Von: Michael Marsden Michael.Marsden%newcastle.ac.uk @ SUB (Mo, 08.07.91 07:12)<\/p>\n
\t– aus alt.auicide.holiday (Usenet) –<\/p>\n
SUICIDE – Methods<\/p>\n
1. HANGING
\n 2 methods
\n 1. asphyxiation (dangle on end of rope for 10 minutes)
\n Time: 5 to 10 minutes
\n Available: Rope, solid support 10 foot above ground
\n Certainty: Fairly certain (discovery, rope\/support snapping)
\n Notes: Brain damage likely if rescued. Very painful depending on
\n rope. Most common EFFECTIVE form of suicide. See later
\n “Asphyxiation” section. Someone did this about 10 meters
\n from where I was sleeping once. Worked perfectly.<\/p>\n
2. breaking neck
\n Time: Should be instant if it does break. See previous if not
\n Available: Rope, solid support, 10 foot space below, several above
\n Certainty: Very certain if the rope\/support doesn’t break
\n Notes: Minimal danger of discovery (depends on location). Painless
\n if you drop far enough (8 foot is optimum). Make sure that
\n the rope is tied securely to something STRONG!! It has to
\n support your weight MULTIPLIED by the force of the drop
\n (in g). Use a hangman’s knot (with the knot at the back of
\n your neck).<\/p>\n
2. POISON
\n Availability of effective poisons restricted.
\n Normally painless, but depends on drug.
\n Large danger of discovery because slow.
\n Available compounds dangerous, have side effect if survived.
\n Fairly common, usually ineffective (depends on drug, dose and luck).
\n Takes from 10 seconds to fortnight or more.
\n In general, you need to stay away from medical help until you actually die,
\n but there are exceptions to this (that have been pointed out in the text).
\n Common drugs:<\/p>\n
Cyanide (HCN?)
\n Dosage: 50 mg Hydrogen Cyanide gas, 200-300 mg Cyanide salts
\n Time: seconds for HC, minutes Cs (empty stomach) hours (full s)
\n Available: very difficult to get hold of
\n Certainty: very certain
\n Notes: It helps to have an empty stomach (since the salts react
\n with the stomach acids to form H.C.). A full stomach can
\n delay death for up to four hours with the salts. Antidotes
\n to cyanide poisoning exist, but they have serious side
\n effects (they precipitate cyanide and similarly shaped
\n molecules from the blood stream. This frequently blocks
\n blood supply into toes, ears… so you could lose
\n one or two if you are “rescued”). What you can do, is
\n instead of taking the salts directly, drop 500mg or so
\n into a strong acid, and inhale the fumes. This will be
\n pure Hydrogen Cyanide, and you should die in 10 to 20
\n seconds.
\n The following is something I saw on the net:
\n “Hydrocyanic acid is one of the most poisonous substances
\n known; the inhalation of its fumes in high concentration
\n will cause almost immediate death. Hydrogen cyanide acts
\n by preventing the normal process of tissue oxidation
\n and paralyzing the respiratory center in the brain. Most
\n of the accidental cases are due to inhaling the fumes
\n during a fumigating process. In the pure state it kills
\n with great rapidity. Crystalline cyanides, such as
\n potassium or sodium cyanide are equally poisonous, since
\n they interact with the hydrochloric acid in the stomach
\n to liberate hydrocyanic acid. This poison has been used
\n for both homicide and suicide; in recent history, a
\n number of European Political figures carried vials of
\n cyanide salt for emergency self-destruction aand some
\n used them. Death resulted from amounts of only a
\n fraction of a gram. A concentration of 1 part in 500 of
\n hydrogen cyanide gas is fatal. Allowable working concen-
\n tration in most of the United States is 20 ppm. Two and
\n one-half grains of liquid acid has killed. The acid acts
\n fatally in about 15 minutes. The cyanide salts kill in
\n several hours. The average dose of the solution is 0.1 cc.
\n Since this is an extremely rapid poison, rapid action is
\n necessary. Occasionally the victim may make a few voluntary
\n actions before death results or alarming symptoms set in.
