Top 10 Modern Methods of Execution

We have all heard about the various methods of execution used around the world in civilized nations, but quite often we don’t know the methods involved in executing the act. With this list I hope to shed some light on the background of an execution, modern style. All but two of these methods of execution are still in use today. [WARNING: This list includes graphic images.]

1. Lethal Injection

Lethal injection room in Huntsville, Texas

In the short time before an execution by lethal injection, the prisoner is prepared for his death. This can include a change of clothing, a last meal, and a shower. The prisoner is taken to thesaline solution is fed through the tubes. These tubes are then fed through the wall in to an anteroom from where the execution will be carried out. The anteroom contains direct telephone connections to officials who have the power to stay the execution. Once the IV tubes are connected, the curtains are drawn back so that witnesses may watch the execution, and the prisoner is allowed to make his last statement. execution chamber and two IV tubes are inserted in to his arms; a

Unless a stay is given, the execution begins. There can be one or more executioners, and sometimes in the case of multiple executioners, the lethal dose is given by only one so that no one knows who delivered it. The executioners are shielded from the view ofthe prisoner and witnesses. The drugs can be delivered by a machine, but due to the fear of mechanical failure, most US states prefer to manually inject the drugs in to the IV. The drugs are then administered in the following order:

Sodium thiopental: This drug, also known as Pentathol is a barbiturate used as a surgical anesthetic. In surgery, a dose of up to 150mg is used; inexecution, up to 5,000mg is used. This is a lethal dose. From this point on if the prisoner is still alive, he should feel nothing.

Pancuronium bromide: Also known as Pavulon, this is a muscle relaxant given in a strong enough dose to paralyse the diaphragm and lungs. This drug takes effect in 1-3 minutes. A normal medical dose is 40 – 100mcg per kilogram; the dose delivered in anexecution is up to 100mg.

Potassium chloride: This is a toxic agent which induces cardiac arrest. Not all states use this as the first two drugs are sufficient to bring about death.

Saline solution is used to flush the IV between each dose. Within a minute of two after the final dose is given, a doctor declares the prisoner dead. The body is then sent to the coroner for verification and sometimes an autopsy and is released to the family for burial or is buried by the state.

2. The Electric Chair

Electric Chair at Sing Sing

The electric chair was invented by Harold P. Brown who was employed by Thomas Edison for the sole purpose of investigating the uses of electricity forexecution . Brown, a dentist used to working with people in chairs, used a chair design for his device. At the time there was still competition to see whether Edison’s direct current (DC) or Westinghouse’s alternating current (AC) would win the current war. Edison was in favor of using his opponents AC as he thought it would lead people to believe that AC was more dangerous than DC. In fact, it would make little difference which current were used at the voltage needed for anexecution. Edison was so keen to alienate Westinghouse, that he tried to get people to refer to execution by electrocution as “westinghousing” someone. The chair was first adopted in 1889 and the first execution took place in 1890 in New York.

In execution by electric chair, the prisoner is strapped to the chair with metal straps and a wet sponge is placed in his head to aid conductivity. Electrodes are placed on the head and leg to create a closed circuit. Depending on the physical state of the prisoner, two currents of varying level and duration are applied. This is generally 2,000 volts for 15 seconds for the first current to cause unconsciousness and to stop the heart. The second current is usually lowered to 8 amps. The current will normally cause severe damage to internal organsand the body can heat up to 138 °F (59 °C). While unconsciousness should occur within the first second or two, there have been occasions where it has taken much longer, leading people to speak out against this method ofexecution.

The post-execution cleanup is an unpleasant task as skin can melt to the electrodes and the person often loses control over bodily functions. The skin is also often burnt. The last use of the chair was on the 12th of September in Tennessee (6 days ago as of writing this). You can view a gruesome image of a person after being executed bythe electric chair here.

3. Gas Chamber

Gas chamber at Mississippi State Penitentiary

The gas chamber has been used for executions for a considerable number of years. It has gained the most notoriety from its use in the German prison camps during World War II where it was used to exterminate millions of people in one of the worst cases of genocide in the 20th century. All of the five US states that still use the gas chamber allow the prisoner to choose death by lethal injection instead. The last death by gas chamber in the US was in 1999 when German Walter LaGrand was executed in Arizona. There are unconfirmed reports that North Korea is using the gas chamber as a method ofexecution and to test poisonous gasses on prisoners.

Prior to the execution, the executioner will enter the chamber and place potassium cyanide (KCN) pellets into a small compartment beneath the execution chair. The prisoner is then brought in and secured to the chair. The chamber is sealed and the executioner pours a quantity of concentrated sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) through a tube which leads to a holding compartment in the chair. The curtains are drawn back for witnesses to see the execution and the prisoner is asked to make his last statement. After the last statement, a level is thrown by the executioner and the acid mixes with the cyanide pellets generating lethal hydrogen cyanide (HCN) gas. The prisoners will generally have been told to take deep breaths in order to speed up unconsciousness, but in most cases they hold their breath. Death from hydrogen cyanide is painful and unpleasant.

After the prisoner is dead, the chamber is purged of gas and neutralized with anhydrous ammonia (NH₃). Both the ammonia and the acid that must be removed from the chamber are highly dangerous. Guards with oxygen masks then enter the chamber and remove the body so that it can be examined by a doctor.

4. Single Person Shooting

Execution of a Vietcong captian

Execution by shooting is the most common method of execution in the world, used in over 70 countries. Whilst most of these countries use the firing squad, single person shooting is still found. In Soviet Russia, a single bulletto the back of the head was the most frequently used method of execution for military and non-military alike. This is still the main method of execution in Communist China though the gunshot can be to either the neck or head. In the past, the Chinese government would ask the family of the executed person to pay the price of the bullet. In Taiwan,the prisoner is first injected with a strong anesthetic to render him senseless and then a bullet is fired in to his heart.

5. Firing Squad

Antonio Echazarreta executed in 1913 in Mexio

The firing squad is considered by many to be the most honorable method of execution, and for that reason it was specifically not used on war criminals. While the method differs widely from country to country, generally the condemned is blindfolded and restrained. A group of men then fire a single bullet into the heart of the prisoner . In some cases, one of the shooters is given a blank – so that afterwards he will feel less guilt. None of the shooters knows who has a blank or, in fact, if any of them do. In the most recentexecution by firing squad in Utah, the brother of the executed man stated that there were five bullet holes in his brother’s shirt, indicating that every shooter fired a live round. Here is an eyewitness account of theexecution of William Johnson, a deserter in the Army of the Potomac in 1861.

