They impaled the execution. What happens to a person who is impaled?
In Rus' they did not shun sophisticated executions. Moreover, the execution of death sentences was approached seriously and thoroughly. To make the last minutes or hours of a criminal’s life seem the most terrible, the most sophisticated and painful executions were chosen. Where the custom of cruelly dealing with those who have broken the law came from on our land is unknown. Some historians believe that this is a logical continuation of the bloody rites of paganism. Others speak out for the influence of the Byzantines. But, one way or another, in Rus' there were several types of execution that were specific to any rulers.
This execution was also awarded to rebels or state traitors. For example, Ivan Zarutsky, one of the main accomplices of the troubles during the time of Marina Mnishek, was impaled. For this purpose, he was specially brought from Astrakhan to Moscow.
Rebels and traitors to the Motherland were impaled
The execution took place as follows. First, the executioner lightly impaled the criminal’s body, and then placed the “piece of wood” vertically. Under the weight of its own weight, the victim gradually sank lower and lower. But this happened slowly, so the doomed man had a couple of hours of torment before the stake came out through the chest or neck.
Those who particularly “distinguished themselves” were impaled on a stake with a crossbar so that the tip would not reach the heart. And then the torment of the criminal extended significantly.
And this “entertainment” came into use among Russian executioners during the reign of Peter the Great. A criminal sentenced to death was tied to a log St. Andrew's cross, which was attached to the scaffold. And special recesses were made in its rays.
The unfortunate man was stretched so that all his limbs took the “right” place on the beams. Accordingly, the places where the arms and legs were folded also had to go where they needed to – in the recesses. It was the executioner who did the “adjustment”. Using an iron stick of a special, quadrangular shape, he struck, crushing bones.
Participants of the Pugachev riot were subjected to wheeling
When the “puzzle was put together,” the criminal was severely beaten in the stomach several times to break his spine. After this, the heels of the unfortunate person were connected to the back of his head and placed on the wheel. Usually, by this time the victim was still alive. And she was left to die in this position.
The last time the wheeling began was for the most ardent adherents of the Pugachev rebellion.
Ivan the Terrible loved this type of execution. The criminal could be boiled in water, oil or even wine. The unfortunate person was placed in a cauldron already filled with some liquid. The suicide bomber's hands were fixed in special rings located inside the container. This was done so that the victim could not escape.
Ivan the Terrible loved to boil criminals in water or oil
When everything was ready, the cauldron was put on fire. It heated up rather slowly, so the criminal was boiled alive for a long time and very painfully. Usually, such an execution was “prescribed” for a state traitor.
This type of execution was most often applied to women who killed their husbands. Usually, they were buried up to the neck (less often up to the chest) in some of the busiest places. For example, in the main square of the city or the local market.
The scene of execution by burial was beautifully described by Alexey Tolstoy in his epoch-making, albeit unfinished, novel “Peter the Great.”
They usually buried husband killers
While the husband-killer was still alive, a special guard was assigned to her - a sentry. He strictly ensured that no one showed compassion to the criminal or tried to help her by giving food or water. But if passers-by wanted to make fun of the suicide bomber, go ahead. This was not forbidden. If you want to spit at it, spit; if you want to kick it, kick it. The security guard will only support the initiative. Also, anyone could throw a few coins on the coffin and candles.
Usually, after 3-4 days the criminal died from beatings or her heart could not stand it.
The most famous person who was “lucky” to experience all the horrors of quartering is the famous Cossack and rebel Stepan Razin. First they cut off his legs, then his arms, and only after all this - his head.
Actually, Emelyan Pugachev should have been executed in exactly the same way. But first of all they cut off his head, and only then his limbs.
Quartering was resorted to only in exceptional cases. For insurrection, imposture, treason, personal insult to the sovereign, or attempt on his life.
Stepan Razin - the most famous quartered
True, such “events” in Rus' practically did not enjoy spectator success, so to speak. On the contrary, the people sympathized and empathized with those sentenced to death. In contrast, for example, to the same “civilized” European crowd, for whom taking the life of a criminal was just an entertainment “event.” Therefore, in Rus', at the time of the execution of the sentence, silence reigned in the square, broken only by sobs. And when the executioner completed his work, people went home in silence. In Europe, on the contrary, the crowd whistled and shouted, demanding “bread and circuses.”
Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow a full meter in a day. Some historians believe that the deadly bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during World War II.
