12 of the Most Horrifying Torture Devices in History
I’ve sat through all the Saw and Hostel movies, and I wasn’t the least bit affected by all the gore. It was all crappy special effects anyway. But reading about how the most horrifying torture devices in history--the real ones-- worked, is an entirely different thing. Maybe I just have an over-active imagination, but by the time I got to torture device no. 12, nausea was already setting in. I was thinking about listing at least 20 of these infernal contraptions, but I had to stop lest I throw up all over my keyboard.
I remember a scene in the TV series Jericho where the mysterious character Hawkins says “the prospect of torture is a much more effective means of interrogating people” or something along those lines. Too bad hundreds of thousands of sadists over the centuries didn’t know that, and proceeded to inflict on their millions of victims the worst pain imaginable, which, more often than not, resulted in a very painful death. Here are some of the twisted devices they used to do just that:
1. Heretic’s fork
One end of this device was pushed under the chin, the other into the sternum, with the strap securing this torture tool to the victim’s neck. Immobilized and in great pain, the victim will have to mouth off the Latin word “abiuro” (I recant), or they’ll end up being hanged or worse, burned at the stake.
2. Lead sprinkler
This tool, which kinda reminds me of a holy water sprinkler, was filled with either molten lead, tar, boiling oil or boiling water, then used to bless, errr, torture its victims by dripping its contents on their stomach, back and other body parts. Sounds like standard S&M practice to me, only with a greater deal of pain.
3. Thumbscrew
There are many variations on this torture device. Some were designed to slowly crush fingers, while others were built to do the same to toes, knees and elbows. Just a simple vise, really, but extremely painful.
4. Tongue Tearer
Countless heretics and blasphemers had their tongues roughly torn out with this simple device. My, weren’t they the popular ones during those times.
5. The Rack
The rack is a contraption designed to dislocate every single joint in its victim’s body. Tied across the device’s board by the ankles and wrists, the victim’s body is then pulled in opposite directions by turning rollers at either end of the board. Great way of relieving a bad back, if you ask me. Of course, the subsequent pain caused by the multiple dislocations is another story.
6. Breast Ripper
This one is self-explanatory. Many women condemned as heretics, adulterers, blasphemers had their breasts ripped out using this device.
7. Iron Maiden
Not the 80s heavy metal band, but the iron cabinet found in Nuremberg, Germany. The interior of this device is lined with strategically-placed sharp objects that is intended to torture a person unlucky enough to be put inside it. These spikes impaled the victim in the eyes, the chest and the back, but usually missed vital organs, so as to leave the victim bleeding profusely and in great pain, but still alive for a period of time.
8. Crocodile shears
Had this device been still in use in the 20th century, people like Lee Harvey Oswald or John Hinckley, Jr. might have thought twice before doing the deeds they are infamous for. You see, captured assassins of kings in late medieval Europe often had a date with this device, which is actually an iron pincer with hemicylindrical blades that formed a long narrow tube when closed together. Teeth or spikes lined the inside of the blades, which are first heated until red-hot before being clamped on the victim’s penis. When his sex organ is “cooked” enough, it is then torn out from his body. Ouch.
9. Judas Chair
The Spanish Inquisition was said to have made use of, among other things, the Judas Chair, also known as the Judas Cradle. Victims were hoisted up by rope or chain and then made to sit on the pointed tip of the pyramid shaped device. You get the picture.
10. The Pear
Commit sodomy, adultery, incest, heresy, blasphemy or sexual union with Satan (!) in Medieval Europe, and chances are, you’ll get this intricately-decorated device inserted into your mouth, rectum or vagina. A screw mechanism then makes its pointed “leaves” expand while inside any of those orifices, resulting in severe internal mutilation. Yikes.
11. The Wheel
This device is known by many names, such as breaking wheel and Catherine wheel, but it only means one thing to those who perished by this means: pure agony.
The Wheel is more like an execution device, but the hours before actual death is excruciating. The victim is tied to the side of the wheel, then gets every bone in his body shattered one by one by an executioner using a hammer or an iron bar. Victims of this form of torture often took hours, or even days to die. Some were “fortunate” enough to be granted “mercy”, in the form of fatal blows to the chest or stomach.
12. Brazen Bull
This is one particularly brutal torture/execution device. From Wikipedia:
"The brazen bull is an execution/torture device designed in ancient Greece. Perillos of Athens, a brass-founder proposed to Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, the invention of a new means for executing criminals; accordingly, he cast a brazen bull, made totally of brass, hollow, with a door in the side. The condemned was shut up in the bull and a fire was set under it, heating the metal until it became "red hot" and causing the person inside to slowly roast to death. So that 'nothing unseemly might spoil his feasting', Phalaris commanded that the bull be designed in such a way that its smoke rose in spicy clouds of incense. The head of the ox was designed with a complex system of tubes and stops so that the prisoner's screams were converted into sounds like the bellowing of an infuriated bull. "
No way those who were roasted alive in this device looked anything like the serene faces in the above picture.
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According to Wikipedia, the Iron maiden is actually a hoax.