All being ready the Marshal waved his handkerchief as the signal, and the firing party discharged the volley. Johnson did not move, remaining in a sitting posture for several seconds after the rifles were discharged. Then he quivered a little, and fell over beside his coffin. He was still alive, however, and the four reserves were called to complete the work. It was found that two of the firing party, Germans, had not discharged their pieces, and they were immediately put in irons. Johnson was shot several times in the heart by the first volley. Each of the four shots fired by the reserves took effect in his head, and he died instantly. One penetrated his chin, another his left cheek, while two entered the brain just above the left eyebrow. He died at precisely a quarter to four o’clock.

In the United States only two states allow execution by firing squad: Idaho, and Oklahoma; though Utah still has four prisoners on death row who were sentenced when it was lawful there and they may be permitted to be executed in this way.

6. Hanging

17 and 18 year old boys hanged in Iran for homosexuality

Hanging is carried out in a variety of ways: the short drop is when the prisoner is made to stand on an object which is then thrust away – leaving them to die by strangulation. This was a common method of hanging used by the Nazis and was the most common form used before the 1850s. Death is slow and painful. Suspension hanging (very popular in Iran) is when the gallows itself is movable. The prisoner stands on the ground with the noose around their neck and the gallows is then lifted in to the air, taking the prisoner with it. The standard drop was in common use in English nations after the 1850s – it involved tying the noose around the prisoner’s neck and then dropping them a short distance (usually 4-6 feet) to break the neck. This was the method used to execute the Nazi war criminals. The final method is the long drop, devised in 1872 in which the weight of a person was taken in to account to determine the correct rope and drop to be used to ensure the breaking of the neck. This was the method used by Albert Pierrepoint, the last executioner of England, described here in more detail:

The night before the execution, Pierrepoint would visit the condemned man in his cell with the Warden. The prisoner was not told that pierrepoint was his executioner. The purpose of the visit was to size the man up. Pierrepoint would use the information he had gained on the visit to decide what thickness of rope and what length of drop to use. He would soak the rope in water and would hang a sandbag the weight of the prisoner at the end to prevent stretching during the execution. The next day pierrepoint would put a cloth over the face of the prisoner and tighten the noose around his neck. He was very careful to ensure that the trapdoor beneath the condemned would be opened as soon after the noose went on as possible and would often kick the level with his foot. The person would then drop through the trapdoor and their neck would break, causing death.

There have been some instances where the long drop method has caused decapitation – the most recent of which was the hanging of Saddam Hussein’s half brother, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, in Iraq in 2007.

If you can play real audio, here is a BBC interview with Pierrepoint.

7. Beheading

Sentenced at 15, Dhahian Rakan al-Sibai’i, executed July 2007

In some nations that adhere to Islamic Sharia law, beheadings are still a commonly used method of execution. The most frequently seen cases involve beheading by a curved, single-edged sword. While many nations allow beheading by law, Saudi Arabia is the country that uses it most often. The sentence is normally carried out on a Friday night in public outside the main mosque of the city after prayers. The penalty can be dealt for rape, murder, drug related crimes, and apostasy (rejection of religious beliefs).

Saudi Arabia frequently comes under fire from international agencies because of the fact that they continue to pass this sentence on minors. Saudi Arabian officials state that they are not in breach of international law because the sentence is not carried out until the child has reached the age of 18. This was the case with Dhahian Rakan al-Sibai’i (pictured above) who was sentenced at 15 but executed this year at the age of 18.

8. Guillotine

Eugène Weidmann, last public guillotine execution in France, 1939

Contrary to popular belief, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin did not invent the Guillotine; he suggested that a method of execution be devised that was quick and to be used on all people regardless of class. He sat on the committee that eventually designed the device, but it was actually Antoine Louis who came up with the design that was then used to build the first functioning guillotine. This is one of the two execution methods on this list which is no longer used anywhere in the world.

The device itself is a large timber frame with a space at the bottom for the neck of the prisoner. At the top of the machine is a large angled blade. Once the prisoner is secured, the blade is dropped, severing the head and bringing about immediate death. Much speculation exists as to whether or not the person dies immediately, and one man went so far as to ask a prisoner to blink after his head was cut off if he could. The accounts tell us that he did blink, but it is most likely that if he did, it would have been a post-death twitch.

The last public guillotining in France (photo above) was secretly filmed, and the scandalous behavior of the onlookers caused the government to ban public executions. It was the official method of execution in France until the death penalty was outlawed in 1981.

9. Stoning

A stoning in Iran

Stoning to death is when a person’s movements are restricted and an organized group throws stones at them until dead. Under Islamic Sharia law, stoning is an acceptable method of execution and it is used in many Islamic nations. In Iran, stoning is sanctioned for adultery and other crimes. Article 104 of the Law of Hodoud provides that the stones should not be so large that a person dies after being hit with two of them, nor so small as to be defined as pebbles, but must cause severe injury.

“The penalty for adultery under Article 83 of the penal code, called the Law of Hodoud is flogging (100 lashes of the whip) for unmarried male and female offenders. Married offenders may be punished by stoning regardless of their gender, but the method laid down for a man involves his burial up to his waist, and for a woman up to her neck (article 102). The law provides that if a person who is to be stoned manages to escape, he or she will be allowed to go free. Since it is easier for a man to escape, this discrimination literally becomes a matter of life and death.” [Source]

Sentences to death by stoning, or stoning without a sentence have occurred in Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi-Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in recent years, according to the International Society of Human Rights. Videos of recent stonings have been smuggled out of Iran. You can watch them here. The most recent stoning in Iran was in 2007 when Jaffar Kiani was stoned to death for adultery.

10. Garrote

1901 execution by garotte in Manila

The garrote is the second method of execution on this list which is no longer sanctioned by law in any country though training in its use is still carried out in the French Foreign Legion. The garrote is a device that strangles a person to death (as in the photograph above). It can also be used to break a person’s neck. The device was used in Spain until it was outlawed in 1978 with the abolition of the death penalty. It normally consisted of a seat in which the prisoner was restrained while the executioner tightened a metal band around his neck until he died. Some versions of the garrote incorporated a metal bolt which pressed in to the spinal chord, breaking the neck. This spiked version is known as the Catalan garrote. The last execution by garrote was José Luis Cerveto in October 1977. Andorra was the last country in the world to outlaw its use, doing so in 1990.

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/09/18/top-10-modern-methods-of-execution/

Read More

10 Classic American Muscle Cars

Ah yes, Detroit muscle. American automobile ingenuity at its finest. I’m talking 1960s era Chevys, Fords, and Mopars, and I’m talking ones that go fast. Ok, I expect the typical Listverse flak about this list being “too American”, but cry me a river. If someone wants to do a European Sports Car list, more power to ya, but these machines are my idea of heaven on four wheels.

This is of course not a definitive list but before you comment, please note: you’ll find no pony-cars here, my friends. Maybe I’ll do a follow-up list of Camaros, Mustangs, etc. if this one is well received, but for this one I wanted to profile the more humble looking street machines. And sorry, I love ‘em, but in my world ‘vettes are “sports cars”, not muscle cars, so that marque is likewise omitted. And so without further ado, here are ten of my favorite muscle machines, right down to specific model-years that are of special appeal to collectors and enthusiasts. And yes, they are in no particular order (well maybe slight consideration) so don’t obsess about the ranking.

10. 1963 Impala Z11 427

Chevrolet’s famed 409 engine was immortalized in the 1962 Beach Boys song of the same name, and was the desire of many muscle car enthusiasts in the early 60’s. In ‘62 the hot set-up was to order the 409 in the lightweight “bubble-top” Bel Air 2-door hardtop. Well, kicking it up a notch in 1963, Chevrolet introduced the Z11 option package for its Impala line. The package included a modified 409 increased to 427 cid by way of a stroked crank, and had special heads, valves and a two-piece aluminum intake manifold sporting dual quads. Output was rated at 430 hp. The additional Z11 features were not limited to the engine compartment however, as the hood, fenders bumpers and other items were made of aluminum to lighten its overall curb weight. This was a RPO (regular production option) package supposedly available to the general public, but appears to have only been selectively sold to racers with the intent of furthering Chevrolet’s cause at the drag strip. No matter, the ‘63 Impala SS with a standard 425 hp 409 was plenty fast for the average joe, regularly turning sub-15’s in the quarter mile. Only 50 or so (qtys vary by source) Impala Z11s were sold in 1963, and there are 7 known to be still in existence today.

9. 1964 Ford Thunderbolt

Fomoco’s answer to keep pace with the lighter and faster Chevys and Mopars of the day was to cram its biggest motor, the big-block 427, into one of its smallest models, the mid-sized Fairlane 2-door coupe. Major front-end frame modifications were needed to accomplish this, as well as a large hood bulge necessary to accommodate the hi-rise manifold and twin fours, with air induction routed through dummy headlight openings in the grill. But nonetheless it was a factory-produced car available to anyone from their local dealership, listing at $3,750. Even so, it was purely designed for racing, with plexiglass windows, fiberglass body panels, and a spartan interior that lacked armrests, sun-visors, mirrors, sound-dampening insulation, and was radio- and heater-delete. Imagine those kinds of shortcuts in comfort and especially safety features being allowed in this day and age. Truth be told, the Thunderbolt was not really suitable for everyday use. Perhaps that’s why only 100 T-bolts were sold in 1964. But beware; these cars could pull down mid 11s in the quarter mile!

8. 1969 AMC SC/Rambler

It is easy to forget that muscle cars (and cars in general) in the U.S. weren’t limited to the “Big Three” automakers. In 1969 American Motors Corp. joined forces the well known parts company Hurst Performance and surprised everyone with the SC/Rambler (aka “Scrambler”). The SC stood for “stock-car”, but this was a race-ready production vehicle. Maintaining the typical small-car-big-engine strategy, AMC stuffed their 390 cid 315 hp V8 power-plant into its light-weight Rambler Rogue hardtop coupe. This car could hold court with many of the more popular machines of the day, as stock vehicles regularly turned low 14s at the strip. No options were available (except an AM radio), which kept the price below $3,000. All cars had plain grey vinyl interior with bench seats and red white and blue headrests, carpeting, and a Borg-Warner 4-speed with a Hurst shifter. But perhaps the car’s most striking feature was its bold paint scheme and a large, functional “Ram Air” induction hood scoop. The first 500 units all were a base white with a wide red side panel running the length of the car, and had a blue stripe running front to back across the top of the car. An arrow graphic pointed towards the scoop and lettering noted the engine size. Additionally striking were the blue two-toned mag wheels. When these cars quickly sold out, AMC released a second batch of 500, this time with “B” trim, which was mostly white with narrow red and blue side stripes. A third batch of 512 units was later released which are thought to have gone back to the “A” trim, though this is a source of controversy among enthusiasts, as vehicle VIN codes do not differentiate between the two paint schemes. What is known is that of the total 1,512 SC/Ramblers built, the majority of surviving examples today have the “A” trim. The SC/Rambler is perhaps one of the least remembered muscle cars from the era.

7. 1968 Dodge Charger R/T

Sleek “coke-bottle” body styling and a mean-looking black-out front grill with hidden headlights sets the Dodge Charger apart from the competition. The R/T (road/track) designation is what Dodge used to denote a car equally suited for street performance or drag racing. Heavy duty suspension provided superior handling (compared to the typical muscle car), and with a powerful 375 hp 440 Magnum V-8, this car ran the quarter-mile in just under 15 seconds, and listed for about $3,500. Not good enough? R/T Chargers with a Hemi under the hood (only 475 produced) would cost you an extra $600, but dropped that quarter time down to the mid 13s. A total of 96,100 Chargers were built in 1968, with 17,000 of them having the R/T designation. Fans of the 1968 movie Bullit might recall that Steve McQueen’s nemisis drove an awesome black 440 Magnum R/T Charger in perhaps one of the best chase scenes ever put on film. You can watch it here.

6. 1969 Ford Fairlane/Torino Cobra

Officially, these are known simply as Cobras, according to period Ford advertising and sales brochures, and more importantly, the dealer winder-sticker. Really though, these are Fairlanes, as the Torino designation was an option package for the Fairlane body-code and was not yet a separate model line in 1969. Sometimes also referred to as the Torino GT or Fairlane Cobra, this naming convention generates some debate in collector circles. This line featured two body styles: the hardtop (aka “formal roof”) and the much more common “sports roof” fastback. The Cobra performance package included as standard the 335 hp 428 Cobra Jet V-8 with a Holly 4bbl. Optional Ram Air didn’t increase horsepower, but it boosted the performance peak to 5,600 rpm. Also included was a locking rear differential, which was exclusive to Ford. Quarter mile times were typically in the 14.5 second range. Exact production figures are difficult to come by, but it is estimated that about 14,000 Cobras were sold in 1969, with the vast majority of them being the fastback version. Naturally, I prefer the rare hardtop (pictured here), which number about 3,000.

