Was there ever a time in the days of execution by hanging that if the rope broke or failed, the prisoner was not hung a 2nd time and set free?
Here's what AI had to say about that...
Yes, historically there were times when prisoners who survived a hanging were pardoned or set free, though it was never an automatic legal right.
Instead, survival was often interpreted through cultural, religious, or legal loopholes that resulted in mercy.
1. The "Divine Intervention" View
In medieval and early modern Europe, public executions were deeply intertwined with religious beliefs. If a botched execution occurred—such as a rope snapping, a knot slipping, or a prisoner miraculously reviving after being cut down—it was frequently viewed by the public and authorities as a sign of
divine intervention or the judgment of God. Executing someone a second time after surviving against the odds was sometimes seen as defying divine will, which could trigger public sympathy or outrage.
2. Notable Historical Examples
- Anne Greene (1650
An English domestic servant convicted of infanticide was hanged and left hanging for half an hour. When her body was handed over to medical students for dissection, they realized she was still breathing and successfully revived her. Because of the ordeal, the judges and the community felt she had suffered enough, and she was granted an official pardon.
- Margaret "Half-Hangit Maggie" Dickson (1724
A Scottish woman sentenced to death by hanging. After the execution, while her body was being transported in a wooden coffin to be buried, noises came from inside—she woke up. Under Scots Law, her death sentence had technically been "carried out," and because she couldn't be tried or executed twice for the same crime, she was released and lived for another 40 years.
- Inetta de Balsham (1264
An English woman sentenced to hanging for sheltering thieves. She survived hanging for three full days in the open air before being cut down. King Henry III granted her a royal pardon due to the miraculous nature of her survival.
3. What Usually Happened (The Reality)
While survivors like Greene and Dickson became folklore legends because they went free,
they were the exception, not the rule.
In most formal legal systems, surviving a botched hanging did not mean you were free to go. It usually meant
temporary relief while authorities figured out what to do. Typically, the prisoner was heavily guarded, taken back to a cell, and subjected to the execution a second time once a new gallows or stronger rope was prepared (as was famously the case with
John "Babbacombe" Lee, whose trapdoor failed three times in 1884, resulting in his sentence being commuted to life imprisonment rather than freedom).
When a prisoner
was freed, it was almost always due to a special royal pardon, extreme public pressure, or a unique legal loophole, rather than a standing law that guaranteed freedom.