People often dream of visiting the past. But history buffs should pay attention to the fact that not everything is as romantic as it might seem. The past was a brutal, cruel place where the slightest legal or social violation could lead to a painful and horrific death. Over the past few hundred years, most Western nations have abolished the death penalty. But in the past, it was very often the goal to inflict as much pain as possible on the person being executed.

Were different reasons for this; some of them political, religious, and some used as intimidation. Regardless of the reasons, the executions were horrendous. See below what were the most terrible executions in the history of mankind.

Skafism

Scaphism (also known as "boats") was an ancient Persian method of execution whereby the condemned person was tied inside a small boat or hollowed out tree trunk. The only thing left outside was the arms, legs and head of the victim.

The victim was forcibly fed milk and honey to induce severe diarrhea. Moreover, the whole body was smeared with honey, with special emphasis on the eyes, ears and mouth.
The honey attracted insects, which bred in the victim's excrement or in his dead skin. Death occurred after a few days or weeks from dehydration, starvation and septic shock.

Bestiaries

AT Ancient Rome huge crowds gathered in the amphitheaters to witness the cruel and inhuman execution.

Bestiaries were one of the favorite activities at these gatherings. The prisoners were sent to the center of the arena. Angry wild tigers and lions were also released there. The animals remained in the arena until they maimed or gnawed to death the last victim.

It is important to note that some entered the arena voluntarily, for money or fame, but these fighters were given weapons and armor and fought purely for the entertainment of the crowd, while criminals or political prisoners were completely defenseless and deprived of a chance to defend themselves.

Elephant execution

Death by elephant was a common method of execution in South and Southeast Asia, although Western powers like Rome and Carthage also resorted to it.

Death came either quickly or slowly, depending on the severity of the crime. A trained elephant would either step on its head, causing instant death, or step on its limbs, crushing one after the other.

Vertical shaker

The vertical shaker was invented in the United States in the 19th century. It is very similar to hanging, but in this case, the prisoner was strongly lifted up by the neck to tear the spinal cord and cause instant death. This method was intended to replace traditional hanging, but did not see widespread use.

Sawing

The sawing execution was used throughout the world. Often, the condemned was hung upside down, which allowed the executioners to start sawing from the genitals. The inverted position allowed enough blood to flow to the brain to keep the victim alive for the horrific torture to continue.

Live skinning

Live skinning also used different cultures. The victim was held while her skin was cut from her body. Death came from shock, blood loss, hypothermia or infection, and it could take.

In some cultures, human skin was hung in public place to warn others of the consequences of disobeying the law.

wheeling

Wheeling is one of the most brutal executions on our list. Reserved for particularly nasty criminals. The convict was tied to a large, spoked wheel. He was then beaten with clubs or other blunt instruments.

blood eagle

The blood eagle is a ritual method of execution described in Scandinavian poetry. The ribs of the condemned person were broken out so that they resembled wings, and the lungs were taken out and hung on the ribs.

There is some debate about whether the ritual was a fictional literary device or an actual historical practice, but many agree that the details are too macabre to be used in practice.

Burning at the stake

We have all seen this inquisitorial execution that was shown in the movies, but few understand how widespread it was in medieval times and antiquity.

In Europe, the convicted person was often given a chance to confess for a lighter sentence - they were strangled to death before the fire was lit. Otherwise, they either burned out or died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

bamboo torture

An unusual and very painful method of execution. It is believed to have been used in parts of Asia as well as by Japanese soldiers during World War II.

The victim was placed on pointed bamboo shoots. Within a few weeks, a very resilient plant began to grow right through the victim's body, eventually piercing him.

The prisoner was fed, not allowing him to die prematurely, thus making his death even more painful.

Lynchy

Lingchi, also known as "Slow Slicing" or "Death by Thousands of Wounds," is a particularly gruesome execution method used in China from ancient times until 1905.

The executioner gradually and methodically cut the victim into pieces, leaving her alive for as long as possible.

