Humanity has always tried to punish criminals in such a way that other people would remember it and, under pain of severe death, they would not repeat such actions. It was not enough to quickly deprive a convict, who could easily turn out to be innocent, of life, which is why they came up with various painful executions. This post will introduce you to similar methods of execution.

Garrote - execution by strangulation or fracture of the Adam's apple. The executioner twisted the thread as tightly as he could. Some varieties of garrote were equipped with spikes or a bolt that broke the spinal cord. This type of execution was widespread in Spain and was outlawed in 1978. Garrote was officially used for the last time in 1990 in Andorra, however, according to some sources, it is still used in India.

Scaphism is a cruel method of execution invented in Persia. The man was placed between two boats or hollowed-out tree trunks, placed on top of each other, with his head and limbs exposed. He was fed only honey and milk, which caused severe diarrhea. They also coated the body with honey to attract insects. After a while, the poor fellow was allowed into a pond with stagnant water, where there was already a huge number of insects, worms and other creatures. They all slowly ate his flesh and left maggots in the wounds. There is also a version that honey attracted only stinging insects. In any case, the person was doomed to long torment, lasting several days and even weeks.

The Assyrians used flaying for torture and execution. Like a captured animal, the man was skinned. They could rip off some or all of the skin.

Ling chi was used in China from the 7th century until 1905. This method involved death by cutting. The victim was tied to poles and deprived of some parts of the flesh. The number of cuts could be very different. They could make several small cuts, cut off some skin somewhere, or even deprive the victim of limbs. The number of cuts was determined by the court. Sometimes convicts were given opium. All this happened in a public place, and even after death, the bodies of the dead were left in plain sight for some time.

Wheeling was used in ancient Rome, and in the Middle Ages it began to be used in Europe. By modern times, wheeling had become widespread in Denmark, Germany, France, Romania, Russia (legislatively approved under Peter I), the USA and other countries. A person was tied to a wheel with large bones already broken or still intact, after which they were broken with a crowbar or clubs. A person who was still alive was left to die of dehydration or shock, whichever came first.

The copper bull is the favorite execution weapon of Phalarids, the tyrant of Agrigentus, who ruled in the second half of the 6th century BC. e. The person sentenced to death was placed inside a life-size hollow copper statue of a bull. A fire was lit under the bull. It was impossible to get out of the statue, and those watching could watch smoke coming out of the nostrils and hear the screams of the dying man.

Evisceration was used in Japan. The convict had some or all of his internal organs removed. The heart and lungs were cut out last to prolong the victim's suffering. Sometimes evisceration served as a method of ritual suicide.

Boiling began to be used about 3000 years ago. It was used in Europe and Russia, as well as some Asian countries. A person sentenced to death was placed in a cauldron, which could be filled not only with water, but also with fat, resin, oil or molten lead. At the moment of immersion, the liquid could already be boiling, or it would boil later. The executioner could hasten the onset of death or, conversely, prolong a person’s torment. It also happened that boiling liquid was poured onto a person or poured down his throat.

Impalement was first used by the Assyrians, Greeks and Romans. They impaled people in different ways, and the thickness of the stake could also be different. The stake itself could be inserted either into the rectum or into the vagina, if they were women, through the mouth or through a hole made in the genital area. Often the top of the stake was blunt so that the victim did not die immediately. The stake with the condemned person impaled on it was raised up and those sentenced to painful death slowly descended down it under the influence of gravity.

Hanging and quartering was used in medieval England to punish traitors to the motherland and criminals who committed a particularly serious act. A person was hanged, but so that he remained alive, after which he was deprived of his limbs. It could go so far as to cut off the unfortunate man’s genitals, gouge out his eyes and cut out his internal organs. If the person was still alive, then at the end his head was cut off. This execution lasted until 1814.

China was no exception in this sense. The variety and sophistication of torture used in this state caused attacks of horror even among the most experienced warriors. What’s interesting is that when torture was carried out in the squares, in order to warn everyone else about the consequences of the crimes, a huge number of onlookers gathered to “gaze” at the torment and death of a person. In this case, it becomes clear where such terrible pictures of abuse and death of criminals arose in the minds of Chinese executioners: the majority of the population of that time, especially the common people, was prone to causeless violence and curiosity about the suffering of others.

