Does tarring and feathering kill you?

Answer 1

The previous answer is COMPLETELY wrong. Tarring and feathering used pine tar, not modern day tar. Pine tar starts to melt at 130-140 degree F, and this temperature would cause mild first degree burns.

Most people who were tarred and feathered survived, but the process of tarring and feathering often caused extreme pain. First of all, the victim had first degree burns all over their skin exposed to the tar. Second, the process of removing tar was painful; the victim would basically scrap the tar off the skin, taking a large portion of the skin with the tar. This left the victim extremely wounded and bloody. Some have died due to the infections in these wounds (as in the old times, there were no modern day disinfectants or anti-bacterial medicines).

If the victim was unable to get the tar off and the tar hardened, the tar could potentially restrict the victim's breathing and cause him to asphyxiate. Also, as most victims of tarring and feathering were abandoned in remote areas, they would die of obvious causes of hunger and thirst.

Regardless, tarring and feathering caused a large degree of humiliation to the victim, often resulting in them moving to other areas entirely.