This is my 1890s Ngombe executioner's sword. The Ngombe ("river people") are a Congolese ethnographic group who manufactured these swords for ceremonial executions. The victim would be tied by their feet to the ground with their neck tied to a bent flexible tree, suspending them between the earth and bent tree.



The executioner would then hack off their head with the curved edge of the sword, catapulting the severed head over the tree tops. The Ngombe believed that the head remained alive for moments after being severed and the experience of sailing over the treetops would ease the transition into the afterlife.

At the turn of the 20th Century, the Belgians banned the manufacture of these swords, but the Ngombe continued making them anyway and used them in ceremonial dances and as a status symbol.



My specimen is 17 inches from blade tip to handle and 8 inches from handle to the end of the pommel. For more information about the Belgian Congo (and by extension, the historical context within which this sword was used and banned), check out King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild.

Now without further ado, here is my Ngombe executioner's sword:



I can assure you there is no active rust on the blade and the redness is a result of lighting and my camera.










Post your exotic (African, Pacific Islands, Middle Eastern, etc) blades if you have them.  

I do volunteer work at a local museum dedicated to a local industrialist and world traveller. In the industrialists mansion we have a some what extensive collection of firearms and swords that he collected in his travels. I believe there are three of those in the collection. He also has a middle eastern executioners sword, the blade on it is a very black color.

That's awesome. What did the Middle Eastern blade look like?

Blade is about five feet long, it is curvey on both sides, long hilt, two handled grip, and not very ornate. It is definitely a two handed sword. The color of the blade makes me think that it has seen really heavy use. I'll see if I can get  couple pictures to send you.

I was aware of the Congolese sword , but not their technique ... The head would remain alive , until it succumbed to oxygen deprivation - probably 20 seconds +/- . I'm not sure how much it could comprehend until then ...

Wicked. And cool!

That would be awesome!



Apparently the Ngombe believed the head would stay alive and ease the transition of the dead body it was formerly attached to into the afterlife. Maybe they were onto something...



Thanks!

This is actually true and it was even scientifically measured.  Back during the French revolution there was one French scientist (forgot his name) who was a little too chummy with the royals and he was sentenced to the guillotine.  Before the execution, his scientific peers asked him perform an experiment- he would devote himself to continue blinking and the duration for how long he kept blinking would be recorded by observers.  After he was beheaded he continued to blink for about ten seconds, and they figured it was because the head had enough oxygenated blood to keep the brain alive for a short while even after being removed from the body.  What these tribes people believed was true as far as it goes, but what they probably didn't realize is that unless the head was flung 500 feet into the air the victim would probably have been still conscious when the head hit the ground.

We return you to our regularly scheduled program before people start thinking I'm a ghoul...

I need to find out who this French scientist is. That story is fascinating.

I've seen one of those before in a book. Indian, isn't it? What is it called?

All I've got is one real, "old" katana...

Filipino Kriss

I read somewhere that a French doctor connected a dog to a guillotined head to see how long he could keep it alive. Supposedly they kept it alive for several minutes, it appeared to mouth words, blink, and rotate it's eyes. There are othe accounts that guillotined heads were often yelled at by executioners when they were in the basket, again they would rotate their eyes, blink and appear to focus their eyes on the person yelling.

That's unsettling as hell.  

Thats nothing check out #2 on this list Mad Scientist

Back in the 90s while I was TDY to Riyadh I saw an execution, they beheaded 5 drug runners with a sword.  It was memorable.

I think I can speak for everyone else here when I say...

AHHHHHHH!  WHAT THE F**K DID I JUST WATCH????

Hahah bet you learned something though