Buried alive

Unfortunately, many cultures have used this method of execution for centuries. Death came in the form of suffocation, dehydration, or worst of all starvation. In some cases, Fresh air entered the coffin from below, as a result of which the condemned remained alive in complete darkness for several days or weeks, until he finally died.

spanish tickler

The Spanish tickler is an execution method also known as "Cat's Paw". The Cat's Paw was a torture and execution device. The device was attached to the executioner's hand, allowing him to easily peel the flesh from the victim. Everything was done live, and the convict died much later due to infection.

Top 10 sophisticated and cruel executions invented by people

Since ancient times, people have come up with more and more sophisticated methods of execution, since death was not only a punishment, but also a real show. People went to watch the execution in much the same way as we now go to a concert.

Col

This sophisticated execution came from the east, but was successfully used in Eastern Europe. The meaning is that a sharpened stake was inserted into the victim's anus, and then the person was placed vertically, and he drove the stake deeper and deeper with his own weight, tearing his insides. Sometimes they used not a sharp, but a stake rounded at the end, so that it would not pierce, but go deeper. Sometimes the depth of entry was limited by a transverse bar so that the stake did not reach the heart and vital organs - in this case, the unfortunate person could die from blood loss for up to several days.

Hook

In Russia, hanging on a hook was practiced. Basically, this execution was applied to the robbers and served as an edification for the rest, so that they understand that the “high road” will not lead to good things. A hook was stuck under the ribs of the condemned and hung up. The hands were tied behind the back so that the victim could not get out. A person could hang like this for several days, until he dies.

Burning at the stake

This is a favorite method of the Holy Inquisition used to execute heretics and witches. It was believed that fire cleanses the soul and contributes to its salvation. But the legend of purification does not lessen the cruelty of such an execution. First, all the hair on the face of a person was burned, then the tissues began to burn. At the same time, the executed inhaled hot air and thereby burned his lungs. The scientist Giordano Bruno, the famous Joan of Arc and many other worthy people died with this terrible, painful death.

Bamboo

This execution was invented in Asia. People noticed that bamboo grows at an incredible rate - up to thirty centimeters per day, and decided to use this property for killing. The victim was laid on his back on top of bamboo shoots and tied. During the day, the plant slowly grew through the human body, penetrating it with dozens of sprouts. Horrible, painful death.

blood eagle

This demonstrative execution was used among the Scandinavian tribes. The victim's ribs near the spine were cut with an ax on both sides, then they were bent and the lungs were taken out through the holes. In this state, with the lungs outward, a person could still live for some time. The execution is called the "Red Eagle", because the protruding lungs resembled the wings of an eagle.

Flaying

In the Middle Ages, the execution performed several functions at once. For the executed - this is a punishment, and for the rest - entertainment and edification. That is why such executions were often public and gathered a huge number of spectators. The worse the punishment, the better. Skinning is probably one of the most spectacular methods of killing. A person was skinned alive, which was then nailed to a wall in a public place as a reminder that punishment was inevitable and would be applied to anyone who broke the law.

gutting

Also very spectacular way slowly kill a person. The offender's stomach was cut open and the insides were taken out. The task of the executioner was to keep the victim alive as long as possible. The intestines could be wound on a stick or roller. There are cases when the gut was nailed to a tree and a person was forced to walk around it, slowly winding itself around the trunk.

Rats

In this execution, the executioners used not only torment with pain, but also the animal fear of a person. A cage with rats was tied to the victim with a door to the body, and then they began to heat the cage with coals. Rats in a panic began to rush around the cage in search of a way out. As a result, they began to tear human flesh, gnawing the skin, bones, entrails, and went free either through the stomach, gnawing through the person, or through the mouth.

The term "inquisition" comes from the Latin. Inquisitio, meaning "interrogation, inquiry." It was widely distributed in legal sphere even before the emergence of medieval church institutions with that name, and meant the clarification of the circumstances of the case by an investigation, usually through interrogations, often with the use of force. And only over time, the Inquisition began to be understood as spiritual trials of anti-Christian heresies.

The torture of the Inquisition had hundreds of varieties. some medieval tools torture have survived to our times, but most often even museum exhibits have been restored according to descriptions. Their variations are amazing. However, not only medieval Europe famous for her cruelty.

Dilettant. media collected methods and instruments of torture both in Europe and around the world.

