WEBVTT - How the Electric Chair Works 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of My 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.719 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:15.640 I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there, 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:17.720 and there's Jerry over there, and this is Stuff you 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.920 Should Know over here. And uh, I guess they probably 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:22.759 found a little too chipper for what we're about to 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:28.040 talk about, because it is grim stuff it is. And I, 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:32.120 my friend, have a fact that you probably know, but 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:34.800 I don't know if everyone else knows that the word 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:39.320 electrocute is a portmanteau that was coined during the War 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.360 of Currents. He did, I'm so happy with you. This 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:44.919 is mine fact too. I was like, Chuck's gonna love this. 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.840 I appreciate you assuming that I already knew it. Well, 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:52.120 I assume you know everything. Let him have it. Chuck, Well, yeah, 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:56.360 it's uh it comes from the words electric and execution. 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.000 And when I saw that, I was like, that can't 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:03.600 be right, Like, surely the word electrocute was around before then, 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:07.640 But there was no before then, because there was no like, 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.440 you know, mass use of electricity. And uh, I don't 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:13.560 know who exactly coined it. I couldn't find that, but 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:16.080 it was during the War of Currents. Yeah. I saw 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.440 it in like a paper from that said that, and 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:21.480 they said he just said it so matter of factly. 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:25.880 I was like, what that doesn't Oh wow, that is right, electrocute, 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:30.400 electro execution. It's like, um, the s executioner. It's like 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.240 sex and the executioner, the sexecutioner. Yeah. And that's also 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.319 a word that guess gets misused because a lot of 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:42.000 people say someone's electrocuted if they just experienced a profound shock. 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.920 But that's not the case. That's why I was confusing. 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.360 I think at first force we're like, wait, that's not mikeense, 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:56.160 it's not sensible. I also saw one another electro than Asia. Okay, 0:01:56.600 --> 0:01:58.760 I know it's not nearly as good as electrocute, but 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.680 I wanted to toss it out to uh and this 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:05.480 episode has what I believe maybe the best stuff you 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.000 should know band name of all time. I know what 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:11.919 that one is too, so we'll just hang onto that. Okay. Cool. Yeah, 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:14.079 I saw that and I was like, there's Chuck's band name. 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.200 So we're talking electrocution. And now that you know electrocution 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.600 what the word means, you know, we're specifically talking about 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:27.480 being put to death on purpose through electricity, And as 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:30.359 far as we know, the only way that anyone's ever 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:33.519 been put to put to death using electricity is in 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:39.040 an electric chair, which is a specifically American invention. Did 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.840 you know that before you researched this? I did, And UM, 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.400 we should point out that the Philippines did use this 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:48.880 for a while, but it was because we basically we're like, 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.560 you guys should totally use the electric chair. Here, have 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.160 one right back in I think like six and they 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.000 used it for fifty years until ninety six and then 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.400 they were like, this is really gross. We're gonna stop 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.480 using this and executing people all together in that right? 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.360 Did they all together? I just assumed they went to 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.080 firing squad or something. I think I don't know if 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:13.639 it was in seventy six, but I think they got 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:18.799 rid of the death note perhaps how very civil So 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:24.000 um with the electric chair. Um, we've we've had, Like 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:25.880 I said, it was an American invention and it's been 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.360 around since. I guess the eighteen eighties is when it 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:33.520 really started to kind of make a make its debut. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.520 But it's it's really kind of basic and simple for 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:43.440 something is um seemingly complicated. Is harnessing electricity to put 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.920 in to extinguish a human life. Right, It's a chair 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.800 that you strap somebody to and run electricity through their 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.280 body until they die. It's really about that simple, Yeah, 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.720 they I mean, if you've ever seen a movie um 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.119 or god forbid, if you've ever been to an execution, 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:06.200 can't imagine doing something like that. But people do that. Uh. 