"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".This unfortunately means that, prior to this, there wasn’t a universal declaration condemning torture, inhuman treatment or degrading punishment. Of course, some countries adopted such laws a little earlier or a little later - America’s Eighth Amendment condemning “Cruel or Unusual Punishment” was adopted in 1791 after all - but these laws were neither universal nor timeless.
Torture, at one point, was considered a tool of the ruling class to keep people in line either by shaming, severely harming or disfiguring those who stepped out of line, and by judicially murdering those that crossed the line. It is also sometimes used by terrorists or secret police, but today I wanted to look at some of the disturbed mechanisms that people once used to torture people.
It fascinates me that people can dedicate themselves to pain to such a degree that they can design and build devices specifically to hurt someone. So, I’ve done some research into different torture devices, and created a list of the top ten most gruesome tortures, in order of . . . well, in order of how horrible they are.
Now, as a head’s up, I didn’t think this was too “disturbing”, but whenever I spoke to people about my research, they tended to feel sick, and even I found one or two of these devices a little stomach-churning, so you should keep in mind that this list might not be for the faint of heart. But, with that in mind, let’s begin with . . .
Before we begin, I have a few Dishonourable Mentions:
i. DENAILING
Device: Sharp Metal Skewers; Pliers; Heat; Oil & Sulfur
Method: After restraining your victim, you dip your sharp, metal skewers in sulfur, and drive them under the toenails of your victim. You then remove the skewers and dip them in boiling oil and repeat the process. You do this until the skin is loosened by the heat and repeated skewerings, then you remove all of the skewers, take the pliers and rip the nails from the victim’s toes.
Horror: The fact that this is such a slow process is pretty disturbing, and the fact that at the end you’ll have a constant reminder of the torture is pretty disturbing. But, ultimately, as much as this churns my stomach, it wasn’t enough to make the list.
ii. CROCODILE SHEARS / BREAST RIPPER
Device: Crocodile Shears, a set of half-cylinders, lined with sharp teeth and designed to open and shut, like a pair of shears; Breast Ripper, although sometimes attached to a wall, this could exist as a pair of tongs, each with two spikes facing each other, designed to be clasped shut.
Method: For both of these devices, the function is simple - clasp it around the genitalia of your victim, and pull. For the breast ripper, the genitals involved were almost always breasts; for the crocodile shears, it was most commonly the penis. This would either tear off the offending body part, or severely disfigured your victim.
Horror: This is a device specifically designed to mutilate your genitals. If that’s not horrifying, I don’t know what is. Unfortunately, as much as it makes me cringe, this also wasn’t harsh enough to make the list. Also, the fact that this is in fact two different devices was a bit of a let-down. I just felt that it was appropriate to include both sexes in this horrifying torment, but they still didn’t make the cut.
iii. THE BRAZEN BULL
Device: The Brazen Bull, a large, bronze bull with a hollow interior, and a door to allow a person (or more) to fit inside; A source of heat, often in the form of a logfire.
Method: Simply place at least one victim inside, lock the door, and start the fire. You continue to cook your victim until the screaming stops.
Horror: This would be a terrible way to die, if it existed, but I am not convinced that it did. Most people who mention this form of torture like to go on and on about how the Brazen Bull included a set of pipes specifically designed to make the screams of the people inside transform into the sounds of an angry bull. And the legend surrounding this device claims that the sculptor who built it was the first to die within, as the tyrant who commissioned was so disgusted by it. It sounds a lot like a made-up story to me; not to mention, a large intricate sculpture made of brass wouldn’t be a very efficient torture device. And even if this did exist,from what research I have done, you can die from asphyxiation or blood loss or even just from heatstroke pretty quickly in a situation like this. That’s definitely not a pleasant way to go, but it’s not exactly the torture I was hoping for, so it doesn’t make the list.
iv. THE GARROTE
Device: The Garrote, a device composed of a pole (or a chair stood up next to a pole) with a metal band around the pole that can be adjusted to the height of your victim’s neck, with screws to tighten it.
Method: Simply sit your victim in the chair, or stand them by the pole of your garrote, then fasten the metal band around their neck. You then simply tighten the metal band until the victim dies of asphyxiation, or their neck breaks.