\n Death results from paralysis of the respiration. When a
\n smaller dose is taken the symptoms are diziness, headache,
\n and shortness of breath followed by convulsions, coma,
\n and collapse.
\n If amyl nitrate is available, have the victim inhale it
\n immediately for 20 seconds. Have the victim swallow 2
\n tablespoonfuls of hydrogen peroxide. Have the victim
\n inhale ammonia. Administer oxygen.”
\n [ed – cure sounds pretty bad.. drink bleach?? yuk]<\/p>\n
Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid?)
\n Dosage: 20-30+ grammes (too many cause vomitting)
\n Time: hours to days, variable
\n Available: easy to get hold of (get soluble ones, & dissolve them)
\n Certainty: unreliable
\n Notes: Not recommended, fatal dose varies wildly, could cause
\n liver & kidney damage instead of death. OD causes strange
\n noises in your ears (like a video arcade) & projectile
\n vomiting after about 10 hours. Medical help generally
\n effective, so stay out of hospital for a couple of days.
\n May cause bleeding in your stomach\/upper intestines.
\n Take with sodium bicarbinate (eg, bicarb. of soda), which
\n speeds up the absorbtion (sp?) significantly.<\/p>\n
Paracetamol (aka acet[a|yl]minopren \/ tylenol)
\n Dosage: 15+ grammes, 20+ is better
\n Time: 10 hours fatal damage, but 2 weeks to actually die
\n Available: easy to get hold of
\n Certainty: fairly reliable
\n Notes: Once 10-12 hours is up, you’ve had it, but you still live
\n for a week or two after that. Probably better to wait 15
\n hours just to make sure. Horrible side effects
\n during this time (some of which are: acute toxic hepatitis,
\n renal failure, cerebral oedema, intra-abdominal bleeding,
\n aspiration pneumonia, haemophilia). Too small dose causes
\n severe liver damage. Accidental deaths are very common.<\/p>\n
Sleeping tablets (don’t know what kinds)
\n Dosage: 50+???
\n Time: unconsious in minutes, coma for hours or day,
\n death day or two. May survive coma.
\n Available: needs to be prescribed (in UK at any rate)
\n Certainty: semi-reliable, need to get dosage right
\n very reliable with plastic bag and rubber band
\n Notes: I don’t have enough information about these. Combine
\n with an airtight plastic bag, and a rubber band to
\n get a very effective method. Also combine with half a
\n bottle of whisky, it helps.
\n May be quicker if you open up the capsules, and dissolve
\n the contents in water. May also mean that you won’t puke
\n and lose the drug.
\n One of the teachers at my old school used barbiturates &
\n alcohol, they found her body in the morning.<\/p>\n
Alcohol (spirits preferably, your choice)
\n Dosage: 1\/2 litre vodka?, similar. Varies from person to person.
\n Time: about 8 hours
\n Available: good
\n Certainty: unreliable
\n Notes: will cause liver and kidney damage if ‘rescued’
\n before death. Drink it all at the same time, quickly
\n as possible. Dosage is questionable, I don’t have
\n any figures. Taking the spirits as an enema is supposed
\n to be a very quick way of absorbing alcohol, but a less
\n unpleasant way is to inject it. The dosage it takes to
\n kill you depends on whether you drink normally, the
\n state of your liver, whether you pass out on your back
\n or not (and probably also the phase of the moon!).
\n The following is from sci.med (on USENET):
\n “The fatal dose of pure alcohol in an average adult is
\n 300-400 mL (750-1000 mL of 40% alcohol) if consumed in
\n less than one hour. Apart from the effects of overdosage,
\n death after alcohol consumption can occur as a result of
\n choking on vomit while unconscious. I don’t believe any
\n permanent damage occured in the above case [ed – the poster
\n was talking about a specific case of a single very heavy
\n drinking session]. Consequences such as liver damage occur
\n after chronic consumption.”<\/p>\n
Water
\n Dosage: gallons of the stuff (14 litres mentioned)
\n Time: 12 hours or so?
\n Available: always available unless you’re in Kuwait.
\n Certainty: so-so (not certain about this)
\n Notes: works by washing out the salts in your body, until
\n the cells fail (osmotic balance buggered up). You need
\n to keep drinking continually until you collapse. Unusual
\n method. Someone suggested it would also cause cramps.
\n The following is something from A.S.H., Dec. 1990.
\n “About a year ago a local newspaper carried a story about
\n a woman who had drunk herself to death. Apparently she
\n had injested something mildly poisonous, and when she
\n called her doctor asking him what to do, he told her to
\n drink lots of water and see him in the morning. She
\n got to it and managed to drink no less than 14 litres of
\n water before the osmotic balance in her body was so upset
\n it could no longer function and she died (don’t know how
\n quickly)”.<\/p>\n
Bleach and other corrosives
\n Dosage: A bottle (litre or half litre)
\n Time: Hours\/days
\n Available: Easily available
\n Certainty: Uncertain
\n Notes: Bloody painful – depends on your stomach getting
\n corroded, the stomach acids escaping, and doing their
\n dirty work in your vital organs. Not really my cup of
\n tea…<\/p>\n
Insulin (injected)
\n Dosage: No idea
\n Time: Probably quite quickly into coma
\n Available: Difficult to get hold of unless you’re a diabetic
\n or a vet
\n Certainty: Very certain if dose is high enough & not discovered
\n Notes: Supposed to be quite pleasant (eg insulin shock
\n treatments used for some psychiatric condition).<\/p>\n
Petrol (in lungs\/injected)
\n Dosage: “A Thimble-full” -20 ml?
\n Time: Seconds\/minutes
\n Available: Common
\n Certainty: I’m not sure of the dosage, but fairly certain if
\n correct
\n Notes: Can also use LPG (propane\/butane) on skin surface (since
\n these are light enough to go through the skin). Stick your
\n hand in a bucket of propane and see how many seconds you
\n last…<\/p>\n
Oil of Wintergreen\/Methyl Salicylate (in lungs\/injected)
\n Dosage: Probably similar to petrol (20 ml)
\n Time: Don’t know
\n Available: Not available in concentration
\n Certainty: Don’t know
\n Notes: Don’t have enough information on this one to be able
\n to say anything about it.<\/p>\n
Carbon Monoxide
\n Dosage: 5% concentration or so?
\n Time: Minutes to hours depending on concentration
\n Available: You get it out of a car exhaust, you used to be able
\n to use “town gas” (eg, stick your head in the cooker)
\n but this is no longer available
\n Certainty: Fairly certain, as long as you aren’t “rescued”
\n Notes: Causes brain damage.<\/p>\n
Malathon (insecticide)
\n Dosage: A bottle (?)
\n Time: 2 to 3 hours
\n Available: From a large garden centre or DIY shop
\n Certainty: probable, given correct dosage
\n Notes: Drink undiluted, shake bottle first since it settles.
