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.
UPDATE: Here are 10 more torture contraptions
1. Knee Splitter
A popular torture device during the Inquisition, the knee splitter does what it says: split victims' knees and render them useless. Built from two spiked wood blocks, the knee splitter is placed on top of and behind the knee of its victims. Two large screws connecting the blocks are then turned, causing the two blocks to close towards each other and effectively destroy a victim's knee.
2. Inquisitional Chair
An Indian fakir would absolutely love this chair, but not those victims of the Inquisition who were unfortunate enough to sit on it butt naked. Strapped tight to it with leather straps, those who sat on this chair felt the pain of hundreds of sharp and rusty spikes piercing their flesh, and that pain is magnified even more when torturers decide to press them down against the spikes. For added fun, torturers heated this iron chair and effectively roasted slowly the poor unfortunate souls sitting on it.
3. The "Boots"
If you think the Knee Splitter was murder on a person's lower limbs, wait til you know what the "Boots" were about. This horrible piece of equipment was made up of wedges that fitted the legs from ankles to knees. Pure pain ensues when the torturer violently pounds the wedges with a large, heavy hammer, a process that is done repeatedly until flesh and bone are completely destroyed, with some victims even gushing marrow from their crushed legs.
4. The Spanish Tickler
The Spanish Tickler tickled its victims pink, and ultimately very red as this device, also known as the Cat's Paw, ripped and tore their flesh away from the bone, targeting any part of the body.
5. The Skull Splitter
Just as it says: it splits skulls. This one resembles an angel's halo, but there's absolutely nothing angelic or holy about it. Inside this halo are very pointy spikes, which are driven into the side of the victim's skull as the screws on the outside are tightened. The skull splitting part comes when the torturer either grabs the halo by its handles and jerks the victim side to side or hoists him or her into the air, by those very same handles. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the top of the victim's skull is violently removed by the aforementioned actions, and that brains tend to spill out all over the place in the process.
6. Head Crusher
Here's another torture device with a self-explanatory name. The chin of the victim is placed on the lower bar, When the questioning starts, the screw starts to turn and the cap is forced down the victim's head. Use your imagination to see what happens when that cap is pressed all the way down a person's head.
The amazing part is, the Head Crusher is said to be still in use up to this day for interrogation purposes.
7. Revolving Drum
Think of this one as somewhat akin to grating cheese, only this one grates a human torso ever so slowly. A popular tool in Spain for extracting information from prisoners many years ago, the Revolving Drum calls for victims to be put into it face down, their heads through the upper pillory and their legs firmly strapped. Their torsos pressed against a spiked drum, the prisoners are then asked questions. Any sign of resistance, and the torturer then slowly rotates the drum one full revolution. This process is repeated, and torturers even go to the extent of placing weights on the backs of victims to further press their torsos towards the spiked drum and cause more pain. The result, naturally, is death by very slow disembowelment.
8. Spanish Donkey
A number of medieval torture devices have the word "Spanish" attached to it, but this one is probably the most gruesome. The Spanish Donkey gave victims an unimaginably horrible ride, and here's why. Victims are put astride, naked, the apparatus, which is actually a vertical wood board with a sharp V-shape wedge on top. Varying weights are then attached to their feet. Eventually, the victim's own weight and the extra baggage cause the wedge to slice through their bodies, splitting them in half. Yikes.
9. Rat Torture
This method tortures both man and rodent, but it is man who tends to end up dying a horrifying death. A victim is completely restrained, and a full-grown rat is placed upon his or her stomach. The rat will be confined within a cage placed on top of it, which would then be heated, freaking the rat out enough to frantically burrow its way into the only way out: the victim's stomach and intestines.
10. The Saw
Who would have thought that one of the most useful tools ever invented by man could also become one of the sickest? The saw, which has helped mankind slice through trees en route to building houses and shopping malls, also has a dark past as a torture / execution device. And the way it was used would make the strongest of stomachs churn out its lunch.
Victims of this indescribably brutal device were made to hang upside down, legs spread apart. Even this position has a purpose: to fill the victims' heads with blood, and therefore allow them to remain conscious as the torturers work the saw through their crotches, sometimes up to their midsection before they pass out or die. Just imagine the sound the whole process would have made, with the saw's serrated edge making contact with flesh and bone with each back and forth motion, on top of the victim's bloodcurdling screams of agony.
