Consider yourself lucky. If you believe this, you most likely live in a society that not only has a functioning legal system, but also one where that system allows for the hope of fair and effective justice, especially where the death penalty exists.
For most of human history, the main purpose of the death penalty was not so much to abort human life, how incredibly cruel torture the victim is. Anyone sentenced to death had to go through hell on earth. So, the 25 most cruel methods of execution in the history of mankind.
An ancient Persian method of execution in which a person was stripped naked and placed in a tree trunk so that only the head, arms and legs protruded. They were then fed only milk and honey until the victim suffered from severe diarrhea. Thus, honey got into all open areas of the body, which was supposed to attract insects. As the person's feces accumulated, it would increasingly attract insects and they would start feeding and breeding in his/her skin, which would become more gangrenous. Death may take more than 2 weeks and is most likely due to starvation, dehydration and shock.
Created in the late 1700s, it was one of the first methods of execution that called for ending a life rather than inflicting pain. Although the guillotine was specifically invented as a form of human execution, it was banned in France, and was last used in 1977.
A very strange method of execution was practiced in France. The man and woman were tied together and then thrown into the river to drown.
The execution method was preferred by the American mafia. Similar to Republican Marriage in that it used drowning, but instead of being tied to a person of the opposite sex, the victim's feet were placed in concrete blocks.
Elephants in Southeast Asia were often trained to prolong the death of their prey. The elephant is a heavy animal, but easy to train. Teaching him to trample criminals on command has always been exciting. Many times this method has been used to show that there are rulers even in the natural world.
Mainly practiced by pirates and sailors. The victims often did not have time to drown, as they were attacked by sharks, which, as a rule, followed the ships.
Bestiaries are criminals in Ancient Rome who were given over to be torn to pieces by wild animals. Although sometimes the act was voluntary and carried out for money or recognition, often the bestiaries were political prisoners who were sent into the arena naked and unable to defend themselves.
The method is named after the weapon used during execution, usually a hammer. This method of capital punishment was popular in the Papal States in the 18th century. The condemned man was escorted to the scaffold in the square and he was left alone with the executioner and the coffin. Then the executioner raised the hammer and struck the victim's head. Since such a blow, as a rule, did not lead to death, the victims' throats were cut immediately after the blow.
Originating in the United States, this method of capital punishment is now often used in countries such as Iran. Although it is very similar to hanging, in in this case to break spinal cord, victims were violently lifted up by the neck, usually with the help of a crane.
Supposedly used in parts of Europe and Asia. The victim was turned upside down and then sawed in half, starting from the groin. Since the victim was upside down, the brain received enough blood to keep the victim conscious while the major abdominal vessels were ruptured.
The act of removing skin from a person's body. This type of execution was often used to incite fear, as the execution was usually carried out in public place in front of everyone.
This type of execution was described in the Scandinavian sagas. The victim's ribs were broken so that they resembled wings. Then the lungs of the victim were pulled through the hole between the ribs. The wounds were sprinkled with salt.
Roasting a victim over hot coals.
Although you have already read about the elephant crushing method, there is another similar method. Crushing was popular in Europe and America as a method of torture. Each time the victim refused to comply, more weight was placed on their chest until the victim died from lack of air.
Also known as Catherine's Wheel. The wheel looked like an ordinary cart wheel, only large sizes With big amount knitting needles The victim was undressed, the arms and legs were spread out and tied, then the executioner beat the victim with a large hammer, breaking the bones. At the same time, the executioner tried not to deliver fatal blows.
The method is also known as "cat's paws". These devices were used by the executioner to tear and tear off the skin of the victim. Often death did not occur immediately, but as a result of infection.
A popular method of death penalty in history. If the victim was lucky, he or she was executed along with several others. This guaranteed that the flame would be large and death would occur from poisoning carbon monoxide, and not from being burned alive.
Extremely slow and painful punishment was used in Asia. The bamboo stems sticking out of the ground were sharpened. The accused was then hung over the place where this bamboo grew. The rapid growth of bamboo and its pointed tips allowed the plant to pierce a person’s body in one night.
