And it came to pass that when Coriantumr had leaned upon his sword, that he rested a little, he smote off the head of Shiz. And it came to pass that after he had smitten off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raised up on his hands and fell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died. (Ether 15:30-31)
While this event might seem very odd to readers of the Book of Mormon, it reflects a biological process called “decerebrate rigidity,” where the upper brain stem (mid-brain) becomes disconnected from the brain itself. Perhaps “the” article, from a non-LDS journal, on this process, is that of:
Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, “Decerebrate Rigidity, and Reflex Coordination of
Sherrington discusses this process in many mammals, including various monkeys. Not the nicest of readings, to be sure, but such studies show that Ether’s record of Shiz, when read from an ancient perspective and using phenomenological language, is much more plausible than critics believe it to be.
One LDS scholar who has appealed to this phenomenon is Gary M. Hadfield, “Neuropathology and the Scriptures,” BYU Studies 33, no. 2 (Spring 1993). On p. 324, Hadfield wrote:
Through the combatants in this story were well acquainted with the wholesale carnage, Shiz’s unique death struggle was so astonishing that his throes were reported in grisly detail. Perhaps Ether and Coriantumr interpreted this astounding incident as a sign of Shiz’s indomitable fighting spirit or refusal to die. However, Shiz’s death struggle illustrates the classic reflex posture that occurs in both humans and animals when the upper brain stem (midbrain/mesencephalon) is disconnected from the brain. The extensor muscles of the arms and legs contract, and this reflex action could cause Shiz to raise up on his hands. Of course, Shiz would not have remained long in this position, and he would have bled to death rapidly through the severed arteries that go to the head.
The brain stem is located inside on the base of the skull and is relatively small. It connects the brain the brain proper or cerebrum, with the spinal cord in the neck. Coriantumr was obviously too exhausted to do a clean job. His stroke evidently strayed a little too high. He must have cut off Shiz’s dead through the base of the skull, at the level of the midbrain, instead of lower through the cervical spine in the curvature of the neck. It is worth noting that critics have questioned this story in the Book of Mormon. But this extraneous detail provides another solid indication that the Book of Mormon is an accurate record. Significantly, this nervous system phenomenon (decerebrate rigidity) was first reported in 1898, long after the Book of Mormon was published.
Dr. Hadfield’s article was summarised in “The Decapitation of Shiz,” Insights: An Ancient Window, 14, no. 11 (1994):2.
Bill McKeever (see Top 17 Reasons Bill McKeever Doesn't Understand the Latter-day Saint Faith) tried to respond to LDS scholars on this point in Headless people don’t do push-ups – The Story of Coriantumr and Shiz. He was soundly refuted by Brant Gardner in Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 6: Fourth Nephi through Moroni (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2007), pp. 326-27 n. 4, which I will now quote from:
. . . Bill McKeever has responded to the Insights article that summarized Dr.hadfield’s diagnosis:
Hadfield and Welch conclude that “fifty or sixty percent off would easily have been enough to get the job done, leaving Shiz to reflex and die.”
The writers attempt to explain the Book of Mormon phrase “smote off” by saying it doesn’t really mean to completely sever . ..
In order to embrace this theory offered by Hadfield and Welch, are we to now assume that perhaps Nephi didn’t really cut off Laban’s head or that Ammon didn’t really cut of the arms of his attacks? Are we to assume that perhaps Zerahemnah’s scalp was not cut completely off? To draw such a conclusion is to introduce an interpretation that ignores an accepted pattern for similar phrases in other portions of the Book of Mormon. In order to save Joseph Smith’s credibility, both Hadfield and Welch must inject a different interpretation for this one single verse. It is apparent that both Hadfield and Welch seem to be fully aware that a decapitated human has no ability to raise up nor gasp for breath. It is for this reason that they must offer what is certainly a strained excuse.
McKeever’s rebuttal is to the later article where someone (McKeever assumes Welch, but the text does not clearly indicate the writer) has summarized Dr. Hadfield’s earlier article. The article as cited cannot serve as a basis for McKeever’s rebuttal. It may be that McKeever is rebutting someone’s misreading of Hadfield. In any case, McKeever says nothing of the medical data. He appears to accept it. His unique argument is that we must read the text literally. “Off” must mean “completely off.” That argument is parallel to the assumption that all text in the Book of Mormon must be inerrant and read literally. I see no evidence that the translation of the Book of Mormon created such a text. The type of text that we have is one in which the modern historical sensibilities must be read backwards into a text created often for literary effect rather than literalness. In that context, McKeever’s rebuttal is quite beside the point. The text is certainly not written in such a way that the conditions of literalness that would support his argument are present.
George Reynolds, “Shiz—the Headless,” Improvement Era 3 no. 8 (June 1905), on GospelLink 2001, CD-ROM (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), describes several occasions where unusual continuations of body movement were witnessed after certain decapitations. I don’t consider these to be medically equivalent, though they are certainly similar.