34: How Long Can Humans Live Without Their Head?
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Hey, it's your buddy AJ from the Y-Files. And Hecklefish. Right, and Hecklefish. We just wanted to tell you that if you want to start a podcast, Spotify makes it easy. It'd have to be easy for humans to understand it. Will you stop that? I'm just saying. Spotify for Podcasters lets you record and edit podcasts from your computer. I don't have a computer. Do you have a phone? Of course I have a phone. I'm not a savage. Well, with Spotify, you can record podcasts from your phone, too.

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In 2011, Dutch scientists connected mice to a brain scanner and cut their heads off. They discovered that mice remained conscious for up to four seconds after decapitation. Other studies show that small mammals remained aware for up to 29 seconds. Now, if this is also true for humans, it would provide enough time for a pretty gruesome experience and might also explain some pretty grisly stories from history. So does a human head remain conscious after being separated from its body?

It sure does. Let's find out why. A common method of execution throughout history has been beheading.

and it's easy to see why. It sends a powerful message that kept citizens in line for thousands of years. Throughout history, we find many stories about how some decapitated heads still move their eyes or make facial expressions, usually of anguish or despair. Some have even made sounds despite being severed from the rest of their body. There's even a famous story about a man who attended the execution of his friend during the French Revolution. Now, seconds after the guillotine fell, the man retrieved the severed head and asked it a series of questions.

And through blinking and facial expressions, the victim allegedly communicated with his friend. This type of post head chopped off consciousness is called lucid decapitation. So scientists and doctors started to ask the question, does a person really stay conscious and aware after losing their head? Well, the answer is not only is it possible,

but it's medically proven. Debate on the subject started ever since Charlotte Corday was guillotined in 1793 for murder. The executioner's assistant lifted her head by the hair and slapped it on both cheeks for some reason. And eyewitnesses reported that, quote, "Her face took on an angry expression, and for a moment or two, there was a look of a ghastly stare, which implied that the head was aware of its ignominious situation." - Ignominious. - It means humiliating. - I know what it means. - Anyway.

French doctors argue that witnesses were confusing nervous spasms with voluntary motion. And very little research was conducted on the subject until 1905, when a French doctor named Barreau was allowed to make an investigation of a severed head. His, um...

Subject was a criminal named Henri Longuille. And immediately after guillotining, here's what Dr. Barreau wrote in his journal. After the decapitation, the eyelids and lips spasmed for about five seconds. The face relaxed, the lids half closed, leaving only the whites visible.

It was then that I called out in a strong voice, ''Longuille!'' I then saw the eyelids slowly lift up with even movement, quite distinct and normal, such as with people awakened or torn from their thoughts. Next, Longuille's eyes definitely fixed on mine and the pupils focused. I was not then dealing with a vague dull look. I was dealing with undeniably living eyes which were looking at me. After several seconds, the eyelids closed again.

I called out again, and once more, without any spasm, the eyelids lifted, and living eyes fixed themselves on mine with more penetration than the first time, since there was a further closing of the eyelids, but now less complete. I attempted a third call, but there was no further movement, and the eyes took on the glazed look which they have in the dead. Um, uh, you okay there, sport? Hello?

Oh boy, not again. Sorry, folks, the omen gets a little squeamish. We'll be back after these messages. By the mid-20th century, the government of France wasn't so sure beheading was as painless as its supporters claimed. In the 1950s, a study by Drs. Piotr Lever and Fournier concluded that death by guillotine is not instantaneous. The report said every vital element survives decapitation.

The last man to be guillotined in France was Tunisian born killer Hamida Dhanjoubi in 1977. Dhanjoubi became the last person in Western Europe to be executed by the state before France officially abolished capital punishment in 1981. Now, French authorities had already banned public executions after the heading of Eugene Weidman in 1939. This event was secretly filmed by a member of the crowd in Versailles. And once the horrible film made the rounds, the government preferred to do its killing in private.

However, there is one decapitated head which still sort of lives on at the University of Lisbon's Facility of Medicine. Diogo Alves was Portugal's first serial killer and one of the last people to be executed in the country in 1841. His severed head was actually cut off and studied by scientists following his hanging and is now preserved in a glass jar in the medical school. They had this head for 150 years? Yep. Why keep it?

Sometimes it's just really hard to throw things away. OK, so chopping off your head doesn't result in immediate death, but just how long do you actually survive?

Some doctors have said a human head could survive up to 15 minutes, but it's probably just a few seconds. When the brain runs out of oxygen, this is called anoxia and all motor functions stop, though the headless body lives on for about another minute until the heart stops pumping. But if we look at some other animals, some of them can survive for longer than you think. Cockroaches can live for weeks without their head. And if the wound is able to seal itself off, well, it just keeps on going.

A decapitated snake's head can still bite you and release venom without its body. Headless frogs still jump. Snapping turtles still snap. For hours. Just the heads. But the craziest headless animal has got to be the chicken. Specifically, Miracle Mike. Oh, the movie with the male strippers. No, no, no, no. That's magic, Mike. Yeah, I don't think you're right about that. I am. Me?

Miracle Mike was a chicken who belonged to a farmer in Colorado named Lloyd Olson. And Lloyd was planning on having a little chicken dinner. But after chopping off Miracle Mike's head, he kept walking around. The farmer kept walking around? No, Miracle Mike, the chicken. What? Yup. He was able to balance himself, run around and was still trying to peck for food. So Lloyd decided to keep him as a pet. Oh, no, this isn't real. Oh, it is.

Lloyd fed Miracle Mike a mixture of milk and water with an eyedropper to keep him alive, and even dropped small grains of corn down Mike's...

Neck hole. Gross! Just get a puppy for crying out loud! This is crazy! What's even crazier is Miracle Mike lived for 18 more months without his head. He went on tour, made public appearances. He was even on the cover of Time Life magazine. That's a terrible way to become famous. Miracle Mike was considered to be very healthy. The only reason he died was because one of those corn kernels got stuck in his... Neck hole! Right. There's a lesson in there somewhere. Probably.

but I don't know what it is.