This technique has been used by governments throughout the history of capital punishment. One of the last documented cases was during the Nanjing massacre in 1937, when Japanese troops buried Chinese citizens alive.
Also known as "death by slow cutting" or "slow death", this form of execution was eventually outlawed in China in the early 20th century. The victim's body organs were slowly and methodically removed while the executioner tried to keep him or her alive as long as possible.
A form of ritual suicide that allowed a warrior to die with honor. It was used by samurai.
The design of this death machine was developed by the ancient Greeks, namely the coppersmith Perillus, who sold the terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Phalaris so that he could execute criminals in a new way. Inside the copper statue, through the door, a living person was placed. And then... Phalaris first tested the unit on its developer, the unfortunate greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Phalaris himself was roasted in a bull.
A person's throat is cut with a knife, and the tongue sticks out through the hole. This method of murder indicated that the murdered man had given some information to the police.
A particularly cruel method of execution, used mainly by the Romans. It was as slow, painful and humiliating as it could be. Usually, after prolonged beating or torture, the victim was forced to carry his cross to the place of his death. She was subsequently either nailed or tied to a cross, where she hung for several weeks. Death, as a rule, occurred from lack of air.
Used mainly in England. The method is considered one of the most brutal forms of execution ever created. As the name suggests, the execution was carried out in three parts. Part one - the victim was tied to wooden frame. So she hung almost until she was half dead. Immediately after this, the victim's stomach was ripped open and the entrails were removed. Next, the entrails were burned in front of the victim. The condemned man was then beheaded. After all this, his body was divided into four parts and scattered throughout England as a public display. This punishment was applied only to men; convicted women, as a rule, were burned at the stake.
Humanity has always tried to punish criminals in such a way that other people would remember it and, under pain of severe death, they would not repeat such actions. It was not enough to quickly deprive a convict, who could easily turn out to be innocent, of life, so they came up with various painful executions. This post will introduce you to similar methods of execution.
Garrote - execution by strangulation or fracture of the Adam's apple. The executioner twisted the thread as tightly as he could. Some varieties of garrote were equipped with spikes or a bolt that broke the spinal cord. This type of execution was widespread in Spain and was outlawed in 1978. Garrote was officially used for the last time in 1990 in Andorra, however, according to some sources, it is still used in India.
Scaphism is a cruel method of execution invented in Persia. The man was placed between two boats or hollowed-out tree trunks, placed on top of each other, with his head and limbs exposed. He was fed only honey and milk, which caused severe diarrhea. They also coated the body with honey to attract insects. After a while, the poor fellow was allowed into a pond with stagnant water, where there was already a huge number of insects, worms and other creatures. They all slowly ate his flesh and left maggots in the wounds. There is also a version that honey attracted only stinging insects. In any case, the person was doomed to long torment, lasting several days and even weeks.
The Assyrians used flaying for torture and execution. Like a captured animal, the man was skinned. They could rip off some or all of the skin.
Ling chi was used in China from the 7th century until 1905. This method involved death by cutting. The victim was tied to poles and deprived of some parts of the flesh. The number of cuts could be very different. They could make several small cuts, cut off some skin somewhere, or even deprive the victim of limbs. The number of cuts was determined by the court. Sometimes convicts were given opium. All this happened in a public place, and even after death, the bodies of the dead were left in plain sight for some time.
Wheeling was used in ancient Rome, and in the Middle Ages it began to be used in Europe. By modern times, wheeling had become widespread in Denmark, Germany, France, Romania, Russia (legislatively approved under Peter I), the USA and other countries. A person was tied to a wheel with large bones already broken or still intact, after which they were broken with a crowbar or clubs. A person who was still alive was left to die of dehydration or shock, whichever came first.
The copper bull is the favorite execution weapon of Phalarids, the tyrant of Agrigentus, who ruled in the second half of the 6th century BC. e. A person sentenced to death was placed inside a hollow copper statue of a bull, made in life size. A fire was lit under the bull. It was impossible to get out of the statue, and those watching could watch smoke coming out of the nostrils and hear the screams of the dying man.
