The Cat's Paw or Spanish Tickler
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This instrument looks very much like a cat's paw with very long and sharp
claws. It was brutally used to rip the victim's flesh to shreds. Because of the
dimension of the claws, muscles and bones were no obstacle in this barbaric
practice. It was, of course, inflicted on victims tied up hand and
foot.
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The Chastity Belt
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This instrument dates back to 1400, when it appears in Italy under Francesco
II from Carrara. It was mostly used in Italy, but it suddenly spread all over
France as well.
There have always been three different interpretations about its possible
use. Some historians even state that the chastity belt was not an instrument
aimed at inflicting suffering but on the contrary a particular device to prevent
women (for example when their partner was away for a long time) from the
possible risk of being raped. As chastity belts were mostly made of precious
materials (inlaid silver with engravings), some historians assert they were
given to women as a present from their husbands or lovers in order to encourage
them to be faithful.
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The Garotte
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This device has a Spanish name because it was improved in Spain where it
became the official instrument of capital punishment and remained in use until
1975, when the last to be executed was a young student later to be found
innocent.
This instrument has very ancient origins. It was originally made of a pole
driven in the ground and a rope to tie up round the victim's neck.
This sort of torture was used all over the world. The Spanish version was
perfected for this instrument to be used for execution. It had an iron collar
that had an iron on its rear which penetrated the cervical vertebrae in a way
that the convict died both for asphyxiation and because the spinal cord was
crushed.
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The Guillotine
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Probably due to the minimal amount of suffering, guillotines were widely used as a form of summary
execution. It is common belief that
the guillotine is a French invention; nevertheless, its origins are much older. The Scots were the
first to use a smaller guillotine as a means of execution for nobles. When the French found out
about this very useful device, they decided to employ it officially as a way to punish everyone
and not just nobles. It was the physician named Joseph-Ignace Guillotin who introduced this merciless
device to France.
Before being used, the guillotine was tested with dead bodies from a hospital. It was ready on
April 4, 1792 at Paris. The first official execution in Paris occurred on the 25th of that month.
From 1792 to 1794, France used this machine very often. Louis XVI had his head cut on January 21, 1793.
Hence the name "Le Louison" until in 1800 the term "guillotine" was employed.
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Some engravings, mainly German ones, represent this beheading machine by
means of a blade that falls between two vertical, parallel columns, since
several centuries before 1789.
It has been proven that a person whose head has been cut, is conscious for a few seconds.
Probably a little more than the time it takes for the head to fall on the floor. Some people
could even blink before dying. This deadly machine was used in many places such as The Papal
States, France, Scotland, and other European countries. In France, its use stopped only after
the abolition of the death penalty under Mitterrand in 1981.
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The Hanging Cage
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In the Hanging Cage, the naked or nearly naked victims were locked into cages and hung up on public display.
They perished of hunger and thirst, a fate seconded in the winter by rain and cold, in
summer by heatstroke and sunburn. Often they had been tortured and mutilated to make more
edifying examples. The putrefying cadavers were generally left in place until the bones
fell apart.
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The Head Vice
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During the Inquisition, new ways for torture were sought - that is ways without "breaking any skin" as the
church dictated.
The Head Vice did not break any skin by itself, but it was nevertheless; very deadly and painful.
What did the Head Vice consist of? For Heretics, the church could sentence them to death with the Head
Vice - a device just big enough to fit the victim's head which would be tightened eventually crushing
the victim's teeth and breaking bones. Ultimately, the victim's eyes would fall out of their sockets.
This was, of course, a very innovative torture and also very messy. Reason for which, torturers sometimes
preferred to make another vice instead of cleaning the one with the person's eyes on it. Of course meaner
executioners took advantage of this and simply used it with all the remainings on the new victim - which
were quite frequent.
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Torture by Heat
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Designed in Ancient Turkey (Greece), the Heat Torture was extremely painful and humiliating. After a person
was "convicted", he or she would be locked inside a coffin made of brass (sometimes called the Brazen Bull).
The victim's feet were creatively fixed to the ground. Sometimes with ropes, sometimes with nails and
sometimes they were not fixed at all. The coffin was placed vertically on top of a fire where it was
left for many hours until the brass turned "red hot".
According to some historians including Herodotus, the Heat Torture was the most common torture in Greece.
As years passed, the Brazen Bull became more painful and amusing for those outside. At one point, the
most sophisticated device had a complex set of tubes so the victim's screams could be heard as an
"infuriated ox". Apparently, this amused certain rulers such as the Roman Emperor Hadrian who, according
to legend, burnt entire families with the device.
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The Heretic's Fork
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This instrument was made of two little forks, one set against the other and
of which the points rammed into the flesh under the chin and over the chest.
A little collar supported the instrument to prevent any movement of the
victim. The forks did not penetrate into vital points, prolonging suffering
before death.
Obviously, the victim's hands were tied behind his back.
