Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging causes death.
A cheetah strangling an impala, Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa
Illustration depicting the ligature strangulation of Saint Godelieve
Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature. Hanging has been a common method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and is the primary execution method in numerous countries and regions. The first known account of execution by hanging is in Homer's Odyssey. Hanging is also a method of suicide.
Detail from a painting by Pisanello, 1436–1438
Execution of guards and kapos of the Stutthof concentration camp on 4 July 1946 by short-drop hanging. In the foreground are the female overseers: Jenny-Wanda Barkmann, Ewa Paradies, Elisabeth Becker, Wanda Klaff, Gerda Steinhoff (left to right).
Mass execution of Serbs by the Austro-Hungarian army in 1916
The execution of Henry Wirz in 1865 near the U.S. Capitol; Wirz was given a standard drop, which did not break his neck
