You would think that when strapped to a gurney, knowing the life-force in you is about to expire, you’d want to say something nice to someone, or profound, or perhaps apologize to the family of the victim that is watching your demise.
Then again, if you were an innocent person about to have his veins filled with a lethal cocktail, you might not be in the mood to deliver a tender speech.
You might also be a ruthless and heartless psychopath that wants to fill the air one last time with your monstrous voice.
As you’ll now find out, that has happened, and it might send shivers down your spine hearing what their last words were. First up –
Richard Aaron Cobb
Richard Aaron Cobb was executed by lethal injection in 2013 in Texas. His crime was walking into a convenience store with an accomplice and robbing it. It didn’t stop there. They took two female employees and one male customer and forced them into a car. They took them to a secluded place and shot them execution-style and then drove away thinking they were all dead. Only the man actually died.
His last words were very strange, starting out nihilistic. He then finished with something very surprising:
“I hope that someday this absurdity that humanity has come to will come to an end,” and then seconds later after he started to pass away, “Wow. This is great. Thank you, warden.”
John Wayne Gacy
You all know the story of this man and we won’t go into detail about what he did. He murdered 33 people in the 1970s and hid many of the bodies under his house. He is one of the USA’s worst serial killers. His last words show that he had no remorse whatsoever. Those were:
“Kiss my ***”
We can’t say that last word, but we are sure you can guess what it is.
Peter Kürten
We bet that you’ve never heard of Peter Kürten. He was a German serial killer at a time when there were a few of them about in Germany.
That was the early 20th century. He killed at least nine people and did terrible things with their bodies. One other thing was that he drank the blood of his victims, and that’s why he was sometimes named, “The Vampire of Düsseldorf.”
In 1931, he was beheaded by the guillotine, and just before that happened he looked at his psychiatrist and said:
“Tell me, after my head has been chopped off, will I still be able to hear, at least for a moment, the sound of my own blood gushing from the stump of my neck? That would be the pleasure to end all pleasures.”
Before the blade came down the psychiatrist replied, “No.”
Aileen Wuornos
Aileen Wuornos, you might have seen portrayed in a Hollywood movie called Monster. She worked selling her body on the streets and killed six of her male customers. She had claimed she was defending herself but that didn’t hold up in court. She is now known as one of America’s worst female serial killers.
She was executed in 2002 and just before that she promised she’d come back to life again. She said:
“I’d just like to say I’m sailing with the rock, and I’ll be back like Independence Day with Jesus, June 6. Like the movie, big mother ship and all. I’ll be back.”
Carl Panzram
Carl Panzram was a serial killer in the U.S. at the start of the 20th century. He committed murders, among many other despicable things. He said he had killed 22 people in all.
He was sentenced to be hanged in 1930 and just before the executioner put the cover on his head he spat in his face. He was asked if he had any last words. This is how he replied:
“Yes, hurry it up, you Hoosier bastard! I could kill a dozen men while you’re screwing around!”. In case you’re wondering, a “Hoosier” is someone from the state of Indiana.
James French
James French killed two people in the late 50s and mid-60s in the USA. One of those people was his cellmate. The two didn’t get along very well.
His actual last words when sitting in the electric chair were, “There’s nothing else to say.”
But the last thing he said to a reporter was this:
“If I were covering my execution, do you know what I’d say in the newspaper headline tomorrow?”
The reporter said, “What?”
He answered, “French…Fries.”
Yep, that was amusing. We think this next guy was also attempting to make a joke.
Jeffery Matthews
Jeffery Matthews shot and killed his uncle during a robbery and he was executed in 2011 in Oklahoma because of that. His last words aren’t exactly frightening, but his dark sense of humor at the end is perhaps a little bit shocking.
He said a few things, but his very last words were:
“I think that governor’s phone is broke. He hasn’t called yet.”
Robert Charles Comer
You can say the same about Robert Charles Comer. In the end he either had a twisted sense of humor or was on another planet, mentally speaking.
In 1987, he killed a man, but he had also committed some other serious crimes throughout his life. When asked if he wanted to say something at the end, he said:
“Go Raiders.”
That’s in reference to an American football team. Such a statement you might assume encapsulates how little he thought about himself and life, and his victims.
Robert Alton Harris
Robert Alton Harris was executed in California in 1992 for multiple murders. He had been a career criminal with a long rap sheet, although his killing of two boys is why he got the gas chamber. He was incredibly heartless if you read his story, but we won’t go into it today.
In the end, he became poetic, with his last words being:
“You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the grim reaper.”
He’s not wrong about that.
Vincent Gutierrez
Vincent Gutierrez was executed in Texas in 2007 after being found guilty of killing a man. Gutierrez had been trying to steal the man’s car, and then shot him in the back. He was under the age of 18 when it happened.
