Mississippi executed people by hanging from its entrance into the United States in 1817 until 1940. During that time, 238 people were hanged. Records show that Mississippi executed at least two individuals by hanging prior to statehood.

Image via McCain Library’s “Preparations for the public hanging of Will Mack; 23 July 1909”

Mississippi used the electric chair to execute individuals between 1940 and 1954. The state executed sixty-three people during that period. Mississippi was one of only two states to have a portable electric chair. Knicknamed “Old Sparky,” it was moved from county to county.

Image from Mississippi Department of Archives and History via Donald A. Cabana’s article “The History of Capital Punishment in Mississippi: An Overview”

Between 1955 and 1989, Mississippi executed individuals in a gas chamber using hydrogen cyanide gas. Thirty-five people were executed using this method. Mississippi’s only “botched execution,” 1983’s execution of Jimmy Lee Gray, occurred in the gas chamber.

Image from Paul Hamann and Reprieve.org

Adopted as the only method of execution in 1989, lethal injection wasn’t used until the next time Mississippi executed an individual in 2002. A three-drug combination of midazolam, vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride is used today.

Image from Mississippi Department of Corrections via Donald A. Cabana’s article “The History of Capital Punishment in Mississippi: An Overview”