Story

Since the time when the Qin dynasty ruled the Celestial Empire, Chinese torture has been considered a traditional way to punish a person for a crime. The code of the ruling dynasty included at least four thousand crimes that deserved punishment.

Punishment for some included beatings with light or heavy bamboo sticks, exile, or hard labor. However, this was only applied to those whose crimes were, to use modern terminology, of light gravity. Those who were sentenced to death experienced terrible agony from torture before their death. And these tortures were so cruel that even now they make my body tremble.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese rulers and judges did not have a clear understanding of what the presumption of innocence and the prosecution were. That is why those confessions that a person gave under torture were considered irrefutable evidence of guilt. In addition, not only criminals were subjected to ancient Chinese torture, but also witnesses to their crimes. The Chinese executioners simply did not take into account the fact that a person could slander himself, if only his torment would stop.

Who was tortured?

In ancient times, torturing or killing a person was almost commonplace. Like most ancient countries, the Celestial Empire invented its own proprietary methods of Chinese torture and execution. They were so common because fines or imprisonment of convicts were not considered worthy punishment. And they could torture any criminal: a thief, a murderer, a liar, a spy, a blasphemer, women who gave birth out of wedlock, gay men, someone who cheated on their spouse, or simply a person disliked by the government.

Ancient China: types of torture

The variety of ancient Chinese tortures amazes modern people. The cruelty and composure with which the executioner carried out his work excites minds to this day. Torture in the Middle Kingdom was not just a way to “beat” a confession out of a criminal; over time, it turned into an art. How else can we explain the ingenuity with which judges and executioners came up with punishments for their victims?

It is not possible to list all the many options for ancient Chinese torture, however, here are some of them:

• They clamped their feet in steel sandals.
• They squeezed the knees with a special vice.
• They hit us on the calves with bamboo sticks.
• They pierced the fingernails and toenails with thin bamboo sticks.
• They put the criminal on the so-called tiger bench: they tied him to the back of the bench and stretched his legs in different directions.
• They put him on a block bed. Several tortured people were placed on one narrow bed so that they could not move and they were pressed on top with a wooden lid.
• They crushed the finger bones with a special vice.
• They put red-hot steel shoes on the feet of the guilty person.
• They tightened the iron hoop tightly on the criminal's head and gradually squeezed it even tighter.
• They put their bare knees on metal chains.
• The kneecaps were cut out with a sharp knife.
• As an upper punishment, the face was branded and the nose was cut off.
• As a lower punishment, they were castrated.
• They threw them into the water with eels.

And this is only a small fraction of what the justice of Ancient China was capable of.

Usually all torture took place in special rooms. Chinese torture chambers were cold, damp rooms with no windows or lighting. Lamps or candles were brought there only during torture; the rest of the time the criminal was in complete darkness. Often people imprisoned there died from hypothermia.

The worst Chinese tortures include:

• Water torture.
• Torture with drops of water.
• Torture using bamboo.
• Torture with boiled meat.
• Torture with scolopendra.

Water as a means of torture

The tradition of using water torture dates back to the Middle Ages. Therefore, despite the fact that one of its most popular variants is called “Chinese water torture,” it was not invented by Chinese executioners.

In ancient times, Chinese water torture was one of the most cruel. Torture museums around the world put on public display, which at first glance seems unpresentable and boring, an instrument of water torture. It is a funnel made of copper or wood, which is covered with leather. Compared to the instruments of torture surrounding it (for example, collars with spikes curved inward, blocks with gouges), this funnel looks, at least, harmless.

However, if you look closely, you can discern a huge number of clear dents on its base. They remained from the teeth of criminals who were subjected to this type of torture, which was considered neat, humane and not violating decency. It is for these supposed qualities that Chinese waterboarding was often used as a punishment for women, since it did not require them to be undressed or dismembered.

How did she act?

The essence of Chinese water torture was that the victim was tied with his back to a bench or bed. They lifted her head, forced the narrow edge of the funnel into her throat, and poured water into it. There was a lot of water. In addition to the fact that the tortured person felt suffocation and pain in the stomach, from the fact that he was bursting with the infused liquid, this torture could last for a very long time. Gradually the victim weakened, her consciousness became clouded, and complete submission and pliability appeared.

In addition to the traditional version, this Chinese torture had alternatives. One of them was pouring water not into the throat, but into the nose. In this case, the person either immediately confessed to everything (what he did and did not do), or choked.