How does this work?
1) Sprouts of living bamboo are sharpened with a knife to form sharp “spears”;
2) The victim is suspended horizontally, with his back or stomach, over a bed of young pointed bamboo;
3) Bamboo quickly grows high, pierces the skin of the martyr and grows through his abdominal cavity, the person dies for a very long time and painfully.
2. Iron Maiden
Like torture with bamboo, the “iron maiden” is considered by many researchers to be a terrible legend. Perhaps these metal sarcophagi with sharp spikes inside only frightened the people under investigation, after which they confessed to anything. The "Iron Maiden" was invented at the end of the 18th century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.
How does this work?
1) The victim is stuffed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;
2) The spikes driven into the inner walls of the “iron maiden” are quite short and do not pierce the victim, but only cause pain. The investigator, as a rule, receives a confession in a matter of minutes, which the arrested person only has to sign;
3) If the prisoner shows fortitude and continues to remain silent, long nails, knives and rapiers are pushed through special holes in the sarcophagus. The pain becomes simply unbearable;
4) The victim never admits to what she had done, so she was locked in a sarcophagus for a long time, where she died from loss of blood;
5) Some models of the “iron maiden” were provided with spikes at eye level in order to quickly poke them out.
3. Skafism
The name of this torture comes from the Greek “scaphium”, which means “trough”. Scaphism was popular in ancient Persia. During the torture, the victim, most often a prisoner of war, was devoured alive by various insects and their larvae who were partial to human flesh and blood.
How does this work?
1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.
2) He is force-fed large quantities of milk and honey, which causes the victim to have profuse diarrhea, which attracts insects.
3) The prisoner, having shit himself and smeared with honey, is allowed to float in a trough in a swamp, where there are many hungry creatures.
4) The insects immediately begin their meal, with the living flesh of the martyr as the main course.
4. The Terrible Pear
“The pear is lying there - you can’t eat it,” it is said about the medieval European weapon for “educating” blasphemers, liars, women who gave birth out of wedlock, and gay men. Depending on the crime, the torturer thrust the pear into the sinner's mouth, anus or vagina.
How does this work?
1) A tool consisting of pointed pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments is inserted into the client’s desired body hole;
2) The executioner little by little turns the screw on the top of the pear, while the “leaves” segments bloom inside the martyr, causing hellish pain;
3) After the pear is completely opened, the offender receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he has not already fallen into unconsciousness.
5. Copper Bull
The design of this death unit was developed by the ancient Greeks, or, to be more precise, by the coppersmith Perillus, who sold his terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Phalaris, who simply loved to torture and kill people in unusual ways.
A living person was pushed inside the copper statue through a special door.
And then
Phalaris first tested the unit on its creator, the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Phalaris himself was roasted in a bull.
How does this work?
1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;
2) A fire is lit under the bull’s belly;
3) The victim is fried alive, like a ham in a frying pan;
4) The structure of the bull is such that the cries of the martyr come from the mouth of the statue, like a bull’s roar;
5) Jewelry and amulets were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold at bazaars and were in great demand..
6. Torture by rats
Torture by rats was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by 16th century Dutch Revolution leader Diedrick Sonoy.
How does this work?
1) The stripped naked martyr is placed on a table and tied;
2) Large, heavy cages with hungry rats are placed on the prisoner’s stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened using a special valve;
3) Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;
4) Trying to escape the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way through the flesh of the victim.
7. Cradle of Judas
The Judas Cradle was one of the most torturous torture machines in the arsenal of the Suprema - the Spanish Inquisition. Victims usually died from infection, as a result of the fact that the pointed seat of the torture machine was never disinfected. The Cradle of Judas, as an instrument of torture, was considered “loyal” because it did not break bones or tear ligaments.
How does this work?
1) The victim, whose hands and feet are tied, is seated on the top of a pointed pyramid;
2) The top of the pyramid is inserted into the anus or vagina;
3) Using ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;
4) The torture continues for several hours or even days until the victim dies from powerlessness and pain, or from blood loss due to rupture of soft tissues.
8. Trampling by elephants
For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. An elephant is very easy to train and teaching it to trample a guilty victim with its huge feet is a matter of just a few days.
How does this work?
1. The victim is tied to the floor;
2. A trained elephant is brought into the hall to crush the martyr’s head;
3. Sometimes before the “head test,” animals crush the victims’ arms and legs in order to amuse the audience.
9. Rack
Probably the most famous and unrivaled death machine of its kind called the “rack”. It was first tested around 300 AD. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.
Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and became a helpless vegetable.
How does this work?
1. This instrument of torture is a special bed with rollers at both ends, around which ropes are wound to hold the victim’s wrists and ankles. As the rollers rotated, the ropes pulled in opposite directions, stretching the body;
2. Ligaments in the victim’s arms and legs are stretched and torn, bones pop out of their joints.
3. Another version of the rack was also used, called strappado: it consisted of 2 pillars dug into the ground and connected by a crossbar. The interrogated person's hands were tied behind his back and lifted by a rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. In this case, the arms of the person raised on the rack were turned back and often came out of their joints, so that the convict had to hang on his arms turned out. They were on the rack from several minutes to an hour or more. This type of rack was used most often in Western Europe
4. In Russia, a suspect raised on the rack was beaten on the back with a whip and “put to the fire,” that is, burning brooms were passed over the body.
5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a man hanging on a rack with red-hot pincers.
10. Paraffin in the bladder
A savage form of torture, the exact use of which has not been established.
How does this work?
1. Candle paraffin was rolled by hand into a thin sausage, which was inserted through the urethra;
2. Paraffin slipped into the bladder, where solid salts and other nasty things began to settle on it.
3. Soon the victim began to have kidney problems and died from acute renal failure. On average, death occurred within 3-4 days.
11. Shiri (camel cap)
A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Ruanzhuans (a union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into slavery. They destroyed the slave's memory with a terrible torture - putting a shiri on the victim's head. Usually this fate befell young men captured in battle.
How does this work?
1. First, the slaves' heads were shaved bald, and every hair was carefully scraped out at the root.
2. The executors slaughtered the camel and skinned its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, dense nuchal part.
3. Having divided the neck into pieces, they immediately pulled it in pairs over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces stuck to the heads of the slaves like a plaster. This meant putting on the shiri.
4. After putting on the shiri, the neck of the doomed person was chained in a special wooden block so that the subject could not touch his head to the ground. In this form, they were taken away from crowded places so that no one would hear their heartbreaking screams, and they were thrown there in an open field, with their hands and feet tied, in the sun, without water and without food.
5. The torture lasted 5 days.
6. Only a few remained alive, and the rest died not from hunger or even from thirst, but from unbearable, inhuman torment caused by drying, shrinking rawhide camel skin on the head. Inexorably shrinking under the rays of the scorching sun, the width squeezed and squeezed the slave's shaved head like an iron hoop. Already on the second day, the shaved hair of the martyrs began to sprout. Coarse and straight Asian hair sometimes grew into the rawhide; in most cases, finding no way out, the hair curled and went back into the scalp, causing even greater suffering. Within a day the man lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Ruanzhuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured people was found alive, it was considered that the goal had been achieved. .
7. Anyone who underwent such a procedure either died, unable to withstand the torture, or lost his memory for life, turned into a mankurt - a slave who does not remember his past.
8. The skin of one camel was enough for five or six widths.
12. Implantation of metals
A very strange means of torture and execution was used in the Middle Ages.
How does this work?
1. A deep incision was made on a person’s legs, where a piece of metal (iron, lead, etc.) was placed, after which the wound was stitched up.
2. Over time, the metal oxidized, poisoning the body and causing terrible pain.
3. Most often, the poor people tore the skin in the place where the metal was sewn up and died from blood loss.
13. Dividing a person into two parts
This terrible execution originated in Thailand. The most hardened criminals were subjected to it - mostly murderers.
How does this work?
1. The accused is placed in a robe woven from vines and stabbed with sharp objects;
2. After this, his body is quickly cut into two parts, the upper half is immediately placed on a red-hot copper grate; This operation stops the bleeding and prolongs the life of most people.
A small addition: This torture is described in the book of the Marquis de Sade “Justine, or the successes of vice.” This is a small excerpt from a large piece of text where de Sade allegedly describes the torture of the peoples of the world. But why supposedly? According to many critics, the Marquis was very fond of lying. He had an extraordinary imagination and a couple of delusions, so this torture, like some others, could have been a figment of his imagination. But this field should not refer to Donatien Alphonse as Baron Munchausen. This torture, in my opinion, if it did not exist before, is quite realistic. If, of course, the person is pumped up with painkillers (opiates, alcohol, etc.) before this, so that he does not die before his body touches the bars.
