Medieval Torture Devices

[Kazimiera]

The infamous Iron Maiden: A horrific form of execution intended to inspire terror

Source: http://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/1...ce=penultimate



The Iron Maiden was a presumed torture and execution device, uniquely a Germanic invention, consisting of an iron cabinet with a hinged front and spike-covered interior, sufficiently tall to enclose a human being.

The device was so tortuous that initially it was considered to be a fictional device with no real existence.


Various neo-medieval torture instruments. An iron maiden stands at the right.


Left, an “iron maiden” with its doors secured; middle, a blindfolded prisoner is forced to kneel down before the “iron maiden” in a dungeon; right, an “iron maiden” with its doors open.

However, various documented proofs of the device were subsequently found and thus it was confirmed that the device was actually in vogue, although perhaps not during medieval times, as there is hardly any concrete evidence of it being used as a torture device during that era.

While it is disputed that the device was used during the medieval times, it is generally agreed that some variation of the device was used at some point in history.


According to some sources, the construction of Iron Maiden was inspired from a medieval device called Schandmantel which literally meant “coat of shame” or “barrel of shame”, made of wood and metal but without spikes.


German philosopher Johann Philipp Siebenkees wrote about the alleged execution of a coin forger in 1515 by an iron maiden.

The first recorded description of an Iron Maiden was from Johann Philipp Siebenkees, a German philosopher and archaeologist, in 1793.

According to Siebenkees’ colportage, it was first used on August 14, 1515. He wrote about a coin forger who suffered a terrible fate — being enclosed in a casket full of spikes that slowly impaled him.


Left – The Torture Museum – Prague – Iron Maiden. Photo Credit Right – Iron Maiden. Torture museum in Lubuska Land Museum in Zielona Góra.

As it turns out, Siebenkees made up the story of the iron maiden. According to historians, he created the history of it as an actual mock-up of the real device implemented in the torture of witches and others who opposed the Christian church prior to 1793.


Iron maiden, Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, England.

The mechanism of operating the Iron Maiden was quite simple. Once inside, the doors were shut on the victim and the spikes would pierce several organs of the body. The spikes were supposedly short and positioned so that the victim wouldn’t die quickly.

This meant that they would only result in relatively small wounds and the victim would bleed to death over the course of several hours. To add to the abject horror of it all, two spikes were positioned specifically to penetrate the eyes.


The device consisted of double doors on the front with upright sarcophagus and spikes on the inner side.


Left – Iron Maiden of Nuremberg. Photo Credit Right – Nuremberg, postcard, 1921.

Several 19th-century iron maidens are on display in museums around the world.

Probably the most famous, that popularized the design, is the Iron Maiden of Nuremberg, which was built in the early 1800s and destroyed in an Allied bombing in 1944.

This copy is the most important surviving specimen of an Iron Maiden still in existence.

[Kazimiera]

The Ancient Greek torture device “Brazen Bull” is considered to be one of the most gruesome creations of all time

Source: http://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/1...ce=penultimate



The dark corners of history are filled with gruesome torture techniques that would make you very grateful for living in our “civilized” modern world. From crucifixion to the iron maiden, each of these is more disgusting and petrifying than the last. However, one the most complex sadistic forms of torture can be traced back to Ancient Greece, and the tyrant Phalaris.


Drawing of a brazen bull by Hans Burgkmair

Phalaris, the despot of Acragas (modern Agrigento in Sicily), was a heartless, sadistic tyrant renowned for his imprudent cruelty; his alleged atrocities include “devouring” infants. One day, Perillos of Athens told Phalaris of his newest invention, a torture and execution device that would strike fear into the hearts of his enemies: The Brazen Bull.


Phalaris condemning the sculptor Perillos to the bronze bull

Ancient Greeks perceived the bull as a symbol of absolute power, this explains why creatures like the “Minotaur” are so common in Greek Mythology. Some Greeks believed in a bull-headed god called “Moloch” who demanded human sacrifice. The Brazen Bull could have its inspiration rooted in this ancient, brutal form of bull worship.


18th-century depiction of the Moloch idol

The Brazen Bull was a device with a simple concept but a downright diabolical execution. Made entirely from bronze, it was the same shape and size as an actual bull, and housed a hollow chamber in its body. The poor person set to be executed by the bull was locked inside of this chamber, then a fire pit was set under it, heating the belly of the beast until the victim inside roasted to death.


