling Bridge.

This definitely puts
a target on his back.

William Wallace is brought
just outside of London
to Smithfield,

he's brought in display of
everybody, and he's hanged.

He's cut down
before he can die.

He is then laid out

and they begin to pull
various pieces off of him.

Larissa:
He is disemboweled.

His entrails are burned
in front of him,

but he is also castrated.

This is meant to wipe out
the lineage of your enemy

and drive home the point

that Scotland has
no future of its own.

After he is castrated,
he is beheaded,

and his corpse is cut
into four different pieces.

Those four quarters are sent
to the four corners of England,

and they're put on display
on city walls.

His head is placed on a pike
on London Bridge.

William Wallace may have been
a famous victim of this,

but he's by no means
the only one.

Rebecca:
The very last person
to actually be hanged,

drawn, and quartered,
this occurred in the 1700s.

But the actual law
for hanging, drawing,
and quartering

wouldn't get outlawed
until 1870.

Of all the executions
out there in history,

hanging, drawing,
and quartering

was one of the most painful
and humiliating ways

one could ever be executed
in the world.

( screaming )

Narrator:
If the history of execution

has proven anything,

it's that there's often
a dark side to innovation...

...and where there's a will,
there's a way

to transform even
the most mundane objects

into instruments of death.

( screams )