“Historians have ascertained that Johann Philipp Siebenkees created the history of it as a hoax in 1793. [..] The Nuremberg iron maiden was actually built in the 19th century [..]”
add a little liquid and i bet you could rename that last one the “braisin’ bull”, no?
wow…. little ironic that the church utilized these…
People just had nothing better to do back then. What kind of mind did it take to think of something like this
Angie,
Yea, seriously! Who could think of something this sick?!?!… oh wait, are you talking about the torture device makers or me for writing this?
They forgot one more thing: n00bs. New, but effective. On a more serious note… I’m HELLA glad I’m living in the 21st century. As opposed to to having every joint dislocated, or getting some weird expanding pear shoved up my arse. Damn.
wont those heretics ever learn?
the brazen bull is the sickest. read the wiki article… talk about a reward for your hard work!
Think twice about adopting religion.
[…] if whoever ordered KFed whacked really wants to punish him, how about introducing him to one of the 12 most horrifying torture devices in history? Now that has got to […]
These are so twisted, I hate torture and blood, but I couldn’t stop reading. Awesome post, but there are some sick minds out there. I always think about the people who knew they were going to be put on the wheel or something, what do you think about like 5 minutes before?
What would I be thinking 5 mins before? id be thinking about the objects closest to me and if i could kill myself with them. as for Snarf saying that the Church using these as being ‘ironic’.. do you understand what irony even is?
No, the sickest is the crocodile shears. WTF!!!!??
Damn! Thumbscrew is very cruel :/
“Think twice about adopting religion.” - Bruce
Well, as many of these were because of heresy I’d think twice about adopting the WRONG religion.
I noticed that your 12 torture devices were all European designs. Were the European torturers more heinous than, say, the Chinese torturers? They had some rather nifty little gadgets, too.
The current methods used by so called civilized governments today (including sensory deprivation, white noise bombardment) are far more effective and a lot easier to clean up afterwards!!
The worst one seems to have been missed out…..
Cant remember what it was called, but basically it was an upturned wire basket which was placed on the prisoners stomach as he lay flat on the floor. The top of the basket had a hollow into which red hot coals were placed and underneath live rat was put in the basket on the prisoners stomach/chest.
The coals werent designed to burn the victim but to hurt the rat so much that the only way for it to escape was to eat its way through the stomach/chest of the still conscious prisoner!
… And the number one most horrifying torture device in history?
Paris Hilton.
Just a footnote on the Brazen Bull. I have read in historical documents that the first victim of the device was ironically, the inverter Perillos. Just goes to show that no good deed goes unoticed.
Did you get these pictures from the san Diego museum of Man’s human torture exhibit?
kickass, what would be really cool though is a version of the iron maiden made out of a high density clear plastic, cylindrical in shape with hundreds (thousands?) of holes which you could insert thin sharp objects into, would need some way to keep them in maybe a simple mechanical solution like those on a zip tie or something. least then you could see the fruits of your labor and they could watch you do it…
This is horrible. Did these people have no empathy whatsoever? How could they do that?
What you people fail to realize is this was the norm back then. It was no different to them back then as things are to us.
It wasn’t immoral, wrong, ignorant, hateful, mean, nothing.. It was the way of life.
wow…this is probably the most boring thing ive ever read..i mean come on! They had to punish people somhow…i wish i had those devices and a couple subjecs..id have some fun ill tell you wat!
Wikipedia is not a reliable source of factual information. Anyone can define anything there, inaccurately, unproven or just plain made-up. It is NOT an encyclopedia, or a valid research resource. Anyone believing anything they find there should seriously consider visiting a Library instead.
That said, their is much controversey about the history of the actual Iron Maiden device. It is not a complete hoax though, as one has been found and has actually been on display in museums. Another one is reported to have been found as having been used as recently as Uday Hussein.
If these accounts are both true, then the device cannot be a hoax. Please consider the source of information before arguing speculation as fact.
101 and 1 things to do in the middle ages
Yeah to all those who say these are cruel and unusual twisted and sick, are you hidding something are you subconciously scared that you may be confronted by these “tools” as the post regarding the instrument shoved into the urethra inside the penis says wouldnt some of the crims around these days reconsider pullin the stunts they do, and just for the bible bashers out there Fact : More deaths have been caused by religion than any other man concious or man made decision, bring these items back dont fuk up dont get ya tittys rippd off
To Roger,
First I thought to be streched to the point where you dislocate every joint in the body must be extremely painful.
BUT EATEN ALIVE by rats most be the most bizarre torture really, because you would be more conscious through that process the whole time.
How could people be so EviL?
hecate……………you’re fucked up, man.
The church tried to kill everyone who didn’t agree with them because they can’t handle competition. Now that they can’t kill people just because they don’t agree church atendances are going down. People are starting to realize that trying to avoid man’s true nature is futile, it’s like trying to deny your instincts (which technically it is exactly that…). No offense to Christians, but I don’t think God is the savior. It’s not the followers of Christianity that I’m disrespecting, just the religion. No Christian that I know has ever disrespected me, and I won’t disrespect them. however, Christianity has, in the past, disrespected my religion and I am simply returning the favor to the religion that disrespects me, not the followers (although I will do this if a follower disrespects me).
