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.