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FIRSTS!!!1!!!!!
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.
DAMN! I wouldn’t thought of those in my life… Something so cruel and brutal… Those people didn’t have hearts. Talk about modern technology…
“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.”
Actually, it goes through a group of some kind that scrutinize it before it is posted. It also makes a note of whether or not sources are quoted, plus if something is obviously very untrue, like an urban legend, it is immediately deleted
“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.”
That’s also the legend behind the Guillotine, although it is a myth, the creator died of natural causes.
@ Douge
I assume you meant “inventor” Perillos. I also assume you meant “no good deed goes unpunished.”
I think it’s a little unfair to call Christianity evil because horrible things have been done in the name of god. Horrible things can be done in anythings name, I know there are quite a lot of wackos who’ve done horrible things in the name of satan for example. And saying you are only disrespecting it Mr Satanist cause they disrespected yours, is a bit hypocritical. Complaining about being treated in such a way (which you weren’t even alive to witness or feel the repression of if we’re talking about medieval religious persecution) and then turning around and treating that religion the same way you were treated makes no sense. But blaming Christianity is pointless. Look at Hitler and the holocaust for example, not done in the name of god, but because of race. And that was the most horrific injustice to ever take place. I think pretty much every religion on the planet had been persecuted at one point or another by some other religion, one religion doesn’t come above all others as to blame for the most horrible shit they’ve done. I mean Christians were persecuted in medieval Europe by Catholics as well, Christians(hebrews) were enslaved as far back as the Egyptian times if you are going to say Christianity is what invented religious persecution and suffering >____>; I mean look what the Jews did to Jesus. To me every ‘religion’ seems to carry an equal amount of blood on their hands. I guess I just don’t see the argument as far as all this is concerned. And blaming god for the horrible things done in his name is like me killing 20 people and saying i did it in Mr Satanists name. No one looks at Mr Satanist as the evil force behind the death and destruction, it would be ME, just a person, doing horrible things. Just like how those Spanish Inquisition guys were just people, choosing to do horrible things just cause they had the power to, and blaming god just cause some bad men tried to use him as a paltry excuse for all this is kinda sad x(
on another note though I find the torture devices scary as well as fascinating o.o makes me kind of glad I didn’t live in a time where these were all common practices cause that would be enough to scare me into living in a cave and never coming into contact with civilization(?) again. x____x; What is it about human nature that can drive people to this level of barbarism? I mean it seems like people today wouldn’t even have the stomach to dish out this kind of torture. Even todays most depraved serial killer wouldn’t have the balls to do this shit o.o
I mean what exactly is the point of all this? Any intelligent person can see the glaring fault that lies with using torture to acquire a confession. Were people really so blind to logic back then? A man will confess to anything under torture regardless of whether it’s true. And afterwards these people are usually killed anyways. Or an innocent person is left to rot in prison the rest of their life with some horrible injury. So it only serves to scare people into conforming? Because it’s not like they’re doing a public service by keeping guilty people off the street. Or maybe there were just a lot of twisted fucked up people in medieval times who just liked to watch other people suffer x.x It’s a hard thing to try and wrap your brain around either way.
I have always said that by doing this with men’s balls (granted its not the same) they’d think clearer. Hey (JK) we do it with bulls, cats, dogs, horses etc…!!! Be worth a shot
Seriouslly, i am kidding!
i think the breast ripper , crocodile shears , judas chair and The pear were the grossest . of couse i already knew about the judas chair , ugh …. and no offence to anyone for whatever i said , i know it was the norm back then ……. actually all were pretty excrutiating , i mean , think about the rack !