Is a drop of water so scary?

In the cinema of the 20th century, there was a stereotype that running (or walking) in the rain was a lot of fun. Perhaps this is so, but only if you then go into a warm house in which the wood is crackling in the fireplace. In all other cases, it is not particularly desirable for water to drip onto your head for a long time. And in eastern countries, torture with dripping water was considered one of the most effective.

At first glance, the ancient Chinese water drop torture seems harmless enough. Well, what’s wrong with drops falling on a person? It seems nothing terrible, but the executioners used Chinese drop torture with enviable regularity, since its results were stunning and, importantly, effective.

How did the bullying happen?

The Chinese drop torture procedure began with the offender being tightly tied to either a chair or a bed so that he could not move and, more importantly, itch. In the case of the chair, the victim’s head was also tilted back and also secured in a motionless state. A flask or some other vessel with water, in which there was a very small hole, was suspended above his head. It constantly (without breaks) dripped water onto the victim's forehead.

The first impression of such Chinese torture is that it is a strange and harmless procedure. However, in fact, constantly dripping drops on the forehead is one of the worst types of psychological torture. The bottom line is that after prolonged exposure to drops of water on the victim’s forehead, she begins to experience nervous tension and, as a result, a mental disorder. The reason for this is the feeling that the victim has that when falling at the same point on the forehead, a drop forms a notch at the point of impact.

It is the psychological component of Chinese drop torture that influences its effectiveness and the positive results of interrogating criminals in Ancient China.

China: link between bamboo and torture

The first place among the most cruel tortures used in the Celestial Empire is rightfully occupied by Chinese torture with bamboo and water, which gradually turns into execution. This terrible procedure is notorious in all corners of the world. However, there is an opinion that this is just one of the local frightening legends, since not a single documentary evidence that such Chinese torture existed and was used has survived to this day.

Many people have heard about bamboo as one of the fast growing plants. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow almost a meter in just one day.

There is an opinion among historians that the deadly Chinese bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during the fighting of World War II.

How did the torture take place?

This torture was applied to people whose crimes, in the opinion of the judges, were very serious (espionage, high treason, murder of high-ranking officials).

Before the torture began, a bed of young bamboo was sharpened with a knife so that the stems became sharp as spears. After this, the victim was suspended over the garden bed in a horizontal position, so that the pointed bamboo shoots were either under the stomach or under the back. The bamboo was well watered for rapid growth and waited.

Since bamboo shoots, especially young ones, grow at an incredible speed, soon the sharp shoots pierced the body of the criminal, causing terrible agony to the victim. As the bamboo grew, it grew through the peritoneum and killed the person. Such a death was very long and painful.

food torture

According to the rules of healthy eating, it is preferable to eat boiled meat, and it is recommended to avoid fried meat altogether. However, you should not overeat even boiled meat. The Chinese criminals, who knew from their own experience the consequences of such nutrition, would agree with this.

They tortured thieves with boiled meat most often because they were trying to steal food sold in street shops: vegetables, fruits, rice.

In addition, in addition to the Chinese torture with boiled meat, there was another, no less sophisticated torture. The condemned man was regularly fed rice and clean water. However, it was not completely cooked, but only half cooked. That is, the criminal ate a stomach full of half-raw rice and washed it all down with water. As a result, his stomach became swollen from the rice that had swelled in it, and his intestines and stomach simply ruptured, giving the criminal unbearable pain. The result was profuse internal bleeding and a long, painful death.

Process

Chinese meat torture could last a whole month. Throughout this time, the victim suffered greatly.

The criminal was locked in a narrow and low cell. In it he could only be in a sitting or lying position, crouched. He was given clean water to drink. They fed the criminal well-cooked meat, which lacked sinews, bones and fat. A month later, a dead body was found in the cage.

According to Chinese judicial reference books, the effectiveness of this torture directly depends on the nationality of the convicted person. The reason for this is the nutritional habits of different peoples. Since the Chinese often ate foods of plant origin, such a change in diet was very noticeable for them and, in the end, led to death. But the Mongols or Huns, accustomed to eating exclusively meat in the morning, lunch and evening, would even like such torture.

