AH, DECAPITATION. The very word brings to mind images of grotesqueries and brutal atrocities, of guillotines, executioner’s axes and swords swung in battle, of the scarlet spray of fresh blood and the gruesome trophy left behind. Perhaps, too, it stirs within us all some twinge of primeval bloodlust that lays buried deep within the darkest recesses of our collective psyche waiting to be unleashed. Indeed, for as long as mankind has existed upon this blue-green sphere spinning in the vast spiral arm of the Milky Way, the enigmatic species known as Homo Sapiens appears to have been perpetually predisposed with a peculiar penchant for the lopping off of one another’s heads. One need only look to recent incidents involving the execution of Western hostages in Iraq to confirm that this bellicose proclivity for noggin choppin’ continues unabated today in the mindsets of certain extremists.

The following article seeks to highlight the grim practice of decapitation (or more accurately, the practice of ‘beheading’, as the accidental loss of one’s head - oh, say by an unfortunate accident involving motorized farm machinery, for example - is still technically ‘decapitation’ for all of you sticklers out there!) throughout the annals of history and into modern times. We’ll explore the reasons and psychology behind beheadings, as well as many of the techniques that are employed to actually sever a person’s head from their body (then you can go and try out what you’ve learned at home!). Yes, I will commence now to dutifully inform you, my little Sinners, about everything you need to know to get a head in life.

The practice of removing the heads of one’s enemies and keeping them as trophies or for mystical purposes was prevalent among primitive cultures all around the world. While different cultures had different reasons for the collecting of heads, anthropological experts contend that the head is seen as containing the life force, the soul or essence of a person, in a great many cultures, an essence that could be co-opted by the victorious warrior to increase his own power or to ward off evil spirits. Here are but a few examples of the frequent practice of beheading among tribal peoples in the pre-colonial world:

1) The Dayak peoples (actually a broad term encompassing over 200 ethnic subgroups) of Borneo were well known for their headhunting ways. They would collect the heads of their enemies en masse during massive raids upon rival tribes or individually in more personal vendettas. The heads, of which they only kept the skulls, were greatly treasured and would be hung in bundles from the ceilings of their longhouses or placed above hearths. Head hunting was a large part of Dayak culture, especially with regards to their notions of manhood. To be a man, you had to be able to hack off people’s heads, plain and simple.

2) The Shuar of Ecuador and Peru practiced headhunting in order to create their infamous shrunken heads. The skulls were removed and the skin was dried out causing the head to shrink. They believed the heads held the spirit of the deceased and that they could force it to do their bidding. They believed that the head must be shrunken, however, to limit the spirit’s power. When outsiders such as tourists and collectors began to create a huge demand for the shrunken heads in later times, the number of tribal killings and subsequent beheadings skyrocketed as a result. People were basically being murdered and turned into souvenirs! The governments of Ecuador and Peru eventually put a stop to the lethal shrunken head racket and nowadays, Shuar descendents instead craft “shrunken head” replicas out of leather to sell to tourists.

3) The Maori people of New Zealand would preserve the heads of their fallen foes in much the same way as the Shuar did, by removing the skull. The one difference was that the Maori actually smoked the head flesh as one does a ham.

4) The Qin soldiers of China were a fearsome lot, and they would carry the severed heads of their previous victories into future battles in order to intimidate their not yet beheaded enemies. The Qin dynasty unified China by defeating six other nations and it was the fierce (and probably a little bit nutty) Qin warriors that were largely responsible for this feat.

5) The Pagan Celts took their enemy’s heads as well, nailing them to walls and hanging them from the necks of their horses as they rode. There was apparently some sort of religious significance to these particular gestures, the specific details of which, however, have been lost in the mists of Christianity in Europe.

Speaking of Christianity, the bible is replete with tales of and references to beheading, the most well known account of which is the taking of the head of John the Baptist. Scores of Christian saints have met their ends through beheading throughout the centuries as well and the Book of Revelation names beheading as the method of execution for Christian martyrs during a period of great persecution that many fundamentalists believe has yet to happen, and that will occur right before the second coming of Christ.

With the rise of “civilized” cultures across the globe, the primal impetus behind beheading, rather than be quelled, became incorporated into the framework of society. Namely, within the societal aspect of punishment. Indeed, the word ‘capital’, used in terms like capital crime and capital punishment, is derived from the same Latin word, caput or capitis, meaning head, as is the word ‘decapitation’. In essence, a capital offense was one in which capital punishment (i.e. losing one’s head) was meted out.

