Faces Of Death Page #4

The process is simple.

The victim is placed in a chair

where electrodes are attached

to his leg and head.

These two areas are sponged down

beforehand with a brine solution

to conduct electricity.

Strapped to a seat that you will never leave

alive is a situation that I still cannot justify.

A man on death row is in a continuous

battle with time and bureaucracy.

When both fall into the proper alignment,

the condemned knows that death results.

During the final preparations,

those of us watching this man

could feel the fear

being transmitted from his body.

Even though he committed

an inexcusable crime,

I began to wonder

if two wrongs really make a right.

His eyes are taped to prevent them

from popping out of their sockets.

The next step

is the flick of a switch

which sends a current of 2,000 volts

through the victim's body.

Then the current is brought down

to 1,000 volts after a few seconds.

By this point,

the man is unconscious

and the whole process

is repeated as many times as necessary

until the prisoner is proclaimed dead

by the physician on duty.

The room began

to smell like burning flesh.

After a brief examination,

we all knew there was more to come.

The final trickle of blood marked

the conclusion to this grotesque execution.

How much longer will we be

plagued by violence within society

is a thought

I've often pondered.

If this is the only solution,

humankind must stop and question

the whole meaning of justice.

This footage was shot by a Canadian

tourist while on vacation in the Middle East.

I decided to include this

in my study

for it portrayed a barbaric method

of dealing with the criminal.

To this day, I still don't know

the crime this man committed.

It would be curious to know whether

his act was worthy of the judgment.

The one redeeming factor

of holding a public execution

is perhaps it is

a deterrent to crime.

But is that any justification

for execution?

Most people have a desire to gain power

and a better understanding of life.

Religion helps center a person,

supplying answers to the unexplainable.

There is also another alternative for

those seeking answers - the world of cults.

Cults offer their followers

four basic prizes -

a sense of identity, discipline,

knowledge and power.

To attain these levels, each cult has its own

doctrine of laws that must be followed.

On the outskirts

of San Francisco,

a cult existed that promised

its members immortality.

I had heard rumors

about their ceremony.

They believed

the power of everlasting life

was found in the internal organs

of the dead.

After spending weeks searching

for these people, I finally met their leader.

As he explained his beliefs and methods,

I realized I was dealing with a maniac.

After lengthy discussions,

he allowed my crew to film his cult.

He reasoned that it was time for the world

to understand the true path to immortality.

Brothers and sisters,

we have before us a gift.

A gift that is gonna let us

outlive and outlove

any and every

human being on earth.

Bless our souls so that

we may be cleansed and freed forever.

Bless our souls so that

we may be cleansed and freed forever.

This is ours.

This is ours, people.

Feel it. Come on.

Come on.

Touch it.

Touch it.

People,

we are free,

we are there

and we are beautiful.

Go on.

Come on.

Oh, yes!

Their gruesome ceremony

culminated in an orgy.

Even if they had

the answer to immortality,

I felt a great sense of evil

among the members of this group.

From my viewpoint, they were dangerous

individuals whose minds were controlled.

Throughout the hillsides of Kentucky

and Tennessee exists another strange cult.

They call themselves

the Holiness Branch of the Church of God.

Their frightening ceremony is based upon

the actual words from the Bible

found in the 16th chapter of Mark.

"And these signs

shall follow them that believe:

"in my name shall they cast out devils;

"they shall speak with new tongues;

they shall pick up serpents;

"and if they drink any deadly thing,

it shall not hurt them;

"they shall lay hands on the sick,

and they shall recover."

At the height of the ritual, the handlers of

the snakes, or "saints" as they are called,

reach a trancelike,

almost hypnotic state of mind.

At this point, confessions are made

and those who have sinned are purged.

The power of belief was the key ingredient

in this bizarre situation.

Although we may be

the most intelligent creature on this planet,

we are also the most inconsistent.

To find peace within our existence

we sometimes create

a logic that endangers our lives.

Allow me to quote

this cult's basic prayer.

"Once I was a drinking man.

Amen.

"Once I was a sinner with women.

Amen.

"But it doesn't matter no more.

Amen.

"If the serpent bites me today.

Amen.

"It won't matter

'cause I can get salvation in the Lord.

"Amen and hallelujah."

Later that day, a member

of the congregation died of a snake bite.

I wonder what happened to the Lord

at that moment?

I'm sure their faith

masked any disbelief.

Does a full moon affect

the psyche of a human being?

On the evening of April 22, 1977,

it may have had some effect

on Mary Alice Brighton.

- Which floor is it?

- Sixth.

She's going. She's going.

It's definitely sixth.

In 1978, 35,000 people committed suicide

in the United States,

a rate of 12 per 100,000.

Of the many faces of death I have studied,

suicide is the most perplexing.

Often it has occurred to me that with all

our technical advances in the medical field,

the motivations behind what causes

the human being to take its own life

has still remained a mystery.

There are also those

who seek immortality.

Cryonics clinics have been developed

to meet this demand.

Within 24 hours after

Samuel Berkowitz died of cancer,

his body was prepared

for cryonic suspension.

Once all his blood

had been drained,

a balanced salt solution

was flushed through his circulatory system.

This process completed,

Mr. Berkowitz was now ready

to be connected

to the perfusion apparatus.

A glycerol solution

was placed into his body.

This reduced the freezing damage that

would occur and prevent cell deterioration.

By freezing the dead,

doctors are able to preserve the body

so that sometime in the future,

when a cure has been developed,

the deceased may be

brought back to life.

This procedure can be quite costly.

Just be sure

you provided money in your will.

Since ancient time, man has been

interested in physical survival

and has attempted

to preserve human remains.

The first man

was frozen ten years ago.

Since then, hundreds of others

have chosen the same path.

TRANS TIME in Berkeley, California,

are cryonic specialists.

They sincerely believe

the dead they preserve

will be brought back to life

at a later point in time.

Imagine what it would be like to die in 1980

and wake up one hundred years later.

If science is successful, the future will be

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes