  The hyperspherical adiabatic expansion is combined with complex scaling and
used to calculate the energy distributions of the particles arising from
three-body decaying low-lying $^{12}$C resonances. The large distance continuum
properties of the wavefunctions are crucial and must be accurately calculated.
The substantial changes from small to large distances determine the decay
mechanisms. We illustrate by computing the energy distributions from decays of
the $1^{-}$, $2^-$ and $4^{-}$-resonances in $^{12}$C. These states are
dominated by sequential ($1^-$), through the $^{8}$Be ground state, and direct
($2^-$, $4^-$) decays.
