The Origin of Weird: Anne Greene, Life After Hanging

A servant is hanged before a crowd, declared dead, and sent to the university as a cadaver. Then a faint gasp stops the scalpels. We follow Anne Greene’s astonishing survival in 1650 Oxford—where public justice, scarce cadavers, and emerging medical practice collided—and explore how a single breath unraveled the era’s certainty about death, guilt, and divine will.

We walk through the culture of the gallows, where executions doubled as entertainment and moral theater, and the legal pipeline that delivered bodies to anatomy labs. Anne’s path from a risky pregnancy and a stillbirth to a murder conviction under the 1624 concealment law exposes the ruthless logic of a system stacked against poor, unmarried women. From there, we examine the mechanics of short-drop hanging, why strangulation often replaced the intended neck break, and how cold air and rope placement might have preserved a thread of life. When Oxford physicians William Petty and Thomas Willis opened her coffin, quick action—rewarming, stimulation, and the period’s humoral remedies—helped pull her back.

The fallout rippled across faith and law. Many called it a miracle, a sign that God had overruled the court. Officials chose a pardon rather than testing the limits of punishment twice, and Anne went on to marry and have children, becoming a living challenge to the assumptions of her age. Along the way, we weigh miracle versus medicine, highlight what records confirm and what remains unknowable, and trace how this case sharpened medical observation and public debate about justice, gender, and power.

If stories that bend the line between death and life fascinate you, hit play and join us. Subscribe, share with a curious friend, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show. What saved Anne Green—providence, physiology, or both? We want to hear your take.

Transcript

Setting The Stage For Weird

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Oh, hey there.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Oh, hey there.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

How's it going today, Kate?

SPEAKER_00 0:19

It's going well. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:20

I am well. I am Bradley, and this is the origin of weird. Where we try to find the origin of weird. I mean, it's in the fucking title.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Need we say more?

SPEAKER_01 0:38

We yes, we should. And let me do that right now. Um it's never gonna be found because there's so much weird shit in this world. I don't know it. Holy fuck.

unknown 0:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

We've literally only scratched the surface of weird.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Like the Oakville Blobs last episode. That was fucking weird.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

For lack of a better way of saying it. And on brand. But anyways. I mean that was weird.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

At least it wasn't on Brad. See what you did there.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Well, are we?

SPEAKER_01 1:17

I I just want you to know I'm laughing inside.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Okay.

Public Spectacle Of Execution

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Um, so we are going all the way back to 17th century.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

1600s. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

That's how far weird goes back.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Well, no, it goes back further. Probably. Jesus, am I right? I I I still like to joke that my mom walked with Jesus because she's really old. Anyways. 1600s, 17th century, let's do this. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

So where are we going? We are going to England.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yes, we are.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Um, and they had a very um public relationship with death.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Mm-hmm. Executions in particular.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Sure. I mean, they were all about it.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

At the gallows.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Were not quiet affairs.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

They were spectacles.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

They they were public. Very, very public. They were social gatherings, if you will.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

They really were. The people would come from miles to watch. Oh, this person is gonna get hanged. Honey, what you doing tomorrow night? Going to the gallows. Me too. No, it's it was a public gathering. Me too.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Me too. Yes, crowds gathered early. Vendors sold food, probably. We don't know. People brought their children along. Maybe there was a ring toss game where you could like win a goldfish or big stuff. We don't know.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Those games are fucking rigged. They've been rigged for 600 years.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

But a hanging was part moral lesson, part ritual, part entertainment.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

And if you were condemned, your private moments were not.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

No.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Final move moments were not private.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

So do you think, and this is just not in your research, do you think people put bets on if they were gonna shit themselves or not?

SPEAKER_00 3:25

No, I would think that they would bet on if their neck snapped or not.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Now hear me out. Okay. When you die, there's a very good chance you're gonna shit yourself.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Because the sphincter loses all control. Yes. Does it happen every time? No. Does it happen a lot of times? Oh yes. Now when you're hanged, which isn't a common thing in our time, obviously. Gravity. I'm just saying gravity. Alright. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

So once you were um declared dead, well, yeah. It actually meant one thing back then. That was it was actually useful when you died. The study of anatomy was advancing quickly, but bodies were scarce.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

So they would take the bodies. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

So universities were constantly in need of cadavers, and there was a law that mentioned um it would allow bodies of executed criminals to be handed over for dissection.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Because basically they were null and void of being human at that point, if to a to a lesser degree. I'm not saying exactly those words, but yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

And they didn't want to grave grave rob anymore.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Yeah.

Cadavers And Medical Demand

SPEAKER_01 4:51

They used to do that. Yeah. For for the advancement of human society.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

So in 1650 in Oxfordshire, a young woman named Anne Green found herself at the center of all of this. Um, Anne Green was not famous, she was not wealthy, she was a servant. She was young, low status, largely invisible to the world.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Um but what did she do?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

She ended up getting pregnant.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

By the husband of the people she served?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

By the son of the people she served.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Oh, scandalous. Yes. So do we know how old she was? The what's her? I'm sorry, what's her name?