I’ll take 2 crocodile shears , 1 thumbscrew, and a judas chair. To go.
i think you guys forgot that guy in the netherlands that stuck a 3 inch wide poll up your ass. in passed all your organs so you were still alive and put finished it up by putting the end through you mouth. then he would stick you in a field. of couse you were still alive chocking and dying from starvation and still being alive with all that pain. people wrote tha they stayed alive for days. (with a poll up your ass and coming out your mouth,) and the thing was like 3 inches wide!
hi, this is brianna and kelsey in human heritage we are learning about medieval times and we thought that we would look at some torchure devices and we thought that these we the utter most horrifing thing we have ever seen. It made out vagal areas hert, our tongues, heads, butts,backs,ribs,and BREAST. even though we are only in the 7th grade we think that this is AWFUL
the ones that interested us was the
1. Brest Ripper
2.the pear
3. Judas Chair
those were our top 3.
thanks!!
:@
If someone told me that they are currently being used at Gitmo, I wouldn’t be surprised.
eww…..i looked this up for my project for the 8th amendment….gross.
I think that these people had many good ideas and that they were good inventors. I don’t think that its fully right for them to use them, but if it’s not on me, I don’t give a fuck, although it may be fun to go through a couple… Or to have some test subjects and make them go through these tourture devices, I’d have soooo much fun! XD
wat about the rat digging into your body from the outside going into the inside.. sick
Well I knew there was trture devices but I got the whole picture after I read it….I cannot read it without making a verbaliation like oh!,…Oh god!,,,Thanks for giving us a nice collection of tortue devices…
http://www.kishorvr.com
God damn thats really . . . well wow!!! Althoughit did really capture my mind. This was amazing. Yet very fucked up.
Hello, sorry but could my above posts me taken off please? I don’t want to scare people too much. Although I have been drug free for years now, at the time I had only been off the drugs for a relatively short while and was feeling disgruntled and uninhibited.
Ignorance + Fear + Tribalism + Sexual Repression + Sadism + Power + Bloodlust + Voyeurism = Medieval torture.
I found this site to be interesting. Although I’m not into the cruel and unusual punishments in this lifetime, I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be one of the ‘victims’ of said tortures. What interests me, is that while I was looking at this devices and reading about them, I wondered if maybe in one of my past lives, if I could have been one of the torturers. Even though I’m not the same person I’m still the same spirit. Freaky thought!
Satanist, I’m sorry your religion was disrespected by Christians, obviously you were disrespected by what i like to call a proud Christian. But not all Christians put down other religions. People get to make choices in there lives, and that’s the beauty of life, but in the bible god tells us that he wants us to spread his word. He wants Christians to save as many people as we can, because as you know, we believe that there is a heaven and hell, and i know that i wish no one to be banished to hell. You think these tortures are bad? They are nothing compared to what the devil himself could do. At least those people died, when you go to hell you are tortured for all eternity. That is why Christians try to convert people to Christianity. It isn’t to disrespect other religions, it is to save you.
Why did I search ‘torture devices’ on google…Oh why…
There are confirmed reports that POW Jessica Lynch was repeatedly whipped on the soles of her bare feet and also given electric shocks through her earlobes and pinky toes.
The crocodile shears looked painful. I can’t believe people would do that to a man’s penis? I am glad I am a woman, lol.
LOOK AT THE SPANISH DONKEY
That guys balls will be cut in half
I miss the good ol’ days of torture. I mean, these days, how could we recognize if a woman is or is not a witch ? Surely she won’t tell us so easily if we can’t torture her. How can we get rid of an heretic in a fancy way ? We can’t because torture is illegal. I think that’s just not fair, western civilization sucks.
Nowadays the only cool guys imho are the Muslims: they cut head off, hang, torture, stone womens to death and make themselves explode (I guess because they want to bring a lot of people with them in heaven, what an altruistic act !). A way to return in the good ol’ days could be to become a fundamentalist in some religion like Islam.
I LOVE ISLAM !
[...] course I don’t condone torture but like many people my idea of torture revolves around devices, use of electricity and nails etc etc. But honestly ow do you differntiate between roughing up a bad guy and scaring him to get [...]
all of those torture devices are awesome and look quiet painful and fun to play with
Nice collection… However, i would say that modern methods are far worse, especially those employed by Al Quida and third-world terrorists. For instance, melting plastic on people, blow torches, drilling hands, denailing, eye removal, fabric irons, the works. I don’t want to get drafted into any war against those people XD
Too many sadists in this world of ours
Torture is not about getting information. It’s not really even about punishment. Most people who were tortured didn’t even commit the crime they were accused of. Medieval Europe’s standard of justice made Rosco P Coltrane look better than CSI.