According to modern doctors, there may be several reasons why the victim died during such torture. First of all, insufficient production of enzymes that facilitate the digestion of food of animal origin may be to blame. The result of poor digestion will be a malfunction in the functioning of the entire body. The second reason may have been immobilization in the cage for a long time. As you know, to digest heavy food, a person needs to move so that there is no stagnation in the intestines. In addition, a sedentary lifestyle and eating meat can lead to the accumulation of nitrogenous products in the blood. As a result, tachycardia, swelling and other pathologies of the body that can lead to human death.

Insects in the service of executioners

Another way to “torture” a convicted person was the Chinese centipede torture in the ear. Thus, they often mocked criminals who were accused of espionage. Like water drop torture, this torture had a significant effect on a person's mental state, since the insect moving in the ear canal made the victim nervous and increased the level of anxiety. And if you take into account the fact that its claws are connected to poisonous glands, the presence of an insect in the ear also causes severe pain. Simply running over the body, the scolopendra leaves behind a trail of burning mucus. What can we say about a place where she will feel uncomfortable.

For this sophisticated mockery of a person, the executioners always had a couple of red Chinese centipedes hidden, which practically did not feed, so that the insect always remained aggressive and hungry. At the first order, the executioner took the centipede out of the box, which, feeling free, began to behave actively, and once again got into the confined space of the ear canal, it went berserk.

Insect torture

The purpose of Chinese torture with a red scolopendra in the ear is complete psychological exhaustion of the victim, in which she agrees to do anything just to stop the torture.

Preparation for torture involves completely immobilizing a person by tying him to a bed or cot. The head is also fixed so that the criminal cannot shake the centipede out of his ear. Afterwards, the executioner inserts the scolopendra into the victim’s ear hole. By irritating the receptors in the ear, the insect can cause attacks of nausea and vomiting, as well as dizziness. This causes considerable discomfort to the victim and increases his level of anxiety.

Since the centipede loses its sense of direction while in the ear canal, it begins to behave restlessly and may knock on the eardrum. In some cases, if she behaved calmly and did not move, the executioner deliberately disturbed and irritated her so that she began to show aggression. As a result of such actions, it often gnawed through the eardrum and continued its path through the ear canals, making its way deeper and deeper into the head. At the same time, the victim felt terrible pain, her mind became clouded, and if she remained alive for some time, she went crazy.

Torture of women

Despite the cruelty of Chinese torture, it was very often used to abuse women. The rulers of Ancient China did not see the difference between criminals and criminals. This is not surprising, since some women were not inferior to men in the severity of their crimes. They robbed, spied, and sometimes killed, but most often the women were tortured and executed for being unfaithful to their husbands.

Chinese torture of women was also distinguished by its originality, and the executioners showed particular ingenuity.

However, representatives of the fairer sex could be tortured and killed simply for trifles. For example, there is a known case when, at the court of the rulers of the Ming dynasty, two cooks were subjected to monstrous execution. And their fault was that the rice that they served to the table of the nobles “was not as white as the wisdom of their master.” Such an “omission” made when working for the rulers of the Celestial Empire cost the cooks their lives. They were stripped and hung by the arms on rings, and sharp saws were fastened just below the pelvis, between the legs. The convicts, unable to hang on bent arms for a long time (in order not to touch the saw, they had to pull themselves up), began to gradually lower themselves onto the blade. However, unable to sit still on the sharp saw, the women began to fidget and squirm, not realizing that by doing so they were causing themselves even greater pain. Thus, gradually the victims sawed themselves to the chest and died. Metal saws were often replaced with bamboo ones, as the latter caused more pain.

There were cases when, instead of a woman sawing herself, she was put on a so-called “horse”. This instrument of torture was a triangular log with legs. The top of the triangle was the place on which the woman was seated, having previously provided the seating area with sharp spikes. Thus, feeling discomfort and pain, the woman fidgeted and cut her genitals.

The same fate befell a servant at the emperor’s court, who “dared to complain about the bad weather and thereby ruined the mood of her masters.”

A woman who committed a serious crime was imprisoned on a pyramid. The criminal was undressed and forced to sit on the tip of a metal pyramid standing on a chair or some kind of bench. At the same time, she did not just sit down, but first spread her legs so that the top of the pyramid fell directly into the genitals. If a woman did not confess to the crime, the executioner would force her onto the pyramid until the very end, thereby tearing it apart. After this, the victim most often died from blood loss or painful shock.