The brazen bull

[I]“A countryman of my own, one Perilaus [another rendering of Perillos], an admirable artist, but a man of evil disposition, had so far mistaken my character as to think that he could win my regard by the invention of a new form of torture; the love of torture, he thought, was my ruling passion… He opened the back of the animal, and continued: “When you are minded to punish anyone, shut him up in this receptacle, apply these pipes to the nostrils of the bull, and order a fire to be kindled beneath. The occupant will shriek and roar in unremitting agony; and his cries will come to you through the pipes as the tenderest, most pathetic, most melodious of bellowings. Your victim will be punished, and you will enjoy the music.”

Works of Lucian, Vol. II: Phalaris: I[/I]

As if the Brazen Bull wasn’t brutal enough, it was designed to channel the victim’s screams through a series of pipes and out of a set of holes on the bulls face. This gruesome acoustic apparatus transformed the desperate screams so that they sounded like a bull’s angry bellowing.


An idealized execution with the brazen bull of Pergamon

Reportedly, Perillos told Phalaris “His screams will come to you through the pipes as the tenderest, most pathetic, most melodious of bellowings.” Appalled by these words, the tyrant ordered the acoustic system to be tested on the creator himself and pushed Perillos inside the bull. The doomed craftsman was locked inside and the fire was set, and soon Phalaris could hear the sound of his screams. Before Perillos could die, the tyrant opened the locked door and took him away. Perillos thought that he would be rewarded for his evil invention, but instead, Phalaris threw the unfortunate craftsmen from the top of a hill.


Unknown 16th century painter

In an ironic twist, is said that the tyrant Phalaris himself died in the Brazen Bull when he was overthrown by Telemachus, the ancestor of Theron.

[Kazimiera]

The 10 Most Gruesome Torture Techniques From Medieval Europe

Source: http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-10-most-g...l-e-1626942115



During the Middle Ages, torture was considered a legitimate way to extract confessions, punish offenders, and perform executions. Some methods were considerably crueler than others — these 10 being among the most barbaric and brutal.

Europe's Medieval period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. During this time, torture was often used to extract confessions, or obtain the names of accomplices or other information about crimes. Laws and local customs did not impose limits on the treatment of prisoners or the extent to which torture could be inflicted. In fact, confessions were not considered genuine or sincere when so-called "light torture" was used (such as toe wedging and strappado).

Different types of torture were used depending on the victim's crime, gender, and social status. Skilled torturers would use methods, devices, and instruments to prolong life as long as possible while inflicting agonizing pain. Many prisoners were tortured prior to execution in order to obtain additional information; in many of these cases, the execution method was part of the torture endured by prisoners.

There are dozens upon dozens of different torture techniques and devices. I recently visited the Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments in Prague where these 10 caught my eye. But before you read any further, be warned that they are very graphic and disturbing.

1. The Judas Cradle

Also called the Judas Chair, this Italian invention was particularly cruel.



Using ropes, a prisoner would be lowered above the pyramid-shaped "seat" with the point inserted into the anus or vagina. Victims would be tortured by intense pressure and stretching of the orifice, resulting in permanent damage. In many cases, the victim would succumb to rips in the muscle tissue that would later become infected. Weights would be added to facilitate the effect, often resulting in death by impalement.



A similar device, called the Spanish Donkey (or wooden horse), achieved a similar effect. Victims straddled the triangular "horse" and were forced to place their full body weight on their crotch, which rested on the point of the angle.


2. Saw Torture

This was a form of execution in which a living person was sawed in half, either longitudinally or transversely, through the central body mass.



This was done either by sawing the individual in half across or along the body length.


3. Pear of Anguish

This heinous contraption was used during the Middle Ages as a way to torture women who were accused of facilitating a miscarriage. It was also used to punish liars, blasphemers, and homosexuals. The device was inserted into one of the prisoner's orifices — the vagina for women, the anus for homosexuals, and the mouth for liars and blasphemers (which is why it's also known as the Choke Pear).



The device featured four metal leaves that slowly separated from each other as the torturer turned the screw at the top. The torturer could use it to tear the skin, or expand it to its maximal size to mutilate the victim. It rarely caused death, but was often followed by other torture methods.


4. Breaking Wheel

Also known as the Catherine wheel, this torture device was used to torture and kill prisoners for public executions.



The device was typically a large wagon wheel with radial spokes. Offenders were were lashed to the wheel and their limbs beaten with a club or iron cudgel. The gaps in the wheel allowed the limbs to give way and break. Disturbingly, the survival time after being "broken" could be extensive, with some accounts of victims living for several days prior to succumbing to their mortal injuries.


5. Iron Chair

This torture device was used extensively during the Middle Ages. Victims would be placed onto the chair — which featured hundreds of sharp spikes — followed by the progressive tightening of iron restraints, forcing the spikes deep into the flesh.



