Decapitation

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Painting of a beheading
Painting of a beheading

Decapitation or beheading is the act of cutting off the head from the rest of the body of a living thing. Beheading usually means that the removal of the head is intentional. It is generally done during a murder or execution with an axe, sword, or guillotine. If the removal of the head is an accident or unintentional, it is called decapitation. It can happen because of an auto accident, explosion, factory accident, a mistake during a hanging or some other violent accident.

Decapitation is always fatal, that is, the result is always death.

Decapitation can also describe the removal of a head from a body that is already dead. In these situations, the head is usually a trophy or a public display of warning.

Contents

[edit] Famous people who have been beheaded

[edit] Biblical

[edit] China

The pirate Blackbeard's head was displayed as a trophy after his death
The pirate Blackbeard's head was displayed as a trophy after his death

[edit] England

[edit] The Colonial Americas

  • Panama: Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1519)

[edit] French Revolution

[edit] Iraq

  • Shosei Koda
  • Kim Sun-il
  • Kenneth Bigley
  • Nick Berg
  • Eugene Armstrong
  • Jack Hensley
  • Maher Kemal
  • Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti

[edit] Switzerland

[edit] Saudi Arabia

  • Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr.

[edit] See also