History

" I’d known for a long time why I loved history. It was because the historians made it sound so coherent, so purposeful, so complete. They’d take an entire century and impose a meaning on it, a personality, a destiny - and this was, of course, a lie. 

But it soothed me in my solitude to read that sort of writing, to think that the fourteenth century was a “distant mirror”, to paraphrase a famous title, to believe that we could learn from whole eras as if they had existed with marvelous continuity simply for us."

Anne Rice always does it best. She describes what I feel with unerring accuracy. 

Torture Devices - Part 2

Note: Continuing from previous post. Not for faint hearted.

1. Impalement
Driving a long stick from the anus to the mouth. This form of torture is particularly associated with Vlad the Impaler, else known as Dracula. At that time, he was actually known as a good ruler - feared and famous for the severity of his punishments. It came to a point that even thievery was punishable by impalement. The story that I liked most about him though, was his war with the Ottomans. (Fourth formers, Ottoman=Uthmaniyah) The Moslems were lead by Sultan Mehmed II who marched  his army towards Wallachia. Instead of impaling the enemy, Vlad had impaled 20,000 of his own soldiers and had left their corpses to rot on the banks of Danube. When Mehmed's army encountered the putrid, decaying corpses, they were so sickened that they turned right back to Constantinople even though the outnumbered Vlad's army by three to one and was better equipped. Cool, huh? Oh yeah, and apparently, death by impalement takes days. Scientists initially thought this to be impossible but further research proved it to be accurate.

2. Catherine Wheel
Also known as the Breaking Wheel. The condemned were placed on a cartwheel with their limbs stretched out along the spokes over two sturdy wooden beams. The wheel was made to revolve slowly, and a large hammer or an iron bar was then applied to the limb over the gap between the beams, breaking the bones. This process was repeated several times per limb. Afterwards, the condemned's shattered limbs were woven ('braiden') through the spokes of the wheel, which was then hoisted onto a tall pole so that birds could eat the sometimes still-living individual.

3.  Flaying
It means the removal of one's skin. And of course, since it's a form of torture, it's done when the person is still alive. In most cases, the executioner flayed off the facial skin first, slowly working his way down to his legs. Mostly, the victims die before they got to their feet. 

4. Iron Maiden
The Iron Maiden, otherwise known as the Virgin of Nuremberg, was a device used from the XVI century to torture criminals. It stands 7 feet tall and can accommodate a large man. The victim was tied inside the Maiden and one of the two doors was shut, penetrating the victim's flesh with the strategically-placed spikes that didn't penetrate any vital organs. Additionally, the spikes blocked the wounds so it would take the victim many hours, or God forbid, even days to die. Sad. 

5. Sawing
In Execution by sawing, the criminal would be hung upside-down and a large saw would be used to cut their body in half, starting with the groin, all the way to the head. Because the person was hanging upside-down, the brain received sufficient blood to keep them alive until the saw finally reached the main blood vessels in the abdomen and then they die. 


P.S. I think impalement is the coolest. Not that I want to try. Dracula rocks the world.

Torture Devices - Part 1

Most of you probably know that I love gruesome history. Maybe I love history becauseit's always bloody. A few years ago, there's a documentary on History Channel on ancient torture devices and I got totally hooked. Seriously, it's like amazing how people can think of all those cool things to torture someone else.

Anyway, I made a list of the most horrifying ones as there are too many minor ones and it would take me forever to list them all out. And even then, I have to split them into parts.

Warning: Not for the faint hearted.

1. Brazen Bull
This one's a torture device that originated from ancient Greece. Perillos ordered a hollow bull made entirely of brass with a side door. The condemned would be shut in the bull and a fire will be set under it, heating the metal until it became red hot and guess what happens to the person in it? Yup. Roast human. Oh yeah, and apparently the bull's head was also designed with a complex system so that the poor victim's screams were converted into the bellowing of a furious bull and the bystanders got so high they actually cheered. Cool, huh?

2. The Pear of Anguish
Doesn't it look absolutely pretty, all gold with intricate designs? Whatever you do, don't put it in your mouth. You'll puke when you listen to the story behind it. This is a torture device designed for people who committed adultery, incest, heresy or get this: sexual union with Satan. Accordingly, it will be inserted into the victim's mouth, rectum or vagina and see that handle? Turn it, and it'll open like a pretty flower. If you're lucky, you survive with your dislocated jaw. If it was inserted into your vagina or rectum, chances of survival are minimal. And even if you do survive, you'll get infection and die anyway. (They don't wash that thing.)

3. Breast Ripper
Girls, ouch! This is for women who are condemned as heretics, adulterers, blasphemers, witches... And in case you didn't see the title, it's used to rip out women's breasts. Erm, advantage? No more complaints about sore breasts every month. If you survive, that is.

4. The Judas Cradle
Another Spanish Inquisition device also known as the Judas Chair or the Spanish Donkey. This thing intrudes where it really hurts. Man, ancients are big on BDSM, aren't they? You're supposed to sit on the tip of that metal thing, naked, with weights tied to your ankles. Wonder if there are any survivors. *Glances at the tip* Probably not.

5. The Heretic's Fork
With the four sharp points rammed deep into the flesh under the chin and into the bone of the sternum, the fork prevented all movement of the head and allowed the victim only to murmur, in a barely audible voice, “abiuro” (“I recant”, engraved on one side of the fork). If instead he still refused, and if the Inquisition was the Spanish one, he was held to be an “impenitent heretic” and, dressed in the characteristic costume, was led to the stake, but with the consolation of the sacrament if extreme unction; if instead it was the Papal Inquisition, he was hanged or burnt, without the benefit of the pretty costume but still with that of proper Christian rites. In short, it's not built to kill, only to torture. 

Napoleon Bonaparte

God, I absolutely bloody love Napoleon Bonaparte. Yes, he's the brilliant French general who eventually became the King of France.

He was not only a man of politics and clever strategies; he was also consumed by passion for his lovers. And that is what I love about him. Here's an original letter he wrote to his wife, Josephine de Beauharnais:

Dec. 29, 1795

I awake all filled with you. Your image and the intoxicating pleasures of last night, allow my senses no rest.

Sweet and matchless Josephine, how strangely you work upon my heart.

Are you angry with me? Are you unhappy? Are you upset?

My soul is broken with grief and my love for you forbids repose. But how can I rest any more, when I yield to the feeling that masters my inmost self, when I quaff from your lips and from your heart a scorching flame?

Yes! One night has taught me how far your portrait falls short of yourself! You start at midday: in three hours I shall see you again.

Till then, a thousand kisses, mio dolce amor! but give me none back for they set my blood on fire.

P.S. Mio dolce amor means my sweet love.

P.P.S. Wasn't that sugary sweet???

P.P.P.S. It was said that his last words were: "France, the army, Josephine..."