Chinese Bamboo Torture

The infamous way of the terrible Chinese execution all over the world. Perhaps a legend, because to this day not a single documentary evidence has survived that this torture was actually used.

Bamboo is one of the most fast growing plants on the ground. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow as much as a 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 it works?

1) Live bamboo sprouts are sharpened with a knife to make sharp "spears";

2) The victim is suspended horizontally, back or belly over a bed of young pointed bamboo;

3) Bamboo grows rapidly in height, pierce into the skin of the martyr and sprout through his abdominal cavity, the person dies very long and painfully.

Iron Maiden

Like torture with bamboo, many researchers consider the "iron maiden" a terrible legend. Perhaps these metal sarcophagi with sharp spikes inside only frightened the defendants, after which they confessed to anything.

The Iron Maiden was invented in late XVIII century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.

1) The victim is stuffed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;

2) Spikes driven into inner walls"iron maiden" are rather short and do not pierce the victim through, but only cause pain. The investigator, as a rule, in a matter of minutes receives a confession, which the arrested person only has to sign;

3) If the prisoner shows fortitude and continues to be silent, long nails, knives and rapiers are pushed through special holes in the sarcophagus. The pain becomes simply unbearable;

4) The victim never confesses to his deed, then she was locked in a sarcophagus for long time where she died from blood loss;

5) In some models of the "iron maiden" spikes were provided at eye level to gouge them out.

Skafism

The name of this torture comes from the Greek "skafium", which means "trough". Skafism 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 that were not indifferent to human flesh and blood.

1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.

2) He is force fed large quantities milk and honey, from which the victim begins a profuse diarrhea that attracts insects.

3) A prisoner, shabby, smeared with honey, is allowed to swim in a trough in a swamp, where there are many hungry creatures.

4) Insects immediately start the meal, as the main dish - the living flesh of the martyr.

Pear of suffering

This cruel tool was used to punish women who had abortions, liars and homosexuals. The device was inserted into the vagina in women or the anus in men. When the executioner turned the screw, the “petals” opened, tearing the flesh and bringing unbearable torment to the victims. Many died later from blood poisoning.

1) The tool, consisting of pointed pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments, is thrust into the client's desired hole in the body;

2) The executioner slowly 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 opened, the completely guilty person receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he has not already fallen into unconsciousness.

copper bull

The design of this death unit was developed by the ancient Greeks, or to be more precise, the coppersmith Perill, who sold his terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Falaris, who simply adored torturing and killing people in unusual ways.

Inside the copper statue, through a special door, they pushed a living person.

1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;

2) A fire is kindled under the belly of the bull;

3) The victim is roasted alive;

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 charms were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold in the bazaars and were in great demand.

rat torture

Rat torture was very popular in ancient China. However, we will consider the technique of rat punishment, developed by the leader of the 16th century Dutch Revolution, Didrik Sonoy.

1) The naked martyr is laid 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 with a special valve;

3) Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;

4) Trying to escape from the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way through the flesh of the victim.

Cradle of Judas

The Cradle of Judas was one of the most painful torture machines in the arsenal of the Suprema - the Spanish Inquisition. The victims usually died from the infection, due to the fact that the peaked 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 and did not tear ligaments.

1) The victim, whose hands and feet are tied, is seated on the top of a pointed pyramid;

2) The top of the pyramid pierces the anus or vagina;

3) With the help of ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;

4) 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.

Rack

Probably the most famous, and unsurpassed in its kind, death machine called "rack". It was first experienced around 300 CE. e. on the Christian martyr Vincent from Zaragoza.

Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and turned into a helpless vegetable.

1. This instrument of torture is a special bed with rollers at both ends, on which ropes were wound, holding the wrists and ankles of the victim. When the rollers rotated, the ropes stretched in opposite directions, stretching the body;

2. Ligaments in the hands and feet of the victim are stretched and torn, bones pop out of the 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 was tied with his hands behind his back and lifted by the rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. At the same time, the hands of a person raised on a rack twisted back and often came out of their joints, so that the convict had to hang on twisted arms. 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 a rack was beaten with a whip on the back, and “applied to the fire”, that is, they drove burning brooms over the body.