Evisceration was used in Japan. The convict had some or all of his internal organs removed. The heart and lungs were cut out last to prolong the victim's suffering. Sometimes evisceration served as a method of ritual suicide.
Boiling began to be used about 3000 years ago. It was used in Europe and Russia, as well as some Asian countries. A person sentenced to death was placed in a cauldron, which could be filled not only with water, but also with fat, resin, oil or molten lead. At the moment of immersion, the liquid could already be boiling, or it would boil later. The executioner could hasten the onset of death or, conversely, prolong a person’s torment. It also happened that boiling liquid was poured onto a person or poured down his throat.
Impalement was first used by the Assyrians, Greeks and Romans. They impaled people in different ways, and the thickness of the stake could also be different. The stake itself could be inserted either into the rectum or into the vagina, if they were women, through the mouth or through a hole made in the genital area. Often the top of the stake was blunt so that the victim did not die immediately. The stake with the condemned person impaled on it was raised up and those sentenced to painful death slowly descended down it under the influence of gravity.
Hanging and quartering was used in medieval England to punish traitors to the motherland and criminals who committed a particularly serious act. A person was hanged, but so that he remained alive, after which he was deprived of his limbs. It could go so far as to cut off the unfortunate man’s genitals, gouge out his eyes and cut out his internal organs. If the person was still alive, then at the end his head was cut off. This execution lasted until 1814.
In the electric chair then ancient world was especially inventive in terms of sophisticated torture and punishment. The types of executions used in the East were especially terrible, and Ancient China distinguished itself in this most of all. It is the Celestial Empire that holds the palm in the invention of executions in the world.
In ancient times, people in the Celestial Empire could be executed without trial for the most minor sins. Once the cooks were sawed in half just because the rice they cooked did not satisfy the owner. The women, stripped naked, were hung by their arms from rings, and a saw was placed between their legs.
It was impossible to hang on tense arms for a long time, and it was also difficult to sit for a long time on a sharp saw - so the women sawed themselves.
In general, women in China could be sawed for any reason.
High-ranking corrupt officials were executed with a terrible execution called “pike bites” or “death by a thousand cuts.” The criminal was gradually cut off over the course of a year or six months fine particles flesh. To prevent bleeding, the wounds were cauterized with a hot iron. In such a situation, suicide seemed to be the highest good, but the executioners kept a vigilant eye on the condemned, not allowing him to die prematurely. Terrible physical suffering was accompanied by moral humiliation.
Suicide is simply a gift of fate, in the case when a piece of flesh is cut off from a person And today in China it is not considered a great value. A “suitable” person can easily be kidnapped on the street and dismantled for organs. State criminals are subjected to almost medieval torture, and women are castrated using laser beams.
The Ancient East invented executions. Here is a rough list of some of them:
Brutal executions were also practiced in Ancient Egypt. The method of killing, which was called “punishment by the wall,” consisted in the fact that the criminal was walled up alive, as a result of which he died from suffocation.
Crucifixion was first used in Ancient Phenicia, then the Carthaginians borrowed this method of execution from the Phoenicians. After the Punic Wars, the Romans began to execute people this way. was considered the most despicable - only slaves or hardened criminals died this way. Roman citizens and other people of the noble class were killed with a sword, which was used to cut off the head quickly and painlessly.
At first they impaled people only in Assyria. This type of execution was applied to women who had abortions and to rioters. As a result of the conquests of the Assyrian empire, this type of execution spread throughout the Mediterranean.
The trough execution was one of the most terrible. The body of the condemned man was placed between two troughs, but the head remained outside. The criminal was force-fed by pouring liquid food down his throat. Over time, worms appeared in the feces, which ate the body of the unfortunate man alive.
Muslim extremists of the modern East execute their captives no less brutally. The bloody relay race continues and there is no limit in sight.
