I was wondering if there are any documented cases when someone is left undisturbed for 4-6 hours of full suspension hanging and someone was still able to save them?
Tautochrome
Exploder
- Nov 22, 2025
- 62
No, that would be very unlikely. I heard of a 35 yo man who survived (partial) hanging for 15 minutes as well as a woman who hanged for 30 and made a full recovery. I can look for the links if you're interested, but these aren't the impressive numbers you were looking for. After so many hours death is pretty much guaranteed.
Worndown
Angelic
- Mar 21, 2019
- 4,078
If they lived that long, they screwed it up so bad it was no longer full suspension hanging. It was just suspension, like an acrobatic troupe.
Tautochrome
Exploder
- Nov 22, 2025
- 62
JesiBel
protoTYPE:cclxxv
- Dec 5, 2024
- 1,051
The person was rescued and found ahead of time. He was not hanging with the ligature around his neck for four hours. Be serious.
Article: A 35-year-old man, with previous suicide ideation was found hanging, by a ligature tightened to a tree. The ligature was cut off and within 15 minutes of the incident, he was brought to a tertiary care hospital.
On the day of the incident, the wife of the victim frequently monitored his status, checking on him, as he had expressed suicidal ideation. According to her, the incident took place in between 2 consecutive checks. She claimed that the time duration of hanging was not more than 10 minutes. Further information revealed that it was a partial hanging, the toes slightly touching
the ground.
The 1650 archive is more useful for entertaining yourself with something absurd than for taking it as a serious source of information...
Article: Directly, around 9:00 William Petty, Tomlins reader in anatomy and Thomas Willis came into the 'cold room and season of the yeare. They perceiving some life in her. She was held up, 'they wrenched open her teeth, which were fast set', and poured hot and cordial spirits into her mouth causing her 'obscurely to cough'. They opened her stiffened bent fingers and ordered bystanders to rub and chafe her limbs for about a quarter of an hour, in the meantime administering cordial waters and 'tickling her throat with a feather, at which she opened her eyes' briefly.
Tautochrome
Exploder
- Nov 22, 2025
- 62
Yeah, of course, it's impossible to survive four hours of hanging, I never implied otherwise. I mentioned cases I vaguely remembered as pertaining to survivors of long near-hanging. It wasn't what OP was looking for, but they asked for links anyway. The 1650 "miracle" was cited in another article which made it sound like something recent and legit heh
Gustav Hartmann
Enlightened
- Aug 28, 2021
- 1,301
In Iran the drugdealer Alireza M. was in 2013 hanged and taken from the gallows after 12 minutes and declared dead. He woke up in the morgue, recovered and avoided a second execution.
Science says: You will be brain death after 10 minutes, so Alireza should be regarded as an anatomical anomaly.
Science says: You will be brain death after 10 minutes, so Alireza should be regarded as an anatomical anomaly.
JesiBel
protoTYPE:cclxxv
- Dec 5, 2024
- 1,051
It's the same case; the person was taken down from the gallows prematurely.
It is not a miracle but an act of recklessness on the part of those who carried out the execution.
That is why it is recommended to be suspended for at least half an hour with the ligature compressing the neck (in its proper position, it is worth clarifying)
The heart will continue beating until it exhausts its energy. The ligature blocks not only the carotid arteries but also the airway, preventing oxygen from entering the body.
All cells need oxygen to remain viable and thus produce their energy.
The brain is the organ most vulnerable to lack of oxygen, but not all organs are damaged ("die") within 10/15 minutes. If oxygenated blood flow can be restored before the critical time, the person can be saved.
So, in a way, that person wasn't entirely dead if they woke up in the morgue after the ligature was removed. Their heart must have still been beating and pumping blood to their organs, perhaps with a weak and barely perceptible pulse. Unless they were a zombie.
Article: Without oxygen, heart cells slowly become unable to produce ATP, a cell's main form of energy, their vitality. Once the cells stop being able to produce ATP, they become very vulnerable (suffering damage and dying = causing the heart to stop beating)
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the primary energy source for the heart and is used to fuel the heart's activities – 60-70% of ATP is used to fuel the contraction of the heart muscle, and the remaining 30-40% is used in ion pumps. Cardiac function is highly dependent on ATP continuous synthesis.
Can asphyxiation cause a heart attack? Yes. Any condition that causes the heart to lose oxygen leads to it failing, whether a blockage, sudden spasm, or injury.
Since asphyxiation causes your blood to starve off oxygen, vital tissues in the heart begin to die. This causes your heart to strain and leading to heart failure.
