Death erection

The phenomenon has been attributed to pressure on the cerebellum created by the noose.[3] Spinal cord injuries are known to be associated with priapism.[4] Injuries to the cerebellum or spinal cord are often associated with priapism in living patients.[2]

Death by hanging, whether an execution or a suicide, has been observed to affect the genitals of both men and women. In women, the labia and clitoris may become engorged and there may be a discharge of blood from the vagina[5] while in men, "a more or less complete state of erection of the penis, with discharge of urine, mucus or prostatic fluid is a frequent occurrence ... present in one case in three."[5] Other causes of death may also result in these effects, including fatal gunshots to the head, damage to major blood vessels, and violent death by poisoning. A postmortem priapism is an indicator that death was likely swift and violent.[5] In a case reported from Thailand, an excess of sildenafil (Viagra) was thought to be cause of a death erection in a 64-year-old man.[6]

• In Weekend at Bernie's the titular character manages to have sex after he had been assassinated from being injected with a poison.
• In The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion,[7] art historian and critic Leo Steinberg notes that a number of Renaissance era artists depicted Jesus Christ after the crucifixion with a post-mortem erection. The artwork was suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church for several centuries.
• In Hannibal, from the 4-book series by American author Thomas Harris, the character Rinaldo Pazzi is noted to have “a death erection” after being hanged.
• The 2003 Channel 4 documentary on the Jack Sheppard case, The Georgian Underworld, Part 4: Invitation to a Hanging, noted that his hanging caused an erection.[8]
• The "Cyclops" section of James Joyce's Ulysses makes multiple uses of the terminal erection as a motif.[9]
• In the movie Zardoz, it is mentioned as part of a lecture on how the Eternals are no longer capable of sexual response.
• In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon relates an anecdote attributed to Abulfeda that Ali, on the death of Muhammad, exclaimed, O propheta, certe penis tuus cælum versus erectus est (O prophet, thy penis is erect unto the sky).[10] This understanding of the anecdote, however, is based on a mistranslation of the Arabic source by John Gagnier, who translated Abulfeda's Life of Muhammad into Latin. The English translation of the Arabic source should read: "In one account, ʿAlī, may God be best pleased with him, was called upon, while he was washing him [the Prophet], to raise his gaze to the sky."[11]
• Waiting for Godot refers to it in a conversation between Estragon and Vladimir when considering hanging themselves.[12]
• English rock band Area 11 have a song titled "Angel Lust" from their second album, Modern Synthesis.
• In "The Will," the second episode of the television series Six Feet Under, two characters lift an elderly male corpse onto a gurney when they suddenly notice its priapism. Rico, one of the characters, says, "Even when you're dead, you're never really dead." [13]
• This phenomenon is a recurring theme in the writing of William S. Burroughs, appearing in many of his books including Naked Lunch and Cities of the Red Night.[14]

• Lazarus sign
• Livor mortis