We all know that at different times very cruel tortures and punishments were applied to different people. They were carried out for various purposes, mostly it was just a painful execution. In any case, those who were tortured, as a rule, wanted to die faster than suffer like that. For many of us, the worst torture in the world is to serve a full-time job, for someone to listen to a boring lecture. But let's see what were the most terrible and cruel tortures in the world.
1. Pear. Not the most pleasant tool. It was inserted into the anus of a person and gradually unclenched, tearing this passage, thereby delivering unbearable pain.
2. Copper bull. This Greek device was made of metal. A victim was placed inside and a fire was lit from below under the bull. The metal was heated and the man was roasted inside, uttering terrible screams and screams.
3. Rats. The victim was stripped naked and laid in a horizontal position. A cage without a bottom with rats inside was placed on the victim. After that, hot coals were placed on top of the cage, which caused the rats to panic and, wanting to break free, began to gnaw their way to freedom through human flesh. This brutal torture It was very popular in ancient China.
4. Impaling First, this stake is driven into the anus of a person, after which this stake is dug into the ground. As a result, under the weight of the body, the person begins to slide, thereby forcing the stake to dig even deeper. As a result, the stake came out somewhere in the armpits.
5. Spanish chair. The victim was seated in a metal chair, and the legs were shackled in stocks. A fire was kindled under their feet, periodically adding fuel to the fire. Here are your fried legs.
6. Metal crocodile. This tool was heated to red, after which the victim was brought to an erection state so that the penis was hard and elastic. And then they grabbed a member with this crocodile, after which they pulled it out.
7. Notched crusher. Here, I think it is clear what it was used for. But who did not understand. They crushed the eggs of the victim.
8. Water torture. The victim was laid on a table, tied, and water was poured through a funnel. After the victim's belly swelled up, he was bludgeoned with sticks. Sometimes they did without sticks. Simply, water was slowly poured into the patient's throat through a tube, i.e. victim, causing the person to suffocate the intestines.
9. Iron Maiden. This is a wooden box made to look like a female figure, inside of which a bunch of blades and sharp spikes were stuffed. The victim was placed there and the sarcophagus was closed. Sharp spikes pierced the body, but it was planned that they did not touch the vital organs. As a result, the victims died from a painful death, sometimes even for several days.
In antiquity and in the Middle Ages, torture was a cruel reality, and executioners' tools often became the pinnacle of engineering. We have collected 15 of the most terrible torture methods used to deal with witches, dissidents and other criminals.
Excrement bath
During the torture, known as "sitting in the bath", the condemned was placed in a wooden tub so that only the head was sticking out. After that, the executioner smeared his face with milk and honey so that flocks of flies flocked to him, which soon began to lay larvae in the body. The victim was also regularly fed, and in the end, the unfortunate one literally bathed in his excrement. After a few days, the larvae and worms began to devour the victim's body as it began to decompose alive.
copper bull
The device known as the Sicilian bull was created in ancient Greece and was a copper or brass bull with a hollow inside. On his side was a door through which the victim was placed inside. Then a fire was lit under the bull until the metal was white-hot. The screams of the victim were amplified by the iron structure and sounded like the roar of a bull.
Impalement
This punishment gained fame thanks to the famous Vlad the Impaler. The stake was sharpened, buried vertically in the ground, and then a person was placed on it. The victim, under its own weight, slid down the stake, punching the insides. Death did not come instantly, sometimes a person died for three days.
Crucifixion is one of the most famous torture methods of antiquity. This is how Jesus Christ was killed. This is a deliberately slow and painful punishment, in the course of which the convict's hands and feet were tied or nailed to a huge wooden cross. After that, he was left to hang until he died, which usually took several days.
Sprinkler
Typically, this device was filled with molten lead, tar, boiling water, or boiling oil, and then fixed so that the contents dripped onto the victim's stomach or eyes.
"Iron Maiden"
Iron cabinet with hinged front wall and internal space covered with spikes. A man was placed in a closet. Every movement brought terrible pain.
Rope as a murder weapon
The rope is the easiest of all torture devices to use and has been used in many ways. For example, it was used to tie a victim to a tree, leaving it then to be torn to pieces by animals. Also, with the help of an ordinary rope, people were hung or the limbs of the victim were tied to horses, which were allowed to gallop in different directions to tear off the limbs of the convict.
cement boots
Cement boots were invented by the American mafia to execute enemies, traitors and spies. They put their feet in a basin filled with cement. After the cement had dried, the victim was thrown alive into the river.