Asphyxia-induced cardiac arrest occurs in patients with airway obstruction, respiratory failure, pulmonary embolism, gas poisoning, drowning, and choking.
Gustav Hartmann
Enlightened
- Aug 28, 2021
- 1,301
For the brain it makes no difference whether the heart stops beating or a noose around the neck blocks the bloodflow to the brain. Furthermore it is undisputed that the brain is dead after about 10 minutes without blood supply. In this case the bloodflow to the brain was obviously not blocked completly, it was throddled in a way that the victim passed out (as I have read) but there was still enough blood-supply to keep the brain alive. Normally they know in Iran how to hang people, they have executed thousands of criminals this way. While they use a hangman's knot which prevents the noose from constricting completly they endeavour to position the knot at the back of the neck though it can slip in front of the neck if the delinquent does not cooperate. If the knot is in front of the neck the victim can still breathe. So, either the execution was botched and/or Alireza's anatomy is somehow special, for example a circle of Willis with abnormally little throttling. It is not sure whether a longer hanging poriod would change anything fundamentally.
JesiBel
protoTYPE:cclxxv
- Dec 5, 2024
- 1,051
Well, the brain as an organ in its entirety does not "die" after 10 minutes without oxygen. Your example and the one the other user posted can serve as an example.
Brain damage and brain death are two different things. In the latter, you are no longer a viable human being.
Brain cells begin to die from the first/third minute without receiving the supply of oxygenated blood; this is where brain damage begins. They don't all die at the same time; they will continue functioning until their remaining energy supply is depleted and consumed. After 15 minutes is the critical stage for survival. When the oxygen supply to the brain is interrupted, the sooner it is restored, the better the chances of survival, whether with permanent damage or not.
How can you think it makes no sense for the heart to keep beating? Which organ do you think transports blood throughout the body?
The only way that person survived and woke up in the morgue is because his heart was still beating, and once he was taken off the gallows (and removing the ligature that was compressing his neck), the blood started flowing through their body again.
If they confused unconsciousness with death, I highly doubt those excecutioners know what they're doing (no offense). I'd like to read the original article where you got all that information.
Poor technique and unprepared personnel, that's what most likely happened.
Doing the procedure correctly will only lead to certain death. And there are several videos to prove it (including testimonials from users here who have successful ctb); many people even die accidentally by hanging. I've never read that the Circle of Willis ever saved a person with both carotid arteries completely blocked.
It's not just about how long the person is hanging from the neck, but about the correct compression of the ligature and its positioning.
And in this example of execution, it seems they did everything wrong.
There are no miracles or "special anatomy".
Let's be serious.
Gustav Hartmann
Enlightened
- Aug 28, 2021
- 1,301
I had this article about hanging in mind:
https://flexikon.doccheck.com/de/Erhängen
There is stated: Brain death after 10 minutes, no heartbeats after 20 to 30 minutes.
I doubt that they ever measured brain and heart activities of a person who died by hanging, but there should be a lot of clinical data around cardiac arrest and brain death. So, I am sure the periods stated in the above document about hanging are taken from clinical data, which makes sense because it makes no difference for the brain whether the heart stops beating or a noose around the neck blocks the blood flow to the brain. This was the reason why I made this statement. You are right, the dying of the brain is a process and the criterions to declare someone braindead are disputed in connection with organ harvesting and they are to a certain extend arbitrary, one criterion could for example be a flatline EEG. In our context it is sufficient that the brain is damaged so severe that a recovery is impossible and I dare to say that this is given after 12 minutes of complete blocked blood flow through the brain.
Coming to poor and lucky Alireza M.: His brain couldn´t be damaged severe because he recovered completely within a rather short time. This means, you are right and the heart was beating all the time, because there must have been a volume flow rate of blood that is too low to stay conscious but high enough to prevent a severe brain damage. A minimum flow rate is required for sufficient diffusion between cells and blood vessels. This reduction of volume flow rate must be caused by a noose which was probably positioned with the knot in front of the neck. It is very unlikely that the knot was exactly under the chin it will probably be located between ear and eye. Breathing could by possible if the knot is located like this. You will find many articles about this topic, but I found nothing about these details, so it is only conclusion and to certain extend speculative.
There are suicide videos were people pass out and die quickly although the knot was positioned between ear and eye. I also know a non-lethal hanging video where the knot was in the same position and the hanged person was still conscious when she was let down after 1 minute and 24 seconds.