Most of the “crimes” themselves are jokes anyway and probably were at the time, too. The “moral” crimes in particular were certainly mild compared to what the authorities were doing in their own bedrooms.
The “crime” served only as the excuse to torture. The only crime that mattered was the crime of not being like by the authorities.
Torture is about dominance and submission. It is about ruling by violence and fear. Any authority that practiced torture could not justify its existence by any other means.
Torture is done for the sheer enjoyment of the torturer. It makes them feel powerful. Some of these devices are just too ornate and too creative to have been invented by somebody who just wanted to bludgeon somebody into confessing. They were invented by people who derived great enjoyment out of inflicting pain and constantly sought out new and creative ways to do it.
Okay, people, if you hink it’s gross, get over it. That’s what they did, you can’t help it now, it’s barbaric. WE KNOW. Don’t add a stupid comment like, “oh! thats gross!” There Are a few things I’d like to respond to on that. A) Use correct grammer and spelling people!
B) It’s Human Nature. We love seeing others’ pain. Don’t try to deny it. We find it hilarious. iT’S JUST HOW IT IS..
And C) There’s not much you can do about it!
I’d also like to talk to a few of the people who say they’d like to “see” or “use” these devices, I may have said it’s human natue, but that’s truly disgusting. Please. I doubt you’d be able to even stomach the results or even the duration of it. Once again, PLEASE. Stop trying to be “cool” and freak out the masses.
I happen to agree with the Christianity debate, though. They did invent most of these things! Creepy. But, like I said before, Human. Nature. I’m probably half the age of all of you, yet, I can make a bit more intellectual reply than, “ew that’s gross!”
It is here, that I’ll shut my big mouth, and get out of your hair (and waste space with my rants)…
And again, just keep your little, petty comments to yourself.
Have a nice day now, fellow Atheists.
I resign, Autumn.
omg this is so sick, but it helps me with my history h/work so ty xoxox i guess we can all count our lucky stars that we didn’t live in that time. this is one of the reasons why i don’t adopt christianity, or in fact any other religion. why should we when all we learn about is how they used to hurt people who didnt follow their religion???
I am into torture devices… but these are just painful. I have heard about some of them but not most. Great job for information and pictures… but curse the people who came up with this sort of pain. (My favorite is the iron maiden. Great job.)
ok ppl im doing an assignment on the rat torture but ive also found some stuff out about the other tortures in my reasearch and yes it was the norm back in those days but these tortures are still really cruel and a lot of the time the punishment didnt fit the crime i mean they used to torture women who had a miscarrage! how can they help it if they have a miscarrage! like i said cruel punishments for minor crimes, and miscarrage is NOT a crime!!!
O_O
hehehe
i can imangne doing this to someone! it would be fun
*shudders* i really should stop thinking….. >=]
(google sadomasicist…..)
my personal favs are:
The Inquisitional Chair, iron maiden, the skull splitter, Judas Chair and the Spanish Donkey
A note on Hilter: he was motivated by both religion and racial supremacy. On religion, there is a group that is not associated with this cruelty, the atheists. Being an atheist myself, it is easy for me to justify if they did happen to do this (as would many members of other groups) but to my knowledge it did not. Oh, and Scientologists, but I think they are close to it (research some of their more unorthodox practices to see why). On these devices, I am glad I did not live back then.
I like these techniques, altho there are a few missing pieces.
For instance I would say try a rusty knife for multiple things.
Sick!…..how could some people be so evil to as come up with such devices! it sickens me just to think about being one of the victoms of one of these tortures!
Wikipedia is NOT checked before it’s posted. It goes live as soon as you hit the SAVE button. There are specific exceptions, such as semi-protected or protected pages. But no reasonable teacher or instructor will accept Wikipedia as a citation. A good place to start, yes. But a definitive site? No.
Seriously, this is the sexiest page I’ve come across for ages.
Mmmmm
whats the Hiya person talking about, this is torture not drugs so talk abouit torture.
i’ve had such an interest in torture and the methods and devices for so long. But for the silly little kids who say ‘woo i’d loooove to try these on people! it would be totally awesome!’
