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How does gallows work?

Updated: 4/28/2022
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14y ago

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Gallows were a fairly simple contraption used to make public hangings easier to display to the general public. They consisted of a wooden platform a few feet off the ground with a wooden bar suspended a few feet higher. In the middle of the platform was a trapdoor that, through any number of means, could open downwards. The most common way to activate the trapdoor was a rope or lever that removed a pin holding the door in place. A noose was tied and suspended from the bar above the platform, lining up with the trapdoor below. A prisoner would stand on the platform and the noose would be placed around his or her head. Once the time came, the executioner would release the trapdoor, causing the prisoner to drop a few feet before the slack on the rope ran out. If the initial jerk failed to break the prisoner's neck, then he or she would slowly strangulate from the noose.

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14y ago
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