If the knot is positioned between eye and ear only one carotid artery and both vertebral arteries are blocked. Thus, only one brain hemisphere is supplied with blood and obviously one damaged hemisphere is sufficient to die. Unless the circle of Willis allows a sufficient volume flow rate to keep the threatened hemisphere alive, what is normally not the case. When I was hanged non-lethally, I always positioned the knot between eye and ear and I used a non-constricting loop instead of a noose. When I was younger, I stayed conscious for about 15 seconds but this time reduces to 5 seconds with increasing age, I know the exact periods from the videos. My theory: Atherosclerosis in the circle of Willis with increasing age reduced the blood flow rate between the brain hemispheres.
I am not sure whether the story of Anne Green is only fiction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Greene
JesiBel
protoTYPE:cclxxv
- Dec 5, 2024
- 1,051
I reiterate, brain damage and brain death are two different things.
The two cases mentioned above demonstrate that the person survived both execution and attempted suicide. Both removed from the gallows/tree prematurely, before 15 minutes, which is the critical stage for your survival, due to brain damage suffered from lack of oxygen. With brain death, this wouldn't be possible; technically, you're no longer a viable human being since there's no possibility of recovery.
• Brain damage/injury
Article: Brain damage is a medical emergency. The outlook for a person with brain injury depends on the severity of the injury and the person's overall health before the injury. Both traumatic and acquired brain damage can result in physical and mental impairment. Some people may not fully return to their cognitive function before their injury.
(Note: I've only attached the type* of brain injury that interests us; full articles are in the hyperlinks)
* Anoxic or hypoxic brain injury. These injuries occur when brain cells do not get enough oxygen.
Hypoxic and anoxic brain injury is a type of acquired brain injury that occurs when cells in the brain do not receive enough oxygen.
A hypoxic injury occurs when the brain is still able to receive some amount of oxygen, but does not get enough.
An anoxic injury occurs when oxygen is cut off completely from the brain.
• Brain death
Article: Brain death (also known as brain stem* death) is when a person on an artificial life support machine no longer has any brain functions. This means they will not regain consciousness or be able to breathe without support.
A person who is brain dead is legally confirmed as dead. They have no chance of recovery because their body is unable to survive without artificial life support.
Brain death can happen when the blood or oxygen supply to the brain is stopped.
* The brain stem is the lower part of the brain that's connected to the spinal cord (part of the central nervous system in the spinal column).
The brain stem is responsible for regulating most of the body's automatic functions that are essential for life. These include: breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure, swallowing.
The brain stem also relays information to and from the brain to the rest of the body, so it plays an important role in the brain's core functions, such as consciousness, awareness and movement.
After brain death, it is not possible for someone to remain conscious.
Brain death is the complete and irreversible loss of all brain function.
Brain death is a legal definition of death. It is the complete stopping of all brain function and cannot be reversed.
Brain death is death. It is permanent.
Yes. We agree on this: blocking or stopping blood flow to the brain will cause its death or damage, whether from strangulation/hanging (compression of arteries, veins, airway) or because the heart stops beating.
Regarding the case of Alireza M., his heart must have continued beating and pumping blood at all times so that he could regain consciousness and wake up in the morgue once his body was taken down from the gallows (with the ligature removed from his neck, his blood flow was restored, irrigating his brain once again). If a cardiac arrest had occurred, then someone should have revived him manually (CPR), but according to the information, he woke up on his own.
The rest we can only speculate about since we don't know any more details about his hanging process, the position of the ligature, the knot, and how it is possible that he was declared "dead" so hastily in a short time.
To be "clinically dead" means that breathing and heartbeat have stopped. And it can be reversible if cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR/defibrillation is performed quickly.
So, this medical observation failed on the part of the executioners. The person (Alireza) was still alive.
There's a lot of speculation and many articles about the Anne Greene case. This one seemed interesting to me as a possible explanation.
Medicine and our understanding of organism's processes have advanced considerably from 1650 to the present day. Even hanging as a method of execution for condemned prisoners.
Article: Hangings were more gruesome than you might think. Unlike scenes from present-day films depicting a quick death, real hangings were often considerably more drawn out. It was customary for friends and relatives of the condemned to try to hasten the death by pulling on their feet during the hanging.
In a comprehensive 1651 account of Greene's hanging, titled Newes from the Dead, clergyman and Oxford scholar Richard Watkins writes that Greene "was turned off the ladder, hanging by the neck for the space of almost half an hour; some of her friends in the meantime, thumping her on the breast; others hanging with all their weight upon her legs, sometimes lifting her up and then pulling her down again with a sudden jerk." According to this account, their actions were so disruptive that they were reprimanded and ordered to stop.