5. 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner

Mopar struck paydirt when it came up with the idea of capitalizing on the muscle car wave of popularity by offering the low-priced Roadrunner to the masses in 1968, with 1969 being a particularly stellar sales year. They were definitely marketing the younger audience with better affordbility, as well as licencing the Warner Brothers cartoon character as its namesake and mascot, including the well-known “beep-beep” sound for its horn. To keep the price down, Roadrunners were minimally appointed, but these cars weren’t toys, as performance and suspension features were not compromised. Base stickered at under $3,000, the price quickly went up when you started beefing it up with power options. Who wants the standard 383 cid mill when you could get a 390 hp 440 with a three-two “Six-pack”? Well forget even that; what you really wanted under the hood was the 426 Street Hemi. Featuring hi-po goodies such as Hemi heads, 10.25:1 compression and two fours, its rated output boosted to 425 hp at 5,000 rpm. It could run the quarter in 13.5 seconds and had a top speed of 140+ mph! Over 80,000 units of the various configurations were sold in 1969, with the “no-post” hardtops being the most desirable among collectors. But the real find today is the rag-top, of which only about 2,200 were produced.

4. 1966 Oldsmobile 442

Technically, pre-1968 Olds 442s weren’t an actual model, but rather “442″ was an option package available for the Oldsmobile Cutlass. The standard L78 400 cid engine incorporated a single 4bbl carburetor and was rated at 350 hp. The favored set-up for muscle car buyers was the upgraded L69, which was a one-year-only configuration that featured a hotter cam and a triple 2bbl carb “tri-power” arrangement, which helped increase the power rating by another 10 horses. Quarter-mile runs were as quick as 14.8 seconds. Rarest of the rare was the W-30 version of the tri-power motor, which also incorporated an air induction system via tubing from the front bumper. There were only 54 factory-released copies of the W-30, although another 97 were dealer-modified installations. Finding a W-30 442 today is next to impossible (at this writing, one is available on eBay for $70k!), but lacking that, the “regular” tri-power L69’s are most desired by collectors.

3. 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T and Super Bee

I’m listing both versions of the ‘69 Coronet muscle car here, because they are both very similar (and very cool), but each one has its own unique advantages. The R/T option designation was available on several Dodge models starting back in 1967, and signified “road/track” performance. In 1969, many Mopar fans opted for the slightly less expensive Coronet Super Bee (boasting its unique logo in the rear-end bumble-bee striping). This was Dodge’s equivalent to the Plymouth Roadrunner, and as such, was equally minus many luxury features, making it lighter in weight as compared to the R/T. Super Bees are also much more common, especially those equipped with the base 383 cid (over 24,000 units sold), which was not even available in the R/T. A few Super Bees came with either the bigger 440 six-pack or the 426 twin-four Hemi. The R/T was only offered with the 440 Magnum or the Hemi. These burners routinely ran the quarter-mile in the mid-13s. As for the R/T being the rarer of the two models, about 6,800 R/Ts were produced in 1969, 400 of which were the R/T convertible (all Super Bees were hardtops). Ten of those rag-top R/Ts had the Hemi, and only four of those left the factory with the four-speed tranny.

2. 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396

Chevrolet’s “Super Sport” option package was first introduced for the 1961 Impala and soon spread to its other model offerings including the Chevelle, which began life in 1964. The 1966 model year saw the Chevelle take on what I consider to be its best looking body style, with its most-recognizable feature, the classic forward-thrusting front fenders. The Super Sport version also included special wheel covers, red-line tires, and a black-out grill which showed off the SS badging to further compliment its bold appearance. Enginewise, the 396 was basically a de-stroked big-block 409, and was available in several configurations starting with the base-rated 325 hp version. The top option was the RPO L78 which was a mid-year release. Thanks to its 11.0:1 compression ratio, a hot cam, and other tweaks, this baby generated 375 hp at 5600 rpm, could go 0-60 in about 6.5 seconds and ran 14.5 second quarters. In 1966, Chevelle SS 396s with the L78 engine option numbered only about 100 units, and accordingly are highly prized today.

1. 1967 Pontiac GTO

Photo courtesy of Rob H. of Connecticut

Many enthusiasts consider the “Goat” to be the first muscle car, and its classic split grill front-end design is among the most recognizable features of all muscle cars. Starting life as an option package for the 1963 Pontiac LeMans, the GTO became its own model series in 1966. Model year 1967 was the last year of this first-generation look with the stacked headlight design, and is showcased here. Standard equipment included bucket seats, a walnut-grained dash panel, duel exhaust, and a beefy suspension. A look under the hood found a bigger 400 cid motor than the prior year’s 389. Pontiac also went from a tri-power (three 2bbls) carb setup to a single 4bbl for the 1967 edition. The top performance option in 1967 was the 400 HO, rated at 360 hp at 5,100 rpm. Adding the Ram Air induction option slightly increased peak rpm. These GTOs typycally ran the quarter-mile in the low 14s. Almost 82,000 GTOs were sold in 1967, 13,872 of which had the 400 HO, with Ram Air installed in only 751 of these units.

bonus

1963 Plymouth/Dodge 426 Max Wedge

This entry is more about an engine, rather than a specific vehicle model line, hence the entry as a bonus item (plus, I couldn’t think of any other way to squeeze it onto the list!). The 426 RB Wedge (aka Max Wedge) was introduced by Mopar in 1963 as a factory produced “racing only” engine, and was sold through 1964, until it was replaced by the more famous 426 Hemi. According to sales brochures, cars ordered with the Wedge were “not a street machine” but were “designed to be run in supervised, sanctioned drag-strip competition”. The usual combo was to order it in Plymouth’s lightest weight model, the Savoy (pictured here), but it could also be found in the more luxerious Belvedere and Sport Fury models. The Dodge equivilent was typically found in the Polara, but in both marques, it could be ordered in any model offered (including wagons and convertables). 2,130 Mopar vehicles with this motor installation were produced in 1963. Boasting dual quads and 13.5:1 compression, this power-plant produced 425 hp at 5,600 rpm. Lightweight stockers with this motor flew down the strip in a blinding 12 seconds.

Source: http://listverse.com/2009/08/15/10-classic-american-muscle-cars/

Read More

What is the Loch Ness Monster?

As far back as the 7th Century, people have reported seeing a Loch Ness monster in Scotland. Can science explain these mysterious sightings?

