History Of Torture
The History of Torture Why was torture used in almost every civilization within historical record? Torture was first recorded to have been by vikings but it has been a part of every society known to man. Even though, each civilization has has a different spin on their forms and reasons for torture, it has lasted centuries. Torture has been around for an incredibly long time, and has many different methods used for many different reasons. Vikings first started making raids around 790 B.C. During these raids they would run into villages, take any object of value to them (including human prisoners to turn into slaves), rape women, and kill anyone in their path. They would then leave on their ships and go home. Once home, the prisoners
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would then be branded with the symbol of their new owner. If the slave tried to escape he would be tortured. The vikings would beat their slaves within an inch of their life and mangle their feet so they could walk but they could not run.
Vikings used a method called the Blood Eagle. According to Smithsonian Magazine “First the intended victim would be restrained, face down; next, the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings would be cut into his back. After that, his ribs would be hacked from his spine with an ax, one by one, and the bones and skin on both sides pulled outward to create a pair of “wings” from the man’s back. The victim, it is said, would still be alive at this point to experience the agony of what Turner terms “saline stimulant”—having salt rubbed, quite literally, into his vast wound. After that, his exposed lungs would be pulled out of his body and spread over his “wings,” offering witnesses the sight of a final bird-like “fluttering” as he died.” According to legend, if the victim suffered in silence, his soul would be allowed into valhalla, however if he screamed and yelled out in pain, he would be denied access and his soul sent to hell. Romans were avid torturers of slaves and Rome’s elite would torture free citizens for any reason they saw fit.
Romans used many cruel and unusual ways to torture slaves or criminals. One such method was being sewn into a donkey. To prepare, a donkey would be killed, sliced open from the belly, and the guts removed. The victim was then stripped naked and stuffed into it’s belly. The belly was then sewn shut, leaving only the victim's head outside, keeping him from suffocation but making them suffer longer. The donkey’s carcass was kept in the sun, where it would begin to decompose (with the living victim inside being cooked by the heat). Maggots would then crawl all over the prisoner, and vultures, dogs, and rats would eat the animal’s decaying flesh. Death came slow for the victim of this torture. Another method of tortureform they used was quite frequently was crucifixion. Crucifixion was one of their favorite methods and was at one time the primary method used to torture and kill countless numbers of people, including Jesus Christ. Contrary to popular belief, crucifixion did not always involve nailing someone to a cross. In some cases Sometimes, the victim was stripped, his head covered, and was tied down onto a cross or fork. He was then then would be flogged (beaten or whipped), sometimes to death. If the victim was not sentenced to be flogged to death, the next course of action would involve nailing his hands to the cross beam. He was then lifted onto a planted post, and his feet were nailed to the post. The accused would then be left to die in the hot sun for several days. The victim would slowly die of exhaustion and
asphyxiation. The Greeks used torture as a form of punishment and a means to get information. One example of this was the Brazen Bull. It was a hollow bronze bull with a trap door on it somewhere. A criminal was put inside the bull, locked inside, and a fire set beneath the bull. The bronze would heat up and the bull would become an oven, cooking the victim alive. Inside the bull’s neck was a series of flutes that were made to make the sounds of the screaming man inside sound like the roar of an actual bull. Sometimes the victim was pulled out before he died to be interrogated and others he was left to cook to death inside. Another example would be what the Greeks called Scaphism. Scaphism or “The Boats” was where a criminal is stripped naked and tied between two logs floating in a swamp. The victim, while floating half submerged, was then forced to drink copious amount of milk and honey, causing him to have diarrhea. The diarrhea attracted all manner of bugs, and the bugs would eat flesh exposed to air and lay eggs in his skin. The torturers would come back every day to feed him more milk and honey until the bugs killed him from the inside out. This was an incredibly painful way to die. The medieval ages were well known for being a time of great torture. Many torture devices were invented during this time period. Devices such as thumb screws, the Pear of Anguish, and the Breast Ripper were used. The Pear of Anguish was a device used during the Middle Ages as a way to torture women who were charged of facilitating a miscarriage. It was also used to torture liars, blasphemers, and homosexuals. The device was inserted into one of the prisoner's orifices. For women it was inserted into the vagina , for homosexuals it was inserted into the anus, and for liars and blasphemers it was inserted into the the mouth. The device had four metal leaves that slowly spread apart