Decapitation kills?

[sammylou]

We all know destroying the brain is the best way to take care of a ghoul, but I have a question about decapitating them. In the Zombie Survival Guide (A.K.A. my bible in life) it says severing a zombie's head will also take care of them. But don't you have to destroy the brain? Even if you do decapitate them, the brain is still untouched, it just the spine and all the nerves that have been severed along with the jugular and the other key arteries running through it. So does decapitating one just make the ghoul less volatile as it is only a rolling head without a body? If so, then you'd still have to finish the ghoul off. Anyone else have something to offer about this question?

[jim102016]

Well, remember in Day' that McDermott decapitated the creature in the mine shaft with a shovel. I guess you could call it a decapitation, although he cut it off at the mouth rather than the neck. It was rendered incapable of hurting anyone else who might have come along, but its eyes continued to move showing it was still "alive".

[Slain]

Just breaking the blood/brain barrier, so the central nervous system come in contact with the outside environment or the creature's own internal fluids seem enough to kill a zombie. I remember Flyboy killed a ghoul at the airport by cracking open its skull with a sledge hammer. Rodger also killed the mall zombie wearing a robe with a butt stroke upside the head/neck. Why the hacked off zombie head in Day kept on livin' is beyond me.

[Suicycho]

Decapitation only disables the body. The head is still alive.

In Day, not only did the shovel decapitation my McDermot leave the head alive, but in Frankensteins lab, McDermot found the head of one of the dead soldiers and it was still alive.

[Deadman_Deluxe]

Decapitation only disables the body. The head is still alive.


Agreed.

Though i would argue that the head without the body would last no longer than a year (four season's) at most due to several factor's, the main factor of course being an increased speed of decomposition, or if you prefer, a return to a relatively "normal" decomposition rate, due to open exposure to the natural element's in and around the top of the spinal column.

I wrote several entry's in my journal (still yet to be posted!) where the lead character had decapitated several zombies, placing their still "living" head's on poles around the perimeter, initially as a crude experiment, but with the specific intention of taunting the other remaining zombies.

The severed head's serving as a warning to any potential trespassing zombies, though over time, not an effective one.

[jim102016]

Decapitation only disables the body. The head is still alive.

In Day, not only did the shovel decapitation my McDermot leave the head alive, but in Frankensteins lab, McDermot found the head of one of the dead soldiers and it was still alive.

Johnson's head in the lab, wasn't it? Don't think he was alive, his head was hooked up to some wires that made him jerk.

[EvilNed]

Johnson's head in the lab, wasn't it? Don't think he was alive, his head was hooked up to some wires that made him jerk.

No, it was alive. Remember, Sarah tried to shoot it but Billy stopped her.

[Suicycho]

No, it was alive. Remember, Sarah tried to shoot it but Billy stopped her.

Ya. It actually responds to some noise. I think its when McDermot throws the tape recorder aside, its eyes look towards the noise.

[Exatreides]

Then if that works, wouldn't a shot or a blow sufficient to break the vertebrae in the back, and therefor paralyze the zombie?

Wouldn't a 7.62x54 round straight to the heart of a zombie take him down? not kill him, but paralyze him by blowing the spine out?

[EvilNed]

Then if that works, wouldn't a shot or a blow sufficient to break the vertebrae in the back, and therefor paralyze the zombie?

Wouldn't a 7.62x54 round straight to the heart of a zombie take him down? not kill him, but paralyze him by blowing the spine out?

Well, theoretically? Yes. Practically? No. They seem to be working without a nervous system to speak off.

[Neil]

We all know destroying the brain is the best way to take care of a ghoul, but I have a question about decapitating them. In the Zombie Survival Guide (A.K.A. my bible in life) it says severing a zombie's head will also take care of them. But don't you have to destroy the brain? Even if you do decapitate them, the brain is still untouched, it just the spine and all the nerves that have been severed along with the jugular and the other key arteries running through it. So does decapitating one just make the ghoul less volatile as it is only a rolling head without a body? If so, then you'd still have to finish the ghoul off. Anyone else have something to offer about this question?

I seem to recall this being covered very well in the original Day of the Dead script. Decapitations were almost treated as being cruel as the creature just existed there to look around and rot away... Especially if the head was just buried in a hole...

[Skippy911sc]

There are stories of people cutting the head of a rattle snake off and yet still getting a venomous bite a while later. I would think that decapitation would eliminate a moving threat but the Zs ability to infect would still be viable. As far as a gun shot to the chest blowing out the spinal cord...that would depend on the round...most rounds would fragment into the body...a hunting round should do the trick...or hollow point. I would think a safer and more reliable approach would be to shoot the head or neck rather than the chest...just my opinion.

