Weird Chicago Presents:
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The attempts to revive Cardinella and Viana were not the first time anyone in Chicago had attempted to bring a hanged man back to life. In fact, a similar experiment had been made by prison officials in 1882!
When murderer James Tracy’s body was cut down from the gallows, it was immediately brought into the prison bathroom, where a team of three doctors pumped electricity into it to see if he could be brought back to life.
Tracy’s neck was broken, so there was no chance he was ever going to be up and walking again. However, by pumping massive amounts of electricity into his chest, they were able to get his heart beating again at a regular rhythm, and by moving the wires around, they were able to change his facial expressions (“Look! Now he’s happy, now he’s sad…now he just smelled a fart….”) The doctors concluded that, had he strangled to death, there WAS a chance he could have been revived. |
The full story of Tracy, and the full physicians report on the bizarre incident, is in FATAL DROP: True Tales of the Chicago Gallows, the first spin-off to the Weird Chicago book. It’s available today from White Chapel press!
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