(Warning: Not for kids or weak stomachs) Your Favorite Medieval Torture Device

[Graham]

Ok I LOVE learning about medieval stuff.. mainly torture devices and and methods. I don' actaully do this stuff for those of you that worry, its just interesting to me... mainly for the creative perspective.
My Favorite device:

"The pear was a metal object that is shoved inside the mouth, anal cavity and vagina. Once in place the screw at the end was turned and the pear opened up inside the cavity. This caused much damage and lead to death."

"The pear was a torture device used on females. This device was inserted into the vagina, or mouth of the victim and then expanded by force of the screw to the maximum aperture setting of the victims cavity. The antrum would then irremediably become lacerated, nearly always fatally, ripping the tissue, flesh and membranes. This item became extensively applied throughout the Spanish Inquisition to force confessions from those accused of Witchcraft. The pointed prongs at the end of the segments serve better to rip into the throat, the intestines or the cervix. Many paid dearly when the Pear was their fate"

If you are new to this stuff there is an ok page to look around:
http://www.fidnet.com/~kawlaw/devices.html

My Favorite Method:

"Vlad the Impaler, commonly referred to as Dracula today, impaled thousands of persons during his reign. At the time, Vlad was known as a hero and a good ruler - the severity of his punishments made him famous and feared. During his reign, a thief could be impaled just for stealing bread - or even worse - Vlad impaled many thousands of captured soldiers to inspire fear upon his enemies.

The victim's hands would be tied to prevent any chance of escaping. The stick was fixed to the ground and it was too big for the victim's feet to reach the ground. Finally, it took many hours - or days even (depending on the victim's strength and weight) for the stick to reach a vital organ.

There is no much evidence of the impaling torture being common during the Dark Ages - as a matter of fact, it was considered as the "Cruelest torture ever designed by the human mind."

The most common way of impalement was through the anus - but variations existed. Vlad impaled people from the chest, legs, arms and; surprisingly, form the skull. Most of these were for decoration purposes, because, as noted above - Vlad impaled a whole army and his main purpose was to scare his enemies - he succeeded by leaving "A forest of rotting men."

In rare cases, the stick would go perfectly from the anus to the mouth - in other cases the stick would stay stuck with a bone - it would go out through the chest or, more commonly, through the neck.

Vlad was so cruel that he would sometimes impale children and then make their mothers eat them. At the same time, he would be having a feast while watching the victims be impaled right in front of him. For this reason and others, Vlad is known today as Dracula, the blood-thirsty vampire."

Bad picture I know.. one floating around that shows it WAY better.. Ill try to find it.

found it

[Camping_carl]

I like the pear.. shaped thing.

I think it would make a good baby shower gift

[Milkman Dan]

In terms of medieval torture;

I like the pear.. shaped thing.

I think it would make a good baby shower gift

HAH

In terms of medieval torture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_chair

BUT... I was looking on wikipedia about child abuse and psychological torture... that looks more fun.

[Shinjo]

I would go for the Iron Maiden.

[Blues]

Wow, freaky stuff.

[thestrider]

What is that the guy is licking :S

[Ebby]

You secretly love this stuff to the point you're devoting all your music time to Death Metal. I know it, so stop hiding it.

[UGK]

I knew this topic would come sooner or later...

[Graham]

UGK I new all about torture before your balls dropped, recent conversation in irc have renewed my love. Ill find my report i wrote in high school and post a link to it later. Its full of awsomeness.

[UGK]

Awesome, find it, and post it ASAP.

[Melbanana]

I saw one of those pear shaped devices similar to the one in the picture when I was at a torture museum in a small town in tuscany.
I also saw -among other foul things- an "iron maiden" coffin.

[Demonic]

When I read the thread title, I was already preparing to type 'The Pear of Anguish'. Mean stuff, mean stuff.

[AerialAssault]

God, the Medieval ages would've sucked so much to live in.

[DrivenUnder]

Lol, guess what this drawing shows:

[Ebby]

In terms of medieval torture;

I like the pear.. shaped thing.

