Jayne Mansfield wasn't decapitated - that was a rumor based on a photo of the scene of the accident. Her wig was found separate from her body, which fueled a rumor that her head was separated from her body during the accident. Her body was fully intact.
Have you read the autopsy report? It said, "crushed skull with
avulsion of cranium and brain". "In medicine, an
avulsion is an injury in which a body structure is forcibly detached from its normal point of insertion by either trauma or surgery (from the Latin avellere, meaning "to tear off").
IOWs, the top of her head was separated from the rest of her head. It was an instantaneous death, thank goodness and very gory for all three of the front seat occupants. The car went underneath a slowing or stopping semi truck. It really wasn't the paid driver's fault as the semi was slowing because of a mosquito spray truck was moving down the highway at night. If you've ever seen one in action it produces quite a fog and even worse at night if the humidity is high.
I also think it was a poor choice of a title by Thorton in that 3 of her children who are still alive were in the rear seat of the vehicle and that accident must have been very traumatic with all the blood, brain, and tissue matter being all over the place. Luckily they were low enough and only suffered minor injuries.
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My favorite: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
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