Forensic pathologist reveals the most painful way you can die

Prepare to dive deep into the pit of morbidity that is people who know all about death discussing the worst way a person can die.

There have been plenty of examples throughout history of nasty ways to go, like the man who was repeatedly dunked in boiling water until dead for poisoning two beggars.

Then there's the far more modern instance of someone being thrown down a manhole into boiling water, and it took them four hours to get his body back out again.

Elsewhere in the world archaeologists found evidence of a man who died because of the 'breaking wheel' torture device.

Alternatively, there are examples of people who were placed in a dungeon known as the 'oubliette' where they may simply have been left and forgotten about until they perished.

Sometimes they'd just stick you in a room and forget about you. (Getty Stock Photo)

However, there's another gruesome method which a forensic pathologist named as their choice for the worst way to die.

Speaking to Newsweek, South African forensic pathologist Charmaine van Wyk suggested a way to die that you've probably not heard of before, and will probably wish you hadn't.

They said that the worst ways were the ones where a person would stay conscious and in pain the longest, and said something called 'necklacing' was probably the worst.

They explained that this involved a tyre soaked in petrol being put around a person and set alight, burning them in excruciating pain while they remained fully conscious.

van Wyk compared it to medieval torture methods which were designed to keep you alive, awake and in pain for the longest possible time, and said that as far as history went crucifixion would be a particularly awful way to die.

Crucifixion is apparently a very nasty way to go, and unlike Jesus you don't get to come back. (Getty Stock Photo)

Apparently this is because the weight of your body pulling down on your injuries would pull on your muscles and impede you from breathing, forcing you to lift yourself up by your impaled arms just to inhale and exhale properly.

Then again, it's got fierce competition from a form of execution called scaphism, which is where a person is coated in honey to be slowly eaten by insects and kept from starvation to prolong the pain.

Meanwhile, an autopsy technician's view on the matter was far removed from some of the more dramatic methods mentioned here, as he said he thought the worst was cancer due to the deterioration a person went through.

According to science being buried alive, radiation, being caught in a pyroclastic flow and decompression are among the worst fates a person can meet.

It's not exactly a cheery subject.

Topics: Weird, Health, Science

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker