Potpourri of Death Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dentist

And they wonder why people don't like visiting them! The design of Old Sparky, as the chair was known in Sing Sing prison, was such that the first jolt of electricity caused unconsciousness and brain death, and the second jolt finished the job off. The electric chair was first used in 1890. Designed by our worthy dentist Alfred Southwick, the chair was built by two employees of Thomas Edison - but using a purloined generator of Edison's rival, Westinghouse Electrical Company.

It was used by 25 American states for execution purposes for most of the 20th century, but by the close of that electrifying period, its use had almost ceased.

Instead, prisoners were later given a choice of how they wished to depart this mortal...er...coil.

Answer: William Kemmler

This happy event took place in 1890. Kemmler was a murderer who'd dispatched his unfortunate common-law wife. In hindsight, she had rather a quicker death than did her loving partner. Everything went horribly wrong at his execution and it took the unlucky man over eight minutes to die. So botched was the job that his body actually caught fire instead. George Westinghouse of the Westinghouse Electric Company was present for the occasion.

He was one of the backers of alternating power as a means of electric supply, and he remarked afterward of the execution that "They would have done better using an axe." In the meantime, his business rival Thomas Edison, a backer of direct current power supply, was making mileage out of the fact that Westinghouse's products were so dangerous that they could kill anyone.

Answer: False

A dead body decomposes four times faster on land - and if the cadaver is that of a musician, it decomposes even faster still. Another interesting fact about decomposition - although one that I wouldn't recommend bringing up at the dinner table - is that bodies are taking longer to decompose today than used to be the case.

This is believed to be the result of all the preservatives we now eat in our food. (Pass the mustard, would you dear?)

Answer: Possibly a few seconds but unknown at present

Electrical activity after decapitation is a variable issue, but the real question is whether any possible electrical activity equals awareness or consciousness in the headless individual. This is unknown at present. Grim news if it is the case however. When a person dies, hearing is generally the last sense to go. The first sense to fail is sight (thank goodness - who wants to see their own head bouncing along the concrete), then taste, smell, touch and, finally, hearing.

When Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded for example, and the executioner held up her head to the enraptured audience present for the delightful occasion, her eyes flickered visibly and her lips could be seen to move for quite some time afterward. It's not true, however, that she was heard crying out, "An aspirin, an aspirin, my kingdom for an aspirin!"

Answer: An elephant

This is a true story and makes one truly doubt the sanity of the world. The poor creature killed her handler by trampling him to death, and it was decided that she had to be executed - publicly - as punishment. At first they tried to shoot her, but when that didn't work, they tried electrocuting her with 44,000 volts of electricity instead, but "that just made her dance a little bit". So they came up with the idea of hanging the poor creature, using a chain and a crane.

The first chain broke as they hauled Mary into the air and she crashed to the ground, breaking her hip, so they thoughtfully found a larger chain instead and managed to complete their ghastly and cruel task - with a crowd of some several thousand looking on and enjoying the spectacle. The other elephants in the show from which poor Mary had come were lined up to watch the execution also. This was to act as a deterrent to them on the consequences of misbehaviour - because elephants never forget.

Answer: It's not clear if there is a difference

It's not entirely clear if there is any difference, as the original conclusion was most likely flawed due to methodology, but it was originally believed to be caused from the fact that various pieces of equipment were designed more for the use of right handed people than their unfortunate counterparts. Therefore, more accidents were likely to occur by the lefties when using same. Cheerful thought for the southpaws, isn't it? If true, they're probably stuttering more than ever right now as they read this.

Answer: Nutmeg

Who would inject nutmeg? Seriously. The nutmeg tree produces two spices from its fruit, that of nutmeg and mace. Common nutmeg is grown in Asia and the Caribbean, while the rarer kind is found in New Guinea and India. It is used as a flavour in many dishes and can even be made into pickles. Oh yum, pickled nutmeg. Be still, my quivering taste buds.

Interestingly, its oil is also used in the pharmaceutical and medical industries - in the making of toothpaste and cough medicine for example, and in the treatment of nervous and digestive disorders.

As an aside, because of Nutmeg's toxic ingredients, and the fact that it is used in the making of eggnog, it is recommended not to give this delicious treat to dogs - or it could send them barking mad. Now this is really getting ridiculous. Who gives eggnog to dogs? Seriously. You'd have to clean their teeth with toothpaste afterwards.

Answer: Champagne cork

It always fascinates me why people collect these weird statistics. However, pressing on, ninety-eight percent of spider bites are harmless, but the remaining two percent can produce wounds where the flesh dies bit by bit (pardon the pun), or they can make one rather ill, and even in some cases, produce the occasional death.

The most toxic spiders to be found are the Australian funnel web and the Brazilian wandering spider. Anti-venom treatments for these bites today make death by spider bite almost unheard of. Death by champagne cork has no reliable figures to quote, but the fact that more people are killed by champagne cork rather than spider bite is supposed to be reassuring. I can't think why - and am suspiciously inclined to think that this figure is really a plot put out by the Temperance League to discourage drinking.

Answer: Henry Ford

The amazing Henry Ford (1863-1947) was not only the brains behind modern assembly lines and the mass production of the motorcar, he had over 161 other inventions credited to his name as well. He also believed in keeping his workers happy and gave them higher wages than the norm and reduced their working hours to a 40 hour week, much to the displeasure of his competitors and Wall Street.

This stroke of genius gave him a workforce with a labour turnover so small that it didn't even warrant measuring.

It must be admitted that it's rather gruesome of him, however, to have that peculiar memento of Edison. You could even say it...er...knocked the breath out of me.

Answer: His parrot - for swearing

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the seventh President of the United States. He was the last remaining President from the time of the American Revolution and, for the rest of his life, he held a deep hatred of the British for the death of his two brothers and his mother during this war.

The life story of this tough old president makes interesting and surprisingly moving reading. As to why his feisty parrot attended his funeral in the first place is anybody's guess - but the spectacle obviously ruffled its feathers and made it fly off the handle.