I think it would make a good baby shower gift

HAH

In terms of medieval torture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_chair

BUT... I was looking on wikipedia about child abuse and psychological torture... that looks more fun.

I thought that chair was used for homosexuals. Just remember looking at stuff like that awhile back, and a pyramid shaped chair such as that was used to punish homosexuals, where the victim would be weighted down on that sharp end. *shrugs*

[Denacke]

The Judas Chair, also known as the Judas Cradle, was allegedly a torture device used by the Spanish Inquisition.

The Judas Chair was a pyramid-shaped seat. The victim was placed on top of it, with the point inserted into their anus or vagina, then very slowly lowered by ropes. The intended effect was to stretch the orifice over a long period of time, sort of a slow motion impalement.

--> No discrimination there, it seems to be fit for both genders.

[zaraza]

^this chair looks comfy!

[Graham]

In terms of medieval torture;

I like the pear.. shaped thing.

I think it would make a good baby shower gift

HAH

In terms of medieval torture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_chair

BUT... I was looking on wikipedia about child abuse and psychological torture... that looks more fun.

I thought that chair was used for homosexuals. Just remember looking at stuff like that awhile back, and a pyramid shaped chair such as that was used to punish homosexuals, where the victim would be weighted down on that sharp end. *shrugs*

Actually your right it was mainly for homosexuals.
Btw that wiki is terrible, its hard to find two descriptions that will match perfectly, really you just need to look for more official run websites, like one that was called www.medieval-castles.org last time i check it was down though

[Ebby]

Ha, that's what I thought.

See, I know my own tidbits on torture myself.

[Sticky]

Yesterday's torture can be today's pleasure. I'm sure most people here have seen a certain picture involving two hands and a hole. That man probably wouldn't mind getting the pear treatment.

[peemonkey]

KNEEL BEFORE PEAR

[Graham]

finally found that impalement picture look at first post...

[frogboy]

That man probably wouldn't mind getting the pear treatment.

Of course, it'd probably get lost inside him.

[Sayyan]

^this chair looks comfy!

Sounds like good clean fun...
Not a medieval torture, but water torture has to be one of my favourites, the Chinese and Koreans created some fantastic one, being tung by scorpions, and then given an antidote. Nice.

[zaraza]

Exposure
 
Medieval Torture


Mostly in early Medieval Times, heretics and witches were condemned to be fixed to the ground with iron nails. Spreading arms and legs while being naked under the sun resulted in having very strong sunburns all around a person's body. If this wasn't enough, wild animals used to eat the victim alive; the pain of having an animal eating burnt flesh is comparable to the wheel and other more recent torture devices.

The victim was lucky if the closest animal was a bear; for there were smaller animals, such as mice; who would eat him slowly.

Oh man, that is hardcore

[Captain Ben]

I saw something like that once... the person is tied down on their back, and a meated metal cone is placed on their stomach with rats under it. A fire is started at the top of the cone, and the rats go apeshit and chew through the person's flesh to get out from under the cone.
Either that or the wheel.

[RabidTreeFrog]

My favorite Medieval torture device is the guillotine.

I heard that your head would still be able to see for 30 seconds after it was chopped off, and the exocutioner would show the head its body. True?

[Captain Ben]

Dunno. Try it and let us know.

[Graham]

My favorite Medieval torture device is the guillotine.

I heard that your head would still be able to see for 30 seconds after it was chopped off, and the exocutioner would show the head its body. True?

Its true that he head is still alive, only for about 15-20 seconds, about showing the head to the victim i doubt cause they didn't know the person was still alive back then.  One case is recorded that a woman was put to death and the executioner picked up her head and slapped her, it was recorded that she seemed to blush. Also I heard about an experiment someone went through, they went  under the guilotine and blinked soon as there head was cut off, the guy got like 10-20 blinks can't remember the exact number(if it even happened that is).

[Demonic]

You can't see after you're be-headed: as your brain receives no more oxygen, all functions ceise working, such as sight.

