by Aelinsaar 11 hours ago

This is the old standby, though you see it less these days. Some bad guy waits for the victim
with a chloroform-soaked rag, then *BAM*... over the face, brief struggle, and out like a light.
Only... this doesn't really work. Oh sure, Chloroform can and will knock you out, but it takes
longer than you'd think. More, it works only in high concentrations, which you're not going to
have on that rag you're holding. Chloroform is VERY volatile, and reactive with Oxygen, so
unless you can restrain your victim while constantly applying Chloroform to the rag... that's not
going to happen. I'd add, Chloroform decays in the presence of oxygen to a more stable
substance: Phosgene. You may remember that as a nasty choking agent from WWI.
Congratulations, you just graduated from kidnapping, to murder.
Addition: A bit of sauce: http://books.google.com/books?id=bhtVlobtuLUC&pg=PT22&
lpg=PT22&dq=chloroform+rag+is+a+myth&source=bl&ots=UrSDkGX119&
sig=3hKYkTT7dLV9jpAPuKNr_RObg84&hl=en&sa=X&ei=d-hnVPbqErLesATsy4GIAQ&
ved=0CFQQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=chloroform%20rag%20is%20a%20myth&f=false

terms

This is the new "chloroform rag" it seems. Some bad guy whips out a taser or other stun gun,
and the victim collapses in a twitching, unconscious heap. This essentially never happens in
real life, and is basically just a movie/tv trope. Sure, one of these puppies can incapacitate you
for a little while, but mostly it just hurts like hell and only incapacitates while it's actually firing.
More, people can be funny about how they conduct electricity, and their sensitivity to its
effects. Some will be down and screaming, and others will just be REALLY REALLY pissed.
Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2xbLV_NSbk Congratulation, your attempt at
kidnapping just became your own murder.
Some context: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/other-gadgets/stun-gun.htm

"The Throatslitter". This might seem a little self-explanatory, but the devil is in the details. This
trope is really two tropes in one: "The Silent Kill", and "Yank and Slash." The first is a militaryaction movie staple, in which a knife quickly drawn across the neck instantly kills and silences

some poor bastard. This is basically pure horseshit. Slitting a throat, even properly, is going to
HURT and people tend to scream when that happens. If you sever the "windpipe" then you
won't hear a scream, but you WILL hear gurgling and rasping. There are sentry take-down
maneuvers which can relatively quickly and silently use a knife to silence someone, but they
are NOT based on slitting the throat. The second part of the myth is how throat-slitting is
depicted. Generally someone comes from behind, grabs the chin and yanks the victim's head
up and back. The knife is rapidly drawn across the throat, and you get the usual horror-movie
spray of blood. In reality, this is the ass-backwards way to slit a throat (which I should
emphasize here, YOU SHOULD NOT DO.) By pulling the head up and back, you're actually
burying the major blood vessels beneath sinews and muscle. The proper technique involve
either pushing the head forward and down, or stabbing in behind the trachea and pushing out,
severing everything along the way. I suspect this trope was born of a desire to show the
maximum blood and gore for a movie, as though slitting a throat were not nasty enough.
There really is no good single source to cite for this, that doesn't explicitly provide instructions
for "proper" technique. I think that would be a bad thing to post, really. Any anatomy textbook
will fill in the blanks however.

"The Neckbreaker". Hoo boy is this a trope you see again and again. Someone gets into a
fight, or has to take out a sentry and they basically twist someone's head with a single fluid
motion, and *CRACK*... dead. Now, that CAN happen if you're very strong, the person is
totally surprised or weak, and you know EXACTLY what you're doing. Most of the time though,
people tense up when you try to yank their head around, and those are some stroooong
muscles in the neck. Another element of this myth is that in an instant, the person who's neck
is broken is dead on the ground. If you're VERY good maybe you could dislocate Cervical
Vertebrae 1, 2 or 3 and violently sever the upper spinal cord. This certainly can cause almost
immediate loss of consciousness, and/or death by cardiac arrest. There is no reason to
assume however, that your little maneuver will do this. Even if you do dislocate C1/2/3, you are
not necessarily going to sever the spinal cord completely. More likely the poor bastard will be
twitching, groaning, and rattling away. Often this is depicted as a "stealth move", which is
actually based on some sentry take-down techniques that various militaries teach their armed

