VIDEO: Scariest Torture Devices

During the Middle Ages, torture was considered a legitimate way to extract confessions and punish offenders. Some methods and devices were considerably crueler than others.

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Fortunately, it has been proven since then that torture is ineffective.

This video presents the most horrifying torture devices ever known!

Here is further information on some of them, provided by Wikipedia.

The Spanish donkey is a torture device, of which there exist two variations; both inflict pain by using the subject’s own weight by keeping the legs open, tied with ropes from above, while lowering down the subject. The French called this instrument the Chevalet, from the French diminutive of cheval, horse.

The first variation of the wooden horse is a triangular device with one end of the triangle pointing upward, mounted on a saw-horse like support. The victim is made to straddle the triangular “horse.” Weights or additional restraints were often added to keep the victim from falling off.

A punishment similar to this called “riding the rail” was used during the American colonial period and later. The victim was often carried through town in this predicament, often in conjunction with the punishment of tarring and feathering. The crotch can be injured and the victim could be left unable to walk without pain.

While the device was designed for women, there are accounts of male victims as well. The Jesuit Relations say that in 1646, a man “was sentenced to make reparation, by the Civil authority, and to mount the Chevalet,” and “a public blasphemer, was put on the Chevalet. He acknowledged his fault, saying that he had well deserved punishment, and came of his own accord to confess, that evening or the next day”.

The strappad is a form of torture wherein the victim’s hands are tied behind his or her back and suspended by a rope attached to the wrists, typically resulting in dislocated shoulders. Weights may be added to the body to intensify the effect and increase the pain. This kind of torture would generally not last more than an hour, without rest, as it would likely result in death.

Other names for strappado include “reverse hanging”, “Palestinian hanging” and il tormento della corda. Historically, it was used by the medieval Inquisition and many governments, such as the civil law court (1543-1798) of the Order of St. John at the Castellania in Valletta, Malta.

Different methods of death by sawing have been recorded. In cases related to the Roman Emperor Caligula, the sawing is said to be through the middle. In the cases of Morocco, it is stated that the sawing was lengthwise, both from the groin and upwards, and from the skull and downwards.

In only one case, in the story about Simon the Zealot, the person is explicitly described as being hung upside-down and sawn apart vertically through the middle, starting at the groin, with no mention of fastening or support boards around the person, in the manner depicted in illustrations. In other cases where details about the method, beyond the mere sawing act, are explicitly supplied, the condemned person was apparently fastened to either one or two boards prior to sawing.