Uploaded July 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
In the development of the electric chair, unfortunately something innocent had to be the test it.
Did you know Dogs were the initial test subjects for the electric chair? Inventor Alfred Southwick was in search of something more humane than hangings, so he teamed up with a local physician and head of his local SPCA and rounded up hundreds of strays to dial in this invention and make the process as quick and painless as possible. Eventually, it made it to its first execution in the U.S. correctional systems where it failed to do its job the first time and the condemned had to be electrocuted twice to finish the job.
In the development of the electric chair, unfortunately something innocent had to be the test it.
Did you know Dogs were the initial test subjects for the electric chair? Inventor Alfred Southwick was in search of something more humane than hangings, so he teamed up with a local physician and head of his local SPCA and rounded up hundreds of strays to dial in this invention and make the process as quick and painless as possible. Eventually, it made it to its first execution in the U.S. correctional systems where it failed to do its job the first time and the condemned had to be electrocuted twice to finish the job.