This could go on for hours, sometimes days. The spikes did not penetrate vital organs and blood loss was minimized — at least until the person was released from the chair. Death often followed. The Iron Chair was often used as a psychological instrument of torture; victims would often confess after being forced to watch other prisoners being tortured by the device.


6. Head Crusher

Pretty self-explanatory.



The device, which is basically a vise for the head, slowly crushes the skull and facial bones. Even if the torturer stopped before death, permanent damage to the facial muscles and structure would occur.


7. Rat Torture

Rats have also been employed to perform torture. There were many variants, but a common technique was to force a starving rat through a victim's body (usually the intestines) as a way to escape.



To make it work, prisoners were completely restrained and tied to the ground or any horizontal surface. A rat was then placed on the stomach covered by a metallic container, which was gradually heated. The rat began to look for a way out, which inevitably meant through the victim's body. Digging through the body usually took a few hours, resulting in a painful and gruesome death.


8. Coffin Torture

This was one of the most dreaded forms of torture during the Medieval Period.



The accused were placed inside a caged coffin, rendering them completely immobile. The period of time was determined by the crime, with some infractions, like blasphemy, punishable by death. Victims were often put on public display, where they would be mocked and abused by angry locals.


9. Breast Ripper

This one's particularly nasty — not that the other items on this list aren't. Also known as the Iron Spider, it was mainly used on women who were accused of adultery, self-abortion, heresy, blasphemy, or accused of being witches. It was also used for interrogations.



The device, which was often heated during torture, contained four "claws" which were used to slowly and painfully rip off the breasts. The instrument would be latched onto a single breast of the woman. Blood sometimes splattered onto her children. If the woman did not die, she would be disfigured for the rest of her life.

Other variations of this torture also existed.




10. Knee Splitter

Popular during the Inquisition, this device consisted of two spiked wood blocks which were placed in front of and behind the knee.



The blocks, which were connected by two large screws, would be turned and made to close towards each other, destroying the knee underneath. The technique would render the knees useless. The number of spikes on the blocks varied from three to twenty, often depending on the nature of the crime and the status of the prisoner.

[Dandelion]

Before reading further. The Brazen Bull was more of an ancient torture device rather than a medieval one.

[Kazimiera]

10 Gruesome Torture Devices Used In Modern Times

Source: http://listverse.com/2013/10/19/10-g...-modern-times/

If someone asked you to think of torture devices, you would probably picture some crazy medieval contraption. But you probably couldn’t come up with any modern torture devices because, hey, no one really tortures anyone any more. Right? Wrong.

Tiger Bench



China really hates the practitioners of Falun Gong, a sort of spiritual discipline first introduced in 1992. Since the beginning, many Falun Gong followers have been brutally punished. One form of torture used on them is a device called the tiger bench. This works by placing a prisoner on a long bench, with a board against their back and head. The prisoner is then tied down so their back is secured to the board and their feet and legs are secured to the bench. Next, bricks are placed under their feet, until all the straps holding the legs down break—or the prisoner’s legs snap before the straps do.

In one case from 2002, a Ms. Wang was walking home when the police abducted her. For two days and one night, she was tortured on the tiger bench, while also being beaten and electrocuted. The shackles dug into her ankles so badly that her bones were visible by the end of the torture.

Along with the tiger bench, Ms. Wang was also beaten by the guards, hung naked on a wooden board so male prisoners could humiliate her, had one of her eyes burned by a cigarette, and had her ears stabbed with skewers. She eventually died in 2007, while still in police custody.


Hell Confinement



For Falun Gong members unfortunate enough to be caught, there is an option arguably even worse than the tiger bench: the hell confinement.

The hell confinement uses a device that includes a pair of handcuffs and a pair of foot shackles, both of which are linked to a steel rod. The rod presses against the prisoner’s back, making it nearly impossible to walk, sit, use the toilet, or even feed themselves.

Zhu Hang is a Chinese woman who knows just how cruel the practice is. After she was arrested for partaking in a Falun Gong exercise in a public park, she was taken to an undisclosed location and tortured with the hell confinement. For seven days, she did not eat, barely walked, couldn’t sit, and was forced to defecate on herself until she was finally released.


The Tucker Telephone



If you ended up in prison during the 1960s, the last place you wanted to be sent was Tucker State Prison Farm in Arkansas. In the 1960s, doctors at the prison began using a torture device on some of the more unruly prisoners that became known as the Tucker telephone.