[chrono]

lol wtf is that shit... its scarin me.... *Starts biting nails from fear*

[Sethamundo]

RabidTreeFrog, that isn't a toture device, it's a means of execution.

[Vltava]

Wasn't Vlad Ţepeş actually a Wallachian Turk-fighter who learned impalement from the Turks when he was acting hostage for his father? If so, then impalement is actually a pre-Medieval torture technique, therefore making it improper for this thread! o:

[Wormdundee]

Demonic, death by oxygen starvation is not instantaneous.

You can still last for a bit after you've run out of breath, although I don't think 15-20 seconds, that seems a bit long.

[Rambo_6]

In italy i went to a huge torture museum.

The worst was the pear, by far.

[xurich]

I never thought much about medieval torture before I found this topic. Now I'm having nightmares about being impaled. :(

[Grim]

The worst torture device would be the rack. They shackel you down and slowoly rip all your joints out of your sockets. I've heard of some instances were they've gone so far as to rip the victims body in half. I'm not sure if that's true, seeing as the spine would have to hold up until the skin and muscles ripped.

[RabidTreeFrog]

Oh, God, the rack...

�  : Thanks for clarifiying.

Sethamundo-Well, If you keep a guy underneath it for like, three hours, then its pyschological torture.
But all of 'em make ya dead, right? So no difference really.

EDIT-Whoa, Nelly, Thumbscrews! From Wikipedia...

The thumbscrew or pilliwinks is an instrument of torture which was used in medieval Europe, notably by the Inquisition[citation needed]. It is a simple vise, sometimes with protruding studs on the interior surfaces. The tortured victim's thumbs or fingers were placed in the vise and slowly crushed. The thumbscrew was also applied to crush prisoners' toes, while larger, heavier devices based on the same design principle were applied to destroy knees and elbows.

As well as compression of fingers and toes, the opposite concept of distension was also employed in torture chambers. Tearing the nails out of the fingers and toes as slowly as possible was a particularly common method of torture. The most straightforward means employed a pliers—often heated red-hot—to tear out the nails at the root. However, the nail extraction could be accomplished even more slowly and cruelly by first driving wooden wedges, needles, or splinters of wood, metal, or bone under the nails to pry them loose. Splinters in particular were sometimes dipped in boiling sulfur to make the torture even more savage.

[Vltava]

But the rack originated in China, 1200 B.C.E.!

[Mister Angry]

You know what...you're one less person on my list of people to annoy.

[Graham]

Ok, retyped my torture report, remember this was for a christian school so i dulled it a bit, but its still very graphic thing to read for immature minds... read at your own risk. I suck at grammar btw...

"Torture is the use of mental or physical pain to punish, to get information, or to draw out a confession.  Torture has been used for around 2000 years.  The laws of the early Roman and Greek civilizations allowed the torture of dishonorable people, slaves, and also foreigners.  In the 200’s and 300’s, the Roman Empire spread torture to different classes of people, until the fall of the empire in the 400’s.  In many parts of Europe in the 1100’s, torture had a rebirth in religious and civil courts, and torture was used legally to obtain confessions until around 1800.

   Torture was used to inflict pain of victims in order to get confessions or as punishment.  The most widespread use of torture was during the Inquisitions, hundreds of supposed heretics and witches were killed.  Kramer and Sprenger, who were two of the most famous inquisitors of their day, wrote the Malleus Monleficarum. In 1484, the book was used for witch hunting and inquisitions, it gave precise information of how to recognize and punish witches.
   
   The devices of torture were cruel and extremely painful. The boots also know as the cash claws or bootikens, were large wedges fitted from the ankle to the knees.  A large hammer would be used to hitt he wedges, driving the wedges closer together.  Each time the wedge was hit, the inquisitor would repeat his question. The wedges cut into the skin and shattered the bone, and on some occasions, marrow would come out of the legs which made the legs useless.
      