Lets see how much you enjoy having your tits ripped off or having every bone in your body snapped :S mmmm sounds totally hotttt
yeah really interesting list!
The two worst devieces that you people had left out were the chasity belt and the algerina hook. First the belt it was like cast iron underware that you could not take off to pee or poop. and the holes around the openings are small and jagged so nothing can get put in….well you know where. that also included toilet paper and sanatari pads for the women. so think of the smell and the feeling of walking around like that in your own filth. And the hook it was a giant fish hook that was shoved through the chest of the victom. it would miss vital organs and the person would be hoisted up and left to hang with their body weight being supported by the hook and their rib cage. It would take them weeks to die in agony. Usualy death by starvation.
Queen of all lists and Angie,
Angie, Said:
People just had nothing better to do back then. What kind of mind did it take to think of something like this
Queen of all Lists, Said:
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?
I think she means the torture device makers, you only wrote it you didn’t make them up.
how do they think of these anyway
how do they think of these anyway?
absolute vengeance, Said:
FIRSTS!!!1!!!!!
What do you mean FIRSTS!!!1!!!!!, I know you meant FIRSTS!!!!!!!!! but why FIRSTS?
FIRSTS!!!1!!!!! what do you mean?
FIRSTS!!!1!!!!! wat do yoyu mean, the first post it says that.
Oh Lawd, Is it weird that some of them turned me on?
ive heard that in india they used to kill an elephant make an incision in its intestine, they then used to place the victim (naughty boy) in there then sew it up and as he was digested alive he was also eaten by rats as they eat there way in. lovely
I like chocolate covered scrotums
that rat one looked pretty damn painfull ouch is right i mean thats just cruel
Lol everybody just remember. A Sadist (eg someone who would use these tools) is just a masochist who knows the 1 golden rule (do unto others as you wish to be done unto yourself) ROMANTIC!
Some forms, like being broken on the Wheel, and being hanged in chains (gibbetting), were used to intimidate others, e.g., the leaders of a slave insurrection.
It’s my Christmas list I want all of them
Woah! This stuff’s nuts! I mean, it makes you just shiver in that queasy feeling of mixed painful disgust! Like dude, why the Hell (no pun intended) did they come up with this stuff!? xD
Though I do agree with whoever had said he could come up with even more cruel ways/items to torture peeps, but that’s beside the point; anyone could come up with equally/greater shit than this stuff. You just gotta be really, really imaginative and have LOADS of time of your hands.
Back to the point of the comment, thanks Mr.Author of this article, great information for my upcoming project! Hope you post more!
“Hope” in the nicest, least morbid/selfish/disturbing way….
glad to live in 2009……..those deaths were slow and just had to absolutely suck….im not interested in dying period……but if i gotta…just shoot me
ha look at all the dumbasses commenting on this page. some are funny. some are more funnier. i wish i had a few of these devices to use on myself. fun night
I have to comment on this dead thread only to point something out about wikipedia vs library books: Wikipedia may have a lot of nonsense written by normal dorks in it, but just because someone went to the trouble to publish something does not make it fact. One could easily argue that those willing to go through the protracted and expensive process of publication are more likely to lie, not less; if you have a lot of money riding on a book’s success, fudging the truth for entertainment purposes, taking creative license, or “livening up” a story is something many people would not think twice about doing. So DON’T RELY ON THE MAINSTREAM SO MUCH, THEY HAVE PLENTY OF REASONS AND OPPORTUNITIES TO LIE THIER ASSES OFF!
I CONFESS!!! STOP THISSSSS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHGH
i was about to throw up when i read the last one
Did you know the iron maiden was designes to miss the vital organs?? The saw was proven inefective because the victim was not stabilised. There was also another one with the saw you can add called the human clamp, it was invented by the chinese i believe. Also the dunking chair, used to dunk people in and out of water for a day with a lever arm. I know i may be twisted but ive found a way to bisect someone: tie both ectremities on a tree to the person is back to it and stuck to it, cut the tree so it falls the oposite way… snap.
That was church for ya when they still had power.
Belive, or els!!!!