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:10.200 And by the way, you know, uh, if I say 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:14.320 things like that, I'm just speaking for myself. Everyone, Well, 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.719 we did like a whole lethal injection episode and you 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.720 came out pretty strongly against the death penalty if I 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.000 remember correctly, so, so it's already out there. Yeah. I 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.960 just if I seem like I'm turned off by a 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:27.680 lot of this is because I am. But there are 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:30.600 a lot of people in this country that when they 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:33.600 hear about like flame shooting out of someone's head and 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.559 blood count coming out of someone's eyeballs and the smell 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:40.839 of cooked flesh, they're like, heck, yeah, like zap him again. 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.560 Shouldn't it shouldn't have killed those people? You're getting what 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:45.480 you deserve. So there are a lot of people out 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:47.840 there that feel that way. And I'm just not one 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.680 of them. Yeah. I was reading about the execution of 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.120 Ted Bundy. He was electrocuted in Florida, I'm pretty sure. 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.320 And there were Yeah, it was Florida. There were people 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.719 partying outside of the prison where was put to death, 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.320 remember holding like a barbecue. What what year was is 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.120 like maybe or eighty nine. I feel like I was 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.560 in college, but I remember seeing that on the news 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.960 and that was just like a it seems like a 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:15.080 tailgate was going on. Yeah, that's what it seems like 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.000 from what I read. And and there was apparently zero 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:20.839 Bundy supporters. It was all people who are there for 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.440 to cheer on his death. Um, so they're definitely people 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:27.360 who feel that way out there for sure. Uh So. Yeah, 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:28.880 getting back to what you're saying, though, it's it is 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:32.880 very rudimentary. There was a metal cap that is the electrode, 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:38.120 and that is put onto a prisoner's shaved head. Um. 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:43.520 There is a natural sponge with saline salt water in 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:47.960 that sponge, and um salt water is conductive and that's 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.560 the reason they used that. But there have been a 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:54.479 lot of problems with UM the wrong sponges, too much salt, 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.919 too little salt, too much water, too little water. But 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.120 that's generally how it works. That goes in between in 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:03.840 uh the cap uh that metal cap in the in 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:09.040 the person's head. And then there's another electrode um that's 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.719 usually on the leg of the prisoner, but sometimes it's 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.359 on like the foot or the base of the spine 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:17.760 or something. And this all just allows electricity to flow 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.320 freely through a person's body until they die, right right, 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.160 Because the the electrode that goes into the head, that's 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.960 where the electricity comes from. And then the other electrode 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.960 that's connected to the ground like through the leg, allows 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.760 the current to pass through the body all the way 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:38.520 right um. And that's you know, from that free flow 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.919 of electricity, that's where you get these tremendously horrific results, 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:47.160 ultimately culminating in the death of the person. And then, Chuck, 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:49.440 you said that they put a sponge on people's heads. 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:52.360 It has to be a natural sponge, as you say that. 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:57.880 So apparently they found as as we'll see that only 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:00.800 a natural sponge will work. But one of the other 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.440 purposes that serves besides acting is like kind of a 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:08.640 reservoir for the saltwater conductor. Um. It also it fills 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:12.800 the space between the metal cap and the the victim's 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.160 head because you're like the metal caps is like this 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.320 little metal cap in your head is not a perfect 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:22.120 cap shaped dome. So the sponge is meant to also 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:24.320 kind of fill that space and like get the electricity 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.440 everywhere going through your head. Yeah. And as far as 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.880 the chair, the actual wooden chair, um, I mean, it 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.040 could have been anything. It could have been some upright 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:37.400 thing like Hannibal elector was strapped to like a upright gurney, 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.760 but they settled on a chair. Um. It's generally this big, 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.720 heavy oak chair and many times, um, irony of all ironies, 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.480 that chair is built by prison labor. I saw that too, 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:53.680 and it's almost invariably called old Sparky. But there are 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.800 also some that were called like old Smokey. And then 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:58.800 the worst of all I think was the Louisiana is 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.680 called gruesome Gurtie. It's this terrible name for a chair. 