   The ducking stool was mostly for women prisoners.  The prisoner would be fastened to a chair that was attached to a free moving arm.  The prisoner would be dunked into a local pond or local river; the amount of time the prisoner stayed underwater was completely up to the person that was operating the arm.  Elderly women usually died from shock of cold water.
   Pressing, also known as “Piene forte etdure” was used to draw out confessions, and also it was used to execute prisoners.  Pressing reached its zenith when Henry IV took the throne, until 1772, when pressing was abolished in Britain. The turcas is a device that is simply used to tear out fingernails. A device similar to the turcas is the thumbscrews.  Thumbscrews were used to obtain confessions.
   
   The Rack was used to extract confessions.  The victim would be laid on a board and tied at the wrists and at the ankles.  At either end of the table there would be rollers placed.  As the rollers were turned the victim’s body would be pulled in opposite directions.  This would dislocate the joints in the body.
   
   The scold’s bridle was first used in Scotland.  It was also called the witches bridle or brank.  It was a cage for the head with a gagging device that was built in.  The appearance of the device varied.  Some of these decives had spikes that would pierce the tongue some even had a bell to draw attention to the victim. 

“in the old-fashioned, half-timbered houses in the borough, there was generally fixed on one side of the large open fireplaces a hook so that when a man’s wife indulged her scolding propensities, the husband for the town goaler  to bring the bridle and had her bridled and chained to the hook until she promised to behave herself for the future.”

It is not known why men did not have similar charges.

   The heretic’s fork was a device with sharp points that stuck into the flesh under the chin and in the bone of the sternum.  The points prevented the victim from moving his head; the victim could only mutter “I recant.” If the victim refused to recant, the victim would usually be burnt or hung.  If it was a Spanish Inquisition the accused would be forced to wear a costume.

   The Judas Cradle is called many things in different languages.  It was called the “la veille” in French, “culla di gida” in Italian, and “Judaswiege” in German.  The victim would be hoisted up and set on the point of a pyramid, either on the anus or coccyx, the law few vertebrae.  The victim could be rocked back and forth or dropped on the point of the pyramid repeatedly.
   
   The pear was a device used in the mouth, anus, or vagina.  The pear would expand by the force of a screw; the flesh of the throat, anus, or vagina would be mutilated.  The pear could stretch the flesh so much it could become fatal.  The device would have prongs at the end which would further mutilate the flesh.

   The more common methods of torture were easy to set up.  Bastinado, also known as caning, was a form of punishment that is still used in the middle and Far East.  The accused was stripped and tied in a way to receive blows to the soles of the feet, back on the legs, or backside.  The victim would be struck with a heavy shaft of bamboo or ratton. Often breaking the pelvis bones.  In some instances, the wounds would be agitated with scalding water, hot colds, itching dust, or even red ant bites.

   Knotting was used specifically for women with long, thick hair.  A stick would be tied in the woman’s hair and the inquisitor would twist the hair until the inquisitor got tired and handed the stick to a stronger person to twist or the hair or scalp was completely pulled off; exposing the skull.

   Scalding was used in catholic countries; it was believed that the soul of the witch or heretic was filthy.  The accused were made to consume heated substances such as: fire brands, hot water, fire brands and sometimes hot soaps. The term “washing the mouth out with soap” came from this torture.

   The strappado was one of the easiest methods of torture.  All that was needed for this torture was a rope thrown over a rafter.  The accused person would be tied by the wrists and dropped from a height, which caused the shoulders to dislocate.  Another form of torture that was used with the strappado was substation.  Squassation would be used while the victim was being tortured by the strappado; weight would be hung from the victim. The weight range could be anything from 5 to 500 pounds.

   The witches cradle was used to torture accused witches.  The witch was tied in a sack and a rope was thrown over a limb.  The sack was lifted into the air and was swung.  The rocking motion caused disorientation and helped to get confessions.  Also most that were given this torture would have hallucinations.

   The devices of a torturous execution where meant to prolong the suffering and pain.  The garotte was basically a hanging, at first the garotte was used to end the lives of the men that were on the wheel.  Europeans lawmakers got the idea of slow strangulation.  The first garottes were just beans of wood with a hole drilled through at one point.  The victim would be seated or stood in front of the beam and a rope would be brought around the neck and both ends put through the hole.  The executioner would pull the ends of the rope, slowly choking the victim.  Modification could be made to the garotte; a metal spike in the beam would part the vertebrae while the victim was strangled.