Oh and do not forget the evil water on the face and playing music throughout the night by the evil GW Bush.
i know plenty of people that still deserve these kinds of punishments
i wud have no probelm using any an if alll of these methods on people who think its ok to rape and kill women. to hurt and molest an innocent child. i mean why wud you give them the easy way out? clothed them, give them a roof, and 3 square meals, with no responsibilities. i wudnt have them die. id instill all the pain they cause the individual and their families. all the pain that they went thru
U guys rly have no lifes….commenting on a torture website… hell cool….
I agree with vlads gay.. get a life you doushes
u spin my head right round right round
If you have a hard time believing that people were capable of doing these torturious acts….
Just read the comments….
Half the thread is sick….
Sad…. So, sad….
Wow. People were really inventive back then…… kind of a testament to just how much hate and confusion they were harboring…
This is how Christianity has established itself all over the world. Shame on the Church. Awakened people of today, time to kill this virus named Christianity.
I could never understand how torture could take hold in societies, that when a person was tortured or tortured to death their loved ones would be so filled with grief and rage they would kill those responsible. Most people who are tortured survive their torture and I would think they would want deadly revenge. Some victims of torture may have mercy on their tortuers who they mean to kill as the Argentinean man who tracked down his torturer and was going to kill him but felt the man had truely repented so did not. But when we kill and or torture foreign civilians they go throught the same mental process the loved ones of 9/11 victims did. Shock turns to grief, which turns to rage, which turns to a desire for revenge.
hahahaha… they said vagina
and they said rectum
True Christians werent performing these torture methods. They were spaz nutter catholics, not saved at all. They would burn alive people at the stake for not professing their evil popes.
according to books ive read the victims of the wheel had their bones broken and then they would be interwoven in the spokes,not tied as they wouldnt have been able to move anyway.ouch!
Ugh. The knee crusher…Ugh
Haha, nice list. It’s a shame you couldn’t add more to it. Very informative for my writing.
woahh
that looks painful..
cool
I have to laugh at those that say these devices and methods of torture are nothing, that they would not fear having these devices used on them. BULL SHIT! You’d probably be the first ones crying like little bitches. These things are not meant to inflict a little bit of pain like having wax dripped on your naked body, hell no – the pain would be unbearable and excrutiating and you would have no choice but to deal with it. Imagine having your hand placed on a table and smashed with a hammer. Now imagine being tied to a wheel and having every single bone in your body broken while you live with that pain for a day or more. You kiddies try to talk tough here but I hate to tell you, you are probably the weakest of all.
Hey girls give me a call at 814 382 8106 =D
My Favorites would possibly be the Brazen Bull, Rat Torture, or the Spanish tickler, what fun they would be!
I know that these are horrible and sick ways of punishing, torturing and eventually killing people but they worked in society. Think about it, with threats like these hanging over your head, are you likely to break the law? No. As i said they’re sick but they worked and personally i think they should be brought back.
Lawliet, I couldn’t agree more. Christianity is not to blame for the suffering caused by organizations like the spanish inquisition. They claimed to do God’s will, but failed utterly. So many atheists try to blame the worlds suffering on religions in an effort to justify their own beliefs. Satanist is clearly trying to do just that with his/her flawed view.
ugh. this is so discusting. i wish i didnt pik torture devices for history. it sik and discusting. }=P i thought it would be easy. damn it!!
I’m 14 and really intrested in this sort of thing! It is disgusting and twisted but if we hadn’t made those mistakes, how could we learn from them? I’m not saying that I would have liked to be one of the test subjects though!!!! You should bear in mind that many people who had been subject to these tortures had perhaps taken someone else’s life and that people on here. If you have said that u would like to inflict this pain on someone else or wouldn’t have a problem with enduring it, WELL AREN’T YOU THE TOUGH GUYS!!! (sarcasm) I hardly belive a word of that kind of stupidity! Everyone who reads those kinds of comments just automaticly think “yeah right, idiot, bet you think you’re hard, coz you’re the cool cats”, I don’t belive anyone else on this planet could do that to another human being and fine well you know you couldn’t so stop embarrassing yourselves by saying otherwise because, NO ONE THINKS YOU’RE COOL, INFACT THEY PROBABLY DON’T BELIVE YOU!!!!