He said a few things for his last words and apologized for what he had done, but then finished it off by saying:
“Where’s my stunt double when you need one.”
John William Rook
John William Rook believed his difficult childhood was the reason he committed a murder in 1980 in the U.S. He had 12 hotdogs for his last meal and then just before they took his life away he thanked them and said, “Freedom, freedom at last.”
James W. Rodgers
James W. Rodgers was sentenced to death after killing a fellow worker at a uranium mine in 1957. The two had fallen out over quite a big issue, and that was how a scoop shovel should be properly greased. They didn’t see eye to eye regarding the grease and Rodgers shot the other man.
He was sentenced to death by firing squad. When Rodgers was ready to have the firing squad finish his life he was asked if he had any final words. His reply was:
“I done told you my last request … a bulletproof vest.”
Charlie Livingston
In 1983, Charlie Livingston shot and killed a woman in Houston during a robbery. He didn’t seem to see the point of final words when the time came and he made that point, saying:
“You all brought me here to be executed, not to make a speech. That’s it.”
Douglas Roberts
Douglas Roberts from Texas was quite the opposite and he had quite a lot to say on the day of his execution by lethal injection in 2005. He’d been found guilty of kidnapping, robbery, and murder.
When the time came for his last words he said:
“I’ve been hanging around this popsicle stand way too long. Before I leave, I want to tell you all. When I die, bury me deep, lay two speakers at my feet, put some headphones on my head, and rock and roll me when I’m dead.”
The media later reported that he was “upbeat and animated” before his execution.
Frederick Wood
Frederick Wood was another joker, albeit with a dark sense of humor. He was put to the electric chair in 1963 for the crime of murder.
When asked what his final words would be, he replied:
“Gents, this is an educational project. You are about to witness the damaging effect electricity has on Wood.”
The next couple of people you could say are unique on this list.
Mary Blandy
Now we are going really back in time and this is the story of an English woman whose father didn’t approve of her relationship. She looked to poison to deal with this problem.
Mary Blandy was hanged in 1752, and at the time she was wearing a dress. She was worried people might look up that dress, even though it wouldn’t matter much after she was dead. Still, she told the executioner:
“For the sake of decency, gentlemen, don’t hang me high.”
Sarah Good
Now we go even farther back and to the Salem trials in Massachusetts in 1692. Sarah Good was in her thirties when she was accused of being a witch and then sentenced to death.
All 12 jurors agreed that she had to be a witch. She was accused of lacking in self-discipline and being a servant of the devil. She had only challenged locals regarding their very strict Puritan values, but that they said made her in league with Satan.
The Reverend Nicholas Noyes was there at the end and still tried to get her to confess, and she of course refused. Her last words to him were:
“I’m no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink.”
Twenty-five years later, Noyes had an aneurysm and as the story goes he coughed up blood and choked on it. We should say this is what is called, “popular legend”, but as the witch trials were so terrible we imagine many people might hope it happened.
While these witch trials were madness to the highest degree, Mary’s husband at least sued the courts for what had happened to her, and he won.
Now we go back to the present day and a couple of guys that looked death straight in the eye.
Clarence Ray Allen
Clarence Ray Allen was executed in California for killing three people. He was executed in 2006 when he was the ripe old age of 76. He was also very sick at the time and a lot of people wondered why the death sentence since it seemed he didn’t have much time left anyway. His last words were:
“Hoka hey, it’s a good day to die.”
Melvin White
Melvin White had committed the terrible crime of murdering a child and he was executed in Texas in 2005. We won’t go into details, but what he did shocked a lot of people.
Not many folks felt sorry for this man as he went to the gurney for his dose of lethal drugs. He did say he was sorry for what he did, and then said:
“All right, Warden, let’s give them what they want.”
The next couple of people you might say didn’t sit too well in their chair of death.
Torrey Twane McNabb
In 2017, Torrey Twane McNabb was given a lethal injection in the state of Alabama. He had been convicted of killing a police officer. He and his lawyers had tried to stop it from going through by saying the punishment was cruel and usual, but that didn’t work.
He went to the gurney an angry man and with both hands, he pointed two middle fingers in the air. He then said:
“Mom, sis, look at my eyes. I got no tears. I am unafraid. To the state of Alabama, I hate you… I hate you. I hate you.”
Thomas J. Grasso
We have perhaps saved the strangest last words until last, and this was the execution of a Thomas J. Grasso, a man that had been convicted of two murders of elderly women. He was given a lethal injection in the state of Oklahoma in 1995.
He wrote a short poem before his death and part of it went like this:
“The warden will read my last creed,
And the deadly brew will flow.
As the poison drips into my veins,
And from my body life does drain.”
But his last words were in the form of a very practical complaint. We guess he was being ironic. Those words were:
“I did not get my SpaghettiOs…I got spaghetti. I want the press to know this.”