The Loch Ness is a lake in Scotland that holds the largest volume of freshwater in the United Kingdom. But rather than being known for its size, it is famous for the mysterious legend of the Loch Ness monster. For hundreds of years, people have reported catching a glimpse of a huge creature in the lake while others have shared photos they claim to have taken of this sea creature. The legend is so great that even scientists have been intrigued and many have conducted experiments and come up with theories to try and explain what people could be witnessing.

Credit: Heinrich Harder, 1916

Painting of plesiosaurs, creatures thought to be most similar to people's descriptions of the Loch Ness monster.

A real creature in Loch Ness?

It has been proposed that Nessie � as the Loch Ness monster is commonly called � could be a prehistoric creature called a plesiosaur, an animal that spanned up to ten meters in length and has long been considered to be extinct. Adrian Shine, the leader of a British team called the Loch Ness Project, has spent over 30 years trying to rationally explain the monster sightings by researching the ecology of the region. If in fact a large creature was living in the lake, there would have to be evidence of a food chain for it to survive. A creature like the Loch Ness monster would most likely eat fish, which in turn would live off large quantities of microscopic animals called zooplankton. There would have to be enough zooplankton in the lake to support populations of larger animals.

A way of estimating the amount of zooplankton in the lake is to examine the quantities of green algae � the bottom rung of the food chain - that zooplankton feed from. Green algae needs some light to thrive, and so by examining how deep down in the lake sunlight can penetrate, researchers can estimate the amount of green algae and following from this, the type of population that could be sustained.

Scientists have calculated that a maximum of 17 to 24 tons of fish live in the Loch Ness. For a lake of its size, it is a small amount, and would be able to keep alive about ten creatures weighing 226 kg each. According to Richard Forrest, an expert on plesiosaurs, ten creatures would not be enough to keep a colony going. �Thirty to forty creatures would be the minimum size of a breeding population,� he says.

In addition, if creatures similar to plesiosaurs lived in the waters of the Loch Ness, they would be seen very frequently as they would have to surface several times a day to breathe. Eye witnesses have often mentioned seeing an animal throwing back its long neck from the water, but Forrest claims that plesiosaurs couldn�t do that. �The simple fact is that a plesiosaur�s neck is too stiff. The bones of the neck interlock and there are tall spines on top of them so the neck can�t go straight out of the water,� he says.

SONAR investigations

But it is not impossible for prehistoric creatures to still be around today. In 1938, South African fishermen caught a gigantic fish that turned out to be a Coelacanth, a prehistoric fish thought to be extinct for the past 80 million years. Because of murky water filled with peat, it has been hard for divers to properly investigate the depths of the Loch Ness and the life that exists there. The advent of SONAR � a measuring instrument that sends sound waves into water and measures distance by calculating the time it takes for an echo to travel back to the source � has proved to be useful for probing the mystery since the waves can detect any objects that come in their way.

In 1987, Operation Deepscan took place - the biggest SONAR exploration of Loch Ness. Boats equipped with SONAR were deployed across the whole width of the lake and they simultaneously sent out acoustic waves. BBC News reported that the scientists had made sonar contact with a large unidentified object of unusual size and strength. The researchers decided to return to the same spot and re-scan the area.

After analysing the SONAR images, it seemed to point to debris at the bottom of the lake, although three of the pictures were of moving debris. Shine speculates that they could be seals that got into the lake, since they would be of about the same magnitude as the objects detected. But no one has been able to confirm their identity.

The Surgeon's Photo: Famous picture that for a long time was considered to be the most trusted photo of the monster.

Similarly, many people have captured photos of monster-like creatures that have never been explained. Many have been dismissed as forgeries, but the most trusted one was called the Surgeon�s Photo, since it was supposed to be have been taken by well-respected surgeon Robert Wilson. For about 50 years, the true story behind the picture was a mystery, but it was finally revealed to be a hoax started by a man called Marmaduke Wetherall. Attempting to prove to the world that Nessie exists, Wetherall had already claimed to have found monster-sized footprints near the Loch, but when the casts he sent to the Natural History Museum in London were analysed, they were found to be hippopotamus tracks! As revenge, he made a model of the monster and photographed it on Loch Ness. He managed to persuade Wilson to pass it off as his own, since he knew that no one would believe him after his hippo prank.

Monster earthquakes?

Although many sightings could be hoaxes, there could also be a geological interpretation: seismic activity in the lake could cause disturbances on its surface that could be mistaken for Nessie. Loch Ness is situated on the Great Glen fault line that was created by the collision of continents that formed Scotland 400 million years ago. Over 200 years ago, a major earthquake with its epicentre in Lisbon, Portugal caused water disturbances in the Loch more than 1500 km away. �Reports state that a wave about two or three feet high was seen travelling up and down Loch Ness,� says Robert Musson, the principal seismologist at the British Geological Survey. But he claims that generally there is little seismic activity in the area and doesn�t think that earthquakes can account for the repeated sightings.

Dr Luigi Piccardi, an Italian specialist in Mediterranean geology, disagrees. Currently studying events depicted in Greek mythology, he says that many of the effects described can be related to real effects during strong earthquakes. Similarly, he thinks that the same theory applies to Nessie and claims that there are recurring tremors around the town of Inverness just 16 kms away that could spread to the Loch. He plans to test his theory by conducting a detailed seismic survey in the area.

But should geological explanations fail, psychology may be able to provide some insight. Helen Ross, a psychologist and expert on illusions, thinks that myth is so powerful that people can convince themselves that an ordinary object floating in the water is a monster. �When something really ambiguous is there, people often don�t know what they�re seeing and they can see all sorts of strange things,� she says. �It�s a bit like seeing faces in the fire or ink blots appearing as all sorts of creatures.�

Until physical evidence of the Loch Ness monster is found � like the creature itself or its skeleton � it may be hard to convince most scientists that it exists. Perhaps the sightings are simply an example of the human fascination for mystery and intrigue, and the awe that many people have for the natural world.

Read More

Siberian Mystery Blast "Solved"

The scars on the landscape can still be seen today

By BBC News Online science editor Dr David Whitehouse

Astronomers may have solved the puzzle of what it was that brought so much devastation to a remote region of Siberia almost a century ago.

The asteroid was probably a pile of space rubble - like Mathilde

In the early morning of 30 June, 1908, witnesses told of a gigantic explosion and blinding flash. Thousands of square kilometres of trees were burned and flattened.

Scientists have always suspected that an incoming comet or asteroid lay behind the event - but no impact crater was ever discovered and no expedition to the area has ever found any large fragments of an extraterrestrial object.