Horror: To me, the most horrifying part about this is that people thought it was more humane than the guillotine. I am not exactly keen to die, but having your head sliced off would be a lot quicker than having a metal band tightened around your throat. Hell, at least with a guillotine you get to lie down, but some garrotes don’t even have a chair. It is a terrible form of torture, but it wasn’t terrible enough to make the list.
These devices are just the ones that don’t make the list . . . so, let’s move on to -
The AWN’S TOP 10 MOST GRUESOME TORTURES
10. THE RACK
Device: A Rack, a large table with two large rollers underneath, often turned with a crank; Ropes.
Method: Simply bind your victims arms and legs, lay them on the table, then wrap the ropes around the large rollers of the rack. Once they’re secure, you begin turning the crank, tightening the rollers, and thereby pulling the ropes. You should keep turning until the victim’s arms are dislocated, but you can also continue turning until the limbs are torn off entirely, if the ropes are strong enough.
Horror: This torture could kill if a limb was torn off, as the victim would bleed out, but this torture was not designed to kill, but to cause severe pain by tearing muscles, dislocating bones and stretching the skin. But even if you survive, you may never be the same again. Not only would this often break bones, but if you stretch a muscle far enough, you can rip out the tendons or shred the muscle fiber, rendering them useless. So, after this torment, a victim can be left with stretch marks, and limbs like limp noodles. Also, since this torture involved strapping the victim to a device by the arms and legs, torturers often combined it with other tortures, such as denailing. However, on its own, the rack is only gruesome enough to make the bottom of this list.
09. RAT TORTURE
Device: A Large Ceramic Bowl; A Burning Fire; Rats (optional: a sharp knife)
Method: There are two methods of rat torture, but both are based on the same principle. In the first, you lie your victim on their back, then simply place one or more rats on their stomach, then trap the rats there by placing the upturned ceramic bowl on their stomach. Then, you take some hot embers from the fire, and place them on the bottom of the bowl. This will cause the rats to panic and try to claw their way out, through your victim. In the second method, you simply cut open your victim’s stomach, then stuff rats face-first into the slits, forcing them to claw their way through the victim. Either way, your victim is being burrowed through by rats.
Horror: Rats are disgusting. A domestic rat is cleaner than a mouse, but if you grab a sewer rat or a rat that is racing around a torture chamber, that’s a different story. So, if one were to climb around someone’s insides, even if they didn’t die from the blood loss, the infection would kill them. That alone may not seem relevant, as rat torture wouldn’t give much time for an infection to set in, but the fact is that an infected wound tends to sting and burn, meaning that during rat torture, alongside the pain of an animal gnawing on one’s skin and organs, every wound would be an angry, stinging gash, gushing with blood. Not to mention that rat teeth and claws aren’t very big. Imagine someone pinching you so hard that they draw blood, then ripping out the bit of skin. If that sounds painful, imagine them doing it so much that your intestines fall out, and you’ve understood why rat torture is on this list.
08. THE HEAD CRUSHER
Device: A Head Crusher, a form of standing vice with a bar on the bottom, and a bowl-like cap on the other side, and a simple handle on the top which, when turned, lowers the bowl-like cap.
Method: Simply restrain your victim in a way that prevents them from escaping, then place their chin on the bar, tighten the cap over their head, and then keep tightening as the victim’s skull is crushed. You can either stop once their teeth break and their eyes pop out, or continue tightening until their skull breaks and they die.
Horror: Every time I think about this device, I get a headache. Just the thought of it makes me feel unwell. Your head is such a vital bodypart, and having it slowly crushed makes me feel sick. Worse is that this clearly wasn’t used for interrogation since it requires the victim’s jaw to be clamped shut on the lower bar, so it was just a tool for pain. But, more disturbing for me is that this wasn’t always used to kill. If you keep tightening until the skull cracks and the brain is smooshed, then the victim is going home in a coffin. But, after enough turns on this device, their teeth could crack and come out, and their eyes could literally pop out of their head - in fact, I’ve read that some devices would include little cups to catch the victim’s eyes when they popped out. So, if they survive, they would be left a blind, stammering slackjaw with a squashed, disfigured face.
07. PITCHCAPPING
Device: Pitch, or boiling tar; a Cap, a large, cone-shaped “dunce cap” large enough to fit on the head.
Method: Simply invert the cap and pour the boiling pitch into the the cap until it is full, then slap it onto the victim's head. For added pain and humiliation, wait for the pitch to cool, then rip off the cap. Due to the scalding of the skin, this should effectively scalp the victim.
Horror: There aren’t many burning or boiling tortures on this list, and that’s because - as I explain in the dishonourable mentions - fire tends to kill pretty quickly, which means that as agonizing as it is, it rarely lasts, which puts it lower on this list compared with prolonged tortures. However, because pitchcapping doesn’t kill its victim, and also requires putting boiling tar on a victim’s head, potentially allowing said tar to drip down their face, neck and into their eyes, the burning pain lasts much longer. Add onto this the pain of having the pitch-cap removed, ripping out your hair or even the skin on your scalp, and it makes number seven on this list.
06. CRUCIFIXION
Device: Crucifix, a standing pole with an interlocking crossbeam; Nails or Rope (or both).
Method: First, you strip your victim naked, then secure them to the crossbeam, either with rope or nails, depending on how much pain you want to inflict. Then, you lift the crossbeam up and connect it to the pole, so that the victim is hanging from the pole, and then you can secure their feet to the pole with more rope or nails through the ankles. You leave your victim until they die of asphyxiation or exposure.
Horror: I almost didn’t want to include this on the list because Christians like to go on and on about how dramatic crucifixion is. However, I honestly couldn’t leave it off because crucifixion is one of the worst tortures. Even without the nails or a “crown of thorns”, having one’s entire bodyweight hung from the wrists is very painful. But what puts this so high on the list is the fact that crucifixion tended to kill by asphyxiation - the victim will run out of breath. As hanging puts a great deal of pressure on the chest, breathing becomes shallow, and as the victim’s arms stretch from hanging, the ribcage is pulled tighter and closer. It can be even quicker if they become tired, as drooping the neck would close off their airways further, meaning that a victim would be unable to live more than a day in this torture. The victim will die slowly, painfully, struggling for breath. But, I have to say, it’s not the most gruesome form of death by torture. Instead of a cross, consider . . .
05. EXECUTION BY ELEPHANT
Device: Elephant, well-trained; A stake with a chain attached .
Method: There are two methods of Execution by Elephant. In both, you begin by chaining your victim to a stake in a large courtyard. Then, you can have your elephant enter the courtyard and, on command, grab the stake and throw it high into the air, with the victim attached and attempt to then catch the falling victim on their tusks, goring them in the process. Or, with victim tied to stake, simply have your elephant slowly trample them, step by step, from foot to head. For a well trained elephant, they can even apply pressure slowly, prolonging the torture.
Horror: This was mostly done by royalty to flaunt how much power they had, and I can see why; but, that’s not what gets it on this list. Your average adult elephant weighs between two-and-a-half and five tonnes. A human bone will break if a mere five-hundred kilograms - or half a tonne - is placed upon it. This means that if an elephant steps on your leg, it can basically turn your bones to powder, and crush your muscles to mincemeat, which is both gross and painful. Now, add to this the fact that the elephant not only starts at the feet and slowly walks up their body, crushing thelegs, then the pelvis, then the stomach and ribs - but also that it can take those steps slowly and carefully, if it’s trained well enough. It can even be trained to slowly step on the head, applying pressure slowly but surely, acting like the Head Crusher described above - except face-first.
04. DEATH BY SAWING
Device: A two-man saw, serrated; a tree or hoist slightly taller than your victim; Rope, at least two.
Method: Simply tie your victims feet, and hang them upside-down with their legs spread apart. Then, hold the saw between their legs, at the groin, and begin sawing downwards. Your victim will usually die when the saw reaches their heart.
Horror: The reason why this is so high on this list is because it requires the victim to hang upside-down. That might seem odd, so allow me to explain. To begin with, this means that blood and guts would fall down over their head and face, which is pretty disturbing. Secondly, this means that the sawing begins at the crotch. I’m not adding this because I think it’s funny, or I want to see guys cringe; I’m adding it because genitals are very sensitive, and damaging them in any way is extremely painful. But, much more important than both of these is that, when someone is hung upside-down blood rushes to their head (inside their body) and it teds to keep you conscious. This means that, although the victims often lost a lot of blood, they would still remain conscious until their heart was sawn through. So, you would feel your genitals getting ripped apart by the serrated teeth of a long saw, then get the bodily fluids of that spilled all over your torso and head before the saw starts struggling through your pelvis, rattling through your bones as it slowly cuts through. Then the teeth would tear through your your intestines, guts and stomach, grating against your spine, until finally sawing through your heart, spilling blood everywhere.
03. IMPALEMENT
Device: Pole, tall and sharpened to a point; Razor; Mallet; Clotting Paste
Method: Simply strip your victim naked, grease your pole, slit open their anus with the razor to widen the entry wound (using the paste to prevent them bleeding out), then drive the spike through your victim up their anus. Once inside, you use a mallet to drive the pole deeper until it reappears out the other side. Most commonly, it will appear from the victim’s shoulder or chest, but for truly unlucky victims it will come out through their neck or mouth. Once the point emerges from their body, stand the pole upright, in public, and wait for them to bleed out or die of exposure. Other forms of impalement included impaling through the stomach, spine or heart.
Horror: Crucifixion is pretty nasty, but it could be worse. What if, instead of nailing you to the pole, the pole was nailed through you? This torture is everything bad about crucifixion, but worse: Instead of pain in your wrists and ankles, it’s through your anus, up through your stomach, puncturing your windpipe and oesophagus. Instead of trouble breathing due to pressure on your chest, it’s trouble breathing due to the wooden pole in your throat. Instead of exhaustion from your arms stretching out, it’s exhaustion due to the immense pain caused by a pole in your anus. Also, did I mention that the pole would be slicked by anything and everything it penetrated? Blood, intestines, stomach acid & bile. And it could take anywhere from a few seconds to three whole days to die, especially if the pole was driven along the spine and missed most vital organs.
02. KEELHAULING
Device: One sea-faring sailing ship; Ropes, long and sturdy.
Method: This is a simple but effective torture. Simply take your victim aboard your ship whilst it is at sea, and get a length of rope so that it goes under the keel (bottom) of the ship. Tie your victim to one end of the rope, then pull it, dragging them under the water, across the hull of the ship, and then out the other side.
Horror: Dragging someone under a ship might not seem like a very harsh form of torture, but there are three key factors to keep in mind. Firstly, ship hulls aren’t smooth. They begin rather smooth, but after just one month in the seawater, algae, barnacles, worms, mussels and seaweed can begin to cover the hull of your ship; mussels and barnacles are quite sharp, so being dragged across the hull of a ship is like being slid across a cheese-grater. Secondly, seawater is very salty and dirty. Rubbing salt into a wound is itself a form of torture, but seawater is also often full of microorganisms; not only would every cut, slice and scrape sting relentlessly, but the likelihood of infection is almost a certainty. Thirdly, most people can hold their breath for less than a minute. Holding one’s breath is hard at the best of times, let alone when being dragged through cold water, as barnacles flay your skin; for this reason, keelhauling could and did kill a lot of people. That’s why it’s so high on this list, but I can still think of one thing even worse.
01. SCAPHISM
Device: Two boats, specially designed so that they can seal together, with five holes for arms, legs and a head respectively; Milk and honey, or other sweet, organic foodstuffs.
Method: First, you seal your victim into the boats, and seal them together. Then, feed them (by force) milk and honey until they are bloated (you can also pour milk and honey over their body, if you desire). Then, take your victim to a body of water and leave them floating on the water until they die of exposure.
Horror: Being stretched, stabbed, crushed, burned, suffocated, gored, eviscerated, impaled or drowned are all pretty horrendous. But, to me, worse than all of these is being trapped, and left to slowly rot. Now, starving alone is a pretty bad way to die, but scaphism isn’t designed to starve the victim - they’re even force-fed to prevent it - rather, the honey and milk is meant to attract bugs. That’s why they’re left on the water, since bugs often live nearby. Not only does the sweet food attract stinging, pollinating bugs, but the milk and honey fed to the victim is also meant to cause diarrhoea in the victim, which would encourge flies and other waste-feeding insects. Essentially, the goal is to cause the victim to begin to decay and decompose before they die. The victim would be stung and gnawed upon, their muscles cramping as they can’t move, dehydrating, all alone in the elements. The worst part is that, according to one of the few historical reports of scaphism, the victim died after seventeen days.
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On that note, what tortures do you think were the worst? Do you agree with this list? If not, feel free to comment below. If there are other which you think I should have mentioned, even if they don’t belong on this list, I’d love to know.
I’m the Absurd Word Nerd, and until next time, I’m going to go lie down . . .