I wish I had some of these torture devices and a lot of test subjects. I’d have so much fun.
I think people who make fun of my SEO work should be subjected to these tortures. I work hard to make cloaked sites and so on. I am tired of people making fun of my work. I can drive millions of visitors to your site and anyone who says otherwise goes on the rack and then into that bull.
Brian Carpio
evilentities.blogspot.com
These forms of torture are very cruel and were very common in earlier times, especially to punish those who did bad crimes. But one torture device that was utilized by Hitler during his reign was this, and it would only be used on men.
First, they would undress the man completely. Then, they would get a woman in the room to get his penis fully erect. Then, they put a glass vial over the erect penis. Then they smashed it so all the glass stuck into the penis. Then as the penis got flaccid, the glass stuck in even further.
That is horrible. Is it not?
I’m sure this is only a tip of the Ice-burg listed here, some of these methods where used up to the late 1800s. Relics of these devices are still found in parts on europe and asia. I am also sure that every civilization had it’s own ways of dealing with those who did bad crimes.
If we were to look back into time, we would see many crimes against the innocents, ie, scholars being punished for discovering lunar eclipses or gravity.
Ignorance and lack of understanding can lead even the most sane minds to commit a crime.
some here choose not to see the ultimate serverity , ignorance and irrelevance imposed by these tortures
I put it to you, you need not be a victim of fear, before making such ill thought comments, remember, those people who suffered, were not unlike your brother, sister, mother, fater, lover, your children, your sisters children, the people closest to you in life.
Please think before making such ‘blood on your hands’ comments
ohhh man yall seriously are like grossed out by this stuff. its nothing really…. i could totally like think of stuff much much cruel. actually that what i do in my spare time… none of this stuuff is even personal enough… (i did enjoy judas’s chair)
so… i think i should like make myyyy own list of like stuff i make up… totally going toooooo its like gonna be totally great… hmm a better version of the hitler glass thingy would totally be to like shove a glass rod into the penis when its like erect an bend the penis to break the rod and then jack them off. or drowning some one in a litter box full of cat diarhea (i tell my boe-fren imma do that to him quite alot) hee hee
This is sad, but it was life back then. People went through hell then and they go through hell now, if life were perfect then there would be no progress. I’m very grossed by the way people got punished and how people are still punished, i don’t agree with prison because i know how it feels to be caged without any bars or cells needed. As for the penis torture, thats pretty sick nevertheless people in Iraq who are in prison or whatever, they get to have their penis tied up by a rope that they lose the feeling while conscious so it doesn’t really make much a difference then the old punishment. Oh and to those who live in USA, please don’t vote for the republican who wants to be president, i heard that the national republicans want to ‘fix’ people like they do to pets so we can’t have babies, they think the world population is too big. So if you plan on having kids, i wouldn’t vote for that person if i were you.
To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure and the beginning of a new life. I wouldn’t be afraid of going through any of this because it all has to end at death and i believe there is life after death, not meaning ghost but to be born again as somebody or something else. Don’t fear death or death will chase you and be knocking on the door before you know it. Pain is beautiful, just not a bliss and that thing they stick up the vagina and stuff is really………….ehem, words fail me……….um………yeah……….
I’ll just shut up now -_-
evry difrent culture has had torture devices in the past, it was a normal thing and was used to punish people. i think it was a good thing for those who were very bad, because these days someone can murder many people, and all they get is maybe 10 years in prison. they’re not getting hurt or nothing. punishment was good back in the old days and dey deserved it. of course some people were wrongly accused and punished, that would have been very out of order and bad. some people were punished for beleaving in the wrong religion, and i mean brutally punished to a slow painful death, even to children. Some mothers were made to kill their children and eat them, and then wear their children’s skin around their neck as a necklace to show shame for not changing religion. this is very wrong but it happened alot. i myself would have changed religion rather den having to kill children.
Interesting stuff!
I survived a psychological state indicative of all that myself in 2001-2007 on and off. Psychiatry eh! A freind who is a bare knuckle fist fighter managed similar. Been drug free for a year now and feel great!
They said Satan used to roam the London Dungeon this was because 97.5% of the patients had gone furvently psychotic.
I think I want Shark girl 666’s phone number.
In not suprised the moderation is taking so long, bit of a wake up call isnt it.
Ok dont worry, its not exactly the best way to get the point across I think, sorry.
Anyone who thinks this is awesome and wants to try this out on people do not know what it would be like to be that person, just imagine what the person would go through, be the person that would die like this and just imagine the pain. That’s why you seriously need to get some help.
Who me? The comment about Sharkgirl may have been sarcasm?!
I dont seriously need to get help if you mean me, tried that a while ago for a bout depression due to extenuating circumstances in my life at the time (it happens to us all at some point) and in pretty much the same way peanuts can kill due to a biological variance and how there are infinate biological variances and many different kind of drug all of which are handed out like $weets with no consideration whatsoever other than that you feel down at the time………………………..
Well lets just say peanuts are better for depression.