According to legend, after Marie Antoinette’s beheading on 16 October 1793, the executioner lifted her severed head and slapped her face, which blushed a bright red.
However, this is probably unlikely, considering how much blushing is dependent on blood moving through veins.
In fact, witnesses to other beheadings described the victim’s face as immediately drained of color, then turning ashen and waxy.
If there is any truth to the story at all, it could be that her rouge suddenly stood out in sharp contrast to her ashen skin, giving the impression of a blush.
Anyway, scary story right?