[Deadman_Deluxe]

I would think a safer and more reliable approach would be to shoot the head or neck rather than the chest...just my opinion.

Captain Obvious to the rescue! :p

[Yojimbo]

We all know destroying the brain is the best way to take care of a ghoul, but I have a question about decapitating them. In the Zombie Survival Guide (A.K.A. my bible in life) it says severing a zombie's head will also take care of them.

Though I enjoyed reading the Survival Guide, there is a lot of information in that manual that I think is incorrect or unrealistic. Yeah, I know the whole premise is a fantasy, but I mean within the parameters of the fantasy some of that information is off the mark. I know that there are a lot of fans who swear by Brooks' manual, so I am sure that by pointing this out I will offend someone, but this is not my intention.

What you have mentioned is one of those points that do not make sense. But, the book is meant as entertainment, and not an actual guide for an actual problem. Good thing, though, because I wonder how many people would injure themselves while standing on a stair case that they were attempting to destroy with an axe!

[acealive1]

soo yea shaun of the dead tells u twice how to "destroy the head or remove the brain"

[SRP76]

You have to smash the head after cutting it off. Otherwise, the head can still use the stump of neck that's still attached to it to roll itself after you, and chew on your ankles.

[dracenstein]

In Len Barnhart's Reign of the Dead, a character beheads a zombie and is later bitten by that zombie.

A decapitated, and still functional, zombie head is probably more dangerous than an upright zombie. You are just not looking for it.

Going kinda off-topic, to living people being decapitated, there was a statistic somewhere (which I have forgotten), where one head in six or seven was still 'alive' after the decapitation. Nobody really knows how long a decap head can live for (somewhere between two and five minutes is the 'educated' guess) until the brain dies of oxygen starvation.

That's bad, knowing you are dead and you are still aware!

Years ago, I saw a short film on this subject, a woman apparently survives a car crash, and it's basically a monologue of her thoughts as she lies apparently paralysed, until the end when a passing motorist stops and puts his jacket over her head. Wish I could remember the name of it. It was a good film.

[Neil]

A note from a U.S. Army veteran who had been stationed in Korea. In June 1989 the taxi he and a friend were riding in collided with a truck. He was pinned in the wreckage and his friend was decapitated. Here's what happened:-


My friend's head came to rest face up, and (from my angle) upside-down. As I watched, his mouth opened and closed no less than two times. The facial expressions he displayed were first of shock or confusion, followed by terror or grief. I cannot exaggerate and say that he was looking all around, but he did display ocular movement in that his eyes moved from me, to his body, and back to me. He had direct eye contact with me when his eyes took on a hazy, absent expression . . . and he was dead.

[Redman6565]

Yea, you have to take out the brain. In Day they learned the only thing still working was some aspect of the brain all other orgins ceased to function which makes me ask this question. Why is it when you shoot a zombie in the head blood splatters all over the place?

[jim102016]

No, it was alive. Remember, Sarah tried to shoot it but Billy stopped her.

Johnson's head couldn't have been "alive" in the lab.....he wasn't bitten while he was still living. He died a quick death thanks to Miller's rifle while they were rounding up some bodies at the corral.

Those wires running into his head must have been manipulating his mouth and eyes. I guess Sarah was just upset to see his head in the lab instead of their makeshift morgue or graveyard


A note from a U.S. Army veteran who had been stationed in Korea. In June 1989 the taxi he and a friend were riding in collided with a truck. He was pinned in the wreckage and his friend was decapitated. Here's what happened:-

I've always heard it's a trip to be stationed in Korea

[Redman6565]

Johnson's head couldn't have been "alive" in the lab.....he wasn't bitten while he was still living. He died a quick death thanks to Miller's rifle while they were rounding up some bodies at the corral.

Those wires running into his head must have been manipulating his mouth and eyes. I guess Sarah was just upset to see his head in the lab instead of their makeshift morgue or graveyard



I've always heard it's a trip to be stationed in Korea

I thought he was doing some motor skills stuff with the wires. I have to watch that again tonight. I don't care what anybody says Day is a really good movie. For me this one was just as good as Dawn. I wish GAR could have done his original script. 'You gotta love the ol doc'. I think he is GAR's best character.

[clanglee]

I can't resist. . . . . .