from each other as the torturer turned the screw at the top. It almost never caused death, but was often followed by more torture methods. They also used rats to torture people. They would strap a bucket to a prisoner’s chest or stomach and they would put a rat into the bucket. They would then proceed to heat up the bucket with coals or a torch. The rat, seeking to escape from the heat, would try to get out. Finding that the only way out is through the victim, the rat would eat its way through the man’s stomach or chest. It would usually take hours for it to burrow through the victim, resulting in a very long and painful death. China has used torture for centuries and still does. The chinese developed a method of torture called water drop torture. It is a process where a prisoner is strapped to a table and his head is immobilized. The torturer then drips water on the prisoner’s head constantly. The victim starts to feel like the water is carving out a small portion of their skin. The water dripping also causes extreme anxiety and claustrophobia. After a lengthy amount of time, the victim will do anything the torturer asks. China also used a method called Lingchi which means slow slicing or commonly referred to as Death by a Thousand Cuts. Small pieces of flesh are methodically removed from the victim so as to keep him alive for as long as possible. The victim would be tied to a wooden frame, usually made of three stakes in the ground. The first cuts would be made into his chest, removing the breast region, and almost exposing the ribs. Secondly pieces of flesh are removed from both arms. The process is again repeated for the thighs. At this point the victim is most often already dead and decapitation takes place. Following this the limbs are then amputated and the remains are placed in a basket. This form of torturous execution was reserved for the most serious of crimes such as treason, killing one’s parents, mass murder or murdering one’s master. The slow slicing was performed before and after death. In some cases the first cut was even intended to be fatal and the remaining cuts served only to mutilate the body as some form of sick public humiliation. The japanese also has used torture for centuries but they are better known for the torture of prisoners of war during World War II. The japanese used prisoners of war for sick science experiments. They would remove organs from living prisoners to transplant into their wounded. They placed prisoners in high pressure chambers just to see how much they could take. They also would freeze their limbs and peel the frostbitten flesh away to see what was underneath. The japanese injected animal blood into the prisoners to see if it was a viable replacement of human blood for their wounded. It failed and the subjects died horribly. Prisoners were subjected to X-rays until they died of radiation poisoning. Last but not least prisoners were subjected to bamboo torture. Bamboo torture was a method of torture where prisoners were strapped to a bed of sharpened bamboo shoots. Bamboo grows incredibly fast, and in some cases it can grow by up to three inches a day. As the bamboo grows it would penetrate the victim’s flesh and eventually grow all the way through, impaling and killing him. American prisoners of war were tortured at the hands of the vietnamese in the vietnam war. The vietnamese would dangle prisoners upside down with their faces in man eating anthills. They would cut prisoners and put bamboo in the wounds so that they would fester. The torturers made tourniquets and would cut the nerves of prisoners arms so that they would lose the ability to use that arm. In the prison camps there was very little food even for the guards so they would cut flesh off of prisoners and eat it, often while they were still alive. Prisoners themselves were forced to fight over hand fulls of rice and ate snakes and rats they caught and killed. So in conclusion, torture has been a main part of recorded history. Torture has been around since man developed tools. Over the course of time mankind has developed several devices and methods for the use of torture. It was used for obtaining information, punishment, execution, and in some cases, entertainment.
would then be branded with the symbol of their new owner. If the slave tried to escape he would be tortured. The vikings would beat their slaves within an inch of their life and mangle their feet so they could walk but they could not run.
Vikings used a method called the Blood Eagle. According to Smithsonian Magazine “First the intended victim would be restrained, face down; next, the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings would be cut into his back. After that, his ribs would be hacked from his spine with an ax, one by one, and the bones and skin on both sides pulled outward to create a pair of “wings” from the man’s back. The victim, it is said, would still be alive at this point to experience the agony of what Turner terms “saline stimulant”—having salt rubbed, quite literally, into his vast wound. After that, his exposed lungs would be pulled out of his body and spread over his “wings,” offering witnesses the sight of a final bird-like “fluttering” as he died.” According to legend, if the victim suffered in silence, his soul would be allowed into valhalla, however if he screamed and yelled out in pain, he would be denied access and his soul sent to hell. Romans were avid torturers of slaves and Rome’s elite would torture free citizens for any reason they saw fit.