14. Inflating with air through the anus
A terrible torture in which a person is pumped with air through the anus.
There is evidence that in Rus' even Peter the Great himself sinned with this.
Most often, thieves were executed this way.
How does this work?
1. The victim was tied hand and foot.
2. Then they took cotton and stuffed it into the poor man’s ears, nose and mouth.
3. Bellows were inserted into his anus, with the help of which a huge amount of air was pumped into the person, as a result of which he became like a balloon.
3. After that, I plugged his anus with a piece of cotton.
4. Then they opened two veins above his eyebrows, from which all the blood flowed out under enormous pressure.
5. Sometimes a bound person was placed naked on the roof of the palace and shot with arrows until he died.
6. Until 1970, this method was often used in Jordanian prisons.
15. Polledro
Neapolitan executioners lovingly called this torture “polledro” - “foal” (polledro) and were proud that it was first used in their hometown. Although history has not preserved the name of its inventor, they said that he was an expert in horse breeding and came up with an unusual device to tame his horses.
Only a few decades later, lovers of making fun of people turned the horse breeder’s device into a real torture machine for people.
The machine was a wooden frame, similar to a ladder, the crossbars of which had very sharp angles, so that when a person was placed on them with his back, they would cut into the body from the back of the head to the heels. The staircase ended with a huge wooden spoon, into which the head was placed, as if in a cap.
How does this work?
1. Holes were drilled on both sides of the frame and in the “cap”, and ropes were threaded into each of them. The first of them was tightened on the forehead of the tortured person, the last tied the big toes. As a rule, there were thirteen ropes, but for those who were especially stubborn, the number was increased.
2. Using special devices, the ropes were pulled tighter and tighter - it seemed to the victims that, having crushed the muscles, they were digging into the bones.
16. Dead Man's Bed (modern China)
The Chinese Communist Party uses the "dead man's bed" torture mainly on those prisoners who try to protest against illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience, imprisoned for their beliefs.
How does this work?
1. The arms and legs of a stripped prisoner are tied to the corners of a bed on which, instead of a mattress, there is a wooden board with a hole cut out. A bucket for excrement is placed under the hole. Often, a person’s body is tied tightly to the bed with ropes so that he cannot move at all. A person remains in this position continuously for several days to weeks.
2. In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, police also place a hard object under the victim's back to intensify the suffering.
3. It also happens that the bed is placed vertically and the person hangs for 3-4 days, stretched out by his limbs.
4. Added to this torment is force feeding, which is carried out using a tube inserted through the nose into the esophagus, into which liquid food is poured.
5. This procedure is performed mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by medical workers. They do this very rudely and unprofessionally, often causing serious damage to a person’s internal organs.
6. Those who have gone through this torture say that it causes displacement of the vertebrae, joints of the arms and legs, as well as numbness and blackening of the limbs, which often leads to disability.
17. Yoke (Modern China)
One of the medieval tortures used in modern Chinese prisons is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is placed on a prisoner, causing him to be unable to walk or stand normally.
The clamp is a board from 50 to 80 cm in length, from 30 to 50 cm in width and 10 – 15 cm in thickness. In the middle of the clamp there are two holes for the legs.
The victim, who is wearing a collar, has difficulty moving, must crawl into bed and usually must sit or lie down, as the upright position causes pain and leads to injury to the legs. Without assistance, a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only puts pressure on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night the prisoner is unable to turn around, and in winter the short blanket does not cover his legs.
An even worse form of this torture is called “crawling with a wooden clamp.” The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, his fingers, toenails and knees are bleeding heavily, while his back is covered in wounds from the blows.
18. Impalement
A terrible, savage execution that came from the East.
The essence of this execution was that a person was laid on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A stake was inserted into the person's anus, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper and finally it came out under the armpit or between the ribs.
19. Spanish water torture
In order to best carry out the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the types of racks or on a special large table with a rising middle part. After the victim's arms and legs were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner began work in one of several ways. One of these methods involved forcing the victim to swallow a large amount of water using a funnel, then hitting the distended and arched abdomen. Another form involved placing a cloth tube down the victim's throat through which water was slowly poured, causing the victim to swell and suffocate. If this was not enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then inserted again and the process repeated. Sometimes cold water torture was used. In this case, the accused lay naked on a table under a stream of ice water for hours. It is interesting to note that this type of torture was considered light, and the court accepted confessions obtained in this way as voluntary and given by the defendant without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to extract confessions from heretics and witches.
