Whether the condemned faces a beheading, hanging, or other method of execution, much can go awry. When it does, the effect is usually grisly and painful. Join Antemortem for several tales of state-sanctioned killing gone wrong.

More from the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. For those wondering "What does my body disposal pathway say about me?"

Are you sick and tired of police procedurals telling you that serial murderers are unstoppable geniuses roaming the country, waiting to wack you on the head with a lead pipe as they jump out from an alleyway? Get the cold hard facts from the FBI instead. It won't be a lead pipe, but it might be your own shoelace.

On the 16th of April, 2007, America experienced its deadliest shooting on a college campus. The senseless violence took the lives of more than 30 victims. Here’s what we know about the shooter, the attack, and the aftermath.

In this episode, Vlad Dracula will experience retreat, imprisonment, victory, and death. Listen to find out the name of an actor I couldn't remember. Then learn about some modern cases of impalement.

Dracula's reign of terror really gets going.

Vlad the Impaler's homeland was nestled tightly between the warring Holy Roman and Ottoman Empires. In this episode we will see Dracula's father take the throne, maneuver to keep the throne, and lose the throne. Dracula will do two of those things. Antemortem: come for the assassinations, stay for the mispronunciations.

Bees? Bees! But not just any bees. The hybrid subspecies of Africanized honey bee was created in Brazil. Scientists were hoping for gentle honey-providers but got territorial aggressors instead.

California didn’t exactly have a shortage of serial killers in the 1970s. Rodney Alcala was one of them. The extent of his crimes was not discovered until decades later when forensic science caught up with him. Cheryl Bradshaw demonstrates bad judgement followed by good judgment.

In 1941, Germany unleashed its most powerful warship to attack Britain's merchant shipping. Bismarck displayed her capabilities in a short battle with the HMS Hood. But her would-be dominance over the Atlantic never materialized.