The device worked by placing a ground wire around the big toe of a prisoner while fastening another wire, the hot wire, to the prisoner’s genitals. The telephone, which had been modified to send electric shocks, was then cranked, sending electricity right to the family jewels. And sometimes it wasn’t just a turn of the crank and done. In prison terms, a long-distance phone call meant the prisoner would be shocked repeatedly.

The Tucker telephone was finally banned in the 1970s.


Strappado



While the strappado was used heavily during the Renaissance, it seems to have experienced a resurgence during the last century. Many people may now know it as Palestinian Hanging, a form of torture where a prisoner is hung by their arms, which are fastened behind their head, causing the arms to be slowly wrenched from the shoulder sockets by the weight of the body. When the prisoner finally becomes so tired they cannot hold themselves upright, their bodies fall forward and their breathing is impaired.

One of the last known cases of the United States using this form of torture was on Mandel al-Jamadi in 2003. He was arrested for allegedly being involved in making explosives and was sent to Abu Ghraib, where died while being tortured.


Cold Cell



The CIA has six interrogation techniques they are authorized to use, and one of them is basically torture. The cold cell is an “enhanced interrogation technique” where the prisoner is placed in front of an air conditioner unit for hours, days, and even years at a time. And the practice hasn’t just been used by the CIA.

The first recorded use of a cold cell took place in 1961, when guards at Parchman Mississippi’s state penitentiary doused detained civil rights activists with fire hoses and then turned the air conditioning system on full blast for three days.

Vhuen Van Tai probably had it the worst though. Tai was the highest-ranking Viet Cong officer captured during the Vietnam War. When the CIA got a hold of him, they placed him in a tiny, white, windowless room and turned the AC on full blast for four straight years.


Shuanggui



In China, shuanggui is a form of extralegal detention used by the Communist party on people who are suspected of corruption. In reality though, it seems like anyone could end up being tortured in a shuanggui.

Inside these detention centers, any form of torture is possible. One man, Yu Qiyi, a 42-year-old chief engineer at a state-owned investment firm was held in a shuanggui for 38 days, being repeatedly dunked in ice-cold water until he was eventually pronounced dead. Pictures of the man’s body also show large bruise marks and heavy scarring all over his body. There is still no evidence as to why he was taken into custody in the first place.

Qiyi’s case isn’t abnormal either. Many people have been held in shuanggui for long periods of time, with reports of people being tortured with physical manipulation, sleep deprivation, simulated drowning (or actual drowning, as above), beatings, burnings, and electrocutions.


The German Chair



Syria has been locked in civil war for a long time, and with war comes torture. One form of torture often used by the Syrian government against the rebels is called the German chair. When a detainee is captured, they are placed in a metal chair. Their legs and arms are secured to the metal seat while the back of the chair is pulled back and down toward the ground. This causes severe stress on the spine, neck, and other limbs, often causing permanent damage. Basically, if your back doesn’t break, you are more than human.

Joseph Hallit knows the German chair all too well. In 1992, Syrian forces nabbed Hallit just after he had obtained his medical degree from the University of Damascus. For four years, he was kept in solitary confinement, and for another four he was tortured.

The most severe brutality he endured was the German chair. He says his flesh was torn so deeply from being stretched that he could see the nerves. To this day he still has 3-centimeter (1.2 in) wide scars on both his arms from the torturous stretching.


Cat O’ Nine Tails



Known simply as the cat, the cat o’ nine tails is a truly horrifying torture device. Essentially a multi-tailed whip, its “claws” can inflict vicious parallel wounds. Sometimes little metal balls with spikes are even added to the ends of the cords to make it even more excruciating.

While use of the cat dates back to Ancient Egypt, it is still used as a form of punishment in Trinidad and Tobago, even after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the country to pay a convicted rapist $50,000 after whipping him with the device. Since then, use of the cat has fallen out of favor—but some people are calling for the country to bring it back for use on crooked politicians.

Oh, and “letting the cat of the bag” gets its origins from pulling the cat o’ nine tails out of its bag before whipping someone.


Syrian Torture Chamber



This next one doesn’t really have an official name, but it is no less horrifying for it. It is often used by the Syrian government. Prisoners are taken to hidden rooms containing a box far to small for a person to lie in. The prisoner is then put in the box and forced to lie in uncomfortable positions for long periods, with their hands and feet bound. To make things even worse, the box is tilted on its side and also elevated, so every time food, usually a hard-boiled egg, is dropped into the box, it rolls to the bottom, where it sits, taunting the detainee.

For one captured protester, the box was not the final form of torture. A man simply referred to as Jolan was kept in the box for a week, then transferred to a room so small he could not stand up, where he stayed another week before finally being electrocuted several times a day.