20. Chinese water torture
They sat a man in a very cold room, tied him up so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness cold water was very slowly dripped onto his forehead. After a few days the person froze or went crazy.
21. Spanish armchair
This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were placed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he found himself in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly fry, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time.
Another version of the Spanish chair was often used, which was a metal throne to which the victim was tied and a fire was lit under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The famous poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such a chair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.
22. GRIDIRON (Grid for torture by fire)
Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.
This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictitious, but there is no evidence that the gridiron “survived” until the Middle Ages and had even a small circulation in Europe. It is usually described as an ordinary metal grate, 6 feet long and two and a half feet wide, mounted horizontally on legs to allow a fire to be built underneath.
Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.
Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.
This torture was used very rarely. Firstly, it was quite easy to kill the person being interrogated, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.
23. Pectoral
In ancient times, a pectoral was a female breast decoration in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often sprinkled with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and secured with chains.
In a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.
In 1985, the pectoral was heated red-hot and, taking it with tongs, they put it on the tortured woman’s chest and held it until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral again cooled by the living body and continued the interrogation.
Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes remained in place of the woman’s breasts.
24. Tickle torture
This seemingly harmless effect was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person's nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch initially caused twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for quite a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles occurred and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation.
In the simplest version of torture, the interrogated person was tickled in sensitive areas either simply with their hands, or with hair brushes or brushes. Stiff bird feathers were popular. Usually they tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, groin folds, genitals, and women also under the breasts.
In addition, torture was often carried out using animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated person. The goat was very often used, since its very hard tongue, adapted for eating grass, caused very strong irritation.
There was also a type of tickling torture using a beetle, most common in India. With it, a small bug was placed on the head of a man's penis or on a woman's nipple and covered with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of insect legs on a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything
25. Crocodile
These tubular metal crocodile pliers were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the person being tortured. At first, with a few caressing movements (often made by women), or with a tight bandage, a persistent, hard erection was achieved and then the torture began
26. Tooth crusher
These serrated iron tongs were used to slowly crush the testicles of the interrogated person.
Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.
27. Creepy tradition.
Actually, this is not torture, but an African ritual, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls aged 3-6 years old simply had their external genitalia scraped out without anesthesia.
Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This ritual is done “for the benefit” of women, so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husbands
28. Bloody Eagle
One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, his ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. Scandinavian legends claim that during such an execution, the wounds of the victim were sprinkled with salt.
Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses caught in treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend.
Medieval executions and massacres of prisoners are considered among the most brutal.
Impalement deserves special attention. This type of medieval execution became especially popular in Byzantium and the Middle East. The famous prince of Wallachia, Vlad the Impaler, very often used this method of execution to intimidate his enemies.
Impaling: How did it happen?
Historians know at least two varieties of this execution. In the first case, the condemned person was pierced through the chest with a sharpened stake. Thus, the victim died almost immediately from multiple tissue ruptures and blood loss. In the second case, the executioners were more inventive and bloodthirsty. A wooden and pointed stake was driven into the victim through the anus, after the tip was greased with fat. The stake was driven inside with a hammer, causing the victim suffering from skin tears and bleeding. Sometimes the guilty victim was hung by a rope and then impaled. Under the pressure of its own weight, the tip of the stake came out either through the mouth or through the armpit and rib.
Features and reasons for impalement
It is interesting to note that the main feature of this execution was the long life expectancy of the victims after impalement.
The unfortunate victims could remain conscious for a long time and wait for their inevitable death. Medieval executioners dealt with prisoners so skillfully and skillfully that they managed not to damage a single vital organ. In this way, a crossbar was driven into the stake, which stopped the movement of the body at the moment when the stake approached the heart. This stopped death and delayed it for as long as possible.
The main advantages of execution by impalement were:
- Prolonged torment;
- An excellent method of intimidating the enemy;
- Availability of material for stakes.
In Rus', impalement was used for criminals who dared to go against the tsar, rebelled, or engaged in theft. Unfaithful wives were impaled on a rounded stake, after driving it into the vagina. Thus, women died within a few hours and sometimes minutes, bleeding due to rupture of the uterus and female internal organs. Many husbands remained to watch the suffering of their wives until the end, and some left the body on a wooden frame until it decomposed.