   The iron maiden was a tomb-sized container; in the doors were mutilating spikes.  A prisoner was put inside and the doors were shut.  The prisoner would be pierced along the length of his body.  The spikes were not meant to give a quick death.  The prisoner was left to die in excruciating pain.

   The wheel was a popular form of capital punishment in Germany and France.  The prisoner was stripped of everything but a pair of linen pants.  Then the prisoner was bound to the side of a wheel on a scaffold.  The executioner would break the limbs with an iron bar or weapon.  Before the torture was ended, the wheel would be propped  upright for the onlookers so they could see the last breaths of the criminal.  Later the executioner, would end the torture with one or two strikes to the chest.  The wheel could also include other tortures also; the could be suspened and turned over nails or fire.

   The methods of a torturous  execution were severely painful, and simple yet effective.  Roasting or boiling was popular in many civilizations, victims would be cooked to death in large frying pan or boiled in a caldron of oil.  A popular form of roasting was to fasten the victim to an iron chair, which was above a fire pit.  Henry VII was a fan of boiling.  The death penalty for prisoners was boiling.  Henry’s son abolished this when he took the throne.

   Burning was believed to be the only way to nullify a witches power.  This brought about burning at the stake; this method was used with heretics also.  One of the most famous deaths by buring was Joan d’Arc. 

   Impalement was used in barbaric regions if a person was guilty of treason.  A sharp stake would be inserted into the posterior and forced through the body; the stake would coem through the  head or throat.  Then the stakes would be planted into the ground.  The accused would live in pain for days until they died.  Later, prisoners under the same charge would get a splint inserted into the anus, and left to crawl until they died.

   The saw was simple execution, the victim would be hung upside down, which caused oxygen to travel tot eh brain and caused the loss of blood.  Then the executioner would saw through the victims body.  Also, according to accounts from the eighteen hungreds, the victims would not lose consciousness until the navel or even then breast was reached.

   Torture was a brutal and terrible punishment.  Many people confessed to crimes they did not commit due to the pain they were subjected to, especially during the Inquisition.  The line between punishment and drawing a confession is hard to draw.  Punishment has come a long way since medieval times."

[Ebby]

From what I scanned over, you have a pretty broad variety, but there's not many details. Sure, some info on how they worked, but what about the history of it all and such.

I'am not impressed. ^^

[n00bface]

Your knowledge on torture is so subpar, Gram.

*gives Vltava a big hug*  You know what you are talking about ^___^

[Graham]

Its a high school report... its not gonna be a novel guys...

[jrgp]

dude you are fuking SICK.

[Krillious]

There is a museum with some of these devices where I live

[Zegovia]

Id go for water torture!

There is no way i would manage being strapped to a board and having water dripping on my forhead for a couple of days, alone (and probably butt naked!) in a murky, cold dugeoun....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_torture

[Graham]

dude you are fuking SICK.

No, just  curious

[RabidTreeFrog]

Add my  thumbscrews info.

[Hello There]

Theres one device i know of that you didnt put in the report.

Its some thing that is a triangular prism, constructed of wood, measuring about to a person's ribs, that were supportes by four legs made of steel.



The person would be forced to sit in the reigon that the arrow is pointing, a leg on each side of the Prism. Then 75-100 pound wieghts would be attached to each leg, and slowly, the person would be split in half.

Ill look for a pic

[Ebby]

That's been added. Don't be silly, if you read all of it you'd understand that is here.

[xurol]

oo, my favorite isn't medieval so to speak, but I suppose they might have had a similar method back then. I always thought the worst way to be tortured would be having bamboo shards hammered under your nails. My uncle was briefly in a POW camp in Vietnam and they hammered the shards so far into the finger that a few of his fingers are damaged beyond repair beyond the third knuckle.

