Dying

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Being burned alive or drowning, which is worse? why?

― Peter Densmore (pbnmyj), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Ask anyone who's tried both and they'll tell you it's a tossup.

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

I'm thinking that burning smells worse.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

However, drowning can tell you whether the person was a witch or not.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

so did burning though - if they were witches they would escape the fire

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre400/e402/e40291k1vke.jpg http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre400/e402/e40291k1vke.jpg http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre400/e402/e40291k1vke.jpg

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

hmmm... thought of 2 new awful ways to die yesterday.

the first is that the earth gets 1 degree hotter per day. you know it's happening. there's nothing you can do to reverse it. eventually you will be killed no matter where on earth you flee to.

the second is that you know one of your friends has a voodoo doll of you. nobody will cop to it, obviously, and while you suspect and reject all of them at first, the worse the tormenting becomes, you come whimpering back for consolation, pleading, vainly, with all of them to stop it. eventually, like, maybe a year later, you die from a combonation of stress and physical trauma.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:52 (twenty years ago)

have a nice day :D

sincerly,

Gothy Q. McSisterso'mercy

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

My brother very nearly died by drowning once, and he says he went into a hallucinating/delirious state before passing out (after which he would have died painlessly if he hadn't been dragged out by the lifeguard). Being burned alive, on the other hand, looks a bit painful. So I think that one would be worse.

― Cressida Breem (neruokruokruokne?), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

Drowning in open water to be preferred to burning for reasons above, but drowning while trapped in enclosed space with water slowly driving out your last remaining pocket of air...I don't know, that's pretty bad.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:59 (twenty years ago)

I got sucked under a dam(n) as a child and had a slight outta body experience during that. Looking at the dam now is more painful than inhailing water was that day.

Burning would just suck, no doubt.

― PappaWheelie B.C., Wednesday, 5 October 2005 16:59 (twenty years ago)

At first I thought the question said "buried alive," which beats drowning no contest, I'd say.

― pr00de, where's my car? (pr00de), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

dying does not sound like a nice thing to me in any way shape or form. I plan to be 110 years old, still have my wits & faculties in place and a body that still works and just keep going and going and going....

Ok, so maybe I won't have my wits since they're sometimes absent already...but what the heck! Here's a pic of me and yes, I do have large ears!

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, being buried alive beats all of these, hands down. I am thinking particularly of if people thought you were dead and so put you in a coffin, six feet under. I think I read an old "tales from the crypt" typre comic about this when I was a kid, and it has haunted me ever since.

― stewart downes (sdownes), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:03 (twenty years ago)

I remember seeing one of those 'Murder Mystery' films that used to be on ITV when I was a kid and this girl was kidnapped and held in a coffin (yes 6 feet under) til the ransom was paid.
My worst nightmare!

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

Surely the ransom not getting paid would be even worse?

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

As for the original question, The Perfect Storm goes into a lot of detail about what happens to your body when you drown, explicitly debunking the notion that it's peaceful or painless. It sounds absolutely excruciating. So burning, cause at least the uninformed masses think you chose the hard option and are impressed and my life is all about impressing the uninformed masses.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

If you're talking about dying within the same amount of time, I'll take drowning. But if you're talking about
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/01/27/zarrella.debrief/link.challenger.explosion.jpg ,
I say bring on the flame.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

Is that the StayPuff monster?

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

Showing off his "O" rings.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

i had a professor that told me drowning is apparently really fun once you allow yourself to breathe in the water (instead of resisting it) -- i wonder how he knew this. i never did ask.

anyway drowning,totally, because it's more romantic.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

FYI his exact words were "drowning is actually really fun."

FUN

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

Actually, for my money I'd take freezing to death over either.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

Laurel, that takes too much time. Drowning has to be better than burning to death, though in either case most people would die of inhalation/suffocation, no?

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

haha nick saw "the perfect storm"

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

No, I read the book, which is totally different.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

Oh. WELL, OKAY.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

drowning is like going to sleep in a nice, wet blanket. burning is like going to sleep in the warm embrace of a flamethrower. it's difficult to choose!

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

I hate being too hot, so i'm going with drowning.

― dmun drive-in (dmun), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 18:43 (twenty years ago)

Though I guess drowning would be even more humid.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 18:43 (twenty years ago)

You have to figure if the fire was hot enough it would burn all of your nerve endings in a matter of seconds anyway, right? I'd still rather drown.

― recovering optimist (Royal Bed Bouncer), Wednesday, 5 October 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

No one has survived being both burned alive AND drowning. Or either really. So we can't know which would be worse. Fin.

― salexander (salexander), Thursday, 6 October 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

Burning has to be pretty horrible. I can't imagine it being anything else. Drowning is just suffocation with the added element of water, so while I'm sure its 100% lame, I can't see it being much worse than burning. Especially if its death as a result of burns (getting 3rd degree burns over large portions of the body puts one at risk for infection for months after the inital injury).

Starving is supposed to be pretty good, though, all things considered. At least, that's what's assumed.

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Thursday, 6 October 2005 00:49 (twenty years ago)

I heard drowning described once (by someone who had drowned and been revived) as "erotic" -- the feeling of water filling your lungs once you've given up struggling being kind of orgasmic. I don't plan to find out if this is utter bullshit, but I guess given the choice I'd take water over fire. (Freezing to death also supposed to be not too bad, in that you mostly get numb and sleepy.)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 6 October 2005 00:54 (twenty years ago)

how about apshyxiating on carbon monoxide

― Jonothong Williamsmang (ex machina), Thursday, 6 October 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

Lots of puking involved in that, isn't there?

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 6 October 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

As for the original question, The Perfect Storm goes into a lot of detail about what happens to your body when you drown, explicitly debunking the notion that it's peaceful or painless. It sounds absolutely excruciating.

Actually from what I remember, The Perfect Storm said it was pleasant (as dying goes) for most people after they inhale the water, but a certain percentage (10%?) have a reflex that does not allow water into their lungs absolutely no matter what, and for them it's very painful as they repeatedly try to gasp the water and then spasm as their esophagus forces it out.

― it was a different shark (wetmink2), Thursday, 6 October 2005 01:02 (twenty years ago)

i remember the Tales from the Crypt tv show where a girl gets thrown in jail for killing her husband, makes friends w/this old, nearly blind guy that works at the jail. she tells him if he can get her out, she'll pay for his eye surgery. he tells her that when the bells ring a certain way, that means someone has died. he gives her access to the room w/the coffin and tells her to climb in it when she hears that bell. in a few hours, he's going to dig her out. she gets in and gets burried, but is waiting way more than a few hours. finally she reaches into her pocket to grab some matches, lights them,,,,

and it's the guy that's supposed to dig her out.

― Bobby Count (jaxon), Thursday, 6 October 2005 01:55 (twenty years ago)

that's such a bummer.

― Peter Densmore (pbnmyj), Thursday, 6 October 2005 02:37 (twenty years ago)

I'll have to re-read The Perfect Storm. But I probably won't.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 6 October 2005 08:38 (twenty years ago)

and it's the guy that's supposed to dig her out
some mate he was!

― not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Thursday, 6 October 2005 08:59 (twenty years ago)

I'm going with burning. It's a better spectacle. Bang rather than whimper and all that.
I think you probably pass out through lack of oxygen fairly quickly as long as the flames are high enough.

If you're going to fuck it up and end up surviving then you have to go with drowning.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 6 October 2005 09:12 (twenty years ago)

nine years pass...

jaysus yknow there's a lot to be said too for going out QUIETLY *glares at next bed, watch, next bed again*

― local eire man (darraghmac), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 03:53 (ten years ago)

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