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.