Wives who cheated on their husbands or gave birth to a child out of wedlock were often impaled on a bamboo stake. This was done in the square so that every woman could see what the end awaited her if she decided to “go left.”

Another very terrible punishment for unfaithful wives was mockery in which snakes were used. The essence of this execution was that the woman was laid on a flat surface and tied so that she could not move. After this, milk was poured into her genitals. And, as a conclusion to the preparation, a snake was thrown at her feet. Feeling the smell of milk, the snake crawled inside the woman, causing unbearable pain. As a result of this torture, the victim died.

Prohibition of torture

Both young and old were subjected to the terrible tortures that were used in Ancient China, regardless of gender and position in society. Despite the fact that criminals were tortured in ancient times in almost all countries of the world, Chinese torture was considered the most sophisticated and cruel, before which even seasoned European soldiers and executioners trembled.

At present, the Chinese authorities have not practiced the use of such terrible, and even brutal, torture. However, extracting confessions from criminals using cold, hunger or beatings was also carried out in the 21st century. And only on November 21, 2013, the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China announced a statement calling on all judicial authorities. It dealt with the exclusion of evidence and evidence that was obtained through torture and exhaustion of the defendants. Torture and coercion under the influence of low temperature, hunger and fatigue became prohibited at the state level. It would seem that this is a matter of course, but in Chinese prisons and temporary detention centers they did not hesitate to beat and abuse criminals just five years ago.

Let's start with torture, which can rightfully be included in the top twenty of the most inhumane abuses of people. The torture of the Inquisition included this method of punishing sinful people. In the Middle Ages, resorting to this cruel form of torture, the church punished sinners who were exposed in love for the same sex, for example, a woman with a woman or a man with a man. This type of love and relationship was considered blasphemy and a desecration of the church of God, so these people faced terrible punishment.

Instruments of torture of this type were pear-shaped. Accused female blasphemers had a “pear” placed in their vaginas, and male sinners had a “pear” placed in their anus or mouth. After the weapon was inserted into the victim's body, the executioner began the second stage of torture, which consisted of making the person suffer terribly after gradually, when unscrewing the screw, the sharp leaves of the pear opened inside the flesh. Opening up, the pear tore the internal organs of a woman or man into pieces. The fatal outcome occurred because the victim lost a large amount of blood, or from the deformation of internal organs caused by the opening of the deadly killer pear.

2. Punishing the guilty with the help of rats

This is one of the most cruel tortures in the history of mankind, which was invented in China, and was especially popular among the Inquisition in the 16th century. The victim experienced terrible torment. The main instrument of torture was rats. The person was placed on a large table; in the area of ​​the womb, a fairly heavy cage filled with rats was placed, which had to be hungry. Of course, this is far from the end: then the bottom of the cage was removed, after which the rats ended up on the victim’s belly, at the same time hot coals were laid out on the top of the cage, the rats got scared from the heat and, trying to escape from the cage, gnawed the person’s belly, so way of escaping. People died in terrible agony.

3. Torture with metal

The most terrible tortures do not end there. Next of the 20 most cruel tortures in the world, we present the brutal punishment of the victim with metal. The essence of the torture is that a piece of lead or iron was placed in a person’s body in a deep, but not very large incision, after which the wound on the body was sewn up. After this, the metal began to poison the victim’s body, as it oxidized. This type of torture was often used in the Middle Ages by the “pious” Inquisition.

4.Death by air

Torture, which deprived the victim of blood, is an ancient form of punishment that was resorted to in the territory of Kievan Rus. The human body was pumped with air using bellows through the anus. The victim was practically inflated like a balloon, after covering his nose, mouth and ears with cotton. After the thief was inflated (this type of punishment was often applied to thieves), the anus was closed with a cloth. After this, the skin was incised above the eyebrows; under pressure, blood flowed out of the victim in the area of ​​the incisions. The man died from blood loss.

5. Hellish torture comes from the East - count

Instruments of torture have always been cruel and brought a lot of suffering to the victim, but the stake was classified as one of the most savage, cruel and painful punishments known in the world. The accused was placed in a stomach-down position without being given any opportunity to move. Next, a sharpened stake was practically driven through the anus of the victim, after which he was seated and, under the weight of the convict’s body, the sharpened stake pierced the body in the area of ​​the armpits or ribs. Death came in terrible agony.