European culture was not so creative when it came to torture and execution. execution methods were usually imported from the East. Nevertheless, European justice could hardly be called humane.
Used the following types executions:
Burning at the stake was a punishment for heresy, but in England this was the punishment for female infidelity. Counterfeiters were boiled alive in cauldrons of boiling oil or tar. A particularly cruel type of execution was when the convict was first placed in a vat of cold water, and then the water was heated to a boil. The skin was torn off from dangerous state criminals and careless doctors, and they could remove it not only from a living person, but also from a corpse.
Children were buried alive for significant theft, and hands were chopped off for petty theft. Also, for petty theft or fraud, an ear or ears could be cut off. A repeat offender was already subject to the death penalty. Only noble gentlemen who could not be killed for any reason were blinded. Quartering was used as a punishment for high treason, but only men were executed in this way, and women were burned in this case.
Video about the most terrible executions in the world
Drowning was a punishment for swearing and cursing. Ripping by horses, stoning and crucifixion were rare species administration of justice. The most humane methods of execution were hanging and beheading - the latter survived into modern times in the form of the guillotine.
In modern Europe it is difficult to find even traces of past atrocities, because any type of torture and the death penalty is strictly prohibited. In the vast majority of European countries, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
We can only be grateful for the fact that gloomy torture and executions are a thing of the distant past, and in modern times they can only be found in backward countries.
It is well known that wars are a time when sometimes all the darkest and cruelest things that exist in human nature awaken in people. Reading the memoirs of eyewitnesses to the events of the Second World War, getting acquainted with the documents, you are simply amazed at human cruelty, which at that time, it seems, simply knew no bounds. And we are not talking about military operations, war is war. We are talking about torture and executions that were applied to prisoners of war and civilians.
It is well known that representatives of the Third Reich during the war years simply put the matter of extermination of people on stream. Mass shootings, killings in gas chambers they are striking in their callous approach and scale. However, in addition to these methods of murder, the Germans also used others.
In Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the Germans practiced burning entire villages alive. There were cases when people who were still alive were thrown into pits and covered with earth.
But this pales in comparison with the cases when the Germans approached the task in a particularly “creative” way.
It is known that in the Treblinka concentration camp, two girls - members of the Resistance - were boiled alive in a barrel of water. At the front, the soldiers had fun tearing apart prisoners tied to tanks.
In France, the Germans used the guillotine en masse. It is known that more than 40 thousand people were beheaded using this device. Among others, the Russian princess Vera Obolenskaya, a member of the Resistance, was executed with the help of the guillotine.
At the Nuremberg trials, cases were made public when the Germans sawed people hand saws. This happened in the occupied territories of the USSR.
Even such a time-tested form of execution as hanging, the Germans approached “outside the box.” To prolong the torment of those executed, they were hanged not on a rope, but on a metal string. The victim did not die immediately from a fracture of the vertebrae, as in the usual way execution, but she suffered for a long time. Participants in the conspiracy against the Fuhrer were killed in this way in 1944.
One of the least known pages in the history of World War II in our country is the participation in it of the French expeditionary force, which recruited Moroccan residents - Berbers and representatives of other native tribes. They were called Moroccan Gumiers. The Gumiers fought against the Nazis, that is, they were on the side of the Allies who liberated Europe from the “brown plague.” But in their cruelty towards the local population, the Moroccans, according to some estimates, surpassed even the Germans.
First of all, the Moroccans raped the inhabitants of the territories they captured. Of course, first of all, women of all ages suffered - from little girls to old women, but boys, teenagers and men who dared to resist them were also subjected to violence. As a rule, gang rape ended with the murder of the victim.
In addition, the Moroccans could mock the victims by gouging out their eyes, cutting off their ears and fingers, since such “trophies” increased the status of the warrior according to Berber ideas.
However, an explanation can be found for this behavior: these people lived in their Atlas Mountains in Africa practically at the level of the tribal system, were illiterate, and, finding themselves in the theater of military operations of the 20th century, transferred their essentially medieval ideas to it.