\n it causes diarhoea after about half an hour.<\/p>\n
Caffiene
\n Dosage: 20 grammes
\n Time: not known
\n Available: Caffiene tablets available in Chemist shops
\n Certainty: don’t know
\n Notes: I don’t know very much about this.<\/p>\n
Nitrogen gas (or other inert gas)
\n Dosage: Several litres uncompressed is minimum
\n Time: Minutes
\n Available: Try plumber, or welding supplies company
\n Certainty: Certain
\n Notes: This is really a form of asphyxiation, (see later),
\n but is particularly good since you don’t experience
\n the lack of oxygen (what people really experience is
\n the EXCESS of carbon dioxide).<\/p>\n
Potassium Chloride (injected in solution) \/ KCl
\n Dosage: not known (try 20cc injection of strong solution)
\n Time: Seconds to minutes
\n Available: Widely available
\n Certainty: Certain given correct dosage
\n Notes: Causes heart attack (which is painful). May be difficult
\n for coroner to realise it was suicide rather than a
\n natural heart attack. An excess of K+ in the blood
\n interferes with nerve signals, and stops muscles and
\n nerves from working. So when it reaches your heart, the
\n heart stops. Interesting to see what happens if you inject
\n it into your carotid artery, if it stops nervous tissue
\n from working.<\/p>\n
Rat poison (Warfarin)
\n Dosage: not known
\n Time: Hours to terminal damage, days to actual death
\n Available: Available
\n Certainty: Certain given suffient dosage
\n Notes: This is one of the truly unpleasant poisons, along with
\n Paracetamol\/Acetylminopren. I think it causes cerebral
\n haemorage (rat poison works by giving the unfortunate rat
\n haemophillia). Doctors can’t do anything about it, they
\n just leave you to die in agony on an intensive care ward.<\/p>\n
Chlorine gas
\n Dosage: not known – but probably sufficient generated in suggested
\n method
\n Time: not known
\n Available: Get about 4 litres of concentrated bleach, and the same
\n of ammonia
\n Certainty: Good
\n Notes: This was used in the first world war in the trenches, so
\n it’s got to be effective. You go into a small room, block
\n off all the ventilation, and pour the bleach and ammonia
\n into a bucket. This produces chlorine, you breath it in,
\n and hey presto! I suspect that this is quite painful,
\n if you are “rescued” there is a danger of either lung
\n damage, or a slow lingering death.<\/p>\n
Digitalis (Foxglove extract?)
\n Dosage: not known
\n Time: Probably minutes
\n Available: Do foxgloves grow in your area?
\n Certainty: probably good given sufficient dosage
\n Notes: Gives you a heart-attack. UNDETECTABLE after death, so
\n if you don’t want to let your friends\/relatives to know
\n that your death was a suicide use this. I don’t know
\n how to extract digitalis from foxglove, nor do I know
\n what the dosage is. Heart attacks are painful, but the
\n advantages in using an undetectable method make this
\n very attractive.<\/p>\n
Colchicine (Acetyltrimethylcolchicinic acid)
\n Dosage: 7 mg to 60 mg
\n Time: symptoms in about 4 hours, death in about 4 days
\n Available: Easily available (from large garden centre)
\n Certainty: certain
\n Notes: From the Autumn crocus (Colchicum Autumnale) \/
\n royal lily (Gloriosa Superba). One flower of CA is
\n about 12 mg, so take at least five of them. 20g tuber
\n of GS provides 60mg, single seed of CA provides 3.5mg
\n (so take 18). Damages blood vessels and nerves, and
\n stops cell division. Don’t know whether its painful or
\n not, but that bit about damaging nerves is worrying.
\n Best thing about this one is the name of the acid!<\/p>\n
Nicotine (yep – distilled fags!)
\n Dosage: extract from 100g tabacco (possibly 150mg pure)
\n Time: not known (possibly several seconds for 150mg pure)
\n Available: Easily available
\n Certainty: not known
\n Notes: Soak 100 grammes of tabacco for a few days. You get a
\n brown mess. Strain off the tabacco, then simmer slowly
\n until most of the liquid has gone, leaving about 2
\n teaspoons of brown treacle-like stuff. Add it to your
\n night-time drink, and never wake up. Someone said the
\n other day that 150mg of pure nicotine would be fatal in
\n seconds.<\/p>\n
Hydrazine
\n Dosage: As produced by reaction
\n Time: Not known, fortnight?
\n Available: Bottle of bleach & bottle of ammonia
\n Certainty: not known
\n Notes: Something quoted verbatim from the net:
\n “This is no joke, Dale. Several years ago at my high
\n school, one of the janitors innocently mixed together
\n half a bottle of bleach with half a bottle of of ammonia
\n in a small closet where the cleaning fluids were kept.
\n He passed out due to the hydrazine (not chlorine) gas
\n released in the reaction between the two chemicals. This
\n man was in agony for two weeks in an intensive care unit
\n in a local hospital with the majority of the inside
\n surface of his lungs damaged and untreatable before
\n he got lucky and died.”