6. Spanish armchair

The Inquisition played the role of an executioner in the Middle Ages, its imagination created many terrible methods, one of which was the Spanish chair, which forced more than one person to suffer. The instrument of torture was made of metal, the condemned man was placed on it, his legs were fixed in stocks that were attached to the legs of the chair itself. After fixing the prisoner on a chair, hot coal was placed under his feet, on which the limbs were supposed to slowly roast, while the executioner constantly sprinkled the victim’s legs with oil. It’s even scary to imagine what kind of torment people who were in the Spanish chair of the Inquisition had to experience.

7. Witch Bathing Chair

Witch bathing chair - what is the essence of this torture?

The accused was fixed on the chair using ropes, then the chair was hooked onto a long stick and periodically lowered into the water for a certain period of time. This torture was not carried out in all seasons of the year, but only in the cold season (autumn - winter). If it was winter, then they made a hole for a chair with a sinner; the inquisitors could amuse themselves for several days, torturing him with such a dipping. Ultimately, the accused suffocated underwater from lack of oxygen.

8. Saw

The essence of torture was the ability to keep the victim conscious and torture him for as long as possible, so that the pain was constantly felt, bringing hellish torment. The saw is the Inquisition’s favorite method of torturing sinners. The person accused of committing sins was practically sawed into two parts, having previously placed the sinner in a head-down position, thereby making it possible to saturate the brain with oxygen, preventing the victim from losing consciousness during sawing to the diaphragm area. It’s scary to even imagine what a person felt when he was slowly sawed in half.

9. Gloomy rack

This instrument of torture is known in several forms: horizontal and vertical. If the vertical version was used on the victim, then the sinner was caught under the ceiling, while the joints were twisted, and weight was constantly added to the legs, stretching the body as much as possible. The use of a horizontal version of the rack ensured the rupture of the muscles and joints of the convict.

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I draw the attention of readers to the fact that the historical heritage is by no means forgotten, as evidenced by many museums around the world.

Not only has it not been forgotten, but it continues to improve at a new technological and psychological level. So it’s not evening yet. Gentlemen, it’s not evening yet.

In 1963, the CIA published the KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation manual for use during the Vietnam War. Includes specialized forms of interrogation, such as interrogation by electric shock, threat/fear, sensory deprivation, and isolation.

The second manual for conducting enhanced interrogation was the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual, expanded and supplemented, for intelligence services in Latin American countries.

00. Propaganda

Perhaps the most subtle and insidious of all methods of “additional influence” was and remains propaganda. It can be considered a form of psychological torture. The beginning of modern "psychological attacks" was laid in the First World War. In the beginning, countries like Great Britain and Germany began to use propaganda as one of their effective weapons. At that time, the British had one of the most authoritative news systems in the world - and controlled most of the media.

Examples of British propaganda included the creation of pamphlets that were distributed from aircraft on the battlefields. The pamphlets contained information about various atrocities - both real and fake - allegedly committed by the German army against civilians. With drawings and caricatures.

The Germans were able to successfully use propaganda to force the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to declare jihad, or “holy war,” against the West. By the start of World War II, Adolf Hitler had adopted British propaganda methods and used them to influence the minds of the German people.

Many unfortunate people throughout the history of mankind have experienced all the horrors of torture, but the worst thing is not that these terrible methods of torturing people existed. What’s worse is how sophisticated the authors of torture were, wanting to inflict maximum torture on their victims.

1. Sitting in the bathtub

The convict was seated in a tub, from which only his head protruded. Afterwards, the executioner smeared the unfortunate man’s face with milk and honey so that flies would fly to him. The victim was also given food regularly. Ultimately, the man essentially bathed in his own excrement and rotted alive, while his flesh was eaten by flies and worms.

2. Copper bull

The Copper Bull, also known as the Sicilian Bull, was designed by the ancient Greeks. It is a copper structure, hollow inside, and with a door on one side. Through the latter, a person was placed inside the bull. After the doors were closed, a fire was lit under the structure. The bull became white-hot, the victim screamed in a voice that was not his own, and these screams resembled a bull’s roar.

This was Vlad the Impaler's favorite method of torture. The stick was sharpened and driven into the ground, and the condemned man was placed on the tip. Under the weight of its own weight, the victim gradually slid down the stake and pierced his internal organs. Death did not occur immediately when impaled. Some died for three days. And this gave Vlad special pleasure. Once he executed 20 thousand people and calmly watched their torment while enjoying his meal.