The type of execution through impalement was very often used by the Zaporozhye Cossacks. But the Cossacks themselves were subjected to the same torture by the Polish nobles.
The Assyrian authorities impaled rebels. This was done publicly, and the image of this torture was left on bas-reliefs and frescoes, as a clear example for disobedient citizens.
South Africans used similar punishment for warriors who failed to follow orders, cowards, and witches who posed a threat to the government or tribe. In this case, the person was put on all fours and, in turn, several sharpened stakes half a meter long and 5-10 centimeters wide were driven into the anus.
Executions have been carried out in Rus' for a long time, in a sophisticated and painful manner. Historians to this day have not come to a consensus about the reasons for the emergence of the death penalty.
Some are inclined towards the version of the continuation of the custom of blood feud, others prefer the Byzantine influence. How did they deal with those who broke the law in Rus'? Drowning This type of execution was very common in Kievan Rus. It was usually used in cases where it was necessary to deal with a large number of criminals. But there were also isolated cases. So, for example, the Kyiv prince Rostislav once became angry with Gregory the Wonderworker. He ordered to tie the hands of the disobedient man, throw a rope noose around his neck, at the other end of which they fastened a heavy stone, and throw him into the water. In Ancient Rus', apostates, that is, Christians, were also executed by drowning. They were sewn into a bag and thrown into the water. Typically, such executions took place after battles, during which many prisoners appeared. Execution by drowning, in contrast to execution by burning, was considered the most shameful for Christians. It is interesting that centuries later, during the Civil War, the Bolsheviks used drowning as reprisal against the families of the “bourgeois”, while the condemned were tied with their hands and thrown into the water.
Burning Since the 13th century, this type of execution was usually used in relation to those who violated church laws - for blasphemy against God, for unfavorable sermons, for witchcraft. She was especially loved by Ivan the Terrible, who, by the way, was very inventive in his methods of execution. For example, he came up with the idea of sewing up guilty people in bearskins and giving them to be torn to pieces by dogs or skinning a living person. In the era of Peter, execution by burning was used against counterfeiters. By the way, they were punished in another way - molten lead or tin was poured into their mouths. Burying Burying alive in the ground was usually used for husband murderers. Most often, a woman was buried up to her throat, less often - only up to her chest. Such a scene is excellently described by Tolstoy in his novel Peter the Great. Usually the place for execution was a crowded place - the central square or city market. A sentry was posted next to the still-living executed criminal, who stopped any attempts to show compassion or give the woman water or some bread. However, it was not forbidden to express one’s contempt or hatred for the criminal - spitting on the head or even kicking it. Those who wished could also give alms for a coffin and church candles. Typically, painful death occurred within 3–4 days, but history records a case when a certain Euphrosyne, buried on August 21, died only on September 22. Quartering During quartering, the condemned's legs were cut off, then their arms, and only then their heads. This is how, for example, Stepan Razin was executed. It was planned to take the life of Emelyan Pugachev in the same way, but they first cut off his head and then deprived him of his limbs. From the examples given, it is easy to guess that this type of execution was used for insulting the king, for an attempt on his life, for treason and imposture. It is worth noting that, unlike the Central European, for example the Parisian, crowd, which perceived the execution as a spectacle and dismantled the gallows for souvenirs, the Russian people treated the condemned with compassion and mercy.
So, during the execution of Razin, there was deathly silence in the square, broken only by rare female sobs. At the end of the procedure, people usually left in silence. Boiling Boiling in oil, water or wine was especially popular in Rus' during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The condemned person was placed in a cauldron filled with liquid. The hands were threaded into special rings built into the cauldron. Then the cauldron was put on the fire and slowly began to heat up. As a result, the person was boiled alive. This kind of execution was used in Rus' for state traitors. However, this type looks humane in comparison with the execution called “Walking in a circle” - one of the most brutal methods used in Rus'. The condemned man's stomach was ripped open in the area of the intestines, but so that he did not die too quickly from blood loss. Then they removed the intestine, nailed one end to a tree, and forced the executed person to walk in a circle around the tree. Wheeling Wheeling became widespread in the era of Peter. The condemned person was tied to a log St. Andrew's cross fixed to the scaffold. Notches were made on the arms of the cross. The criminal was stretched out on the cross face up in such a way that each of his limbs lay on the rays, and the bends of the limbs were on the notches. The executioner used a quadrangular iron crowbar to strike one blow after another, gradually breaking the bones in the bends of the arms and legs.
