Tarring and Feathering
Leaving aside the obvious question (who thought *this* would be the most appropriate mid-level mob punishment? Why not just punch the guy a lot?) what happens after somebody is tarred and feathered? He is sent out of town, or put in the stocks, and then what? I suppose the feathers flake off over time, but I am having a hard time picturing the tar coming off.
Would the victim go into a store and buy a dozen bottles of turpentine with the money he didn't have? Does turpentine dissolve tar? Would he need acetone or petroleum ether or something that hadn't been invented yet? Will the tar peel off if you give it a few weeks? What would it feel like peeling off tar? What would he do in the mean time? Would he stop being sticky after a little while as he got a fine coating of dust? Or would he continuously stick to everything until all the tar was gone?
I guess I just do not know enough about tar and feathers.
Would the victim go into a store and buy a dozen bottles of turpentine with the money he didn't have? Does turpentine dissolve tar? Would he need acetone or petroleum ether or something that hadn't been invented yet? Will the tar peel off if you give it a few weeks? What would it feel like peeling off tar? What would he do in the mean time? Would he stop being sticky after a little while as he got a fine coating of dust? Or would he continuously stick to everything until all the tar was gone?
I guess I just do not know enough about tar and feathers.
posted by apk01004 at 12:27 AM
2 Comments:
actually i do know this because one of the characters on Carnivale got t&f'd.
i am pretty sure without medical attention you die in miserable ways. severe burns. the tar is fused to your skin and then some. and your body does not react well when all the pores are closed off. burns or nay. remember that movie where the girl got dipped in gold paint and died? they did that on myth busters too. it is scary.
Yes well "the internet" says that in the heyday of tarring and feathering which was the American Revolution nobody ever died of it.
So either they all got medical attention right away or maybe they were incompletely tarred so that all their pores were not closed off.
I had always heard that that scene in Goldfinger was kind of fake, also.
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