While the behavior of the Moroccan Gumiers is understandable, it is extremely difficult to find a reasonable interpretation for the actions of the Japanese.
There are many memories of how the Japanese abused prisoners of war, representatives of the civilian population of the occupied territories, as well as their own compatriots suspected of espionage.
One of the most popular punishments for spying was cutting off fingers, ears, or even feet. The amputation was performed without anesthesia. At the same time, careful care was taken to ensure that the person punished continuously felt pain during the procedure, but survived.
In the camps for prisoners of war of the Americans and the British, this type of execution for rebellion was practiced, such as burial alive. The convict was placed vertically in a hole and covered with a pile of stones or earth. The man suffocated and died slowly, in terrible pain.
The Japanese also used medieval execution by beheading. But if in the era of the samurai the head was cut off with one masterful blow, then in the 20th century there were not so many such masters of the blade. Inept executioners could strike the unfortunate man's neck many times before the head was separated from the neck. The suffering of the victim in this case is difficult to even imagine.
Another view medieval execution, which was used by the Japanese military - drowning in the waves. The convict is tied to a pole dug into the shore in the high tide zone. The waves slowly rose, the man choked and finally died painfully.
And finally, probably the most terrible method of execution, which came from antiquity - tearing apart with growing bamboo. As you know, this plant is the fastest growing in the world. It grows 10-15 centimeters per day. The man was chained to the ground, from which young bamboo shoots peeked out. Over the course of several days, the plants tore the sufferer's body apart. After the end of the war, it became known that during the Second World War the Japanese also used such a barbaric method of execution on prisoners of war.
What do you think was the most terrible thing during the Middle Ages? Lack of toothpaste good soap or shampoo? The fact that medieval discos were held to the tedious music of mandolins? Or maybe the fact that medicine did not yet know vaccinations and antibiotics? Or endless wars? Yes, our ancestors didn't go to movie theaters or send emails to each other. But they were also inventors. And the worst thing they invented was instruments for torture, instruments with the help of which the system of Christian justice was created - the Inquisition. And for those who lived in the Middle Ages, Iron Maiden is not the name of a heavy metal band, but one of the most disgusting gadgets of that time.
This is not “three girls under the window.” This is a huge sarcophagus in the form of an open, empty female figure, inside of which numerous blades and sharp spikes are reinforced. They are located in such a way that the vital organs of the victim imprisoned in the sarcophagus are not affected, so the agony of the person sentenced to execution was long and painful. The "Virgin" was first used in 1515. The condemned man died for three days.
This device was inserted into the openings of the body - it is clear that not into the mouth or ears - and opened so as to cause unimaginable pain to the victim, tearing these openings.
This torture was developed in Athens, Greece. This was a bull shape made of metal (brass) and hollow inside, with a door on the side. The convict was placed inside the “bull”. The fire was lit and heated to the point where the brass turned yellow, eventually causing it to slowly brown. The bull was designed in such a way that when screaming and screaming from inside, you could hear the roar of a mad bull.
Torture by rats was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by 16th century Dutch Revolution leader Diedrick Sonoy.
The know-how belongs to Hippolyte Marsili. At one time, this instrument of torture was considered loyal - it did not break bones or tear ligaments. First, the sinner was lifted on a rope, and then sat on the Cradle, and the top of the triangle was inserted into the same holes as the Pear. It hurt to such an extent that the sinner lost consciousness. He was lifted, “pumped out” and put back on the Cradle. I don’t think that in moments of enlightenment the sinners thanked Hippolytus for his invention.
For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. An elephant is very easy to train and teaching it to trample a guilty victim with its huge feet is a matter of just a few days.
This device is an oblong rectangle with a wooden frame. The hands were firmly fixed below and above. As the interrogation/torture proceeded, the executioner turned the lever, with each turn the person was stretched and hellish pain set in. Usually, upon completion of the torture, the person either simply died from pain shock, because that’s all his joints were pulled out.
