How do you get a witch to confess? Torture. As we have discussed, back in the day, it may have seemed like torture worked. It broke people to the point that they had no choice but to tell the truth. At least that was the theory. What many medieval, renaissance, and puritan citizens didn’t fathom was that what if this was a logical fallacy. As one poor resident of Salem realized, telling the truth doesn’t stop crazed Salem zealots from placing another rock on you to slowly crush you to death. Giles Corey was accused of being a witch and when he was being crushed by stones, he refused to confess. He was in fact telling the truth. However, it wasn’t the truth that the witch-crazed accusers wanted to believe. Afterall, their spectral evidence was irrefutable right? As society progressed, we came to realize that torture doesn’t work. It forces suffering to the point where innocent people will admit guilt just to make the pain stop. This fallacy that people had believed may have led to hundreds if not thousands of unjust deaths throughout human history. As we discussed this in class, I recalled the many History Channel shows of far-fetched historical mythology and theories that are clearly not true, but are at least fun to entertain. However, some of these shows just explore the twisted parts of history that are true, disturbing, but all the more interesting. It shows how barbaric we once were. One thing that perfectly demonstrates this is none other than torture. Humanity has it flaws and we are many things. But there is one thing that is irrefutable: we are a creative species. I decided to look up some of the most painful and odd ways that torture had been used throughout history and the results were shocking but interesting needless to say.
1. The Judas Cradle – Used in medieval times, and sometimes against witches, the victim was hosted by a waist harness and their rear was placed on a large, pointed pyramid and their body would slowly slide down onto the pyramid, impaling their body clean through.
2. Blood Eagle – Popular in Norse history, the blood eagle has seen its appearance in forms of pop culture, like the movie Midsommar. In this, victims had their backs cut open and their rib cages frayed out their back, mimicking the appearance of wings. Often times, victims’ corpses were displayed in public with their new wings as a deterrent for wrongdoers.
3. Tickle Torture – This seems comical, but as the Han Dynasty in China discovered, tickling for long periods of time leads to extreme pain. It was a form of torture that left no scars. It was used if victims were members of high society or royalty.
4. The Brazen Bull – Greeks were madmen. This brutal form of torture involved placing convicted criminals in a hollow, brass bull. The bull was then placed over a fire and as the person slowly cooked inside, the bull emitted smoke through its nose and mouth and the screams of the victim were transformed into an almost musical tune due to the hollow design of the bull sculpture. This was a spectacle to behold and drew a crowd of onlookers.
5. Bamboo Torture – No one knows exactly when this form of torture was made, but it has been cemented itself in taboo across Asia. Victims were tied to the ground above bamboo seeds. Bamboo grows as a strong and impressive rate (almost 3 inches a day). Bamboo also doesn’t stop growing through obstacles. The bamboo itself would grow through the body of the victim in a disturbing fashion.
6. Intestines Around the Tree – America has entered the forum for most disturbing form of torture. In colonial New York, an army lieutenant was captured by Native Americans and the Native Americans had a plan for him. When your intestines are removed from your body, you are still able to live so long as they intestines themselves are intact and connected. Lt. Thomas Boyd had his stomach cut open and the end of his (what we are assuming his small) intestine was tied to a tree. He was the forced to run around the tree until his intestines stretched and broke, meeting his demise.
7. Scaphism – Through my research (which I now regret doing because I have lost my appetite), this Persian form of torture is, in my opinion the most unsettling. Victims were stripped naked and tied to a small boat. The victim was then forced to eat exorbitant amounts of honey and drink a grotesque amount of milk to the point of developing severe diarrhea. The victim was then covered with honey. This disgusting concoction of feces, vomit, and honey sat in the boat and all over the victim as the boat was cast out into an insect-infested body of water. This concoction attracted these insects and they feasted on the body and had maggots infest the poor soul. However, it wasn’t the insects that killed. It was a long process that would end with the victim dying of dehydration from the diarrhea. It was humiliating and incredibly painful.
With that, I concluded my research. I hope that as a society, we never regress to point of these barbaric methods. Torture is still out there and I’m sure that we have discovered equally disturbing methods, but now they are done in secret. Society has fortunately seen through the farce that is torture and has rightfully rejected it as a cornerstone of criminal justice. I hope you still have your appetite, especially considering I don’t.
Comments