Does the guillotine fascinate or horrify you? What was it like to witness a guillotine execution, and when was the last public guillotine execution in France?
I have covered all the these topics in the past, but I am going to bring them all together here on this one page so that you don’t have to go searching for them.
You probably want to see an actual guillotine beheading, so here it is. The video below is the execution of Eugene Weidmann. This is also France’s last public guillotine execution.
Now that you have seen a real guillotine execution, you might be wondering what it was like to be in the crowd, watching the execution taking place. Here is a video that tells you what you would have seen and heard.
You will also want to read a first hand account of the guillotine execution of Danvers, a convicted murderer. The execution took place in 1909.
A guillotine execution took place rather quickly. It was faster than most hangings and faster than the electric chair. In 1909, four men were guillotined in 8 minutes.
Even though guillotine executions were quick, they were bloody affairs and numerous gross things happened during and after a beheading.
Some decapitated heads had moving eyes.
While people were getting their heads sliced off by the Red Widow, the crowd was throwing parties and celebrations. Guillotine parties were popular and rather common.
Children liked the guillotine just as much as the adults. In fact, back in the early 1900s you could buy your child a toy guillotine.
Guillotine statues were also a popular fixture in some homes. Even today, you can buy a guillotine ornament for your home.
Women would wear guillotine earrings and necklaces. And guess what? You can still purchase guillotine necklaces today.
Haunted house guillotine props run in the thousands of dollars (I found one for a little over $9,000), but you can just get a guillotine sign for the bar room and save yourself a stack of cash.
Guillotine tattoos were also extremely popular among the criminal classes of France. Numerous articles were written about these guillotine tattoos, which you can read about on Traditional Guillotine Tattoos.
You might be wondering how someone got the job of “head” executioner in France. Turns out, it was a family affair. The most popular executioner in France was Anatole Deibler.
Many a criminal had Deibler’s name or profile tattooed near his neck because he had an almost cult statue in France.
Deibler was interviewed only a few times during his career, and once answered whether or not it hurt to be guillotined.
What sort of men faced the guillotine? Putting aside political upheavals, here is a look at the kind of criminals who were beheaded.
After a person was beheaded, he was taken away for burial. If someone claimed his body, he would meet the earth. If no one claimed the body, it would often be sent to doctors for medical experiments.
Finally, in 1898, it was felt that the guillotine was far too bloody and someone invented an electric helmet to kill off the condemned. However, thank goodness this never became the next mode of execution because it sounds far more barbaric than a quick slice off the top.
One of the most gruesome experiments conducted on a decapitated head involved attaching it to the blood flow of a living dog.