\n [ed – one of the more nasty methods]<\/p>\n
Cocaine
\n Dosage: 1 ounce (don’t know what that is in real weights..)
\n Time: 2 to 3 hours?
\n Available: Difficult
\n Certainty: not known
\n Notes: Read something in a newspaper… a coke dealer died
\n after eating an ounce of it, when the police raided
\n his house. Cause of death was a cardiac arrest 2 1\/2
\n hours after the overdose.<\/p>\n
3. JUMPING OFF BUILDINGS
\n Time: Instantanious if you are lucky, minutes\/hours otherwise
\n Available: You need ten stories or higher, and access to the top floor
\n windows\/roof. Bring a bolt cutter to get onto the roof
\n Certainty: 90% for 6 stories, increasing after that
\n Notes: Difficult to overcome fear of heights, many people can’t do it.
\n Totally painless if high enough, but very frightening.
\n Easily discovered if seen on\/near roof\/windows. Access fairly
\n easy in a city, otherwise difficult. Risk of spending the
\n rest of your life in a wheelchair. Ever tried killing yourself
\n if you are paralysed from the neck down? Email conversations
\n suggest 10+ stories works ALMOST all of the time. Try to land
\n on concrete. Quote – “9 out of 10 people who fall 6 stories
\n will die”<\/p>\n
4. SLITTING WRISTS OR OTHER (pathetic)
\n Time: Minutes if major artery cut, eternity otherwise
\n Available: You really need a razor sharp knife. Razors are pretty tricky
\n to hold when they are covered with blood
\n Certainty: Uncertain if you cut an artery, highly improbable otherwise
\n Notes: Painful at first. Danger of discovery. This is a very common
\n suicide ‘gesture’ and hardly ever results in anything other
\n than a scar. A lot of will power required to cut deeply into
\n groin or carotid arteries, which are the only ones likely to
\n kill you. Don’t bother with this method. Cutting your throat
\n is difficult due to the fact that the carotid arteries
\n are protected by your windpipe (feel where your arteries are
\n with your fingertips, & slice from the side). I’ve seen photos
\n of people who have used this method – the depth of the cut
\n required is amazing. If you want to cut your wrists, cut along
\n the blue line (vein) on the underside of your wrist, but cut
\n deeply so that the artery underneath is exposed. Cut this
\n lengthways with a razor or similar.<\/p>\n
5. BULLET
\n Time: Microseconds unless you are unlucky (mins\/hours)
\n Available: Difficult in UK, easier in USA (get a shotgun)
\n Certainty: Certain
\n Notes: Painless if worked, otherwise painful & brain damage.
\n Danger of discovery of weapon or ammunition.
\n Not at all common in UK, more common in USA where guns
\n available. Brain damage & other effects if you survive.
\n Death either instantaneous, or prolonged.
\n Lots of will power needed to fire gun (‘hesitation marks’
\n are bullets\/pellets embedded in the wall, when you jerk
\n the gun as you fire). Bullet can miss vital parts in skull,
\n deflect off skull.
\n NOTE, fill mouth with water, aim about 45 degrees from
\n vertical, this is reliable* since shockwave from water will
\n kill instantly.
\n *NOTE, several people have suggested that this is unreliable.
\n See “Shotgun” below (since much more effective).
\n Ammunition to use is: .458 Winchester Magnum, or soft-point
\n slugs with .44 Magnum. Also you could use a sabot round, which
\n is a plastic wedge with a smaller thing in it. These rounds are
\n rather overkill, the phrase “elephant gun” has been used about
\n the .458 Winchester, but if you’re going to go, do it with
\n a bang<\/p>\n
6. ASPHYXIATION
\n Time: 5 mins to unconciousness, 10+ mins to brain death
\n Available: Anywhere there’s a rope and something solid to tie it to
\n Certainty: Certain, if yoou don’t get “rescued”
\n Notes: Panic reaction is very likely (unless inert gasses used).
\n One of the most effective and most used methods of suicide.
\n Probable brain damage if you are “rescued”.