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.239 Actually it's a perfect name for a an electric chair actually, 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.040 now I think about it. Yeah, but the I don't know, 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:15.880 the sort of I guess tradition of naming electric chairs 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.880 these cute names is also something that's a bit of 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:22.040 a turn off. Yeah, just a tap tap it. So 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.800 you're strapped into this chair. Uh, obviously your arms are 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.120 strapped in. Um, your legs are strapped in. Most of 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.400 the times, you have a strap across your chest and 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:36.160 growing area. And again the chair is just has nothing 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:39.240 to do. It doesn't have electricity um running through it 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.520 at all. That is just the means to keep the 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:45.960 prisoners strapped in, right, right, because when that switch is thrown, 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.280 your muscles just contract to the point where you could 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.120 just snap bones, joints get um just thrown out of 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:59.600 joint literally. Um. It's a huge muscle muscular contraction throughout 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:03.000 your entire your body, because that's how your that's how 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:07.160 your muscles contract is through electricity and electrochemical reaction. Right. 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.840 So when you introduce a huge amount of electricity to 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.280 your body all at once, all the muscles in your 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:16.360 body contract um and it's so much so that if 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:18.240 you're not strapped in, you would just fly right out 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.839 of the chair. I think in it must have been 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:25.200 our electricity episode we talked about how when people who 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:29.720 have touched uh an electrical wire, their um muscles have 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:34.880 contracted so so UM strongly that they've thrown themselves across 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.160 the room. Like, you're not blown across the room by 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.120 the electricity. That's your muscles contracting and shooting you across 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:44.680 the room. That's why the they have people strapped to 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.760 the chair in the electric chair to keep them from 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:50.520 shooting across the room when the electricity shoots room. Yeah, 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:52.720 and depending on what states you're in, you know, they're 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:55.720 all going to have their own protocol for how to 0:09:55.800 --> 0:10:00.320 carry out in like, uh, electrocution, and Um, we should 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:03.120 also point out to that this is they're generally not 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.960 used anymore. Um, there are only nine states but still 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:15.120 have that option. Um, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia. 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:19.960 Are you noticing a trend? And then finally Oklahoma, Uh, 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.760 not the only state not in the South. Um. But 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.840 but it's not something that is generally still used in 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:30.760 the United States. No, but it is a backup, and 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:33.840 it's not a backup. I think if like lethal injection 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.600 doesn't work as a backup, if the prisoners specifically says 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:40.240 I don't want lethal injection, I want the electric chair. Right, So, 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.240 depending on where you are, the protocol is gonna vary um. 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.040 This one is pulled from Tennessee. That was uh an 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:51.840 execution last year that Edmund Zagorsky, I guess asked for 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.160 the chair because it was two thousand eighteen and this 0:10:55.280 --> 0:11:00.040 was the protocol. Uh. The electric chair will release and 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:04.080 fifty volts of electricity for twenty seconds, will stop for 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:09.400 fifteen seconds, and then we'll release another fifty volts UH 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.120 for another fifteen seconds. UM. After the first wave of electricity, 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.320 officials will wait five minutes and then close the blinds 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.800 into the witness room. A doctor will check for signs 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:21.400 of life. If there are none, the doctor will pronounce 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:23.920 him dead. If he is still alive, the blinds will 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:28.480 be raised another round. Uh. I assume like an encore, 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.600 the curtain goes back up in another round of electricity 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:37.719 will be administered and the doctor will be called in again. Right. 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.240 How about that? That that Encore think kind of got beach. 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:46.120 I mean that's I don't know, the parallels are obvious, 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.679 so the uh yeah, yeah. But I think also in 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.280 the lethal injection, when we explain like the X, like 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.640 the state witnesses, people who are hired to come and 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.360 witness on behalf of the people because the state is 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.520 executing people on behalf of the people of that state. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.680 These are the representatives of everybody else who lives in 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:04.959 that state. I mean, yes, of course there's no way 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:07.280 you wouldn't get weirdos. But if I remember correctly, they 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:11.520 try to weed those people out. But yes, I get 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.360 where you're coming from. I'm not trying to like shoot 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:17.560 your opinions down or anything like that. Yeah. So, um, 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.200 one of the things, like you said, there's like se volts. 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.120 I've seen that slow, like I've seen two thousand at 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:26.040 least is what you want. And then the amps are 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.640 really the big one because the voltage is kind of 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.480 like the water pressure in a hose, where the amps 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.400 are like the actual flow rate of how much is 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.679 coming through. So the amps are what kill you, they say, 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.920 But you have to balance the amps, and that you 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:44.520 want to you want to introduce enough amps through voltage 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:49.640 into the inmate to kill them quickly and painlessly. Because 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.079 I don't think we've said the reason the the electric 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:57.040 chair was brought around was not to just just set 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.520 somebody on fire as you were executing them. It was 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:01.840 too because it was thought to be like a painless 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:05.120 and humane way to execute a prisoner. That's supposedly the 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:10.280 point of executions. So you want to balance a quick 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:15.120 and painless death through enough amps and voltage introduced with 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.280 not so many amps and and not a high enough 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.000 amount of voltage that you cook the person and set 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:25.679 them on fire. That's basically the tightrope that as state 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:30.120 executioner who electrocute somebody is walking and figuring out how 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:34.800 much too how much juice to deliver for the electric chair. Yeah, 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.439 and um, I tried to find if you know, I've 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.199 always heard that there were dummy switches and that like 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.840 three guards will all flip a switch at the same time, 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.920 so no one knows if they were the one. Um. 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.320 And I think that was just I didn't see any 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.160 support for that. And that may just be built on 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:57.000 the old thing of the firing squad where someone has blanks. Um, 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:02.360 and you know, so like one person, everyone basically can say, well, 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:04.080 I may have had the blank, I may not have 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.880 actually had the bullet in my gun. But that is 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:10.280 apparently not the case with electric chairs, and a volunteer 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.680 throws one switch, um, the you know, it's generally a 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.640 prison guard has has said this is something that I 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.960 will do I'm volunteering for this. You can't apparently force 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.640 someone to do this. Um, it's always a volunteer, right. 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:27.440 And depending on the state too, they might not actually 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:29.400 work at the prison. They might that might just be 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:31.960 their job as an execution maybe a second job they 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.600 have or something like that. UM. And from what I've seen, 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:40.520 there typically called electricians. The um electro executioner is called 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.120 an electrician. And New York had some very famous and 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:46.720 prolific ones, kind of at the heyday of the electric 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.680 chair and like the first half of the twentie century. Yeah, 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.120 one of them killed are you ready for this is 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:54.920 one of the most gruesome things I've ever heard in 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:59.479 my life. One of them killed seven men in succession 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:04.040 and why day And they had all seven men in 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.360 sing sing on death row like in the in the 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.200 death house at the same time. And so as one 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.800 would be taken away, the other eleven would just be 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:16.360 sitting there like freaking out, like and then the next 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:19.080 one would come, and it just kept whittling down. And 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.640 as they went through this day of executions, UM, the 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.640 like the the sense among the inmates, so they were 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.840 like almost losing their minds. It's one of the cruelest 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:30.880 things I've ever heard in my life, at least in 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.840 the modern era. You know, there's no way to to 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:39.200 um execute prisoners, and I believe they've really gotten away 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.240 from them. You don't execute more than one person in 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.000 a day at the same place. I think it's really 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:46.680 kind of like your time to shine. It's your special day. 