"Git that damn Screwdriver out Of mah Head!!!"


http://www.best-horror-movies.com/images/return-of-the-living-dead-2-head-bite-small.jpg

[AnxietyDilemma]

Yea, you have to take out the brain. In Day they learned the only thing still working was some aspect of the brain all other orgins ceased to function which makes me ask this question. Why is it when you shoot a zombie in the head blood splatters all over the place?

And why is it that Bub drools and blinks? Ok I know the latter, it was a live actor not thinking about that aspect, but the drooling was in the script. You mean to tell me a re-animated corpse has the ability to produce saliva?

But seriously, could you imagine the damage a dry eyelid would do to an already damaged eye when a corpse blinks?

[Yojimbo]

Johnson's head couldn't have been "alive" in the lab.....he wasn't bitten while he was still living. He died a quick death thanks to Miller's rifle while they were rounding up some bodies at the corral.

Those wires running into his head must have been manipulating his mouth and eyes. I guess Sarah was just upset to see his head in the lab instead of their makeshift morgue or graveyard





Jim, according to Romero's rules, anyone who dies becomes one of them. They will reanimate regardless of being bitten or not. So Miller's head could have been legitmately "living dead" even if he died by gunshot wound as opposed to a bite.


Why is it when you shoot a zombie in the head blood splatters all over the place?

When you shoot a human body which contains fluid blood, blood will splatter. Even more so if there is an exit wound. Whether it will splatter to the degree that is shown in the movies is something entirely different, but there will be some splatter to some degree. Even if there is no exit wound, fluid dyanamics are such that blood will splatter outward in the direction that the shot came from.

I would guess that if you took a shot at an embalmed corpse that there would be a similar splatter of formaldahyde mixed with residual blood.

[EvilNed]

Johnson's head couldn't have been "alive" in the lab.....he wasn't bitten while he was still living.

So? You do know that anyone who dies becomes a zombie, right? Getting bit will only turn you into a zombie that much sooner.

Johnny in Night of the Living Dead is the first example of this. He was never bitten, but he turned into a zombie. The suicide guy in Land? Turned into a zombie, never bitten. Johnson? Shot to death. Turned into zombie.

[Redman6565]

Jim, according to Romero's rules, anyone who dies becomes one of them. They will reanimate regardless of being bitten or not. So Miller's head could have been legitmately "living dead" even if he died by gunshot wound as opposed to a bite.



When you shoot a human body which contains fluid blood, blood will splatter. Even more so if there is an exit wound. Whether it will splatter to the degree that is shown in the movies is something entirely different, but there will be some splatter to some degree. Even if there is no exit wound, fluid dyanamics are such that blood will splatter outward in the direction that the shot came from.

I would guess that if you took a shot at an embalmed corpse that there would be a similar splatter of formaldahyde mixed with residual blood.


Here is why I asked that question. Based on everything you learn in the GAR movies all the orgins in a zombie no longer function. They would have no fluids in there heads it would all be in their lower legs and feet. If the heart no longer is pumping blood then gravity would take over and pull it downward. There would be no blood to splatter from their heads when you shoot them.

[Yojimbo]

Here is why I asked that question. Based on everything you learn in the GAR movies all the orgins in a zombie no longer function. They would have no fluids in there heads it would all be in their lower legs and feet. If the heart no longer is pumping blood then gravity would take over and pull it downward. There would be no blood to splatter from their heads when you shoot them.

It is true that some of the blood will sink to the lower extremeties causing the bruise-like marks of lividity, however without some sort of pumping action or force, there are areas of the circulatory system that would still have blood trapped within. When they embalm a body, for example, they have to pump fluid into the body to remove the blood, which trickles out of the body through an incision. Even in cases of exsanguination, there still remains blood and fluid.

I do, however see your point and agree that, while there would still be some residual blood, there would not be all that much left to spurt forth. What we see on the films, I believe is likely just done to make it look more gory and dramatic than something that represents reality.

[clanglee]

It is true that some of the blood will sink to the lower extremeties causing the bruise-like marks of lividity, however without some sort of pumping action or force, there are areas of the circulatory system that would still have blood trapped within. When they embalm a body, for example, they have to pump fluid into the body to remove the blood, which trickles out of the body through an incision. Even in cases of exsanguination, there still remains blood and fluid.

I do, however see your point and agree that, while there would still be some residual blood, there would not be all that much left to spurt forth. What we see on the films, I believe is likely just done to make it look more gory and dramatic than something that represents reality.

