Funnbee

Public executions used to be a form of entertainment and executioners were like rock stars. A good executioner was one that had flair but could kill a victim quickly. This is a look at 7 executioners that became famous for their abilities to dispatch their victims.

The only American president to serve two nonconsecutive terms also carried out two executions while sheriff in Buffalo, New York. He hanged a man that stabbed his own mother and a few months later hanged a murderer. During the 1884 elections his rivals called him “Buffalo’s Hangman” and tried to use the executions against him. Neither the allegations that he had a child out of wedlock, nor the nickname hurt his candidacy. In fact, some historians believe that personally executing criminals made him appear tough on crime.

Unlike Bugatti, Henri-Sanson enjoyed working up a crowd before performing executions. He attracted record numbers and was one of the most efficient public executioners in Paris. He once executed 300 people during 3 days of the Reign of Terror and was asked to slow down because residents of a nearby street were complaining that the stench of blood would drive house prices down. He was so skilled that he could guillotine 12 people under 13 minutes. He famously made Marie Antoinette one of those people in front of 200,000 cheering fans.

“Mastro Titta”, a corruption of “Master of Justice”, is considered a national hero in Italy for performing 516 public executions for the Papal States. While other executioners on this list would show off for the crowds, Bugatti considered it to be a side job. Well known for his brutality – using hammers to crush heads and then quartering the bodies – he approached each execution in a casual and religious manner: he would go to confession and take communion before each victim, offered them a pinch of snuff, and then ended their lives. His blood stained cloak can still be seen in Rome’s Criminology Museum.

The “Iron Duke of Alva” was the chief executioner for King Philip of Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. Stories about his approach would send towns into a panic – and rightfully so: he once executed 8,000 people in a single session at Antwerp. He boasted that he had managed to hang 18,000 Dutchmen in the Netherlands. These stories and his brutal methods – he would brand his victim’s tongue until it couldn’t be taken back into the mouth and would then burn them at the stake – only helped spread rumors that Spaniards were savage radicals.

While Brandon was popular for his skill, Marwood became popular for developing a process that instantly killed his victims. He started out as cobbler but got a job as executioner after showing that a person died instantly if his “long drop” method was used. Before Marwood, people getting hanged would slowly strangle to death and the executioner would have to use his own weight to seal the deal. Marwood added a snapping motion that would instantly break the neck. It wasn’t perfect though, the first few executions often ended with decaptiation.

The English were always very picky about who could become an executioner. It had to be someone from a family of executioners that knew how to kill someone quickly but also knew how to vamp for the crowd. Brandon was one of the most famous Common Hangmen of London and became the yardstick against which other English executioners (even Albert Pierrepoint) were measured. He was extremely proud of his ability to sever a head with a single blow, something that was very popular with the crowds – and appreciated by people getting executed – since it generally took a few chops for the average executioner to get through. He refined this skill after years of practice on cats and dogs. He is best known for executing King Charles I, but did so under heavy disguise out of fear of retaliation.

Arnaud’s, New Orleans PRICE: $1.4 million

Release a magazine cover with a presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in Muslim garb, and adorn his wife in militant underground attire and armed with an AK-47, and there’s sure to be a seismic reaction. And did we mention the burning U.S. flag? When the presidential hopeful happens to be Barack Obama, drawn here on the cover of The New Yorker in the midst of a so-called “terrorist fist jab” with his wife Michelle, attempts at fun-natured satire are sure to be lost on the involved parties.

Time Magazine: Bill Clinton, with horns

It’s an honor to be named Time’s Man of the Year, no doubt. But what, per chance, was Time trying to tell us by framing President Clinton in front of the letter ‘M’? Are those devil horns, or just the tips of an ordinary, harmless and completely innocent consonant? The picture at the left isn’t the offending photo , but the effect is the same.

Gisele Bündchen and LeBron James

Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz again incited hysterical reactions when she photographed Gisele Bündchen and LeBron James for the April 2008 cover of Vogue. The issue marked the first time a black man had graced the cover of the magazine. But the stark juxtaposition of the two caused a stir, with one critic on ESPN.com concluding, “Vogue’s quest to highlight the differences between superstar athletes and supermodels only successfully reinforces the animalistic stereotypes frequently associated with black athletes.”

OJ Simpson, Time

Shortly after the arrest of O.J. Simpson in 1994, Newsweek and Time ran photos of his original police mug shot. The one on the cover of Time, however, was altered to look a bit darker than the original police photograph. Newsweek ran the shot untouched. Heated discussions about race in America quickly followed.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Photographer Annie Leibovitz has said the original concept for the now legendary John Lennon and Yoko Ono Rolling Stone cover was for both to appear nude, designed to mark the release of their album “Double Fantasy.” As legend has it, Lennon was game, shedding his clothes quickly, but Ono felt uncomfortable. Leibovitz recalled for Rolling Stone: “I was kinda disappointed, and I said, ‘Just leave everything on.’ We took one Polaroid, and the three of us knew it was profound right away.” That same night, Dec. 8, 1980, he was shot and killed by a fan in front of his Manhattan apartment.

Vanity Fair: Demi Moore poses nude while pregnant

It was the photo that spawned all manner of celebrity mom to bare all along with their bellies, among them Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. “It did seem to give a little bit more permission to feel sexy, attractive when you’re pregnant,” Moore told V Magazine. “But I really didn’t expect for the response to be what it was. I was pretty shocked.” At the time, some retailers were so taken aback by the shot that they sold the issue in a brown paper bag as if it were an adult title like Playboy.

One year later, Demi returned to the cover of Vanity Fair to commemorate her pregnant nude shot. This time, she appeared with a men’s suit painted on her body.

Twilight

When author Stephenie Meyer wrote that “Twilight” hero Edward, the 17-going-on-108-year-old vampire, is supposed to be dazzlingly, blindingly beautiful, we’re pretty sure she didn’t mean in a rosy-lipped female kind of way. Pity then poor Robert Pattison, an actor whose one only claim to fame thus far is his small role as Harry Potter rival Cedric Diggory in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” The backlash was immediate. Once MTV.com posted an early preview of the cover, the site attracted hundreds of comments including this one from a poster identified as “Horrified”: “Edward looks like a ZOMBIE. The stylists and photographer obviously had no idea who the characters are…he looks like a hairy, powdered donut.”

Entertainment Weekly: Dixie Chicks get ink’d up with neo-conservative slogans