Now, a team of Italian researchers believe they may have the definitive answer. After combining never-before translated eyewitness accounts with seismic data and a new survey of the impact zone, the scientists say the evidence points strongly to the object being a low-density asteroid.

They even think they know from where in the sky the object came.

Completely disintegrated

"We now have a good picture of what happened," Dr Luigi Foschini, one of the expedition's leaders, told BBC News Online.

The direction of the flattened trees is a vital clue

The explosion, equivalent to 10-15 million tonnes of TNT, occurred over the Siberian forest, near a place known as Tunguska.

Only a few hunters and trappers lived in the sparsely populated region, so it is likely that nobody was killed. Had the impact occurred over a European capital, hundreds of thousands would have perished.

A flash fire burned thousands of trees near the impact site. An atmospheric shock wave circled the Earth twice. And, for two days afterwards, there was so much fine dust in the atmosphere that newspapers could be read at night by scattered light in the streets of London, 10,000 km (6,213 miles) away.

But nobody was dispatched to see what had happened as the Czars had little interest in what befell the backward Tungus people in remote central Siberia.

Soil samples

The first expedition to reach the site arrived in 1930, led by Soviet geologist L A Kulik, who was amazed at the scale of the devastation and the absence of any impact crater. Whatever the object was that came from space, it had blown up in the atmosphere and completely disintegrated.

Nearly a century later, scientists are still debating what happened at that remote spot. Was it a comet or an asteroid? Some have even speculated that it was a mini-black hole, though there is no evidence of it emerging from the other side of the Earth, as it would have done.

What is more, none of the samples of soil, wood or water recovered from the impact zone have been able to cast any light on what the Tunguska object actually was.

Researchers from several Italian universities have visited Tunguska many times in the past few years. Now, in a pulling together of their data and information from several hitherto unused sources, the scientists offer an explanation about what happened in 1908.

Possible orbits

They analysed seismic records from several Siberian monitoring stations, which combined with data on the directions of flattened trees gives information about the object's trajectory. So far, over 60,000 fallen trees have been surveyed to determine the site of the blast wave.

Over 60,000 fallen trees have been surveyed to determine the site of the blast wave

"We performed a detailed analysis of all the available scientific literature, including unpublished eye-witness accounts that have never been translated from the Russian," said Dr Foschini. "This allowed us to calculate the orbit of the cosmic body that crashed."

The object appears to have approached Tunguska from the southeast at about 11 km per second (7 miles a second). Using this data, the researchers were able to plot a series of possible orbits for the object.

Of the 886 valid orbits that they calculated, over 80% of them were asteroid orbits with only a minority being orbits that are associated with comets. But if it was an asteroid why did it break up completely?

"Possibly because the object was like asteroid Mathilde, which was photographed by the passing Near-Shoemaker spaceprobe in 1997. Mathilde is a rubble pile with a density very close to that of water. This would mean it could explode and fragment in the atmosphere with only the shock wave reaching the ground."

The research will be published in a forthcoming edition of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

source : BBC News

Read More

The 10 Most Famous Successful Assassinations

An assassination is a murder of an individual, who is usually a famous celebrity, politician, religious figure or royal. Usually in cases of assassination there is a clear motive – jealousy, political or religious idealism, contract killing, revenge etc. This list outlines the circumstances surrounding the death of 10 of the most famous successful assassinations in world history.

10. Alexander Litvinenko

Alexander Litvinenko was a Russian KGB agent, turned dissident and possible MI6 agent. On November 1st 2006, Litvinenko fell ill after eating at the London sushi restaurant Itsu. He had been receiving evidence about another murder while he was eating at the restaurant. On November 3rd, Litvinenko’s condition deteriorated and he was rushed to Barnet General Hospital in London. He died three weeks after his hospitalisation suffering from acute radiation syndrome spawned from exposure to the radioactive polonium-210. The incident gained huge worldwide media coverage, probably due to the similarities in the case to Hollywood spy movies. It is now accepted that Litvinenko was poisoned by a cup of tea in his hotel room. No one has been convicted of the murder; however, there are suspicions of Russian government involvement. Litvinenko died aged 44.

9. Lee Harvey Oswald

Lee Harvey Oswald was a former marine who the United States government claim was responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Whether or not this is true, Oswald was himself assassinated two days after the fatal shooting of the President in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner with links to organised crime. Ruby had apparently been upset and angered by the murder ofthe President and had sought revenge. Oswald was shot on November 24th 1963 and died later that evening, aged 24.

8. John Lennon

John Lennon was one of the founding members of The Beatles, who had gone on to have worldwide success as a member of the band, and also as a peace activist. On December 8th 1980, Lennon was in New York City. As he was returning to his hotel that evening a man shouted his name. As Lennon turned around, the man shot Lennon four times. Lennon then stumbled into the hotel and collapsed. While this was taking place, the assassin Mark David Chapman dropped his weapon and sat on the street, waiting to be arrested. He was charged with murder and remains in prison to this day. His motivation for the murder is unclear.

7. Robert F. Kennedy

US Senator Robert F. Kennedy was the younger brother of John F. Kennedy. He was shot in the early hours of June 5th 1968 by a man named Sirhan Sirhan. A day later, Kennedy died in hospital. Kennedy had been shot four times at point-blank range. RFK as he was sometimes known had been a Presidential Candidate for the Democratic Party. It is unknown what Sirhan’s motivation for killing Kennedy was, however, it is assumed he was a Palestinian terrorist seeking revenge for the US support of Israel in the Six Day’s War of 1967. Kennedy died aged 42.

6. Malcolm X

Malcolm X, also known as Malcolm Little was an American black Muslim minister. He is often seen as the man behind the Black Power movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s in which African Americans radicalised and became driven toward freedom and towards gaining the respect of their fellow Americans. Malcolm had previously been a member of the Nation of Islam, however, he had become a Sunni Muslim. Apparently, following this, the Nation of Islam had given orders for the assassination of Malcolm X. On February 21st 1965, Malcolm had begun giving a speech when a man rushed through the crowd and shot Malcolm X with a sawn-off shotgun. Two other men joined in and Malcolm was shot a total of 16 times. The three men who killed Malcolm X were all members of the Nation of Islam. Despite often being labelled as a cold-hearted radical and a menace, the world was sympathetic towards Malcolm following his assassination. Malcolm X died aged 39.

5. Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King was the main man behind the American Civil Rights Movement. The movement was an attempt to abolish the racial discrimination of African Americans. King himself was black. On April 4th 1968, while standing on the balcony of his second floor motel room, King was fatally shot. Following the assassination there were riots in over 60 cities across the USA, and five days later, President Johnson declared a day of mourning. Two months later, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured in London, and was extradited to Tennessee where he faced the a charge of murder against King. Ray was a white man who was opposed the African-AmericanCivil Rights Movement.

4. Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, and held tenure from 1861 until his death in 1865. John Wilkes Booth was a Confederate spy, who had become angry atthe President because of his support for the freedoms of African Americans. He became determined to assassinate Lincoln. On April 14th 1865, Lincoln was going to the theatre. With the presence of only one bodyguard wandering through the theatre, Booth seized his opportunity. He waited until laughter filled the theatre and shotthe President in the head. Booth escaped, but was caught and fatally shot twelve days later. Lincoln was aged 56 at the time of his death.

3. Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was a Roman political and military figure in the 1st century B.C. He was a successful military leader and following considerable success he started a civil war in the Roman Republic. Following this, he was proclaimed dictator. However, some senators in Rome were disillusioned by what Caesar had done, and so planned an assassination to take place on the Ides of March. While walking past the Theatre of Pompey, Caesar was stopped by a group of Senators to read a fake bill which was allegedly to give power back to the Senate. As Caesar did this, he was stabbed. According to historical evidence, there were as many as 60 Senators present. After Caesar was stabbed he tried to run away, but fell and was stabbed repeatedly on the floor. He had 23 stab wounds. His death marked the end of the Roman Republic, and out of the bloody aftermath emerged the Roman Empire.At the time of his death, Caesar was 57 years old.

2. Franz Ferdinand

Archduke of Austria Franz Ferdinand, and therefore heir to the Austrian throne is largely considered to be the catalyst for the beginning of World War I. On June 28th 1914 he was on a visit to Sarajevo, which was at that time a territory of Austria. While riding in an open-top car, he and his wife Sophie were shot by members of The Black Hand which was a Serbian group attempting to gain independence for all the states annexed by Austria-Hungary. World War I began two months after the assassination, with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. This declaration of war started a domino effect across Europe in which all the allies of Serbia declared war on Austria-Hungary and all of its allies.At the time of his murder, Ferdinand had been 50 years old.

1. John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States. He served from January 20th 1961 until his death on November 22nd 1963. His Presidency was one of the most event-filled of the 20th century. The space race, American Civil Rights Movement, Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, and the beginning of the Vietnam War all took place during his Presidency. Despite there being hundreds of witnesses to his assassination there is a lot of confusion surrounding Kennedy’s death to this day, leading many to suspect a conspiracy. Just before 12:30pm, Kennedy was travelling through Dallas in his open-top limousine. Three shots were then fired from a high-powered rifle, which all enteredthe president. Kennedy died soon after in hospital. Lee Harvey Oswald (see number 10) was charged with the murder of the President. This assassination in particular has had many conspiracies theorists, especially considering the until he died, Oswald maintained his innocence. Among those who have been accused are the FBI, Cuba, the CIA or the USSR. Many believe that there could have been a conspiracy among these groups. There has never been any conclusive evidence to prove that Oswald acted alone, or if he was even involved in the murder. Despite numerous investigations, the death is still shrouded in mystery.

Bonus: Mohandas Gandhi Wikipedia

On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was shot and killed while having his nightly public walk on the grounds of the Birla Bhavan (Birla House) in New Delhi. The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu radical with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan. Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were later tried and convicted; they were executed on 15 November 1949. Gandhi’s memorial at Rāj Ghāt, New Delhi, bears the epigraph “Hē Ram”, which may be translated as “Oh God”. These are widely believed to be Gandhi’s last words after he was shot, though the veracity of this statement has been disputed.

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/10/28/the-10-most-famous-successful-assassinations/

Read More

Top 10 Evil Children

From time to time the unthinkable happens: children kill. Some decide to murder members of their own family in spite of their seemingly normal upbringing. Others do so because their upbringing was far from normal – often including beatings and abuse. Then there are misguidedchildren who, from the sheer desire to kill, go on murder sprees ending the lives of purely innocent victims. Children are supposed to be innocent and pure; without malice, contempt, sinister anger, or desires to kill, yet every year many commit horrific crimes. Here are Ten of the Most Evil Children in History, with number One exclusively dedicated to one foul group. The age limit for this list is 17 years.

10. Brian And David Freeman / Nelson Byrdwell

Bryan Freeman, 17, and David, 16, who had shaved and tattooed their heads as a symbol of their neo-Nazi beliefs, were immediate suspects when their parents and younger brother were found bludgeoned to death in their Salisbury Township, PA, home. The boys had been terrorizing the family and, as a whole, the town. As the police told it, the triple murder uncovered in Salisbury Township, Pa., that week was every parent’s nightmare — the ghastly culmination of a long-running battle of wills between Brenda and Dennis Freeman and their loutish, hulking sons Bryan, 17, and David, 16.

9. Edmund Kemper

In 1964, when Edmund Kemper was 15, he shot his grandparents, killing them both. He had been planning his repulsive act for some time and had no regrets later. The California Youth Authority detained him in Juvenile Hall so that they could put him through rigorous series of tests administered by a psychiatrist. Because the results suggested that he was a paranoid psychotic, he was sent to Atascadero State Hospital for treatment. There he learned what others thought about his crime and worked hard to make his doctors believe that he had recovered. Although he was considered a sociopath, he worked in the psychology lab to help administer the tests to others. In the process, he learned a lot about other deviant offenders. Kemper was released after another five years and remained under the supervision of the Youth Authority. His doctors recommended that he not be returned to his mother’s care, but the Youth Authority ignored this. After Kemper murdered and dismembered eight women over the next five years, these same doctors affirmed his insanity defense. In fact, even as he was carrying parts of his victims around, a panel of psychiatrists judged him to be no threat to society.

8. Joshua Phillips

In 1998, 14-year-old Joshua Phillips bludgeoned his 8-year-old neighbor to death and hid her body beneath his bed. Seven days later, his mother noticed something leaking from beneath the bed. Joshua claimed that’s he’d accidentally hit Maddie in the eye with his baseball bat causing her to scream. In his panic he dragged her to his home where he hit her again and then stabbed her eleven times. His story failed to convince a Florida jury, who convicted him of first-degree murder. His mother is still appealing his conviction based upon the fact that he was given an adult penalty for his crime.

