on her way to the guillotine, marie antoinette stepped on her executioner's foot. her last words were, 'pardonnez-moi, monsieur. je ne voulais pas le faire.'

between the 16th and 20th centuries, a popular form of execution for prisoners during war was 'blowing from a gun'. soldiers would tie a prisoner to a cannon with his or her back pressed against the cannon's mouth, then fire the cannon.

here's a description of the result:

"when the gun is fired, his head is seen to go straight up into the air some 40 or fifty feet; the arms fly off right and left, high up in the air, and fall at, perhaps, a hundred yards distance; the legs drop to the ground beneath the muzzle of the gun; and the body is literally blown away altogether, not a vestige being seen."

if you feed someone nitrogen without any oxygen mixed in, they will die a painless death, without any feelings associated with suffocation. this method of execution is not used by any country in the world.