Torture Methods and Devices Throughout History

Torture  Methods  and Devices Throughout History

The Boot

This device is probably one of the more pervasive torture devices. It was used widely, with variants popping up in Spain, Nuremberg, Scotland, Britain, Italy and France. It involved wrapping the foot, either with a rawhide garment or some contraption made of wood with the intent of crushing the foot, or dislocating bones. A variant that emerged in Italy even had a spike with it, which was meant to drill onto the foot and create a hole. One variant involved a boot made of iron placed on the foot and pouring boiling water inside so as to slowly eat away at the foot. No matter the variant, the intention is clear: you won’t be walking away after you’ve gone through it.

Heretic’s Fork

The Heretic’s Fork was composed of a strap attached to a piece of metal with both ends having bi-pronged spikes. The strap is wrapped around the neck to secure the fork in place with one end placed under the chin with the other end placed against the ribcage. This extends the neck — inflicting pain — while ensuring that the head stays in place. If you can contemplate that pain without wincing, then you’re a better person than all those "heretics" who recanted under the pressure of those prongs.

Instep Borer

Somewhat like the Boot.A serrated blade is also a part of the apparatus and through a crank mechanism, punches through the instep. The result is free-flowing blood the size of the produced hole dictates. It was not uncommon for the victim to end up dead after a few days because of the wound. This method of torture trumps others in that its appeal is not simply to inflict pain but to ensure the gushing of blood. The literal bloodthirstiness ups its gruesomeness score.

Tablillas

                                                                  Tablillas was meant to render the toes immobile. They were usually used in conjunction with therack. The toes were inserted individually through the holes of wood tablets. Whenever the prisoner chose to stay silent or the torturer was dissatisfied with the answers, a wedge was bored through the tip of the toe. Once the toe had been completely secured, the torturer, with the use of a mallet, crushed the bones. This torture method ranks as such because of the anticipation that comes in the few seconds between driving the wedge and the descent of the mallet implies the subject bracing him or herself as the crushing blow is made. Never underestimate the psychological factor that comes with knowing that you’re going to lose your toes one by one.

The Head Crusher

It’s all about compressing the head. The torturer also has the option of prolonging the entire process by stopping the compression or reversing it so as to provide a little relief before resuming brutality again. If the compression is continuous, the teeth are eventually shattered and the victim’s eyes pop out before he or she dies. The latter was such a common occurrence that some variants even had a container that was meant to "catch" the eyeballs as they leave the skull.

Judas Chair (Pyramid Variant)

Another popular form of torture used widely in the various Inquisitions was the "Judas Chair". It involved a chair with a spike on the seat. The individual to be tortured sat on this spike with the anus or, in the case of women, the vagina resting on the tip. There are several theories as to what the instrument hoped to accomplish when used. Some say that the chair was simply meant to inflict pain on the tortured individual via pressing against the orifices and positioning the victim to achieve maximum pain. Others contend that the purpose was to stretch the orifices as time went on, causing rips and shreds that would force a confession. Still there are those accidental results that lead to this form of torture causing death, perhaps even through impalement.

 Waterboarding

One of the more pervasive, if not the most pervasive, methods of torture is waterboarding and its variants. It appears in practically every era of history: the Spanish Inquisition, World War II, the Khmer Rouge regime and is even used in America’s War on Terror. This torture method is meant to simulate the feeling of drowning without actually drowning the victim thereby creating the illusion that he or she is about to die. Generally, a cloth is placed over the nose and mouth and water is poured over the cloth. This forces the victim to swallow the water and at the same time does not allow breathing. Apart from being one of the most popular, it is also probably one of the most effective. Most cannot help but give in to the pressure that this torture method imposes.

Judas Chair (the one with a billion spikes)

More popularly known as the Chair of Torture, this variant is just like any other chair — with spikes attached all around. The victim is tied to the chair to prevent movement. The spikes are sharp enough to bore through the skin, but aren’t long enough to hit any vital organs. The victim is tortured very slowly, and if death does come, it comes at a snail’s pace. Bleeding to death is often the way victims die. However, as a torture method, it is extremely effective precisely because of the fact that you that can die, but you’ll die very slowly. As you see your blood seeping down the chair’s legs or forming in a pool under you, the psychological effects are great; you’ll be compelled to confess to stop the blood loss. Your bleeding is also hampered by the spikes which tend to close the wounds that they create.

Iron Maiden

 

One of the most well-known torture methods, the Iron Maiden gained prominence in Nuremberg. It consisted of an iron cast large enough to contain adult males with spikes inside. The victim is asked to remain standing inside the contraption and any leaning on any side would mean a wound borne out of contact with a spike. Most victims ended up dying as a result of the torture as a liberal amount of blood often gushed out of their bodies after some time. However, this technique was not used primarily for executions. It is entirely possible that a subject would call out after having spent some time within the Iron Maiden for relief. The fact that this torture device combines physical pain and psychological trauma (all alone in a small space with sharp spikes threatening to kill you from every side).

The Rack

The logic used by this torture device is still the stretching principle. Dislocation of bones and joints, accidental tearing of limbs, perhaps even blood loss when the skin breaks were all pretty common immediate effects of being subjected to the rack. The rack allows for variation, too. Torturers would often take a little break from all that forced stretching by employing other methods of inflicting pain on the victim, such as hot irons. The spread eagle, nearly naked condition of the victims leaves them completely vulnerable to the other machinations the torturer may be up to. There is a reason why the rack has become the symbol or torture and barbaric human tendencies through the years.

Barrel Pillory

A barrel is fitted over the entire body, with the head sticking out from a hole in the top. The person is kept locked in the barrel, forcing him to kneel in his own filth, and in some cases suffer extremes of hot or cold.

For a short time this was merely unpleasant, but prolonged confinement could cause death through hunger or thirst, or scaphism - allowing or encouraging insects to breed on and feed on the victim's flesh.The defenceless individual's faeces accumulated within the container, attracting ever more insects, which would eat and breed within his or her exposed and often gangrenous flesh.Feeding the victim would often be allowed each day in some cases to prolong the torture, so that dehydration or starvation did not provide him or her with the release of death.Death, when it eventually occurred, was probably due to a combination of dehydration, starvation and septic shock.

Drunkard’s Cloak

A less horrific variation was used to punish drunkards, the feet projecting through the bottom of the barrel. It was used for a range of other misdemeanours, often represented pictorially on the exterior of the barrel.The Drunkard’s Cloak was used in 1862 on soldiers in the American Civil War. An eyewitness “was extremely amused to see a rare specimen of Yankee invention, in the shape of an original method of punishment drill. One wretched delinquent was gratuitously framed in oak, his head being thrust through a hole cut in one end of a barrel, the other end of which had been removed; and the poor fellow loafed about in the most disconsolate manner, looking for all the world like a half-hatched chicken.

Guillotine or Halifax Gibbet

 

Long before the French Revolutionaries adopted the execution device known as a Guillotine, a similar device was in use in Halifax in Yorkshire.Halifax had held the right to execute criminals since 1280. Although there is early reference to a gibbet, including a report that the first person to be beheaded by it was John of Dalton in 1286, formal records of victims did not begin until 1541, when the town acquired a fixed machine which used a heavy, axe-shaped iron blade dropping from a height of several feet to cut off the head of the condemned criminal.The Gibbet could be operated by either cutting the rope holding up the blade or by pulling out a pin which prevented it falling. If the offender was to be executed for stealing an animal, the end of a rope was fastened to the pin holding the blade in place and tied to the animal, which was then driven off, causing the pin to pull out and the blade to drop. Otherwise, the bailiff of the Lord of the Manor or his servant cut the rope.