4. Heretic's Fork

The torture device consists of a metal bar with forks at the ends. One end was placed under the chin, and the other on the collarbone. The fork was attached to the neck with a strap. The victims were not supposed to fall asleep. As soon as they were eaten, the head dropped, and the fork pierced the throat and chest.

A very humiliating and painful form of torture. A collar made of metal and wood was placed around the victim's neck. After this, for several days the person could not lie down, lower his head, or eat. Otherwise, sharp thorns would pierce his throat.

This is one of the most famous tortures and is still practiced in some countries to this day. It involves tying or nailing a person’s limbs to a wooden cross. After this, the unfortunate person is left hanging in the open air without food or water, almost naked. Death as a result of crucifixion does not occur quickly. It takes several agonizing days to become exhausted.

The instrument of torture is a pyramid on high legs. The convict was placed with his crotch on the point and tied by his limbs. The man sank deeper and deeper into the cone under the weight of his own weight. At night he was removed from the pyramid and left in limbo to bleed, and the next morning the torture continued. Death occurred within a few days, and was often caused by infection - no one had ever washed the tip of the cone.

8. Sprinkler

As a rule, molten lead, boiling water, resin or hot oil were poured inside the weapon. Afterwards, the mace was attached in such a way that its contents would drip onto the victim’s stomach or eyes.

A cabinet with a hinged front wall and a huge number of spikes on the lid. A person was placed inside the maiden, and when the lid was closed, he practically could not move - every movement brought hellish pain.

10. Torture Coffin

A favorite method of torture during the Middle Ages. It consisted in the fact that the victim was placed inside a cage the size of a human body. Overweight people were deliberately placed in smaller cells. The closed “coffin” was hung from a tree and left outside to be devoured by birds and animals.

There are many different types of this torture device, but the principle of operation of all of them is the same. The vice is intended for crushing fingers and toes, knees, and elbows. There is even a vice for the skull. During the Middle Ages, this method of torture was very popular.

12. Torture with rope

Rope is the simplest, but multifunctional instrument of torture. People have found many uses for it. The rope was used on gallows. The victims were tied to trees with ropes and left to be torn to pieces by wild animals. The rope was also used to attach the limbs of the unfortunate to the horses, which were subsequently allowed to run in different directions, and the person was torn to pieces.

13. Pear of suffering

Another terrible instrument of torture was a pear with petals that opened when the screw was tightened. The pear was inserted into the mouth or anus of the victim (for girls, often into the vagina) and the screw was tightened gradually, thereby tearing the internal organs. The victim died a long, painful death.

This is one of the most painful and terrible tortures in the Middle Ages. The weapon is a frame with ropes. The victim was tied and placed on a platform. After this, the executioner began to turn the handle, which pulled out the ropes tied to the victim’s limbs. As a result, bones broke, muscles tore, joints popped out. But even after this, the executioners continued to stretch the ropes until the victim’s limbs were torn from the body.

Huge scissors easily cut out people's tongues. The mouth was opened forcibly for the “procedure” using special stretchers.

For some, being in the same room with rats is already torture. The essence of this method is that a cage with rodents without one wall is placed on the victim’s body. After attaching the structure, it began to be heated from the other side, and the rats, trying to escape from the heat, gnawed their way to freedom through the person.

17. Torture chair

Or the Judas chair. There are from 500 to 1500 spines on its surface. The victim is held in a chair using rigid straps. Sometimes a heat source was placed under the chair. The torture chair was often used for intimidation, and it caused many to “split.”

18. Cement boots

The method was invented by the American mafia. When mafiosi executed their enemies, they poured cement into their feet. As soon as the latter hardened, the person was thrown into the river.

19. Bib tongs

Women were subjected to the same torture methods as men. But this weapon was created specifically for them. The tongs pierced the flesh and were pulled out or slowly pulled out. Death occurred as a result of severe blood loss.

20. Crocodile scissors

They were used to execute those who rebelled against the king and tried to kill the monarch. Before crushing and cutting off the victim's testicles, the scissors were heated.

A popular torture during the French Revolution. The victims are a man and a woman. They were stripped naked, tied up and left to drown in this form.