5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a person hanging on a rack with red-hot tongs.

Shiri (camel cap)

A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Zhuanzhuans (the union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into their slavery. They destroyed the memory of the slave with a terrible torture - by putting Shiri on the head of the victim. Usually this fate befell young guys captured in battles.

1. First, the slaves shaved their heads, carefully scraping out every hair under the root.

2. The executioners slaughtered the camel and skinned its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, densest part.

3. Divided into pieces, it was immediately pulled in pairs over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces, like a plaster, stuck around the heads of slaves. This meant putting on wide.

4. After putting on the width, the neck of the doomed was shackled 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 cries, and they were thrown into open field, co hands tied and feet, 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 torments caused by drying out, shrinking rawhide camel skin on the head. Inexorably shrinking under the rays of the scorching sun, the width squeezed, squeezing the shaved head of a slave 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 rawhide, in most cases, finding no way out, the hair bent and again went into the scalp with its ends, causing even greater suffering. A day later, the man lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Zhuanzhuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured was caught alive, it was believed that the goal was achieved.

7. The one who was subjected to 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 skins of one camel were enough for five or six widths.

spanish water torture

In order to the best way perform the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the varieties of the rack or on a special big table with a rising middle part. After the victim's hands and feet were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner went to work in one of several ways. One of these methods was that the victim was forced with the help of a funnel to swallow a large number of water, then beat on the inflated and arched stomach.

Another form involved placing a rag tube down the victim's throat, through which water was slowly poured in, causing the victim to bloat and suffocate. If that wasn't enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then reinserted and the process repeated. Sometimes they used torture cold water. In this case, the defendant lay naked on the table for hours under a stream of water. ice water. It is interesting to note that this kind of torture was regarded as light, and confessions obtained in this way were accepted by the court as voluntary and given to the defendants without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to knock out confessions from heretics and witches.

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 enclosed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he was in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly roast, 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 made under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The well-known poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such an armchair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.

GRIDIRON (Torture by Fire Grid)

This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictional, but there is no evidence that the gridiron "survived" until the Middle Ages and had at least little circulation in Europe. It is usually described as a simple metal grate 6 feet long and two and a half wide, set 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 rarely resorted to. Firstly, it was easy enough to kill the interrogated person, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.

blood eagle

One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, the ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. In Scandinavian legends, it is stated that during such an execution, salt was sprinkled on the wounds of the victim.

Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses convicted of treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend.

"Catherine's Wheel"

Before tying the victim to the wheel, her limbs were broken. When rotating, the legs and arms finally broke out, bringing unbearable torment to the victim. Some died from pain shock, while others suffered for several days.

spanish donkey

A wooden log in the form of a triangle was fixed on the "legs". The naked victim was placed on top of sharp corner, which crashed right into the crotch. To make the torture more unbearable, weights were tied to the legs.

spanish boot

This is such a fastening on the leg with metal plate, which with each question and subsequent refusal to answer it, as required, dragged on more and more in order to break the bones of the man's legs. To enhance the effect, sometimes an inquisitor was connected to the torture, who hit the mount with a hammer. Often, after such torture, all the bones of the victim below the knee were crushed, and the wounded skin looked like a bag for these bones.

Quartering by horses

The victim was tied to four horses - by the arms and legs. Then the animals were allowed to run. There were no options - only death.

Since ancient times, the sophisticated mind of man has tried to come up with such a terrible punishment for a criminal, carried out necessarily publicly, in order to frighten the assembled crowd with this spectacle and discourage her from any desire to commit criminal acts. And so the most terrible executions in the world, but most of them, fortunately, have become the property of history.

1. Bull Falarida

The ancient instrument of execution - the "copper bull" or "bull Falaris" was invented by the Athenian Peripius in the VI century BC. e. From copper sheets they made a huge bull, hollow inside and having a door on the side or on the back. A man could fit inside the bull. The one sentenced to death was put inside the bull, the door was closed and a fire was kindled under the belly of the bull. The nostrils and eyes of the bull had holes through which the cries of the roasting victim were heard - it seemed that the bull himself was roaring. The inventor of this instrument of execution himself became his first victim - so the tyrant Falarid decided to test the device's performance. But Peripius was not fried to death, but was taken out in time, in order to then “mercifully” be thrown into the abyss. However, Falarid himself later came to know the belly of a copper bull.