The work of crying was completed with two or three precise blows to the stomach, with the help of which the spine was broken. The body of the broken criminal was connected so that the heels met the back of the head, placed on a horizontal wheel and left to die in this position. The last time such an execution was applied in Rus' was to participants in the Pugachev rebellion. Impalement Like quartering, impalement was usually applied to rebels or traitors to thieves. This is how Zarutsky, an accomplice of Marina Mnishek, was executed in 1614. During the execution, the executioner drove a stake into the person's body with a hammer, then the stake was placed vertically. The executed person gradually began to slide down under the weight of his own body. After a few hours, the stake came out through his chest or neck. Sometimes a crossbar was made on the stake, which stopped the movement of the body, preventing the stake from reaching the heart. This method significantly extended the time of painful death. Until the 18th century, impalement was a very common type of execution among the Zaporozhye Cossacks. Smaller stakes were used to punish rapists - they had a stake driven into their hearts, and also against mothers who killed children.
What do you think were the worst tortures during the Middle Ages? Lack of toothpaste, good soap or shampoo? The fact that medieval discos were held to the tedious music of mandolins? Or maybe the fact that medicine did not yet know vaccinations and antibiotics? Or endless wars?
Yes, our ancestors didn't go to movie theaters or send emails to each other. But they were also inventors. And the worst thing they invented was instruments for torture, instruments with the help of which the system of Christian justice was created - the Inquisition. And for those who lived in the Middle Ages, Iron Maiden is not the name of a heavy metal band, but one of the most disgusting gadgets of that time.
This is not “three girls under the window.” This is a huge sarcophagus in the form of an open, empty female figure, inside of which numerous blades and sharp spikes are reinforced. They are located in such a way that the vital organs of the victim imprisoned in the sarcophagus are not affected, so the agony of the person sentenced to execution was long and painful. The "Virgin" was first used in 1515. The condemned man died for three days.
This device was inserted into the openings of the body - of course, not into the mouth or ears - and opened in such a way as to cause unimaginable pain to the victim, tearing these openings.
This torture was developed in Athens, Greece. This was a bull shape made of metal (brass) and hollow inside, with a door on the side. The convict was placed inside the “bull”. The fire was lit and heated to the point where the brass turned yellow, eventually causing it to slowly brown. The bull was designed in such a way that when screaming and screaming from inside, you could hear the roar of a mad bull.
Torture by rats was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by 16th century Dutch Revolution leader Diedrick Sonoy.
How does this work?
- The stripped naked martyr is placed on a table and tied;
- Large, heavy cages containing hungry rats are placed on the prisoner's stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened using a special valve;
- Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;
- In an attempt to escape the heat of the hot coals, rats chew their way through the flesh of the victim.
The know-how belongs to Hippolyte Marsili. At one time, this instrument of torture was considered loyal - it did not break bones or tear ligaments. First, the sinner was lifted on a rope, and then sat on the Cradle, and the top of the triangle was inserted into the same holes as the Pear. It hurt to such an extent that the sinner lost consciousness. He was lifted, “pumped out” and put back on the Cradle. I don’t think that in moments of enlightenment the sinners thanked Hippolytus for his invention.
For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. An elephant is very easy to train and teaching it to trample a guilty victim with its huge feet is a matter of just a few days.
How does this work?
- The victim is tied to the floor;
- A trained elephant is brought into the hall to crush the martyr’s head;
- Sometimes, before the “head test,” animals crush the victims’ arms and legs in order to amuse the audience.
This device is an oblong rectangle with a wooden frame. The hands were firmly fixed below and above. As the interrogation/torture progressed, the executioner turned the lever, with each turn the person was stretched and hellish pain set in. Usually, upon completion of the torture, the person either simply died from pain shock, because that’s all his joints were pulled out.
The Chinese Communist Party uses the "dead man's bed" torture mainly on those prisoners who try to protest against illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience, imprisoned for their beliefs.
How does this work?
- The arms and legs of the stripped prisoner are tied to the corners of the bed, on which, instead of a mattress, there is a wooden board with a hole cut out. A bucket for excrement is placed under the hole. Often, a person’s body is tied tightly to the bed with ropes so that he cannot move at all. A person remains in this position continuously for several days to weeks.
- In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, police also place a hard object under the victim's back to intensify the suffering.