Guillotine
One of the most famous forms of execution, the guillotine was made from a razor-sharp blade tied to a rope. The head of the victim was fixed with blocks, after which a blade fell from above, cutting off the head. Decapitation was considered an instant and painless death.
Rack
The device, designed to dislocate every joint in the victim's body, was considered the most painful form of medieval torture. The rack was a wooden frame with ropes attached to its lower and upper parts. After the victim was tied up and placed on the platform, the executioner would turn the handle, pulling on the ropes tied to the limbs. The skin, tendons were torn, all the joints came out of the bags, and as a result, the limbs were completely torn off the body.
rat torture
One of the most sadistic methods of torture involved taking a cage with one side open, filling it with large rats, and tying the open side to the victim's body. Then the cell was heated from the opposite side. The natural instinct of rodents made them run away from the heat, and there was only one way - through the body.
Judas torture chair
The terrifying device known as the Judas Chair appeared in the Middle Ages and was used in Europe until the 1800s. The chair was covered with 500 - 1500 spikes and fitted with stiff straps to hold the victim in place. Sometimes a hearth was installed under the seat to heat it from below. Such a chair was often used to scare people into confessing something while they were looking at the tortured victim in the chair.
Sawing
First, the victim was hung upside down, and then sawn alive, starting from the crotch.
Crocodile scissors
Such iron tongs were used to deal with regicides. The tool was heated red-hot, and then they crushed the testicles of the victim and tore them off the body.
wheeling
Torture, also known as Catherine's wheel, was used to slowly kill the victim. First, the limbs of the victim were tied on the spokes of a large wooden wheel, which then slowly rotated. At the same time, the executioner simultaneously broke the limbs of the victim with an iron hammer, trying to break them in many places. After the bones were broken, the victim was left on a wheel, which rose to a high pillar, so that the birds would feed on the flesh of a still living person.
It is known that almost every castle had its own set of torture instruments in the Middle Ages. There was such a terrible collection in the castle of Count Flandry in Belgium. It’s enough to look at to make goosebumps run down your back.
With the development of civilization, human life has gained value regardless of social status and wealth. It is all the more terrible to read about the black pages of history, when the law did not just deprive a person of life, but turned the execution into a spectacle for the amusement of ordinary people. In other cases, the execution could be of a ritual or instructive nature. Unfortunately, there are similar episodes in modern history. We have compiled a list of the most brutal executions ever practiced by humans.
Executions of the Ancient World
Skafism
The word "skafism" is derived from the ancient Greek word "trough", "boat", and the method itself went down in history thanks to Plutarch, who described the execution of the Greek ruler Mithridates at the behest of Artaxerxes, the king of the ancient Persians.First, a person was stripped naked and tied inside two dugout boats in such a way that the head, arms and legs remained outside, which were thickly smeared with honey. The victim was then forcibly fed a mixture of milk and honey to induce diarrhea. After that, the boat was lowered into stagnant water - a pond or lake. Lured by the smell of honey and sewage, the insects clung to the human body, slowly devoured the flesh and laid their larvae in the formed gangrenous ulcers. The victim remained alive for up to two weeks. Death came from three factors: infection, exhaustion and dehydration.
Execution by impalement was invented in Assyria (modern Iraq). In this way, residents of rebellious cities and women who had an abortion were punished - then this procedure was considered infanticide. 
The execution was carried out in two ways. In one version, the convict was pierced in the chest with a stake, in the other, the tip of the stake passed through the body through the anus. Tormented people were often depicted in bas-reliefs as an edification. Later, this execution began to be used by the peoples of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, as well as by the Slavic peoples and some European ones.
Execution by elephants
This method was used mainly in India and Sri Lanka. Indian elephants lend themselves well to training, which was used by the rulers of Southeast Asia. 
There were many ways to kill a person with an elephant. For example, armor with sharp spears was put on the tusks, with which the elephant pierced the criminal and then, still alive, tore it apart. But most often, elephants were trained to press down the convict with their foot and alternately tear off the limbs with their trunk. In India, a guilty person was often simply thrown at the feet of an angry animal. For reference, an Indian elephant weighs about 5 tons.
Tradition to the beasts
Behind the beautiful phrase "Damnatio ad bestias" lies the painful death of thousands of ancient Romans, especially among the early Christians. Although, of course, this method was invented long before the Romans. Usually lions were used for execution, less popular were bears, panthers, leopards and buffaloes. 