You have a creepy job Jimbo. :dead: :D

[Redman6565]

It is true that some of the blood will sink to the lower extremeties causing the bruise-like marks of lividity, however without some sort of pumping action or force, there are areas of the circulatory system that would still have blood trapped within. When they embalm a body, for example, they have to pump fluid into the body to remove the blood, which trickles out of the body through an incision. Even in cases of exsanguination, there still remains blood and fluid.

I do, however see your point and agree that, while there would still be some residual blood, there would not be all that much left to spurt forth. What we see on the films, I believe is likely just done to make it look more gory and dramatic than something that represents reality.


It can't spurt forth when the heart isn't pumping. I get what you are saying about liquid being left in the head but we are talking about dead folks walking around. Which would make all the liquid slid down into theirlower legs and feet.

Last year I was inside of 24 hrs of being dead myself. My red blood count was 2.5. Stupid me thougt I was fighting the flu bug for around 7 weeks. Any way I started getting swelling. Then all heck broke lose. I had just under 40 lbs of liquid in my feet and legs. Lucky for me I'm better but they still don't know what caused of my problem. I get blood work done every 4 months now, beats every month. I was a real life zombie. They have no idea how I wasn't in a coma. But gravity really works when you're up and walking around and you body stops doing what it does. Everything goes right to your feet.

[jim102016]

So? You do know that anyone who dies becomes a zombie, right? Getting bit will only turn you into a zombie that much sooner.

Johnny in Night of the Living Dead is the first example of this. He was never bitten, but he turned into a zombie. The suicide guy in Land? Turned into a zombie, never bitten. Johnson? Shot to death. Turned into zombie.

Good point, I think I last watched one of those Resident Evil movies. Different universe altogether. Another good example is that dumb bastard who hung himself in Land'. But, I have something in mind that forbids me from applying that idea completely.

Just thought about this, but what about Major Cooper? We see that guy almost naked on the table, no visible marks or indication of how he died. Dr. Logan cut his face off, so we see that the major's brains are also in tact. Makes me wonder if he didn't just die of some natural cause and not come back? If he came back and his men shot him in the head to put him down for good, the inside of Cooper's skull would have looked like vegetable soup. Cooper would have been useless to Logan's experiment, wouldn't he?

[Redman6565]

Good point, I think I last watched one of those Resident Evil movies. Different universe altogether. Another good example is that dumb bastard who hung himself in Land'. But, I have something in mind that forbids me from applying that idea completely.

Just thought about this, but what about Major Cooper? We see that guy almost naked on the table, no visible marks or indication of how he died. Dr. Logan cut his face off, so we see that the major's brains are also in tact. Makes me wonder if he didn't just die of some natural cause and not come back? If he came back and his men shot him in the head to put him down for good, the inside of Cooper's skull would have looked like vegetable soup. Cooper would have been useless to Logan's experiment, wouldn't he?

Wow, that's a great point. If he died and GAR stays true to his universe then Cooper would have come back as a zombie. You would think that if he died he would have been shot in the head unless Logan said he'd take care of Cooper and then switched the bodies making it look like he did. You know that's a major slip on GAR's part. I missed it. lol

[EvilNed]

Just thought about this, but what about Major Cooper? We see that guy almost naked on the table, no visible marks or indication of how he died. Dr. Logan cut his face off, so we see that the major's brains are also in tact. Makes me wonder if he didn't just die of some natural cause and not come back? If he came back and his men shot him in the head to put him down for good, the inside of Cooper's skull would have looked like vegetable soup. Cooper would have been useless to Logan's experiment, wouldn't he?

Very good point! Either Cooper would be turn into a zombie, or he would have been shot (or perhaps, more humanely for an open casket situation, just had something small, like a knife, inserted into his brain). In the latter case, he'd be useless for Logan's experiments (I think). In the former case, Romero would be breaking his own rules.

However Johnsson was a zombie by the time they found him, despite not being bitten. His head was alive, and Sarah tried to shoot it.

[dracenstein]

Cooper was a zombie.

Frankenstein had cut away so much of the brain that it no longer had the capacity to move.

Sarah said something like (sarcastic) "Brilliant! All that is needed is six hours of surgery (per zombie) that only a handful of neurosurgeons could perform before the emergancy!"

[Yojimbo]

You have a creepy job Jimbo. :dead: :D

Yeah, Clang, like all strange jobs, you get used to it after a while, and then you don't really think about how strange it really is until someone points it out to you. And then you may ask yourself, how did I get here?