A death erection, angel lust, or terminal erection is a post-mortem erection, technically a priapism, observed in the corpses of men who have been executed, particularly by hanging.
The phenomenon has been attributed to pressure on the cerebellum created by the noose. Spinal cord injuries are known to be associated with priapism. Injuries to the cerebellum or spinal cord are often associated with priapism in living patients.
Death by hanging, whether an execution or a suicide, has been observed to affect the genitals of both men and women. In women, the labia and clitoris will become engorged and there may be a discharge of blood from the vagina. In men, "a more or less complete state of erection of the penis, with discharge of urine, mucus or prostatic fluid is a frequent occurrence ... present in one case in three." Other causes of death may also result in these effects, including fatal gunshots to the head, damage to major blood vessels, and violent death by poisoning. A postmortem priapism is an indicator that death was likely swift and violent. In a case reported from Thailand, an excess of sildenafil (Viagra) was thought to be cause of a death erection in a 64-year-old man.
In The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, art historian and critic Leo Steinberg notes that a number of Renaissance era artists depicted Jesus Christ after the crucifixion with a post-mortem erection. The artwork was suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church for several centuries.
The 2003 Channel 4 documentary on the Jack Sheppard case, The Georgian Underworld, Part 4: Invitation to a Hanging noted that his hanging caused an erection.
The "Cyclops" section of James Joyce's Ulysses makes multiple use of the terminal erection as a motif.
In The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon relates an anecdote attributed to Abulfeda that Ali, on the death of Muhammad, exclaimed, O propheta, certe penis tuus cælum versus erectus est (O prophet, thy penis is erect unto the sky). This understanding of the anecdote, however, is based on a mistranslation of the Arabic source by John Gagnier, who translated Abulfeda's Life of Muhammad into Latin. The English translation of the Arabic source should read: "In one account, ʿAlī, may God be best pleased with him, was called upon, while he was washing him [the Prophet], to raise his gaze to the sky."
Waiting for Godot references it in a conversation between Estragon and Vladimir when considering hanging themselves.
In Episode 5 of the 6th season of Archer, Archer and Pam joke that Cyril may suffer from priapism after a "severe head injury on impact" of a falling elevator.
In book three of the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson there was a cult of women who would descend onto battle fields to rape dead or dying soldiers in the hopes of birthing a Child of the Dead Seed.
Bruce Nauman's "Hanged Man" (1985) depicts a man made of neon lights on a wood background being hanged and developing a death erection.
