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Terms apply. Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky.

Listener discretion advised.

This is Dana Schwartz host of Noble Blood. I'm taking a brief maternity leave right now,

and so this week we're continuing our trip back to the archives, back to the series I did on

Henry VIII's Six Wives. This week, Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn is such an exciting

and captivating figure. It truly is no wonder she receives the amount of attention from historians

that she does. For this episode, I focused on the most notorious moment of her life. Her beheading. Enjoy.

They say that after decapitation, the human brain can remain conscious for several seconds,

maybe even up to a minute.

Even without fresh blood being pumped up from the heart, the brain still has oxygen,

and neurons firing rapidly in confusion or pain.

They say that when Anne Boleyn's head fell from her body into the straw waiting below, her dark, intelligent

eyes still flickered and blinked, and that her white lips pressed together and apart,

as if she was trying to say one last thing.

It seems fitting that even in death Anne would try to continue to speak. It was her silver

tongue that had initially charmed the king back when Anne was just a lady in waiting.

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