What does death by hanging feel like?

According to the account of a person who was saved while trying to hang himself, a tremendous pressure is felt on the neck as soon as the person is hanged.

If the rope is thin, it can cut into the skin of the neck and make the pain much more intense.

If the neck didn’t break, as a result of an incorrect knot, the death process might be slow and extremely painful.

Some people believe that instant unconsciousness happens when the neck breaks. However, a group of people suggest that a person can remain conscious even after losing their head.

If the drop is big enough then the person’s head might be taken off. Because a person would always die as a result of this trauma, the pain in such a case couldn’t be guessed.

If the neck doesn’t break then the person might suffocate to death. This process might take a few minutes or longer and can be very painful. (See What does being strangled to death feel like?)

Depending on how the rope was designed, instant unconsciousness might happen as a result of lack of blood flow to the brain, according to the account of a survivor that took a few seconds to be saved.

If the neck breaks right away, the person might experience intense panic. According to a Quora thread, death can sometimes take more than 45 minutes and can be very traumatic.

If the person has strong neck muscles, is very light, if the ‘drop’ is too short, or the noose was wrongly positioned, the fracture-dislocation will happen slowly and death would result from asphyxiation. This can be a slow and very painful process.

If the person doesn’t die instantly, many traumatic things might happen, including defecation, popping out of the eyes and engorging of the face.

If instant death doesn’t happen, the brain swells so much that it blocks the top of the spinal column. This leads to suffocation and stopping of the heart. (See How does burning to death feel like?)