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Her name is Ann Green. Um, no, I didn't come across how old she was. Okay. She was younger, but um how old was the son? I I didn't look that up either.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

That's okay. What would you guess?

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Twenties, early set teens and twenties, somewhere around there.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

That's fine.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Um, so we're not sure if the relationship was consensual or coerced or something different.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Because of power placement or something, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Yeah, but an unmarried pregnant servant carried enormous risk. A single accusation could ruin a woman's reputation, cost her employment, threaten her ability to survive at all in a world.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

It also could threaten the family that because hey, I this is your your heir, if you will, right? Yeah. I mean, they could be like, hey, I have a part in this now.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

So in late 1649, um, Anne went into premature labor. Oh dear. The infant was stillborn. Um she was terrified and alone, and she did the only thing that she could think of um at the time to protect herself, and that was to hide the body.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Oh shit. I mean, yeah, I get I I get it, though.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

But it was discovered. Of course. And under the 1624 Concealment of Birth of Bastards Act, didn't know that was an act. An unmarried woman who hit the death of her child was presumed guilty of murder unless she could prove that the child had been born dead.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Which at the time, proving that was nearly impossible.

SPEAKER_01 7:19

I say, how how could you prove that?

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yeah, today there would be like an autopsy to see if there was air in the baby's lungs.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Yep, all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, and of course, Anne insisted that the baby had never lived, but it was still born. She was already presumed guilty.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Well, that's usually how the world works.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

She was tried in Oxford, and the verdict came quickly with very little room for mercy, and Anne Green was sentenced to hang.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

On December 14th, 1650, Anne Green was led to the gallows. Jesus Christ. Executions were supposed to be efficient. Um, short drop, rope, gravity, the end.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Neck neck break, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

Yes. Um, but they're not exactly a precise calculation at this time.

Anne Green’s Pregnancy And Peril

SPEAKER_01 8:08

They you wouldn't how do I say this delicately? They're not proficient in their craft, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

So sometimes death came by strangulation rather than a broken neck.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

And that could take some time.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Yep, because they're wriggling and rylin'. Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

So Anne was placed on a ladder, and when it was kicked away, Anne struggled at the end of the rope and the crowd watched, waiting for the moment where she would be still. But she's accounts say that friends tugged on her legs to like quicken the death.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Friends did?

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Yeah, it sounds horrifying, but it was actually kind of an act of kindness because they were trying to end her suffering. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Half an hour later, oh my god, she was finally still. Her body was cut down, placed in a coffin, and death was officially declared. The crowd began to disperse, and the spectacle were was over, or so everyone believed.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

So everyone thought.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

As was customary, her body was delivered to physicians at the University of Oxford for anatomical study.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Wow. Did she wake up?

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Perhaps.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Oh, Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Seriously? Among the doctors were Dr. William Petty and Dr. Thomas Willis, men of science, curious, practical, smart men. Um, and Anne was no longer a person with a story. She was a specimen.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Well, of course. I mean, she was tried and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now she's literally nothing.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

To especially to them, because they're just scientists at this point. Yeah. And they have a specimen. Nobody fucking cared what she was in life at that point.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

So the coffin was opened and the doctors prepared their examination, but as they worked, they noticed something. Oh dear. There was a faint sound. Like at first they thought it was like a s air escaping her the body. Was it which but that's kind of a common occurrence, just like gases. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

But then came like another noise, more of a gasp. And that's when they noticed that there was slight movement in her chest. Oh shit. To the astonishment, Anne began to revive as her breathing deepened and her pulse grew str uh stronger. And for uh, you know, these men were trained observers, they were not prone to hysteria. And here was this woman who had been hanged, declared dead, um, coffined, transported, and now breathing on their table.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

That's fucking wild.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

They moved quickly, uh, put their scalpels down, and they warmed her body up with um placing her by a fire, rubbing her limbs, and pouring warm liqueur through her lips. And this would help like stimulate her breathing. Sure. They reportedly also tickled her throat with a feather.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Oh, that's a common practice till to this day.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah. And bled her slightly. I like how you're like, yeah. Which was a medical practice back then meant to balance the humors of the body.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

The the the what?

SPEAKER_00 11:28

The humors. Like the blood, black, black vial, yellow bile, and phlegm. They're like boun they were supposed to like balance out the body. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

I mean, you when you say humors, I'm like, that's a good joke.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Yeah, they called it humors. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

I didn't know that. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Um, so she began to uh speak in faint whispers, and within hours she was conscious enough to respond. Wow. Um, so within days she was able to sit up in bed. Okay. Um, now very much alive. So the word spread rapidly. Sure. A hanged woman had come back to life, and in a deeply religious society, this was not merely medical, it was theological.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Correct, because it was miracle. Everyone's like, oh, thanks be to Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

So many interpreted her survival as divine intervention. If God had allowed her to live after lawful execution, perhaps the execution had been unjust. So the physicians documented this case carefully.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

They published accounts detailing the sequence of events and the message methods used to revive her. And in their view, it was a triumph of observation and intervention. Um, and an excellent um advertisement for their competence as well.