2. Hanging, gutting and quartering

This multi-stage execution was practiced in England and applied to traitors to the crown, since it was the most serious crime at that time. It was applied only to men, and women were lucky - their body was considered unsuitable for such an execution, so they were tritely burned alive. This bloody and brutal execution was legal in "civilized" Britain until 1814.
At first, the convicts were dragged to the place of execution, tied to a horse, and then, in order not to kill the victim during transportation, they began to lay them in front of the drag on a kind of sleigh. After this, the condemned was hanged, but not to death, but was taken out of the noose in time and laid on the scaffold. Then the executioner cut off the victim's genitals, opened the stomach and took out the insides, which were burned right there so that the executed person could see it. Then the offender was beheaded, and the body was cut into 4 parts. After that, usually the head of the executed was planted on a pike, which was fixed on the bridge in the Tower, and the rest of the body was transported to the largest English cities, where they were also flaunted - this was the usual wish of the king.

3. Burning

People have adapted to burn the condemned alive in two ways. In the first case, a person was tied to a vertical pole and surrounded on all sides with brushwood and firewood - in this case, he burned in a ring of fire. It is believed that this is how Joan of Arc was executed. In another method, the condemned was placed on top of a pile of firewood and also chained to a pole, and the firewood was set on fire from below, so in this case the flame slowly rose along the pile and climbed to the legs and then to the rest of the body of the unfortunate.
If the executioner was skilled in his work, then the burning was carried out in a certain sequence: first the ankles, then the hips, then the arms, then the torso with forearms, the chest, and finally the face. It was the most painful kind of burning. Sometimes the executions were massive, then some of the condemned did not die from burns, but simply suffocated from the released during combustion carbon monoxide. If the firewood was damp, and the fire was too weak, then the victim was more likely to die from heatstroke, blood loss, or pain shock. Later, people became more “humane” - before burning, the victim was hung, and an already dead body fell on the fire. In this way, witches were most often burned throughout Europe, with the exception of the British Isles.

4. Lynchy

Eastern people were especially sophisticated in torture and execution. So, the Chinese came up with a very cruel execution of linchi, which consisted in the fact that small pieces of flesh were slowly cut off from the victim. This type of execution was used in China until 1905. The sentenced was gradually cut off pieces of meat from the arms and legs, stomach and chest, and only at the very end they plunged a knife into the heart and cut off the head. There are sources claiming that such an execution could stretch for several days, but this still seems to be an exaggeration.
Here is how an eyewitness, one of the journalists, described such an execution: “The condemned was tied to a cross, after which the armed sharp knife the executioner grabbed handfuls of fleshy parts of the body on the thighs with his fingers and carefully cut them off the chest. He then trimmed the tendons of the joints and protruding parts of the body, including the fingers, ears, and nose. Then came the turn of the limbs, starting with the ankles and wrists, then higher at the knees and elbows, after which the remains were cut off at the exit from the torso. Only after that followed a direct stab in the heart and cutting off the head.

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5. Wheeling

Wheeling, or as they said in some countries, "Catherine's wheel" was widely used for executions in the Middle Ages. The offender was tied to a wheel and all his large bones and spine were broken with an iron crowbar. After that, the wheel was horizontally fixed on a pillar with a pile of meat and bones of the ground victim lying on top. Birds often came to feast on the meat of a still living person. At the same time, the victim could live for several more days until he died from dehydration and pain shock. The French made this execution more humane - before the execution, they strangled the convict.

6. Welding in boiling water

The offender was stripped naked and put into a vat of boiling liquid, which could be not only water, but also tar, acid, oil or lead. Sometimes it was placed in a cold liquid, which was heated from below by a fire. Sometimes criminals were hung on a chain, on which they were lowered into boiling water, where they were boiled. This type of execution was widely used for counterfeiters and poisoners in England during the reign of Henry VIII.