- It also happens that the bed is placed vertically and the person hangs for 3-4 days, stretched out by his limbs.
- Added to this torment is force-feeding, which is carried out using a tube inserted through the nose into the esophagus, into which liquid food is poured.
- This procedure is performed mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by medical workers. They do this very rudely and unprofessionally, often causing serious damage to a person’s internal organs.
- Those who have gone through this torture say that it causes displacement of the vertebrae, joints of the arms and legs, as well as numbness and blackening of the limbs, which often leads to disability.
One of the medieval tortures used in modern Chinese prisons is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is placed on a prisoner, causing him to be unable to walk or stand normally.
The clamp is a board from 50 to 80 cm in length, from 30 to 50 cm in width and 10 – 15 cm in thickness. In the middle of the clamp there are two holes for the legs.
The victim, who is wearing a collar, has difficulty moving, must crawl into bed and usually must sit or lie down, as the upright position causes pain and leads to injury to the legs. Without assistance, a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only puts pressure on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night the prisoner is unable to turn around, and in winter the short blanket does not cover his legs.
An even worse form of this torture is called “crawling with a wooden clamp.” The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, his fingers, toenails and knees are bleeding heavily, while his back is covered in wounds from the blows.
A terrible, savage execution that came from the East.
The essence of this execution was that a person was laid on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A stake was inserted into the person's anus, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper and finally it came out under the armpit or between the ribs.
They sat a man in a very cold room, tied him up so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness cold water was very slowly dripped onto his forehead. After a few days the person froze or went crazy.
This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were placed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he found himself in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly fry, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time.
Another version of the Spanish chair was often used, which was a metal throne to which the victim was tied and a fire was lit under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The famous poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such a chair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.
Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.
This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictitious, but there is no evidence that the gridiron “survived” until the Middle Ages and had even a small circulation in Europe. It is usually described as an ordinary metal grate, 6 feet long and two and a half feet wide, mounted horizontally on legs to allow a fire to be built underneath. Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.
Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.
This torture was used very rarely. Firstly, it was quite easy to kill the person being interrogated, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.
In ancient times, a pectoral was a female breast decoration in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often sprinkled with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and secured with chains. In a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.
In 1985, the pectoral was heated red-hot and, taking it with tongs, they put it on the tortured woman’s chest and held it until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral again cooled by the living body and continued the interrogation.
Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes remained in place of the woman’s breasts.
This seemingly harmless effect was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person's nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch initially caused twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for quite a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles occurred and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation.
In the simplest version of torture, the interrogated person was tickled in sensitive areas either simply with their hands, or with hair brushes or brushes. Stiff bird feathers were popular. Usually they tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, groin folds, genitals, and women also under the breasts.
In addition, torture was often carried out using animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated person. The goat was very often used, since its very hard tongue, adapted for eating grass, caused very strong irritation.
There was also a type of tickling torture using a beetle, most common in India. With it, a small bug was placed on the head of a man's penis or on a woman's nipple and covered with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of insect legs on a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything...
These tubular metal crocodile pliers were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the person being tortured. At first, with a few caressing movements (often made by women), or with a tight bandage, a persistent, hard erection was achieved and then the torture began
These serrated iron tongs were used to slowly crush the testicles of the interrogated person. Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.
Actually, this is not torture, but an African ritual, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls aged 3-6 years old simply had their external genitalia scraped out without anesthesia. Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This ritual is done “for the benefit” of women, so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husbands...
Part of the image engraved on the Stora Hammers stone. The illustration shows a man lying on his stomach, with an executor standing over him, ripping open the man’s back with an unusual weapon.
One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, his ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. Scandinavian legends claim that during such an execution, the wounds of the victim were sprinkled with salt.
Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses caught in treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend.
In order to best carry out the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the types of racks or on a special large table with a rising middle part. After the victim's arms and legs were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner began work in one of several ways. One of these methods involved forcing the victim to swallow a large amount of water using a funnel, then hitting the distended and arched abdomen. Another form involved placing a cloth tube down the victim's throat through which water was slowly poured, causing the victim to swell and suffocate.
If this was not enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then inserted again and the process repeated. Sometimes cold water torture was used. In this case, the accused lay naked on a table under a stream of ice water for hours. It is interesting to note that this type of torture was considered light, and confessions obtained in this way were accepted by the court as voluntary and given by the defendant without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to extract confessions from heretics and witches.