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The Inquisitional Chairs
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All of them have common characteristics, in that they are covered with spikes
on the back, on the arm-rests, on the seat, on the leg-rests, and on the
foot-rests.
It's easy to comprehend the effect of the spikes piercing the victim's body
made even more effective by a screw bar system to immobilize the victim and make
the pins penetrate more deeply.
The bars, either made of iron or wood, fastened the victim around the waist,
around the wrists, and around the chest or bust.
The seat was often made of iron that could be heated. These implements were
used in Germany up until the 19th century, in Italy and in Spain up until the
end of the 1700s, in France and in other central European countries, according
to certain sources, up until the end of 1800.
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The Mask of Infamy
The Rack
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The rack consists of an oblong rectangular, usually wooden frame, slightly raised from the ground, with a
roller at one, or both, ends, having at one end a fixed bar to which the legs were fastened, and at the
other a movable bar to which the hands were tied. The victim's feet are manacled to one roller, and the
wrists are chained to the other.
As the interrogation progresses, a handle and ratchet attached to the top roller are used to very gradually
stepwise increase the tension on the chains, which induces excruciating pain as the victim's joints slowly
dislocate. By means of pulleys and levers this latter could be rolled on its own axis, thus straining the
ropes till the sufferers joints were dislocated.
Because of its mechanically precise, graded operation, it was particularly suited for hard interrogation,
as to extract a confession.
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One gruesome aspect of being stretched -deliberately- too far on the rack is the loud popping noises made
by snapping cartilage, ligaments or bones. Eventually, if the application of the rack is continued, the
victim's limbs are ripped right off. One powerful method for putting pressure upon a prisoner was to merely
force him to view someone else being subjected to the rack.
Indeed, a person stretched on the rack presented the ultimate spectacle of the body in pain. A victim would
often be placed on the rack naked or nearly so, and their taut skin would run with the sweat of their agonies.
Wrists and ankles would be swollen and bloodied from the bite of ropes or manacles. The spread-eagled posture
left no part of the body invulnerable from the application of other devices like hot irons or pincers, or
immune from the attention of those gathered to observe the torture.
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The Rectal, Oral, and Vaginal Pear
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Used during Medieval Times, the Pear of Anguish was an extremely painful device.
Its name comes from its shape. This instrument had a handle and screw mechanism by which
it was progressively expanded to the maximum aperture of the two or three
elements it was made of.
This instrument was forced into the mouth or rectum of male victims and into
the vagina of female victims. The oral, rectal, or vaginal pear was inflicted on
people guilty of sodomy, on women guilty of adultery, people guilty of incest or
sexual union with Satan, and it was also inflicted on heretical preachers and
blasphemers.
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After this torture was employed on the mouth; the victim's teeth would get
destroyed; making blood pour out of the victim's mouth often causing death.
If introduced in the anus or vagina, death was a step away. The Pear of Anguish
was rarely washed, thus causing infections very frequently. If the victim didn't
die by an infection however, he would die by other diseases caused by the severe
damage of his or her intestines.
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The Saw
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This instrument had widespread diffusion all over Europe. The saw was
inflicted for a great variety of crimes (rebellion, witchcraft, military
disobedience), probably owing to its being easily found in all houses so
enabling a quick execution.
As we can see from a series of printings and engravings of that period, the
victim was hung in an inverted position in order to assure sufficient
oxygenation of the brain and to slow down the general loss of blood so that he
didn't lose consciousness at once, thus to inflict a longer suffering before
death struck.
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The Thumb Screw
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The Thumbscrew torture was used during the Middle Ages, most notoriously during the inquisition. When a
victim refused to reveal sensitive information, he or she would be subject to the thumbscrew. The victim's
hands were placed in the device (see below) and the torturer would crush the victim's fingers slowly. Another
common application of the thumbscrew was to crush a victim's toes. A (bigger) variant of this torture was
used to crush knees, arms and even heads.
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The Virgin of Nuremberg
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The name of this instrument seems to have its origin from a prototype that
was built in the town of Nuremberg. It is also said that this sort of
sarcophagus had a maiden face carved on its front door probably aimed at making
this horrible container look more refined.
The sarcophagus was fitted with spikes on the inside that pierced different
parts of the body but never transfixed vital organs in order to keep the victim
alive, hanging upright.
The device would be opened both from the front and from the back side without
the victim being able to get out. The container was so thick that no shriek
could be heard from outside unless the doors were opened.
When the sarcophagus doors were shut back, the spikes penetrated the same
parts of the body and into the same wounds as before, inflicting a long and
cruel agony.
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The Wake of Juda's Cradle
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The victim was hung by an iron belt surrounding his upper waist, he was bound
hand and foot, his legs were kept slightly open by a stick in such a way that he
could only move them at the same time. He was hoisted over a pointed pyramid put
on top of a rack. His legs were stretched out frontwards and joined with a rope
at his ankles. The victim was lowered onto the pyramid point that penetrated
into the anus or vagina. Thus the victim, with his muscles contracted, couldn't
relax and fall asleep.
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