7. Skinning

In this variant of slow killing, either all the skin or some parts of it were removed from the body of the convict. The skin was removed with a sharp knife, trying to keep it intact - after all, it was then supposed to serve to intimidate the people. This type of execution has ancient history. According to legend, the Apostle Bartholomew was crucified upside down on the St. Andrew's Cross and skinned from him. The Assyrians skinned their enemies to intimidate the population of captured cities. Among the Mexican Aztecs, skinning was of a ritual nature, it often touched the head (scalping), but even the bloodthirsty Indians usually scalped corpses. This by no means humane form of execution is already banned everywhere, but in one village in Myanmar, all men were recently skinned.

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8. Impaling

A well-known type of execution, where the offender was hoisted onto a vertical pointed stake. Until the 18th century, this method of execution was used by the Commonwealth, which executed so many Zaporozhye Cossacks. But they also knew it in Sweden of the 17th century. Here, peritonitis or blood loss leads to death, and death occurs very slowly, after a few days.
In Romania, when impaling women, the instrument of execution was inserted into the vagina, then they died faster from heavy bleeding. A man planted on a sharp stake, under the influence of his own weight, descended lower and lower along it, and the stake gradually tore apart his insides. So that the victim would not get rid of the torment too quickly, the stake was sometimes made not sharp, but rounded and lubricated with fat - then it penetrated more slowly and did not tear the organs. Another innovation was the transverse bars nailed slightly below the end of the stake, dropping to which the victim did not have time to damage vital organs and, again, suffered even longer.

9. Skafism

This ancient oriental method of execution is unhygienic, but causes an agonizing long death. The sentenced was completely undressed, smeared with honey and placed in a narrow boat or a hollowed out tree trunk, and covered with the same object from above. It turned out something like a turtle: only the limbs and the head of the victim stuck out, which they heavily fed with honey and milk to cause uncontrollable diarrhea. Similar design either put in the sun, or allowed to swim in a pond with stagnant water. The object quickly attracted the attention of insects that entered the boat, where they slowly gnawed at the body of the victim, laying larvae there until sepsis began.
"Compassionate" executioners continued to feed the poor fellow every day in order to prolong his suffering. Finally, he usually died from a combination of septic shock and dehydration. Plutarch reported that this is how they executed the king Mithridates, who killed Cyrus the Younger, who suffered for 17 days. The American Indians used a similar method of execution - they tied a victim to a tree, smeared with mud and oil, leaving it to be eaten by ants.

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10. Sawing

The condemned to death was hung upside down with legs apart and started sawing in the groin area. The victim's head was at the lowest point, so the brain was better supplied with blood and, despite huge loss blood, was conscious longer. Sometimes the victim survived, being sawn already to the diaphragm. This execution was known both in Europe and somewhere in Asia. They say that the emperor Caligula loved to have fun so much. But in the Asian version, sawing was carried out from the head.

Throughout history, women have been subjected to various forms of torture aimed at controlling their behavior. When you read it, a shiver will run down your spine. Women were tortured to suppress their sexuality, to silence them, or to conform to beauty standards. First of all, this was aimed at breaking the spirit of women and making them submissive to men who feared the destruction of their fragile worldview. Feminists wouldn't like that very much. Most of these torture methods were abolished centuries ago, however, some of these barbaric punishments are still practiced today.

1. Spanish donkey

The Spanish donkey, also known as the wooden horse, slowly cut the woman through her genitals. It was used in the Middle Ages, during the Spanish Inquisition. A similar device was used by the Confederates during civil war. The device was a board, the upper edge of which was sharpened wedge-shaped. The board, which was sometimes covered with spikes, was supported by two or four legs. The woman was put astride this board, which slowly cut her body, starting from the crotch. Sometimes weights were tied to the woman's legs so that the wedge-shaped edge penetrated even deeper and cut the internal organs.

2 Female circumcision maimed little girls

Female circumcision is recognized as one of the barbaric methods of torture. According to the World Health Organization, over 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone this procedure. Unlike male circumcision, there are no health benefits from female circumcision. Its sole purpose is to reduce a woman's sexual pleasure. In most cases, the procedure was performed using unsanitary instruments in dirty conditions. A young girl under the age of 15 was held by female family members. One of them took a jagged object and removed the clitoris, and sometimes the labia. In many cases, infection occurred, which often led to death.

