Hello again @ vorpalgirl! Unfortunately, a decapitation is not as exciting as television makes it appear. Arterial spray, now labelled by the Scientific Working Group on Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (SWGSTAIN) as a projected pattern, and tends to end up being linear, and not very fountain-y. This year Watson and I had the wonderful opportunity to take a basic bloodstain pattern analysis course, so here are a few pictures of projected patterns we made in lab:
The human body only contains about 5-6 litres of blood. And while two major blood vessels would be severed in a decapitation, there is only so much blood the heart can pump out before it essentially runs out.
The first “spurt”, if you will, will contain the largest amount of blood, and will cover everything. The floor, the ceiling, the person doing the decapitation, everything, especially if the person is standing (and the decapitation happens in one clean cut, which is unlikely). You will also end up with cast-off patterns, as it is very difficult to sever a human head, and will more than likely take more than one pass. (Below is what a cast-off pattern will look like with fingers flicking blood)
All subsequent spurts will contain less and less blood until the heart is no longer able to pump. This would last a few seconds at most.
As a bonus fact, I learned that after decapitation, the head may twitch and blink for up to 15 seconds.
This is probably even more poignant given the twin is now confirmed. If the twin and Lizzy were always playing together, then Ciel might have only been able to stay in and play with his best friend, Sebastian the dog. The only being that loved him unconditionally and never saw him as a “spare.”
🔥 There is beauty in destruction🔥 