We like to think not. But 19th-century French experiments performed on freshly guillotined heads seemed to show that in some cases, the head remained conscious for up to 20 seconds after being severed. The eyes opened and turned in the direction of the voice when the person’s name was called. The mouth opened and closed several times, as if trying to talk.

There’s anecdotal evidence, like the case of a car accident in which a passenger regained consciousness to find another passenger’s severed head in his lap. The head’s eyes were open and rolling alternately to the passenger’s face and the sight of its own body a few feet away. Its mouth opened wide and closed in a series of silent screams as it mercifully faded into death.

I remember reading an eyewitness account of the beheading of Mary Stuart, known as the Queen of Scots. The execution was horrifically botched. The first time the axe came down, instead of slicing cleanly through the neck, it chunked into the bottom of Mary’s skull and wedged in the bone. At this point, ringside spectators clearly heard her say “Sweet Jesus” as the axe went up again, came down …and missed a second time. On the third try, the goof in charge of the proceedings finally hacked her head off.