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:48.600 You're not going to share it with eleven other or 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:52.720 eight six other people anymore. Um. But the executioner, the 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:55.360 electrician for New York who did that, I can't remember 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:57.680 his name right now, but he actually ended up taking 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.240 his own life because apparently he was doing us to 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:04.440 pay the medical bills for his wife, who was chronically ill, 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.160 and this paid really really well, and eventually she died 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:12.040 and he abruptly quit and then went and took his 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.880 took his life. Yeah, So it's not like it's not 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.560 like if you're an electrician or you're an executioner. I 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:20.840 I don't think it's kind of like this is a 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.360 fun thing like I think, I think this kind of 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:27.800 destroys everybody involved, basically. Yeah, and so you know you 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:31.720 mentioned that, uh, it was supposedly the humane way of 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.440 killing people, and we'll we'll get to how that happened 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.640 in a minute. But um, the two gentleman Jean Louis 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:44.760 Provost and Frederica Batelli, they, by the way, we got 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.680 an email about someone who was not happy with my 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:51.880 Italian Yes, but we got we got a couple from 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:54.880 people who were Italian Americans saying like, I love it, 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.320 don't ever stop. Yeah. The one guy who said I 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.960 went too far was also very upset about my care 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:05.680 actorization of New Englanders as liking Duncan donuts as well. Wow, 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:07.360 So I sort of took that one with a grain 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.679 of salt. That's a that's a big fat that's a 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:14.800 salt lick. I think, yeah, donut jokes, come on, stop 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:19.680 Duncan donuts. So anyway, those two gentlemen, they did a 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:23.680 lot of research into heart defribrillation in eighteen nineties, and 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:28.720 the idea that time was, um, hey, what's going on here? 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:32.359 When you electrocute someone is is it instantly sort of 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.960 kills the prisoner by a massive brain damage and a 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.199 stoppage interruption of the heart. And so that's why they 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:42.880 thought it was more humane than like hanging, which we'll 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.600 get to in a sect. But um, that is not 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.879 the case, as we will see from the scores of 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:54.960 butched um electrocutions over the years. Right, that's why if 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.480 you if you read like these procedures for executing a 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:03.720 prisoner using electricity city, there is two rounds of juice. Invariably, 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:08.240 the first one supposedly destroys the brain, but the second one. 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.840 Remember how I said all the muscles in the body 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.800 like contract, Well, one of the biggest muscles in the 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:18.760 body is your heart, and um, your heart contracts, which 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:23.680 ironically protects it from dying. Right, yeah, So that's why 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:28.000 they'll stop with the electricity, the electrical flow for several 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:31.359 seconds to let the hearts like come out of seizure again, 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.080 and then when they do it a second time, allegedly, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:35.960 that is the one that's meant to destroy the heart. 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:40.240 So initially the first one is supposed to destroy the 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:44.040 conscious mind and then ultimately the brain. And it's supposedly 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.960 happens very fast. The number you'll see bandied about is 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:51.159 that it happens in one two a second, which is 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:55.800 faster than you can consciously register pain. So you're you're dead, 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.560 you're at least unconscious, and then you're you're dead. Right 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:02.240 after that before you can feel pain. But the person 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.360 I think I've seen associated with that is a guy 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:09.760 named Fred Luketer who's actually like a UM, well known 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.280 UM engineer of Tennessee's electric chair, and I believe a 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:18.919 Holocaust denier. Two And I didn't see anywhere else, like 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.840 any legitimate study that showed that. So but it's like 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:25.199 somebody said it, and everybody's just gonna go with that. 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:28.160 But supposedly that's what the first just does is knock 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.960 you out and kill you brain wise, your brain dead, 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.320 and then the second one kills your your cardiac system. Yeah. 