Goodbye Warden

The Last Words of Death Row Inmates

35 followers

The Last Words of Death Row Inmates

35 followers

517 final words of people to be executed in the state of Texas since 1982, very powerful words.

Launch tags:Web App•History Books•Tech

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Goodbye Warden

Maker

Hey everyone! First of all, big thanks to Ryan Hoover for submitting this to Product Hunt, it's great to see that people find this site intriguing. I'm very new to the world of web design, and initially this was just a personal project I started, largely as an excuse to play around with JSON, but also because I found these quotes to be intriguing, heart breaking, uplifting, and thought provoking. The most common question I get is "why don't you include their last names and the crimes they committed?" For me, the morbid curiosity of crime and punishment isn't what this site is about. More interesting than that, in my opinion, is the state of the human mind moments before certain, unavoidable death. Anyway, with that uplifting thought, I hope you enjoy the site, and if you have any recommendations for future updates, feel free to let me know! I'm on Twitter at @forrestmck or, if you have any humor left after reading 523 quotes of dying inmates, I have a political satire account @GOPSci. Cheers

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11yr ago

Skrlla

@forrestmck reading through these short quotes I find myself lost thinking about the untold that lies in between lines, how dramatic and inhuman it should be for all these people to condense in a few words their last desires, the love for their families and the guilt or regret for what they have/have not done. For some reasons it reminds me The Spoon River Anthology. Have you thought about a paperback version?

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11yr ago

Goodbye Warden

Maker

@robertoscaccia Beautifully, beautifully put, and I couldn't agree more. I can definitely see a connection with Spoon River, especially this poem: http://bit.ly/1yw4JOt And yes, I'd like to start working on a paperback adaptation. There's an artist named Carol Jackson who did an illustration series of final words (http://bit.ly/1GLfIq1). In an ideal world, I'd love to somehow partner with her or someone similar on the project.

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11yr ago

Skrlla

@forrestmck I like the idea of collaborating with artists! they can help your imagination fill that "in between lines" - happy to facilitate the introduction to Italian artist Lorena Maiura, she did an amazing job illustrating some of the characters from the Anthology http://cargocollective.com/loren... - suggestion: maybe a kickstarter project? and donate a % of the proceeds to a .org that promotes art / creativity among the prison population.

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11yr ago

I read this a long time ago, and I'm glad someone compiled it into a nice format. I find their words to be very fascinating.

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11yr ago

Goodbye Warden

Maker

@robbieab Thanks for the kind words, it's good to hear that others find it as fascinating as I do

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11yr ago

Goodbye Warden

Maker

@robbieab @alexgilmore0811 Fantastic article, I'm surprised I didn't come across it while doing research for the site. Thanks for sharing!

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11yr ago

Where can I find an iPhone 7?

Does anyone know why more than a few say something along the lines of "I can taste it" or "you can taste it"?

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11yr ago

Goodbye Warden

Maker

@thetylerhayes I believe it's because the first chemical injected during many executions is Sodium Thiopentathol, which according to Wikipedia "is followed instantly by an odor and/or taste sensation, sometimes described as being similar to rotting onions, or to garlic." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sod...

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11yr ago

Product Hunt

Hunter

@thetylerhayes @forrestmck wow. Knowing this makes me quiver slightly.

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11yr ago

Goodbye Warden

Maker

@thetylerhayes @rrhoover Indeed, I can't even image being able to literally taste death... *shiver*

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11yr ago

Where can I find an iPhone 7?

@rrhoover @forrestmck I've now teared up twice today. Thanks for sharing though Forrest. Empathy is the only way forward here.

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11yr ago

Well, I think a picture, audio file or maybe a video of some sort would be better? Reading is so 90s........

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11yr ago

Product Hunt

Hunter

These final words are saddening/fascinating/thought-provoking. Some of them choked me up, like this one:

According to the word cloud, the most commonly used words were love, know, family, thank, and sorry.

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11yr ago

Keyframes.app

It's weird reading these. It seems like there are three kinds of people here. Crazy people who have zero regrets for their crimes and are excited to die, those who are still saying they're innocent yet have accepted the fact they they are going to be killed, and those who know what they did was wrong, regret it, and are sad about dying.

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11yr ago

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