Why Public Beheadings Get Millions of Views | Frances Larson | TED Talks

In a disturbing — but fascinating — walk through history, Frances Larson examines humanity’s strange relationship with public executions … and specifically beheadings. As she shows us, they have always drawn a crowd, first in the public square and now on YouTube. What makes them horrific and compelling in equal measure? TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or les