The Gallows And A Botched Hanging

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Well, yeah, because they want to make it seem like they're doing their fucking job properly, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:01

But there was still a question that hung in the air. What does one do with a woman who's already been executed? Technically, the sentence had been carried out. Yeah. The rope had done its work, just not quite thoroughly enough.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

So is it isn't it like that movie? Um, oh fuck, it's got what, her name? Ashley Judd. Um Double Jeopardy. Yes, thank you, thank you. Right? I mean You can't be tried for the same thing if you're already like found a guilty or not guilty for it.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

So yeah, so they were like, is she gonna be hanged again? The law did not have like a addendum for something like this. Nope. But the authorities chose not to test the fate, and Anne Green received a pardon.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Oh shit, really?

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Yep. If Sun believed her survival was an act of God, it would have been unwise and probably unpopular to argue.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Who do you think she would have got a pardon from at that point? Was it would have could have been the a judge? Judge? Well, usually pardons would come from like the highest authority.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Yeah. And which kings can pardon.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Yeah, I don't because Elizabeth wouldn't have been queen at this time. I think she would have already been passed. So I'm I'm not sure who would have been king, but I would I would assume it would come from that level. Yeah. I have no idea if I'm right. Yeah. But I would have that's where I would my brain goes. So anyway, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah. So she became something of like a living curiosity as people came to see her and speak with her. Yep. Confirmed that she was real and breathing and present. Confirmed she was real. And eventually married a man named John Bunn, had children, lived for years afterwards. Um we have court records, we have physician accounts, but we don't know anything from her point of view. Sure. Yeah. There were no like private recollections or diaries or anything. Okay. In 1650, medical knowledge of oxygen deprivation and brain injury was limited. Yep. And a hanging did not always mean immediate irreversible death. If the neck did not break and the airway was not completely obstructed, um survival, though rare, was still possible. Oh, yeah, definitely. That day, the cold winter air may have slowed her metabolism.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

The short drop may have um spared her cervical spine, and the delay before dissection may have given her body time to recover. Yeah, no doubt. So there are additional medical explanations like imperfect rope placement, incomplete asphyxiation. Yep. Um, but there was also rapid rapid intervention once signs of life were noticed.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Which was probably what part of the reason why she was saved, really. Yeah, yeah. Wouldn't you think?

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah, because otherwise, if they neglected that and be like, eh, it's just uh just like watching her breathe. Well, they honestly we're talking the 1650s, right? Yeah. You said yeah, they could have been like that, it's just a reflex of the body, right? They don't fucking know better, right? Yeah. So I mean, good on them for oh shit, no. That this chick is fucking alive.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

So yeah, wow. But her her case remains one of the best documented examples of survival after execution in early modern England.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

That's crazy. Yeah, that's so weird because like so many things could have gone wrong for her.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Yeah.

Delivered For Dissection

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Because of well, clearly certain things went wrong for her because she was hanged for hiding her stillborn. Okay. I was just gonna say, unjustly hanged, because we don't know. Nobody really knows, right? If she did what they say she did to her baby.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

If it was stillborn, she wasn't guilty of anything.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

So she was unjustly hung at that point. Now, on the flip side, if she did do that, okay, she was justly hung. But either way, she fucking survived this? That is impressive in sixteen in the in the sixteen fifties.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Excuse me, but I mean, could you imagine being like, yeah, I was hung once. What?

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Ready.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Wait, what? Yeah, now I've got three or however many kids she have ever. Did you say how many she had or no? Okay, but she had kids afterwards and married somebody else. But because she was, I don't know, had the bastard child of her words I'm looking for. People she worked for?

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Yeah, it was the son of it was the son of the people that she worked for. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

And it's like, holy fuck.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Well, actually, it wasn't even proven that it was that person.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

It was just like potentially this person. It was hinted at, we'll say. Yeah. But no proof, obviously. And they couldn't, like, well, let's check the DNA.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah.

Signs Of Life On The Table

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Hold on, let's wait 300 years and we'll do that. So they obviously couldn't do that. That's fucking weird though. I mean, to fucking be hung and like, nah, I'm good. I'm gonna go on living my life. Yeah. Holy shit. I mean, good on her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

So yeah. Well, I suppose.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

All right, buffoons. That's it for today's episode.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time. Feeling hungry for more buffoonery? Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube, X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also email us at historybuffoonspodcast at gmail.com. We are Bradley and Kate, music by Corey Akers.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

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SPEAKER_01 19:12

Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Remember, the buffoonery never stops.