forces. Those people are generally highly trained, very strong, and have the element of
surprise. Even then, there is a reason you hear about Special Forces SHOOTING people, and
not snapping their necks. Any benefit of the stealthy kill is probably going to be offset by the
chance of a noisy struggle, or death. A knife, used properly, is much more effective anyway,
and a gun from a distance is even better.
Sourcing: Same as the "Throat Slit"... it wouldn't be good to provide instructions, because
while its depiction in movies is fictional, there is a very real reality behind it. One bit of reading
would be the challenges in judicial executions using hangings.

There are many variations, but really this goes back to detective stories of the 1920's at least.
Basically, it is the myth that you can whack someone on the head with a dense object like a
sap or blackjack (or tire iron, etc...) which quickly and efficiently renders your victim
unconscious. While this can indeed happen, a few things are worth considering. First, while
you may daze or disorient, it actually takes quite a lot to knock someone out, and keep them
out where head trauma is concerned. Second, if you DO achieve that level of a whack...
congratulations, you've given your victim a concussion! Third, it is REALLY easy to kill
someone with blunt force to the head. A bleed, or even worse, a depressed skull fracture is
DEADLY untreated, and as a villain you're not treating anyone. The final element of the myth is
that a slap, some smelling salts, or a cold dunk will restore the victim to consciousness. In fact,
if they survive, they may stay out for a while, or be pretty loopy for many hours once they
come around. In short, knocking people on the head is a baaaad idea.

The "NeckJection"... just doesn't happen. This is related to another, older trope, the "Mental
Hospital shot in the arm." A few things to keep in mind when you see either: First most drugs
used to sedate or "chemically restrain" are benzodiazapines, barbiturates, or anti-psychotics.
None of those things have a particularly swift onset through Intramuscular (IM) injection. Now,
if you have Intravenous (IV) access this is different. Push, say, 10mg of Versed through an IV
and someone will be out like a light in about a minute. The thing is, as those of you unfortunate
enough to have personal experience with this may know, getting IV access is not always easy.
Certainly you can't just jab someone in the neck, arm, or leg, and hope to magically nail a vein
or artery. If you could hold someone very still and knew what you were doing (and had
practice) you probably could, but who is going to hold still for you? So no, the "Tranq
Dart/NeckJection" is just not a real thing in that way.
For one example: Haldol: http://www.news-medical.net/health/HaloperidolPharmacokinetics.aspx

Knife Fighting. Well, not a myth per se, but goddamn you don't see it done well very often in
movies. Usually you have the psycho with the "ice pick" downward-facing-blade method which
is rarely a good idea in an actual fight. The other major M.O. is someone lunging and waving
the knife around, and basically stabbing away. In reality with a knife, you keep the knife close
to your body unless you're actually striking with it. Equally important is that you need to set up
your slashing and stabbing with your off hand (that doesn't have a knife). Quick jabs to make
someone blink or focus off of the knife set up the knife strike. Anything else is just asking to
have your knife taken from you. In addition the "ice pick" grip is really for murder only, because
you need the other person to be beneath you and relatively still, while not posing any threat to
you. Finally, most people will cut themselves when using the average knife to attack someone,

but you almost never see this in movies.

All Tied Up". So this is the general myth that depicts people being restrained, often to a chair
or something similar, for long periods of time. In fact it is REALLY hard to tie someone down or
restrain them for very long. Unless you're using really strong cord, all of the right knots, AND
you knew what you were doing along the way... eventually someone can get free. Chairs can
be broken, and in desperate situations people have been known to break their thumbs to get
out of restraints and cuffs. Basically, unless your captor is a sailor or a Kinbaku expert, or they
are watching you at all times... you can probably eventually get loose.
4,706 points

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