The Chinese Communist Party uses the “dead man’s bed” torture mainly on those prisoners who try to protest against illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience, imprisoned for their beliefs.
One of the medieval tortures used in modern Chinese prisons is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is placed on a prisoner, causing him to be unable to walk or stand normally. The clamp is a board from 50 to 80 cm in length, from 30 to 50 cm in width and 10 – 15 cm in thickness. In the middle of the clamp there are two holes for the legs. The victim, who is wearing a collar, has difficulty moving, must crawl into bed and usually must sit or lie down, since the upright position causes pain and leads to injury to the legs. Without outside help a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only puts pressure on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night the prisoner is unable to turn around, and in winter time a short blanket does not cover your legs. An even worse form of this torture is called “crawling with a wooden clamp.” The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, his fingers, toenails and knees are bleeding profusely, while his back is covered in wounds from the blows.
A terrible, savage execution that came from the East. The essence of this execution was that a person was laid on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A stake was inserted into the person's anus, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper and finally it came out under the armpit or between the ribs.
The man was seated in a very cold room, they tied him so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness they very slowly dripped cold water onto his forehead. After a few days the person froze or went crazy.
This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were placed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he found himself in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly fry, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time. Another version of the Spanish chair was often used, which was a metal throne to which the victim was tied and a fire was lit under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The famous poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such a chair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.
Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.
This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictitious, but there is no evidence that the gridiron “survived” until the Middle Ages and had even a small circulation in Europe. It is usually described as an ordinary metal grate, 6 feet long and two and a half feet wide, mounted horizontally on legs to allow a fire to be built underneath. Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture. Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid. This torture was used very rarely. Firstly, it was quite easy to kill the person being interrogated, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.
In ancient times, a pectoral was a female breast decoration in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often sprinkled with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and secured with chains. In a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named. In 1985, the pectoral was heated red-hot and, taking it with tongs, they put it on the tortured woman’s chest and held it until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral again cooled by the living body and continued the interrogation. Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes were left in place of the woman’s breasts.
This seemingly harmless effect was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person's nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch initially caused twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for quite a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles occurred and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation. At the most simple version torture: sensitive areas were tickled by the interrogated, either simply with their hands, or with hair brushes or brushes. Stiff bird feathers were popular. Usually they tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, inguinal folds, genitals, and women also under the breasts. In addition, torture was often carried out using animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated person. The goat was very often used, since its very hard tongue, adapted for eating grass, caused very strong irritation. There was also a type of tickling torture using a beetle, most common in India. With it, a small bug was placed on the head of a man's penis or on a woman's nipple and covered with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of insect legs on a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything...
These tubular metal crocodile pliers were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the person being tortured. First, with a few caressing movements (often made by women), or with a tight bandage, a persistent, hard erection was achieved and then the torture began
These serrated iron tongs were used to slowly crush the testicles of the interrogated person. Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.
Actually, this is not torture, but an African ritual, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls aged 3-6 years old simply had their external genitalia scraped out without anesthesia. Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This ritual is done “for the benefit” of women, so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husbands...
Part of the image engraved on the Stora Hammers stone. The illustration shows a man lying on his stomach, with an executor standing over him, ripping open the man’s back with an unusual weapon. One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, his ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. Scandinavian legends claim that during such an execution, the wounds of the victim were sprinkled with salt.
Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses caught in treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend.
In order to best carry out the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the types of racks or on a special big table with a rising middle part. After the victim's arms and legs were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner began work in one of several ways. One of these methods involved forcing the victim, using a funnel, to swallow a large number of water, then they hit the swollen and arched stomach. Another form involved placing a cloth tube down the victim's throat through which water was slowly poured, causing the victim to swell and suffocate. If this was not enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then inserted again and the process repeated. Sometimes cold water torture was used. In this case, the accused lay naked on the table under the spray for hours. ice water. It is interesting to note that this type of torture was considered light, and the court accepted confessions obtained in this way as voluntary and given by the defendant without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to extract confessions from heretics and witches.