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.200 It was Errol Morris at a documentary about him actually, 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:42.320 um about Fred luke Yeah, it was called Mr. Death 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.600 and um. Part of it was on you know, his 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.119 work with the electric chair, and then part of it 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.320 was on your right, the fact that he is a 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:55.800 notorious Holocaust denier. And guess what he does now. I 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:59.439 have no idea. He apparently is a works in the 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:04.520 garden apart of a home depot really in his old age. Wow, 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.480 well he I'm correct that he built Tennessee's electric chair. 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:12.280 He wasn't an actual electrician, right, or an executioner? No? No, no, 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.720 he uh it's it's a really good documentary, of course 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.520 because it's Errol Morris, but yeah, you should check it out. 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.240 You wanted to take a break. Uh yeah, we'll take 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:22.760 a break and we'll come back and we'll talk about 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.240 a very famous Supreme Court case and then a lots 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:55.920 about hanging right after this. Okay, Chuck, So we're back, 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:58.680 and you wanted to talk about the Supreme Court. You said, 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:04.120 what about I love it when your ki Uh yeah, 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:07.960 the U Supreme Court, uh chose not to review a 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:13.199 case Glass v. Louisiana, UM, which would have been a 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:16.280 very big deal because it was on the constitutionality of 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:19.680 the electric chair, the whole that whole thing about cruel 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:23.960 and unusual punishment UM has always been a talking point 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:26.119 when it comes to whether or not people should be 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:28.720 put to death and just how to do that. And 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:30.840 they chose, like I said, they chose not to review it. 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:35.320 But very famously, uh, Justice William Brennan wrote a dissent 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:40.280 that described an execution like this And by the way, 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.479 this this part is particularly gruesome. So if you if 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:45.240 you don't want to hear about this, then just tune 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:48.240 out for like twenty seconds when the switch is thrown, 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:52.000 The condemned prisoner cringes, leaps, and fights the straps with 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.280 amazing strength. The hands turned red then white, and the 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:58.040 cords of the next stand out like steel bands. The 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:01.560 prisoners limbs, fingers, toes, and faces severely contorted. The force 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:04.080 of the electrical current is so powerful that the prisoner's 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:07.480 eyeballs sometimes pop out and rest on his cheeks. The 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:12.560 prisoner often defecates, urinates, and vomits blood and jewel. Sometimes 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:17.040 the prisoner catches on fire, particularly if he perspires excessively. 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:20.800 And witnesses here allowed and sustain sound like bacon frying, 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:24.760 and the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh permeates the chamber. 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:29.520 And and dude, we should point out, like Brennan wasn't saying, 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:33.119 you know, in the worst case scenario, this is what happens. 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:38.920 That's a pretty standard. That's standard for an electric chair execution. 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:41.560 And then there's like there was one other thing too 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:45.240 that I saw still in the gruesome zone. Everybody, Um, 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:47.840 you said that the uh, well, Brennan said that the 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:53.159 the person gurgles often, Um, they'll also sigh, and apparently 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:56.360 it for freaks out witnesses because they're like he's still alive. 0:22:56.960 --> 0:23:01.280 And what happens again the when the muscles tracked, UM, 0:23:01.600 --> 0:23:03.920 whatever air is in the lungs gets trapped in there 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:08.479 because your epple glottis shuts tight just it's not opening again. 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:11.879 So then when the electricity has turned off and your 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:15.560 muscles relaxed, that air is expelled out and it sounds 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:18.320 like you're sighing or you're gurgling if there's you know, 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:23.600 fluid in there. UM. And it's just another terrible a 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:27.480 facet of this of this this kind of execution. Yeah, 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:30.000 so we promised talk of hanging, and that's really how 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:33.200 the electric chair came about. Um. In Europe they had 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:37.159 uh long used the guillotine, but here in the United 0:23:37.200 --> 0:23:40.840 States kind of from the beginning. UM, I guess there're 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:44.040 firing squads, but hanging was really the um quote unquote 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:47.840 humane way of executing prisoners for a long time. UM 0:23:47.840 --> 0:23:51.040 with the idea that, um, if it's in the case 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:54.879 of a gallows, that door would drop, you would drop 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:58.800