When Greene was deemed dead, she was taken down from the gallows and placed in a coffin in a cold area. After about half an hour, her hypothermic body was presented to William Petty, an Oxford anatomist and surgeon, who intended to prepare Greene's body for dissection, which was, at that time, legally practiced on criminal corpses. Incredibly, however, he detected a faint breath.
Scientists theorize that frigid conditions, perhaps in combination with the blows to the chest she received, may have played an essential role in keeping her alive after her hanging. A 2009 article from the Journal of Medical Biography states, "A combination of low-body temperature and external (pedal) cardiac massage after her failed execution, it is suggested, helped to keep her alive."
In a hypothermic state she required relatively less oxygen. Consequently her respiration and heartbeat were reduced and went undetected, especially because she was already taken for dead.
Full text
Note: It is unclear how long her friends were moving her hanging body; by raising and lowering her abruptly they would have momentarily interrupted the pressure on her neck. And cerebral blood flow being restored during these intervals. That's another possible observation.
Worndown
Angelic
- Mar 21, 2019
- 4,078
JesiBel
protoTYPE:cclxxv
- Dec 5, 2024
- 1,051
"Individual death" = 5 to 10 min? I wish it were that fast and wonderful.
Imagine that in an emergency; if that were the critical time limit, they wouldn't be able to save anyone.
The cases cited above demonstrate that it is not real. You can take the time to read all the information.
It's incredible how unserious the forum has become. Not only low-effort posts without any context (which are useless for analyzing or learning anything about what really happened) or information thrown out randomly without having read anything about what is being talked about.
So, from now on, would you tell a user that it only takes 10 minutes to be "officially brain dead" using the hanging method? It's a perfect worst scenario to end up with lasting brain damage if someone comes to rescue you.
Risky.
Worndown
Angelic
- Mar 21, 2019
- 4,078
To put a little context to a low effort post, the full article can be found at:
flexikon.doccheck.com
It is in german, so it was translated.
It is an intetesting read and goes over hanging suicide data from Germany.
I posted the chart with their findings in case nobody wanted to dig it out themselved.
Erhängen - DocCheck Flexikon
Als Erhängen bezeichnet man die tödliche Kompression des Halses durch ein teilweise oder vollständig um den Hals gelegtes Strangwerkzeug, wobei...
flexikon.doccheck.com
It is in german, so it was translated.
It is an intetesting read and goes over hanging suicide data from Germany.
I posted the chart with their findings in case nobody wanted to dig it out themselved.
JesiBel
protoTYPE:cclxxv
- Dec 5, 2024
- 1,051
Yes, thanks. I already saw and read it because Gustav posted it earlier.To put a little context to a low effort post, the full article can be found at:
Erhängen - DocCheck Flexikon
Als Erhängen bezeichnet man die tödliche Kompression des Halses durch ein teilweise oder vollständig um den Hals gelegtes Strangwerkzeug, wobei...
It is in german, so it was translated.
It is an intetesting read and goes over hanging suicide data from Germany.
I posted the chart with their findings in case nobody wanted to dig it out themselved.
There is information to consider and not take risks (we do not want to survive).
Please, read about the cases we were discussing. And you'll be able to draw your own conclusions about that critical "time limit".
The case of:
• Alireza M. (Iran, 2013)
• The 35-year-old man found by his wife hanging from a tree and saved (The article published in 2012)
All survivors of the attempt/execution. The ligature was removed/cut off prematurely. The maximum hanging suspension time was 12 minutes (Alireza M.)
I don't mention Anne Greene's case (1650, the English domestic servant). Because is too old and barbaric (but it's worth analyzing).
Don't we always say that we should at least have 30 minutes without interruption (with the ligature firmly compressing the neck in its correct position)? To make sure that there's no chance they can save us and leave us with any possible lasting effects from the brain damage caused.
If someone reads that chart mentioning "about 5 to 10 minutes you will be brain dead/individual death" and everything is done, they will commit the same recklessness as the 35-year-old man in the aforementioned case, who survived and was able to recover with the necessary care. Or the Alireza M. case, hanged for 12 minutes and wrongly declared dead.
Brain death (total loss, non-viable organ or human being) = no possibility of recovery, information attached in my previous answers.
So, the information is debatable; in that time frame, according to the chart, none of them should have been able to recover since they would have suffered brain death, and that was not the case.
I'm not looking for anyone to agree with me, but rather for us to be cautious with the data and consider all possibilities.
To the user who has read all this: seek information, investigate, analyze, take the time to think "what if... / why... / in what context did all this happened? / how it happened?"
The dark times when people believed in magic and miracles are a thing of the past.