7. Willie Bosket

Willie Bosket, born on December 9, 1962, is a convicted murderer, whose crimes, committed while he was still a minor, led to a change in New York state law, so that juveniles as young as thirteen could be tried in adult court for murder and would face the same penalties. On March 19, 1978, Willie Bosket, then fifteen years old, shot dead Noel Perez on the New York subway, during an attempt to steal some money and a watch. Eight days later, Bosket shot another man, Moises Perez (no relation to his first victim) in another botched robbery attempt. Bosket was tried and convicted of the murders in the New York City Family court, where he was sentenced to five years in prison (the maximum for a minor). The short length of Bosket’s sentence caused a public outcry, and led the New York State Legislature to pass the Juvenile Offender Act of 1978. Under this act,children as young as thirteen years old could be tried in an adult court for crimes such as murder, and receive the same penalties as adults. New York was the first state to enact a law of this nature; many other legislatures have since followed suit. Bosket was eventually released from prison, but has subsequently been convicted of anumber of other felonies, for which he has received a number of life sentences. He is currently in the New York prison system, in solitary confinement.

6. Laurie Tackett

On the morning of Saturday, January 11, 1992, Indiana resident Donn Foley and his brother Ralph decided to do some quail hunting in a nearby Jefferson County forest. Just one mile into their trip, as Donn turned onto Lemon Road, Ralph spotted a strange object just a few feet from the road in a barren soybean field. At once it appeared to them that it might be a body, but the form was so badly burned and scarred that it looked to them to be a doll. Upon closer investigation, it became painfully obvious that it was not a doll. Upon investigation, it turned out to be the body of Shanda Sharer who would later be found the victim of a jealous lesbian love triangle. Her body, prior to the murder, had been slashed and stabbed with death eventually resulting from torching. Laurie Tackett was ultimately implicated along with Toni Lawrence and Hope Rippey.
Mary Laurine (Laurie) Tackett was born on October 5, 1974 in Madison, Indiana. Her mother was a fundamentalist Pentecostal Christian and her father was a factory worker with two felony convictions and prison stints in the 1960s. Tackett claimed she was molested at least twice as a child, at ages five and twelve.

5. Brenda Anne Spencer

On Monday, January 29, 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer used a rifle to wound eight children and one police officer at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, and to kill Principal Burton Wragg and custodian Mike Suchar. The school was across the street from her house. She used the rifle she had recently been given for Christmas by her father. When the six-hour incident ended and the pretty teenager was asked why she had committed the crime, she shrugged and replied, “I don’t like Mondays. This livens up the day.” She also said: “I had no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun.” “It was just like shooting ducks in a pond.” and “[Thechildren ] looked like a herd of cows standing around; it was really easy pickings.” Her lack of remorse and inability to provide a serious explanation for her actions when captured inspired the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats, written by socialist musician Bob Geldof. Her quote “I don’t like Mondays” also appears written on a wall in the movie, The Breakfast Club.

4. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson (both 10 years old) had been stealing things all day at the shopping center — candy, a troll doll, some batteries, a can of blue paint, and other incidentals. Why did they decide to steal 2 year-old James Bulger? Was it a plot or a sudden, overwhelming compulsion? Once they had him, they didn’t know what to do with him. They could have easily discarded him, leaving him alone on the sidewalk by a shop where someone would discover the crying baby. But Jon and Robert, likechildren who would rather destroy their own possessions than give them to another, murdered the little boy. James’s parents would never see their baby alive again. The video cameras at the mall caught several images of James Bulger in the hands of his killers, frozen in time. He was to be taken on a long, aimless walk, cruelly tortured along the way. James was senselessly beaten to death by his ten-year-old captors, who callously abandoned him on the railroad tracks.

3. Jesse Pomeroy

Jesse Pomeroy was 14 when he was arrested in 1874 for the horrific murder of a four-year-old boy. He was quickly labeled “The Boston Boy Fiend.” His horrible trek had begun three years earlier with the sexual torture of seven other boys. For those crimes, Pomeroy was sentenced to achildren ’s reform school but was released early. Not long after, he mutilated and killed a 10-year-old girl who came into his mother’s store. A month later, he kidnapped 4-year-old Horace Mullen, took him to a swamp outside town and slashed him so savagely with a knife that he nearly decapitated him. Because of his strange appearance (he had a milky white eye) and his previous abhorrent behavior, he was under suspicion. When he was shown the body and asked if he’d done it, he responded with a nonchalant, “I suppose I did.” Then the girl was found buried in his mother’s cellar and he confessed to that murder, as well. He was convicted and sentenced to death. Following a public outcry against condemningchildren to death, his sentence was commuted to forty years of solitary confinement.

2. Mary Bell

Mary Bell was convicted of strangling a young boy, Martin Brown, on May 25, 1968, the day before her 11th birthday. She was, as far as anyone knows, alone on this occasion. On July 31, 1968, Mary and her friend (Norma Bell – no relation to Mary) took part in the death, again by strangulation, of three-year-old Brian Howe. Police reports concluded that Mary Bell had gone back after killing him to carve an “N” into his stomach with a razor, this was then changed using the same razor but with a different hand to an “M”. Mary Bell also used a pair of scissors to cut off bits of Brian Howe’s hair and part of his genitals. As the girls were so young and their testimonies contradicted each other, it has never been entirely clear precisely what happened. Martin Brown’s death was initially ruled an accident as there was no evidence of foul play. Eventually, his death was linked with Brian Howe’s killing and in August, the two girls were charged with two counts of manslaughter. Mary was released in 1980 with court ordered anonymity. In 2003, the courts awarded her and her daughter anonymity for life.

1. School Shootings

The rise of school shootings has been staggering over the past 15 years and they still leave many people ultimately wondering why? Most of the kids involved had been ridiculed one way or another by not only school mates, but also family members at home. These murderous children acquired large caliber weapons in most cases; though in others, knives, hand guns, or the like were brought in to their schools and use just as effectively. Teachers, faculty, and students loose their lives each and every time this happens. Here are just a few of the incidents:

March 24th, 1998 – Andrew Golden (11) and Mitchell Johnson (13) gunned down 15 people in the Westside Middle School Playground.
April 20th, 1999 – Eric Harris (18) and Dylan Klebold (17) Columbine High School – 13 dead, 25 injured.
November 15th, 1995 – Jamie Rouse (17) Richland School Tennessee – 4 injured, 2 dead
February 2nd, 1996 – Barry Loukaitis (14) Moses Lake, Washington School – 3 dead, 2 injured
May 21st, 1998 – Kipland Kinkle (14) Springfield Oregon – 3 dead including parents, 8 wounded

Source: http://listverse.com/2007/11/23/top-10-evil-children/

Read More