The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
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 cruel and unusual




From: mdchachi@vela.acs.oakland.edu (mdchachi)
Subject: Re: Electric Chair
Date: 14 Aug 1993 01:51:47 -0400

jlpicard@austin.ibm.com (Craig Becker) writes:

>thf2@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Ted Frank) writes:
>...
>> Robert Johnson's book "Death Work" reports that nearly all electrocution
>> chambers come equipped with sickness bags because of the nauseating smell
>> of burning flesh. (Truth or UL?)

>Sounds like anti-death penalty hype to me. I can't imagine why cooked human
>flesh would smell any more nauseating than cooked steak.

>'Course, there could well be a psychological element at play here.

>Craig

One possibility:
Burning a human (or any other whole animal) would involve cooking its hair as well, which can smell rather sickening. (Try setting your hair on fire to see what I mean.) Maybe if the prisoner were skinned alive first and his hair removed, then it may just smell like a good ol' (non-mesquite) BBQ. I wonder if that would be cruel and unusual...

Mike


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