\n NOTE, this can only really be done in two ways: firstly,
\n when you are unconsious (eg, sleeping pills), or secondly,
\n by hanging. Combining with pure inert gasses is a very good
\n suggestion. See “Nitrogen” in the poisons section<\/p>\n
7. AIR IN VEINS (basically just a myth)
\n Time: Eternity
\n Available: Plenty of air about… Need a hypodermic & syringe
\n Certainty: Almost zero (you might catch something from the needle)
\n Notes: This doesn’t work, unless you inject absolutely massive
\n amounts of air (it all goes out of the lungs). Myth caused
\n by the way that doctors squirt a syringe before using it to
\n get rid of contaminants. If you have to try it, go for the
\n carotid artery, since this goes to the brain. If you want
\n a heart attack, you will have to inject something on the order
\n of 20-50ml every heart-beat (these are ball-park figures) for
\n several heart beats. Good luck<\/p>\n
8. DECAPITATION
\n Time: Couple of seconds before conciousness fades
\n Available: Happen to have a train line nearby? Or a guillotine perhaps?
\n Certainty: Very certain, unless you pull away just before
\n Notes: See “jumping in front of trains”. May be difficult to stop
\n pulling your head out of the way – OD on sleeping tablets
\n first<\/p>\n
9. DISEMBOWELMENT (aka seppuku\/hara kiri)
\n Time: Minutes
\n Available: Got a nice razor-sharp sword?
\n Certainty: Fairly certain, assuming that you managed to gut yourself
\n properly before passing out with the agony
\n Notes: Painful, even the Samurai used a ‘second’ to decapitate them
\n at the appropriate point, so don’t expect to do much more than
\n give yourself peritonitis. Trendy for insane martial arts
\n fanatics and gay Japanese poets called Mishima.<\/p>\n
10. DROWNING
\n Time: Minutes (usually 5 mins, but up to 20 mins in cold water)
\n Available: Anywhere there’s deep water in a remote spot
\n Certainty: Good, just make sure you sink & can’t swim
\n Notes: Put stones in your pockets, tie your legs & hands together,
\n and hop into the lake.. bit of a shock to the fisherman who
\n finds your rotting corpse stuck in his brand new net.<\/p>\n
11. ELECTROCUTION
\n Time: Seconds \/ minutes
\n Available: Anywhere with high-tension, high-current lines & a good earth
\n Certainty: Somewhat dependant on luck & how much power goes through you
\n Notes: Don’t bother with 110 or 240 volt mains, its just not enough.
\n Some people do get killed with household electricity, but only
\n after several minutes. Use high tension lines, stand in bare
\n feet on waterlogged ground (better still, but a piece of THICK
\n copper cable into the nearest river). Works best if current
\n path travels through your head, or through the heart. Just
\n burns you badly otherwise.<\/p>\n
12. EXPLOSIVES
\n Time: 10 milliseconds, or similar (!)
\n Available: Difficult to get hold of detonator & good explosives
\n Certainty: Certain if detonator works properly
\n Notes: DON’T USE GUNPOWDER or other ‘slow’ explosives (eg,
\n homemade explosives). Use dynamite or ‘Plastique’, strap
\n it to your forehead with the detonator, and BOOM! The main
\n problem is with getting hold of high explosives (I know the
\n recipe for Nitro-Glycerine, but home manufacture is extremely
\n risky, and the product is unstable). If you can get a grenade,
\n use it, it’s probably the best way of doing this one.<\/p>\n
13. FREEZING TO DEATH
\n Time: several hours (15 minutes in very cold water)
\n Available: Got a large chest freezer? Is the outside temp 100F.<\/p>\n
X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
\n Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven<\/p>\n
& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510\/935-5845
\n Burn This Flag Zardoz 408\/363-9766
\n realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510\/527-1662
\n Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801\/278-2699
\n The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415\/864-DORK
\n The Shrine Rif Raf 206\/794-6674
\n Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510\/786-6560<\/p>\n
“Raw Data for Raw Nerves”
\nX-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X<\/p>\n
