10 Most Insane Stories Stephen King Ever Dreamt Up

5. The Breathing Method

You've probably heard tales of the body living moments after death technically occurs - maybe a tale about the bodyless head of someone executed by guillotine blinking or mouthing some final words. Or, to make things a little more simple, the whole "chicken still running around with its head cut off" deal. Well, The Breathing Method, one of four novellas included in King's early 80s collection Different Seasons, is the Stephen King version of this concept. Only, it deals with a pregnant woman bearing an illegitimate child, back in a time where such things were frowned upon. The woman has completely mastered her doctor's "breathing method" for child birth, so much so that when she is decapitated in a car crash on the way to the hospital to deliver her child, her body continues using the breathing method and delivers a baby boy, alive and well. Her detached head even mouths "thank you" - and there you have it, complete literary insanity. Which makes The Breathing Method the odd duck in a collection that includes Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, The Body (adapted to the film Stand By Me), and Apt Pupil, all shockingly good tales.