Death is scary. But what leads up to death can be
even worse. There are quick ways to die and slow ways to die. Since death is an inevitability,
most of us would like to die of old age. We can guarantee, with one hundred percent certainty,
that no one wants to die by being skinned alive. It is a long, excruciating, process that can
last from hours to days. But just how bad is it? We’ll argue that it is the worst. What you
are about to watch will make your skin crawl. Being skinned alive, or flayed, was a punishment
used all around the world in the past. Records from around 900 B.C. recount the flaying
of prisoners by Asyrian kings. Skinning people alive was used by the ancient Chinese, as well
as the Aztecs of Mesoamerica. It was also used as a torture method in Medevil Europe, so
flaying has made its way around the world. But if someone were to be skinned
alive, what would it be like? What could they expect? How would they actually
die? Some of these answers might surprise you, others you will find hard to stomach. Each
step of the process gets worse and worse, that’s why being skinned alive would
most definitely be a terrible way to die. At the most basic level, being skinned alive
means having the skin of your body sliced, and then peeled off while you are still alive.
The point of this form of tortue and death is to create as much pain as possible. In terms
of ways to die, the longer it lasts, and the more painful it is, the worse it must be. That
is why being flayed to death is at the very top of worst ways to die. Now let’s get started.
We are about to walk you through the process, and what someone could expect, if you were to
be skinned alive. It’s not going to be pretty. The flaying started with a series of long
cuts. What part of the world or culture was doing the flaying, determined where the
first cut was made. But skin is tough, and the body needed to be softened before the
process of flaying could begin. There were two common ways to get the skin to soften. The first
was to leave someone outside in the scorching sun until they were covered in intense sunburn. This
caused the skin to swell, and made it easier to cut through. The second way that the skin was
prepared to be flayed was by placing someone in a vat of boiling water. As the person screamed in
agony from the searing pain of being burnt alive, the skin would swell and soften, making it easier
for the torturer to make precise incisions. So, before being skinned alive
the victim would already be in excruciating pain from the preparation process. Now comes the really messed up part. You won’t
believe how horrifying this is going to be. The person being skinned alive would have
their hands and feet tied to a table, so that they could not move. They would have
to watch as the knife that would cut through their softened skin was sharpened, right before
their eyes. No matter how hard they struggled, they would not be able to get away from the
nightmare. The knife would then be used to make a long cut somewhere on the body. Common spots to
begin cutting were the thighs or buttocks. This was because a relatively long, straight, incision
could be made from these locations on the body. If the person was really unlucky, the flayer would
start with the face. This would cause immense pain, as there are large concentrations
of nerve receptors all along the head. These receptors give someone the ability
to make facial expressions. With each nerve receptor there is also a pain receptor.
As the nerves are severed by the knife, the brain receives pain signals. You would never
ever want to be skinned alive, but if you were, you would pray that the person doing
it did not start with your face. The cutting may seem like the worst part
about being skinned alive, but it is not, not by a long shot. The worst part about
being skinned alive is what comes next. The goal of the flayer is to keep
as much skin intact as possible. Why would they need to keep large pieces
of removed skin intact? you may wonder. We are going to get to that later on, but some of
the reasons you wouldn’t guess in a million years. In order to get the largest amount of
skin possible, the flayer would make long cuts until they reached the end of a limb,
or a part of the body that posed a problem, such as the curvature of a finger. After
they made the series of cuts around the piece of skin they wanted to remove, the flayer
would put down their knife, and begin to pull. That’s right, they didn’t cut the
entire piece of skin off the body, instead the flayer would cut the outline and
then pull the section off by hand. This meant that after being cut up, the person would then
have to endure the nerve endings of their skin literally being ripped off their muscles. That’s
thousands, upon thousands, of pain signals flooding their brain with each tug of the skin.
Did we mention this would be the worst way to die? The problem was, the person would not be dead
yet. They might not even have been close to dying. It was possible that if someone who was
skilled at flaying bodies was behind the knife, the entirety of someone’s skin
could be removed from their body, and they could still survive for days.
That’s right, days. Worst. Way. To. Die. So what would actually kill someone who
was skinned alive? The obvious answer would be blood loss. Although most of the
blood runs through the veins and muscles, cuts along the skin would inevitably bleed.
Also, the exposed muscle would allow blood to seep out of the body. Eventually the person
would lose more blood than they could produce. As the person was being flayed, shock would
inevitably settle in. The person would feel dizzy, confused, and breathing would become harder and
harder. This could cause vomiting and hot flashes, all of which would add to the unpleasantness
of being skinned alive. As shock took hold it would cause the body to pump blood faster, in
hopes of getting enough oxygen and nutrients to vital organs. This would speed up the
process of blood loss and lead to death. You may not believe it, but there were even more
gruesome ways to die from being skinned alive. The skin is an extremely important
organ for the human body for two reasons. The first is because it acts as a
protective barrier from the outside world. If the skin is removed, pathogens can enter
the body and infect the individual at will. This could lead to nasty infections that
might cause even more pain, and eventually death. The person who was skinned alive would
literally be helpless against foreign invaders. This included bugs and microbes, who would consume
the body until the person passed away. This would be a truly terrible way to go. Yet, there was an
even worse way to die from being skinned alive. The second vital function that a person’s skin
plays is thermoregulation. In simpler terms this means a person’s skin helps maintain a certain
body temperature. Skin is especially useful for keeping the body warm. When the skin was removed
from someone’s body, they would instantly feel a chill as the warmth from their blood and muscles
escaped into the air. Then as if being skinned alive, and bleeding everywhere wasn’t bad
enough, the person would begin to freeze to death. If someone was super unlucky and did not
die from blood loss or infection, they might have to wait skinless for days for hypothermia
to set in, and eventually freeze to death. That pretty much sums up why being skinned
alive would be the worst way to die, but before you go we want to leave you
with a couple more terrifying facts. We know you’re wondering what might happen to
someone’s skin after they are flayed, well you’re about to find out. One thing the skin was used for
was as a warning to others not to break the law. Flayed skin would be hung on doors and walls
for everyone to see, as a reminder for what could happen if they broke a law. In some parts
of the world the flayed skin may have been worn by priests in rituals. Imagine being skinned alive
and having to watch someone put on your epidermis to perform a ritual to the gods. That would be a
super creepy thing to witness just before you die. But perhaps the most disturbing thing that
was done with flayed skin was to bind books. That’s right, anthropodermic bibliopegy is the
term given to the binding of books in human skin. Researchers have found and documented
18 books that were bound this way. A person who was skinned alive would
eventually die, there is no doubt about that, but their skin could remain in use long after
their death, wrapped around the pages of a book. It seems like something out of a horror story,
but we know it happened to at least 18 people. So, are there terrible ways to die? Absolutely.
Are any of them as bad as being skinned alive? Probably not. It is hard to imagine what could be
worse than being boiled to tenderize your skin, having someone make long cuts along your body,
then having your skin literally peeled from your muscles, all before eventually dying from blood
loss, infection, or hypothermia. However, the worst part about being skinned alive may have been
what your skin was used for after you were dead. Now check out Worst Punishments
In The History of Mankind. Or watch our video Iron Maiden - Worst
Punishments in the History of Mankind.
