#BotchedExecutions | Twenty-Three Breaths And A Steel Pole

Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories · Oct 19, 2026 · 22:03

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In the early 1980s, a witness swore flames rose from a man's leg in Virginia's chair, Alabama needed three jolts to kill John Evans, and Mississippi's gas chamber left Jimmy Lee Gray striking his head on a steel pole. In Georgia, "Repeat the execution" was the commissioner's answer when an official told a tape recorder that Alpha Otis Stephens was still alive.

From the book “BOTCHED EXECUTIONS: Four Centuries Of Failed Hangings, Electrocutions, Gassings, Injections And Firing Squads” by Darren Marlar at https://weirddarkness.com/botchedexecutions

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Originally aired: October 19, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HM3LZM9M/