[Kyklis]

That was interesting, and I enjoyed reading it . I'm glad I didn't live back then, because some of those tortures sound unbelievably cruel and painful.

...remind me to never, EVER, make fun of � . *shudders*

[Hello There]

...i read evey single post in the thread and i didnt find the device i said...

[Graham]

Hello, your prolly talking about the Judas Cradle, go find that in my report, I left that hole pulling or adding weights to the legs for content reasons, this was a high school report for a christian school, soo yeah i left some delicate imformation out on purpose...

[n00bface]

Going to list my personal favourites that I've been trying to remember for the past few daysss

First off - The BLOOD EAGLE!  Technique admittedly used before the medieval times, but it involves cutting the ribs by the spine, breaking the ribs outwards, and pulling the lungs out.  Then you sprinkle salt on the wounds.  It was supposed to look like bloody wings!  Woo for VIKINGS!!!!

Actually that's all I'm going to list now because I'm getting the others mixed up.

There's another one I'm thinking of where a hollow brass bull was made, a door was cut in the side, and the victim is placed inside the bull and sealed in.  Then they light a fire underneath the bull and let the person inside slowly melt on the hot brass.

[Ebby]

Going to list my personal favourites that I've been trying to remember for the past few daysss

First off - The BLOOD EAGLE!  Technique admittedly used before the medieval times, but it involves cutting the ribs by the spine, breaking the ribs outwards, and pulling the lungs out.  Then you sprinkle salt on the wounds.  It was supposed to look like bloody wings!  Woo for VIKINGS!!!!

Actually that's all I'm going to list now because I'm getting the others mixed up.

Ooh wah. Those sound gruesome, but in a cool gruesome way.
Very kvlt.
Think the brass bull sounds like an awful way to die, but just wondering if something else will kill the individual first before the heat gets to the rest of their body.
The Blood Eagle just sounds creative.

[Captain Ben]

It's actually called the 'butterfly cut'. Vikings did it to running victims, because if they managed to do it properly, the lungs would come out on their own.
Thank god for my year nine social studies book.

[n00bface]

No, it's called the Blood Eagle, mother fucker.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_eagle

[Graham]

noobace.. wikis are definalty not the best place for torture info....

[Ebby]

Look, I'm sure there is more than one name for it, either way it's a very cool bit of info.

And that new image of the impalement is pretty cool...in an ick sort of way.

[n00bface]

no **** gram, but it's a perfectly reasonable place to look up a..name?


..and google doesn't even return related results for "butterfly cut".

edit:

Actually your right it was mainly for homosexuals.
Btw that wiki is terrible, its hard to find two descriptions that will match perfectly, really you just need to look for more official run websites, like one that was called www.medieval-castles.org last time i check it was down though Sad

What do you mean by 'Official' run websites?  You mean officially run by a 20-year-old college student?  Well, I suppose his life is heading in a better direction than yours, but I admire how wikipedia is open for input on everybody fascinated with their topics.  Didn't even check the Blood Eagle article before, but it's nice how they list the info from the Norse Sagas, too.

[Graham]

What do you mean by 'Official' run websites?

Mostly sites that have small little copyrights info at the bottom, if it don't have one there then the info might not be reliable...

[n00bface]

You can copyright anything, though.  I can make up a bunch of bullshit information and copyright it, wouldn't make it any more or any less reliable.

[T-Bone]

wow this stuff is creeeeeeeppppy. Some of those medieval folks were effin twisted...geez

[Captain Ben]

No, it's called the Blood Eagle, mother ****er. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_eagle

SINCE WIKIPEDIA IS ALWAYS A RELIABLE SOURCE

[n00bface]

I already went through that discussion with Gram.  Google both terms and see which comes up with most apt results?  "Butterfly Cut" gives jack-all.  (lol, jackall)

edit:  Not to mention the term that different saga's use translates to Blood Eagle, and makes no mention whatsoever of butterflies.

I find your year 9 social studies book just as, if not moreso questionable and biased than Wikipedia.  Especially given that it has no outside input.