3. Chest vise

This particularly vile torture device, also known as the "iron spider", was used on women who were accused of adultery and for single mothers. It was an instrument with two large pointed teeth, which was placed in the female breast and then pulled out the flesh. In a red-hot form, it was used to make a special mark on a woman's chest. This tool ceased to be used in the Middle Ages.

4. Masks of shame

In the Middle Ages the most in a simple way to silence a woman who always grumbles and finds fault was the so-called mask of shame. Also, this instrument of torture was used on a woman who was gossiping. At that time, gossip was feared as an invention of the devil. The first recorded evidence of the use of the mask of shame is from the 16th century. Sometimes spikes were also attached to the woman's mouth above the tongue, which caused great pain to the woman when she tried to say something. However, the torture of the mask of shame was primarily psychological - the woman was publicly humiliated when she was put out on the street in this form, and those around her cursed and spat on her.

5. Cutting a woman in half was pretty common.

The woman was hung upside down and literally sawed in half, starting with the genitals. Unlike the movies, there was no way to escape from this nightmare. This method of torture was used in the Middle Ages as a way to deliver the most pain with the least amount of effort. All that was needed for this was a saw, two people with no compassion and a very strong stomach. This torture was used on women who were accused of witchcraft, adultery or blasphemy. As a rule, during the torture, the woman was still alive and conscious. Sometimes the process took several hours before the executioners ended up cutting the entire body in half. Or they stopped at the stomach to prolong the painful death.

6The Punishment Punishment Was Used On Women Accused Of Aborting

The name of this inquisitive device speaks for itself. The pear of misery, so named for its resemblance to the aforementioned fruit, was a horrific torture method used in the Middle Ages and into the 17th century. metal tool was divided into 4 segments in the form of petals, which opened when the lever located on the opposite side was turned. The main victims of this device were women accused of witchcraft and abortion. The pear was inserted into the vagina and gradually opened, tearing the woman's reproductive organs and causing incredible suffering. The tool has also been applied to suspected homosexuals. It was also used against people accused of spreading heresy. It expanded until the bones of the victim's jaw broke.

7. Stone throwing is practiced to this day.

Stoning, or lapidation, is one of the most ancient and primitive methods of torture. Its essence lies in the fact that stones are thrown at a person’s head. While men are also stoned to death, women represent the vast majority of the victims of this brutal public execution in modern world. Most often, the victims of this type of execution are women accused of adultery. And sometimes even family members of the victim act as executioners. To date, 15 countries continue to practice stoning as a form of punishment, including Nigeria, Sudan, Iran and Pakistan.

8 Sexual Torture And Abuse Has Been Used Around The World

Rape has been used as a means of torture throughout history. For example, during the Nanjing Massacre, Japanese soldiers raped and killed thousands Chinese women. Rape is also used as a method to extract confessions from prisoners. Amnestey International found that rape is "commonly" used to force women to confess to crimes in Mexican prisons. Rape is probably the oldest and most sustainable method torture of women that exists.

9. Burning at the stake

Burning at the stake was classical form death penalty intended for women suspected of witchcraft, treason and heresy. (Men accused of heresy or treason were usually executed by hanging or quartering.) Burning women was commonly popular in England during the 15th and 18th centuries, but contrary to popular belief, it was not used in the Salem Weda hunt. If a victim sentenced to death by burning was not lucky enough to pass out from the smoke they inhaled, they would die an agonizing death, feeling their skin burn and tear. Relief came only when the nerves in the skin were too damaged for the victim to no longer feel pain.

10. Corsets deformed women's bodies.

The corset has been around for about 500 years. And after all the horrors that are written above, it does not seem to be something terrible. Many contemporary feminists argue that the corset was a device used to subdue women and was used to conform to unrealistic and unhealthy standards of beauty. The first mention of corsets dates back to 1530. However, corsets became popular in the 18th century, and were used, as in their modern version, as undergarments. Corsets restrict breathing and prolonged wearing of a corset can lead to waist deformities. It also restricts and displaces vital organs and also causes atrophy of the back muscles.