And I reiterate what I said before, it's not just a matter of having the necessary time but also of doing the procedure correctly. Nothing should be left to chance.
I have nothing more to add.
Gustav Hartmann
Enlightened
- Aug 28, 2021
- 1,301
As mentioned above, these date cannot be collected from hangings. They must be clinical date, collected in context with cardiac arrest, brain damage and organ harvest. They were extrapolated/transferred on hanging. And of course there cannot be hard figures but statistical data which should be presented as mean value and standard deviation. Of course you will almost never find pure science, scentific results are alway soaked with politics, moral and education. In this document, time until unconsciousness respectively brain death are obviously minimum values, stated to be on a save side. But their save side is not our save side, which are the maximum values.To put a little context to a low effort post, the full article can be found at:
Erhängen - DocCheck Flexikon
Als Erhängen bezeichnet man die tödliche Kompression des Halses durch ein teilweise oder vollständig um den Hals gelegtes Strangwerkzeug, wobei...
It is in german, so it was translated.
It is an intetesting read and goes over hanging suicide data from Germany.
I posted the chart with their findings in case nobody wanted to dig it out themselved.
Of course, these clinical data are only applicable for hanging if the bloodflow to the brain is completly interrupted. If not, there will be cases like those discussed in this tread.
Last edited:
Terrible_Life
Mage
- Jul 3, 2025
- 549
Lets summarize:
It is necessary to be alone for at least 30 minutes after a person hangs fully.
It'd be very dangerous if the person will
be cut off from his anchor point before these 30min. It'd be even better if someone could be alone for lets say 1 hour that should be very safe.
The person who ctb by full hanging should definitely position the noose
The way it is described on sasu above adams apple and the knot on the back side of the neck in the middle. This will constrict the carotids perfectly.
I hope when I attempt it'll be a very short time in which i'll be conscious while hanging fully.
if everything happens the way i planned I should hang fully for 2 hours which should be more than enough time to die.
If any damn neighbor would get somehow suspicious and sabotage my attempt gosh would i be pissed I'd probably with the last remaining energy i've left punch them as hard in their face as possible.
It is necessary to be alone for at least 30 minutes after a person hangs fully.
It'd be very dangerous if the person will
be cut off from his anchor point before these 30min. It'd be even better if someone could be alone for lets say 1 hour that should be very safe.
The person who ctb by full hanging should definitely position the noose
The way it is described on sasu above adams apple and the knot on the back side of the neck in the middle. This will constrict the carotids perfectly.
I hope when I attempt it'll be a very short time in which i'll be conscious while hanging fully.
if everything happens the way i planned I should hang fully for 2 hours which should be more than enough time to die.
If any damn neighbor would get somehow suspicious and sabotage my attempt gosh would i be pissed I'd probably with the last remaining energy i've left punch them as hard in their face as possible.
AreWeWinning
·
- Nov 1, 2021
- 546
I've been following this thread and even started to draft a detailed reply, but I'm not sure it makes sense to post it at this point. The thread has gotten too long, and what's actually important may be lost in the details.
To keep it short, I strongly agree with @JesiBel, and @Terrible_Life. From a practical point of view, it's absolutely critical to avoid being found for at least 30 minutes (preferably longer) if someone attempts hanging.
The reason is that death cannot be guaranteed if hanging time is too short. There are already multiple examples for this in previous comments. Research also backs this up. Survival is possible if the person is taken down too soon. This is where suffering permanent brain damage becomes a risk. On that note, surviving with permanent brain damage is still relatively rare, despite what people tend to believe. It's a risk nonetheless, which must be avoided.
The other reason is that the time when death occurs and the heart stops are just estimates which cannot be relied on. Therefore, it's better to calculate with more time to be on the safe side. This is where the 30 minute comes from. It's still an estimate, but at least it includes a margin of safety.
To keep it short, I strongly agree with @JesiBel, and @Terrible_Life. From a practical point of view, it's absolutely critical to avoid being found for at least 30 minutes (preferably longer) if someone attempts hanging.
The reason is that death cannot be guaranteed if hanging time is too short. There are already multiple examples for this in previous comments. Research also backs this up. Survival is possible if the person is taken down too soon. This is where suffering permanent brain damage becomes a risk. On that note, surviving with permanent brain damage is still relatively rare, despite what people tend to believe. It's a risk nonetheless, which must be avoided.
The other reason is that the time when death occurs and the heart stops are just estimates which cannot be relied on. Therefore, it's better to calculate with more time to be on the safe side. This is where the 30 minute comes from. It's still an estimate, but at least it includes a margin of safety.
Last edited:
