TORTURE

TORTURE

Torture was inflicted without solid proof of guilt. Two complainers or even one single accuser was sufficient for subjection to the agonies of torture, even if the accused man had, until then, been of unblemished character, pristine honesty and genuine piety.

The methods, kinds and degrees of torture were endless. The three basic ones employed were;

1.  hoisting the man to the ceiling by his hands tied behind his back.

2.  breaking him on the rack.

3. greasing his feet and thrusting them into the fire.

Using ropes, a prisoner would be lowered onto the pyramid-shaped “seat” with the point inserted into the anus or vagina. The torture would be the intense pressure and stretching of the orifice, resulting in permanent damage. The victim would sustain rips in the muscle tissue that would later become infected.  Weights would be added to facilitate the torture when death by impalement was desired.

Similar to the Judas cradle where the victim would sit for hours.

Here the victim would be sawed in two longitudinally,  starting at the crotch area.  It was a torture execution more than a torture.  The sawing was sometimes also done across the stomach.

This device was used extensively throughout in the thousand years of medieval torture.  It had thousands of iron sharp points sticking up from the chair.  The restraints were then tightened thrusting the spikes deep into the flesh. Since none of the spikes would enter vital organs the torture would go on for days.  At the end the victim would be executed.  Many victims would confess to whatever the inquisition wanted them to say after seeing others in the iron chair.

The torturer would sometimes stop before death.  This would leave the victim with broken facial and skull bones, the victim severely disabled.

This expanding device was mostly used on women inside their virgina.    It was used when a women was accused of inducing a miscarriage.  It was also used on homosexuals inserted in their anus.  When it was used in the mouth  it was called a Choke Pear.  It was used in the mouth by liars and blasphemers

The device has four metal leaves which expand when the handle is turned.  It would tear the skin and organs resulting in permanent damage.

Also known as the Catherine Wheel.  Used for public executions.  Victims were lashed to the spokes of a wagon wheel.  The limbs were beaten with a club or iron cudgel until broken.  Limbs would break and give way.  The survival time after the limbs were initially broken would be several days.

The victim would be tied down to a table so that his arms and legs could not move.   A metal cage would be placed to cover the victims bare stomach.  A hungry rat would be placed in the metal cage.  The metal cage was heated to make the rat want to escape.  The rat would dig into the stomach to make his escape.  This digging of an escape tunnel would take several hours and result in the death of the victim.