In Jolly Ole England during medieval times, the heads of criminals and traitors to the crown (which was anyone who disagreed with the monarchy) were prominently displayed upon spikes on the walls of The Tower of London. The heads would be taken in the public square by an executioner wielding a sword or axe. A single, well placed stroke from behind was typically sufficient enough to slice completely through the spine, blood vessels, trachea, and esophagus of the person to be executed, but sometimes more than one stroke was required to sever the head completely. In order to assure that their deaths would be quick and relatively painless; those who could would bring a gold coin to the executioner as payment for his “services”. Beheading in England, usually carried out only upon the nobility, was, despite its gruesome overtures, considered a far more honorable (and quicker) way to die than hanging or being burned at the stake, the latter of which was typically reserved for only the female condemned.

In France, during the time of the French Revolution, the guillotine brought a “humane” element to beheading, as was its original intention. The falling blade was swift and precise, and death was instantaneous. Although there are several tales of severed heads continuing to react or even speak from this period, there is no true historical or scientific evidence to validate these claims. The guillotine was still employed as a means of capital punishment (literally) until the abolition of the death penalty in France in 1981!

The always fun-loving Germans had their own version of the guillotine as well, known as the Fallbeil, from the seventeenth century onward. The Nazis even employed the guillotine during their horrific reign taking over 45,000 heads in the process. The guillotine in this period was typically reserved for “criminals” (usually freedom fighters in the countries that the Nazis occupied), as we all know the Germans had other ways of disposing of the Jewish population.

In Feudal Japan, the Samurai warrior class reserved the right to decapitate their inferiors for the slightest offense. Ritual beheading was also often employed in tandem with seppuku, in which a disgraced warrior or lord would disembowel himself using a knife in order so that he may die an honorable death. A second man, standing behind the man committing ritual suicide would take his head with a katana, or long sword. This was to insure, for one, that the man disemboweling himself didn’t cry out, thus ruining his honorable death. A strip of flesh was skillfully left by the sword wielder to still connect the head in front so that it did not go rolling around, or towards those who may be in attendance. The Japanese retained their enthusiasm for the taking of heads all the way throughout history up into their involvement in World War II, where the Japanese army was prolific in the decapitation of enemy combatants. In fact, in 1937, during Japan’s occupation of China, two Japanese officers took part in a contest to see who could behead 100 people first. Both men were said to have surpassed their goals during the heat of battle, making it impossible to determine a winner so that the contest had to be amended to a new goal of 150 heads. Both men were executed for war crimes before the new number was reached.

The practice of decapitation, whether upon victims living or already dead is also the domain of many serial killers. The cannibalistic Jeffery Dalmer was captured with body parts including a severed head in his refrigerator. The notorious Wisconsin serial killer, Ed Gein, actually had four severed heads impaled upon each one of his bedposts when authorities searched his home. But the serial killer whose very modus operandi was the removal of victim’s heads was the never captured Cleveland Torso Murderer. The Torso Murderer, also called the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, was active in the Cleveland area in the 1930’s and along with Albert Fish and Dr. H.H. Holmes, was considered one of America’s first serial killers. The killer’s victims were all found beheaded (often the cause of death itself) and often dismembered further. The male victims were typically castrated and the torsos of the victims were often cut in half. The victims were usually drifters or those from the lower classes of society. This compounded by the fact that many of the heads were never found made identifying many of the victims impossible. Some people believe the killer was responsible for similar murders in other cities as well, and may have been the man behind the infamous Black Dahlia murder. The famed lawman, Elliot Ness, pursued the killer during his time in Cleveland, probably forcing the killer to flee the city although failing to bring him to justice.

Well, there you have it, a little history and overview of the wacky world of beheading, a phenomenon that appears deeply rooted in the savage cockles of the human heart. While terrorists like Al-Queda or revolutionaries like the Marxist FARC Guerillas in Columbia (who use machetes or even chainsaws!) still employ murder by decapitation for the purposes of intimidation, actual state-sponsored death sentence by beheading has, for the most part, fallen by the wayside. There are still several Muslim countries where this practice continues to enjoy legal status today under Sharia law. Of these countries however, it is only Saudi Arabia, our wonderful ally in the Middle East, which still conducts the bloody spectacle in public for all the children to see. It’s all about the kids, after all.