Catherine's Wheel allowed the victim to be killed excruciatingly slowly. The unfortunate man was tied to the weapon and began to slowly rotate. At this moment, the executioner struck the limbs with a hammer. When all the bones were broken, the still living victim with the wheel was lifted onto a high pole, where birds could feed on his flesh.

23. Spanish donkey

The naked victim was placed astride a structure made of wooden planks with a blade on top. Weights are tied to the martyr's limbs. The weight increases until the blade cuts through the flesh.

24. Sawing

The victim was hung upside down so that the blood would flow to the head and she would remain conscious longer. After this, the unfortunate man began to be sawed in half from the crotch. Many were cut only to the stomach in order to intensify the torment and prolong the agony.

25. Suspended, recessed, dismembered

For high treason in England during the Middle Ages, a person was hanged, drowned and quartered in public. The victim was placed in an execution frame. After this, the accused was strangled until he was half to death, castrated and his genitals were burned in front of his own eyes, and at the end they were quartered and his head was cut off.

The history of mankind knows many examples of cruelty, a separate page is devoted to medieval torture. Looking through materials on this topic, every now and then you wonder how such a thing could have been invented and what kind of sick imagination you had to have. Compared to torture in Middle Ages, any modern maniac-killer nervously smokes on the sidelines. And now we will try to convince you of this.

Torture by rats

Initially, this torture was widely used in Ancient China. But the idea of ​​torturing people with rats also came to the mind of the leader of the Dutch revolution Dedrick Sonoya.

What's happened:

The victim was stripped naked and tied to a flat surface

A cage with hungry rats was placed on his stomach and tightly fixed.

Then burning coals were poured onto the top of the cage.

Frightened rats try to escape by gnawing their way to freedom through the body of the victim.

(There was another ending: hungry rats were simply left on a person’s body until they began to satisfy their hunger by eating living flesh, thereby bringing long and terrible suffering).

"Pear"

A special device consisting of pointed and curved metal plates was used in the Middle Ages in Europe to punish blasphemers, deceivers, women who gave birth out of wedlock, and men of non-traditional sexual orientation. Although at first glance “Pear” is not at all associated with horror, this impression is wrong...

What's happened

The victim was completely undressed, and the “pear” was inserted into the mouth, vagina or anus.

The torturer slowly turns the screw - the metal plates open, thereby gradually tearing the person's flesh. After which he dies from internal injuries.

Cradle of Judas

This medieval torture was also called “Vigil” or “Guarding the Cradle”

This was one of the most favored tortures of the Spanish Inquisition, but was also used in other countries.

What's happened:

The accused was seated on a pointed wooden or metal pyramid such that the tip stuck into the vagina or anus.

With the help of ropes or stones suspended from the feet, the victim was “lowered” down.

The torture continued until the person died (from several hours to several days).

Spanish Donkey ("Chair of the Jews")

This torture is very similar to the previous one, with the only difference being that the victim was not seated on a pyramid, but on a wedge-shaped device that rested on the person’s crotch. Often additional weights were gradually suspended from the legs.

Bamboo torture

It is believed that this torture was often used in China. There is even evidence that it was used in Japan during World War II.

What's happened.

Bamboo shoots were sharpened, thereby forming a kind of “stakes” (It should be mentioned here that this plant can grow about one meter high in just one day).

A person was suspended above them, through whom bamboo shoots grew, thereby causing unbearable, prolonged pain.

Wheeling

This medieval torture has been known since the times of Ancient Rome; for a long time it was used by executioners from Germany, France, Russia and other countries.

What's happened:

First, all the large bones of the body were broken using a hammer or a special wheel.

After this, he was tied to a large wheel, which was placed on a pole and left to die. Often the suffering continued for several days.

Gridiron

This is a special grill for torture by fire. A kind of brazier, which is described as an ordinary grate on legs.

What's happened:

The victim was tied to the gridiron.

Burning coals were placed under it. The victim was “roasted” alive.

Insect torture

There are different types of torture and execution using insects. One of the most terrible and cruel was the following...

What's happened:

The victim was placed in a special wooden barrel so that only the head remained outside.

His face was smeared with honey, which attracted various insects.

In addition to all this, he was fed intensively, because of this, after a while the victim “swimmed in his feces. What attracted insects even more, which laid larvae in the body of the victim.

A few days later, larvae emerged from the bites and began to eat the flesh of a still living person...

Even more materials about the Middle Ages read

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