What is the most efficient way to kill someone ...

That, as well as other possibilities, came to my mind after about thirty seconds of contemplation. Along with "I'm a horrible person."

Well, hey, with a strange topic like this, Brutal Honesty is the best policy. When I do my fictional killing, I don't do wimply nonsense. It has to be real, but with none of this Overdrawn at the Blood Bank bullshit, either.

It's harder than it sounds...

Killing off a character, ESPECIALLY bastard ones, in the most horrific and gruesome way is very, VERY, cathartic.

edited 23rd Aug '11 8:22:29 PM by dRoy

Yeah...I recently wrote a horde of Mooks getting hit with several dozen major seeded bombs. I don't think I really got the effect I was looking for, but yeah, horrific was what I wanted.

Dunno if I do horrific. Senseless, yes.

I'm not someone who watches a lot of gory films or reads much bloody literature, but I find writing a good, nasty death scene can be really, really fun if you can do it well, more so than reading one. And I have a few, here and there, including one ending with a superb Diagonal Cut...

At least, I imagine that it would be a superb Diagonal Cut.

Diagonal Cuts are damn near impossible to actually pull off (you'd need a blade with a width in nanometers), but ho boy are they stylish.

Well, now, that depends on whether or not it needs to be clean or not.

I think one of the strangest and bloodiest things I ever did was having someone slice someone else in half with a sword when the person had superstrength and it was deconstruction so realism kicked in. The walls got a free repaint...

edited 23rd Aug '11 10:54:33 PM by USAF713

I'm not sure if this is disappointing or not, but my take on it in that scene is a bit more, err, realistic than most. Not ludicrously gruesome, but... well, what you would logically expect from a neat angular slash. Lots of pretty little red dots on the apholstery.

It's still kind of awesome.

edited 23rd Aug '11 11:10:19 PM by JHM

Assuming that tools/machinery are allowed, probably a surefire way would be to put the victim through a car crusher. Or some other kind of giant crushing thing, like tying them to the railroad tracks like a Dastardly Whiplash villain or running them over repeatedly with a truck. That would be what I would think of for "how do you kill someone in the quickest, most surefire way that they're almost positively going to die from barring being Made of Iron."

If it has to be done with minimal mechanical assistance, then probably the "blows to vital areas" idea would be most efficient since you wouldn't be wasting energy just hitting them anywhere in the body. One thing I remember from a martial arts class was the mention of hitting a certain area in the neck would be very likely to kill someone if done hard enough.

edited 24th Aug '11 10:50:12 AM by Rainbow

@OP: Sure you're writing story?

If you're going for fast then might I recommend high amounts of explosives. Or even low amounts of explosives, if you can plant them properly - no table legs in the way. Other recommendations are a knife to the heart, or a major artery as has been mentioned.

If you're going to not immediately detectable then poison is pretty much the way to go. There's any number of toxic substances that will kill someone quickly, and won't show up until an autopsy. Or at all; if they're in a room with minimal air exchange, you just have to pump in something inert like carbon di/monoxide, or pure nitrogen, and they'll suffocate, probably without even realizing what's happening to them.

The OP hasn't responded at all, has he?

Anyway, throw him off something high. A bridge, a skyscraper, whatever. Surefire kill. Yes, even with a Trash Landing, they'll probably get hurt enough to die.

Alternatively, hammer, back of the head, like some people have say. Run him over with a car. No guns, huh? What a story.

It's possible that the OP hasn't responded because it was moved from OTC.

Something fast and effective ? I once asked something like that to a friendly black belt I know, she said karate chop in the throat.

Far too much Hollywood on this thread (Clue - your nose is cartilage).

I know what methods 22 Regt use, but there is no way I'm going to post it on the internet (because they are what works). Unconscious with bare hands (ok not dead, but at your mercy) is 7 seconds according to the self defence training we get at work.

edited 24th Mar '12 3:43:52 AM by LastHussar

Hey I clearly said it was an myth! I am a medical student thank you very much.

Now OP, as you know the healthiy human body needs a careful balance of The four humors. If you can strike the targets correct chakra points it should allow his Uterus to contract and attempt to escape leaving him disorientated and defenceless

Efficient? You may want to go the way of Nazi Death camps.

If you want quick, the only suggestion I have not read before on this thread is Vehicular Homicide.

Being run over by a race car is a quick kill yes?

The Nazis weren't remotely efficient about it. The mere act of setting up the camps was a terribly inefficient way to go about killing people when you could have just shot them all at the point of initial contact. That takes a lot less people, time, and effort.

Well, in its own way, it's certainly a quieter method, and Zyklon B is an extremely simple, quick way to kill large numbers of people...

This is going into very ugly places that I'd rather not explore. Let's return to murder, shall we?

If I wanted to kill someone fast, I'd push that person off the top of a skyscraper. Sure it would take a little bit of time for one to hit the ground, but the impact would kill them instantly.

That said a major construction site may work as well with the added benefit of claiming that it was a construction accident and the worker did not have a helmet...

Investigate organized crime and I'm sure that you'll find something.

On organized crime.

Will you accept a technical "kill"?

Pretty sure the witness protection program has the 'The Old You Is Dead' deal.

Organized crime is concerned with how to get away with it, not how to accomplish it. I wouldn't call them efficient about the actual act, except for the anonymous guy with a pistol method.

Post 66 basically ninja'd me. And yes, joey, I know you said it was a myth and I'm glad you did.

As for the "karate" chop, just like a palm heel strike to the nose, it's too impractical to yield any considerable lethality. If you ever go deer hunting, cut open the neck of the deer and grab its trachea, esophagus and other parts of the throat. You should be quick to notice that it has a rubbery texture to it not all that different from a fuel hose on a lawn mower. Bend it like you would a straw and then let go of it. It will likely take it's original shape again, if not get close to that original shape. This is one of the reasons why we can eat and sleep while tilting our heads, and it's also one of the reason why we don't suffocate when we tuck our chins in.

Now, a knife-hand strike or palm heel strike to the throat and face respectively can be used as a quick opening for a lethal technique such as the collar lock or standard neck break that others have mentioned. It's fast, simple and to the point, which would serve the OP's question well enough.

As a side note (and joey, correct me if I'm wrong), the human skull can handle about 15 psi and not much more than that. There are some weapons already mentioned on this thread that can defeat the skull's integrity pretty quickly, but ultimately I'd have to go with poisons and explosives in terms of efficiency.

edited 24th Mar '12 2:21:36 PM by Aprilla

Joeyjojo - wasn't aimed at you, but rather all the others who seemed to think it was true.

Have to love online discussion thread drift- people are now suggesting Death Camps. How exactly do you get those in a shoulder holster...