What Do They Do if You Survive Your Execution? | Tales From the Bottle

They've stood you straight against the nearest wall, lined up the firing squad and fired. But you survived! What now?

"Wenceslao Moguel Herrera (c. 1890 – 29 July 1976) was a Mexican man who was captured on March 18, 1915, suspected of taking part in the Mexican Revolution. He was sentenced to death without a trial, and was shot 8–9 times by a firing squad in the body, and received the "coup de grâce", or one final shot to the head point-blank range to ensure death."

More on Wikipedia:

[TheBlindWeasel]

"this is a pre-recorded video"
"oh shit he's already been executed..."

[MintRobin]

"The executioner swabbed my arm with alcohol" yeah because they don't want you to get an infection, do they?

[SubSpace-bsfr]

Practice makes perfect, don't be afraid if you fail.

[Sfxfreestyle]

The fact he didn’t die, after being shot in the head multiple times, was able to think of a plan to outsmart the guards, get up and walk to a church, and not die from an infection in the turn of the century, and somehow live for decades longer is fucking insane

[dermathze]

The fact that he was shot multiple times in the head and kept enough compusure to pretend he was dead is honestly also an impressive part of the story.

[davealmighty]

I had a neighbor who survived an execution. He fought in the civil war in El Salvador. In 1982, he was captured a long with 50 other members of government forces by members of the National liberation front. They had to dig ditches, and were lined up in front of them 10 at a time, and gunned down with machine guns. He was shot 22 times. He says he never lost consciousness. He laid there in the ditch for 2 hours, before crawling his way out. He then proceeded to crawl to a village almost 2 miles away, which he says took him about 8 hours. The villagers hid him, and nursed him back to health. It took 22 months. He then went with many of the villagers and hopped trains. It took him 2 years to makes his way to the border. There he married an american woman, (a very, very large american woman) and was able to legally gain entry to the U.S., and become a citizen in 1987. They had a son. He didnt speak any english, but his son spoke both english and spanish. Thats how I heard the story. One day I was in my back yard, and he came over with his weed eater, motioning for me to help him. His son was next to him, and said that his dad wants me to start his weed eater. His son was only 9, and couldnt do it. He lifted his shirt up, and showed me the dozens of scars all over his body, from bullets and the many surgeries. He couldnt pull start the weed eater because of his injuries. Then his son told me the story. I was in disbelief. He would often come over to the fence with a bottle of whiskey, and motion towards my shed, and we would go into the shed and have a few drinks. Never knew what eachother was saying, but didnt matter. Later I found out he did that because he had to hide the drinking from his wife, so he just came over to my place. I even found him in their on his own a few times. He would always drink what he wanted, and leave the rest of the bottle for me. He died in 2014. Probably the best neighbor I ever had.

[PrimevalDemon]

I find it vaguely disturbing that someone could mentally be lucid enough after being riddled with bullets to pretend being dead, in a way more impressive than the initial survival

[purplehaze]

“Being Irish, the alcohol swabbed on my arm provides me extraordinary vitality!”
I nearly suffocated from laughing at that.

[Awften]

“He had just taken a hell of a lot of bullets, way more than the recommended daily intake.” -Qxir

[kavky]

In the Russian Empire a failed execution was considered a sign of divine intervention and the punishment was downgraded to exile in Siberia. This happened to a student anarchist who tried to assassinate the tsar who then shouted "Poor Russia! You can't even get a proper hanging here!" The tsar was willing to pardon the student but was informed of what he said and decided to give hang him for good. Keeping your mouth shut seems to be the best option.

[saldan]

As a child I really thought that if you survive an execution, the law would just go "right, he clearly got God by his side" and then just send you back to prison.

[lorangajapp]

My dad worked with a russian who were shot several times and then shot in the head.He was left for dead and a soldier actually stole his wedding ring by cutting his finger off, all while he was playing dead.He then ran and was shot in the calf.He survived and made it to sweden were he worked and had a"normal"life.

[henryaung]

Those bullets must've missed every vital spot, talk about maxed out luck.

[MrGemHunter]

The officer to Miguel: "You've made your last delivery kid."

[joshuapiszczek]

"They guarantee you won't reoffend after this one."
BLAM!!

I burst out laughing

[sirhoon]

When being hung it was customary to say "hung until you are dead" but it never used to be that way until a woman from Scotland was hung for concealment of a dead child (health complications) she didn't die on the noose but instead passed out so when they took her down and went to transport her body for disposal she awoke and seeing as she had technically served her sentence of being hung, she was released.

Half Hangit Maggie, Edinburgh 1700's.

[Pantsinabucket]

Ken “Tokyo Joe” Ito is another wonderful example of miraculously surviving execution. After being indicted, the higher ups in the Chicago outfit ordered his death to prevent him ratting. Joe Ito got into a car with two hitmen, who then shot him 3 times in the back of the head. The first hurt like hell and so did the second, but it also made him notice he was still alive and by the third he thought it best to twitch and play dead. After being thrown out of the car, he immediately ran into a store, ratted out to the FBI, and lived another 30 years in witness protection in Atlanta.

[YEAHKINDA]

"Did you die?!"
"Sadly, yes."
"*gasp*"
"BUT I LIVED!"

[FriedrichHerschel]

As Ireland does not have the death penalty currently, he has to do something VERY awful. Based upon other Qxir videos, I guess either liking the english or droping a bottle of alcohol. In either case: serves him right!

[apecks]

its really scary that the human body will endure such unbearable pain. sometimes life after tragedy is much, much worse than death. the human nervous system has an incredible amount of pain receptors, making torture very easy even in natural circumstances.