Romans used many cruel and unusual ways to torture slaves or criminals. One such method was being sewn into a donkey. To prepare, a donkey would be killed, sliced open from the belly, and the guts removed. The victim was then stripped naked and stuffed into it’s belly. The belly was then sewn shut, leaving only the victim's head outside, keeping him from suffocation but making them suffer longer. The donkey’s carcass was kept in the sun, where it would begin to decompose (with the living victim inside being cooked by the heat). Maggots would then crawl all over the prisoner, and vultures, dogs, and rats would eat the animal’s decaying flesh. Death came slow for the victim of this torture. Another method of tortureform they used was quite frequently was crucifixion. Crucifixion was one of their favorite methods and was at one time the primary method used to torture and kill countless numbers of people, including Jesus Christ. Contrary to popular belief, crucifixion did not always involve nailing someone to a cross. In some cases Sometimes, the victim was stripped, his head covered, and was tied down onto a cross or fork. He was then then would be flogged (beaten or whipped), sometimes to death. If the victim was not sentenced to be flogged to death, the next course of action would involve nailing his hands to the cross beam. He was then lifted onto a planted post, and his feet were nailed to the post. The accused would then be left to die in the hot sun for several days. The victim would slowly die of exhaustion and
asphyxiation. The Greeks used torture as a form of punishment and a means to get information. One example of this was the Brazen Bull. It was a hollow bronze bull with a trap door on it somewhere. A criminal was put inside the bull, locked inside, and a fire set beneath the bull. The bronze would heat up and the bull would become an oven, cooking the victim alive. Inside the bull’s neck was a series of flutes that were made to make the sounds of the screaming man inside sound like the roar of an actual bull. Sometimes the victim was pulled out before he died to be interrogated and others he was left to cook to death inside. Another example would be what the Greeks called Scaphism. Scaphism or “The Boats” was where a criminal is stripped naked and tied between two logs floating in a swamp. The victim, while floating half submerged, was then forced to drink copious amount of milk and honey, causing him to have diarrhea. The diarrhea attracted all manner of bugs, and the bugs would eat flesh exposed to air and lay eggs in his skin. The torturers would come back every day to feed him more milk and honey until the bugs killed him from the inside out. This was an incredibly painful way to die. The medieval ages were well known for being a time of great torture. Many torture devices were invented during this time period. Devices such as thumb screws, the Pear of Anguish, and the Breast Ripper were used. The Pear of Anguish was a device used during the Middle Ages as a way to torture women who were charged of facilitating a miscarriage. It was also used to torture liars, blasphemers, and homosexuals. The device was inserted into one of the prisoner's orifices. For women it was inserted into the vagina , for homosexuals it was inserted into the anus, and for liars and blasphemers it was inserted into the the mouth. The device had four metal leaves that slowly spread apart from each other as the torturer turned the screw at the top. It almost never caused death, but was often followed by more torture methods. They also used rats to torture people. They would strap a bucket to a prisoner’s chest or stomach and they would put a rat into the bucket. They would then proceed to heat up the bucket with coals or a torch. The rat, seeking to escape from the heat, would try to get out. Finding that the only way out is through the victim, the rat would eat its way through the man’s stomach or chest. It would usually take hours for it to burrow through the victim, resulting in a very long and painful death. China has used torture for centuries and still does. The chinese developed a method of torture called water drop torture. It is a process where a prisoner is strapped to a table and his head is immobilized. The torturer then drips water on the prisoner’s head constantly. The victim starts to feel like the water is carving out a small portion of their skin. The water dripping also causes extreme anxiety and claustrophobia. After a lengthy amount of time, the victim will do anything the torturer asks. China also used a method called Lingchi which means slow slicing or commonly referred to as Death by a Thousand Cuts. Small pieces of flesh are methodically removed from the victim so as to keep him alive for as long as possible. The victim would be tied to a wooden frame, usually made of three stakes in the ground. The first cuts would be made into his chest, removing the breast region, and almost exposing the ribs. Secondly pieces of flesh are removed from both arms. The process is again repeated for the thighs. At this point the victim is most often already dead and decapitation takes place. Following this the limbs are then amputated and the remains are placed in a basket. This form of torturous execution was reserved for the most serious of crimes such as treason, killing one’s parents, mass murder or murdering one’s master. The slow slicing was performed before and after death. In some cases the first cut was even intended to be fatal and the remaining cuts served only to mutilate the body as some form of sick public humiliation. The japanese also has used torture for centuries but they are better known for the torture of prisoners of war during World War II. The japanese used prisoners of war for sick science experiments. They would remove organs from living prisoners to transplant into their wounded. They placed prisoners in high pressure chambers just to see how much they could take. They also would freeze their limbs and peel the frostbitten flesh away to see what was underneath. The japanese injected animal blood into the prisoners to see if it was a viable replacement of human blood for their wounded. It failed and the subjects died horribly. Prisoners were subjected to X-rays until they died of radiation poisoning. Last but not least prisoners were subjected to bamboo torture. Bamboo torture was a method of torture where prisoners were strapped to a bed of sharpened bamboo shoots. Bamboo grows incredibly fast, and in some cases it can grow by up to three inches a day. As the bamboo grows it would penetrate the victim’s flesh and eventually grow all the way through, impaling and killing him. American prisoners of war were tortured at the hands of the vietnamese in the vietnam war. The vietnamese would dangle prisoners upside down with their faces in man eating anthills. They would cut prisoners and put bamboo in the wounds so that they would fester. The torturers made tourniquets and would cut the nerves of prisoners arms so that they would lose the ability to use that arm. In the prison camps there was very little food even for the guards so they would cut flesh off of prisoners and eat it, often while they were still alive. Prisoners themselves were forced to fight over hand fulls of rice and ate snakes and rats they caught and killed. So in conclusion, torture has been a main part of recorded history. Torture has been around since man developed tools. Over the course of time mankind has developed several devices and methods for the use of torture. It was used for obtaining information, punishment, execution, and in some cases, entertainment.