White Torture



White torture may be the worst kind of torture. It is a form of emotional and physiological torture. Instead of beating the person, electrocuting them, or keeping them in a small box, they are tormented with sensory deprivation and isolation.

White torture is all too familiar for Amir Abbas Fakhravar, who is said to be the first person to be tortured this way by the Iranian government. According to Amnesty International, “the cells had no windows, and everything was entirely colored creamy white. The meal was white rice on a white paper plate. If he wanted to use the toilet, he had to put a white slip of paper under the door of the cell to alert guards who reportedly had footwear designed to muffle any sound. Fakhravar was forbidden to talk to anyone.”

Ebrahim Nabavi, another journalist who was given the treatment said the worst part of the white torture is never being “free” even after being released.

[Kazimiera]

The thumbscrew was a notoriously effective torture device used in medieval times to get a prisoner to confess

Source: http://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/1...soner-confess/

In Europe, from the medieval times, there were a set of tools which were approved for extracting confessions. One of them was the Thumbscrew, a simple device designed to crush prisoners’ thumbs or fingers.

It was a method primarily used to extract confessions as it was both painful and caused lasting damage.







Despite the size of the device, it was effective enough to crush the bones of the fingers. European thumbscrews used for torture were usually made of metal and accommodated two fingers or thumbs at the same time.





The devices were very useful to interrogators as they were a portable means of torture and not restricted to the confines of the torture chamber.



The device consisted of three upright metal bars, between which the thumbs were placed. A prisoner would place his thumbs between the two flat metal pieces, connected by one or more screws and slowly crushed as the torturer turned the handle on top, pressing the thumbs against the bottom.

The crushing bars were sometimes lined with sharp metal points to puncture the thumbs and inflict greater pain in the nail beds.





Another common application of the thumbscrew was to crush a victim’s toes. Variants of thumbscrews existed in many other shapes and purposes.



A larger variant of this torture was used to crush knees, arms and even heads. All of these variants were most commonly employed during different inquisition episodes in the medieval period.



The thumbscrew had many other prevalent names in medieval Europe.

It was called by the name of thumbkin and also thumbikin. The terms pillywinks and pilnie-winks were also used.

[Kazimiera]

The 8 Most Painful Torture Devices Of The Middle Ages

Source: http://all-that-is-interesting.com/m...orture-devices

Torture Devices Of The Middle Ages: The Saw



Before the saw was given its perfunctory role to slice through wood and thick material, it was used to slice through humans for torture or execution. The victim would be held upside down, allowing the blood to rush to their head, and then the torturer would slowly start slicing them between their legs.

With the blood contained in the head, the victim would remain conscious throughout most of the slicing, often only passing out or dying when the saw hit their mid-section.




Medieval Torture Devices: Breast Ripper Or The Spider



For those women who were accused or adultery, abortion or any other crime, they were subjected to the painful torture of the breast ripper or the spider. As the name suggests, the claw-like device, which ended in spikes, was heated and then used to rip off or shred a woman’s breasts. The spider was a variant, attached to a wall instead of clamped onto a woman’s breast by a torturer.




The Ultimate Torture Devices: The Rack



Probably the most commonly know torture device from the Middle Ages, the rack was a wooden platform, with rollers at both ends. The victim’s hands and feet were tied to each end and the rollers would be turned, stretching the victim’s body to uncomfortable lengths.




Painful Torture Devices: Knee Splitter



Used frequently during the Spanish Inquisition, the knee splitter, naturally, was used to split a victims knee. The device was built from two spiked wood blocks with a screw at the back, and was clamped on the front and back of the knee. One turn of the screw and, hey presto, a knee was easily, and painfully, crippled. It was also used on other parts of the body.


Middle Age Torture Devices: The Head Crusher



Extremely inventive with names, the head crusher (much like the breast ripper and knee splitter) did exactly what it was called. The chin sat on the bottom rung, the head under the cap, and the turning of the screws would result in a very disgusting death – brains seeping out of the popped eye sockets, crushed teeth and bones, and mutilated remains.




The Wheel



Most commonly used in Germany during the Middle Ages, the wheel was a favorite form of execution. The victim was tied to the wheel on the ground and wooden crosspieces were placed under each major joint (wrist, ankles, hips, shoulders, knees).

After the pleasantries were observed, the torturer would start hammering the crosspieces with a heavy, iron-enhanced wheel. Following the severe bashing, the victim’s limbs were braided into the spokes of the wheels and displayed to the general public until the victim died.

[RenaRyuguu]

oh my how interesting