There were two types of punishment. Often a person sentenced to death was tied to a post in the middle of a gladiatorial arena and wild animals were lowered onto it. There were also variations: they threw it to a cage to a hungry animal or tied it to its back. In another case, the unfortunate was forced to fight against the beast. From the weapons they had a simple spear, and from the "armor" - a tunic. In both cases, many spectators gathered for the execution.
death on the cross
The crucifixion was invented by the Phoenicians, an ancient people of seafarers who lived in the Mediterranean. Later, this method was adopted by the Carthaginians, and then by the Romans. The Israelites and Romans considered death on the cross to be the most shameful, because this was how hardened criminals, slaves and traitors were executed. 
Before crucifixion, a person was undressed, leaving only a loincloth. He was beaten with leather whips or freshly cut rods, after which he was forced to carry a cross weighing about 50 kilograms to the place of crucifixion. Having dug a cross into the ground near the road outside the city or on a hill, a person was lifted with ropes and nailed to a horizontal bar. Sometimes the convict's legs were crushed with an iron rod beforehand. Death came from exhaustion, dehydration or pain shock.
After the prohibition of Christianity in feudal Japan in the 17th century. crucifixion was used against visiting missionaries and Japanese Christians. The scene of execution on the cross is present in Martin Scorsese's drama Silence, which tells about this period.
Bamboo execution
The ancient Chinese were champions of sophisticated torture and execution. One of the most exotic methods of killing is the stretching of the culprit over the growing shoots of young bamboo. The sprouts made their way through the human body for several days, causing incredible suffering to the executed. 
ling chi
"Ling-chi" is translated into Russian as "bites of the sea pike." There was another name - "death by a thousand cuts." This method was used during the reign of the Qing Dynasty, and high-ranking officials convicted of corruption were executed in this way. Every year, 15-20 people were recruited. 
The essence of "ling-chi" is the gradual cutting off of small parts from the body. For example, after cutting off one phalanx of the finger, the executioner cauterized the wound and then proceeded to the next one. How many pieces to cut off from the body, the court determined. The most popular verdict was cutting into 24 parts, and the most notorious criminals were sentenced to 3,000 cuts. In such cases, the victim was given opium to drink: so she did not lose consciousness, but the pain made its way even through the veil of drug intoxication.
Sometimes, as a sign of special mercy, the ruler could order the executioner to first kill the condemned with one blow and torture the corpse already. This method of execution was practiced for 900 years and was banned in 1905.
Executions of the Middle Ages
blood eagle
Historians question the existence of the Blood Eagle execution, but it is mentioned in Scandinavian folklore. This method was used by the inhabitants of the Scandinavian countries in the early Middle Ages. 
The harsh Vikings killed their enemies as painfully and symbolically as possible. The man's hands were tied and laid on his stomach on a stump. The skin on the back was carefully cut with a sharp blade, then the ribs were pryed with an ax, breaking them out in a shape resembling eagle wings. After that, the lungs were removed from the still living victim and hung on the ribs.
This execution is shown twice in the Vikings series with Travis Fimmel (in episode 7 of season 2 and episode 18 of season 4), although the audience noted the contradictions between the serial execution and the one described in the Elder Edda folklore.
"Bloody Eagle" in the series "Vikings"
Tearing by trees
Such an execution was widespread in many regions of the world, including in Russia in the pre-Christian period. The victim was tied by the legs to two inclined trees, which were then abruptly released. One of the legends says that Prince Igor was killed by the Drevlyans in 945 - because he wanted to collect tribute from them twice. 
Quartering
The method was used as in medieval Europe. Each limb was tied to horses - the animals tore the sentenced into 4 parts. In Russia, quartering was also practiced, but this word meant a completely different execution - the executioner alternately chopped off his legs with an ax, then his hands, and then his head. 
wheeling
Wheeling as a form of the death penalty was widely used in France and Germany during the Middle Ages. In Russia, this type of execution is also known at a later time - from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The essence of the punishment was that at first the guilty person was tied to the wheel, facing the sky, fixing his arms and legs on the knitting needles. After that, his limbs were broken and in this form they were left to die in the sun. 
Flaying
Flaying, or skinning, was invented in Assyria, then passed to Persia and spread throughout the ancient world. In the Middle Ages, the Inquisition improved this type of execution - with the help of a device called the "Spanish tickler", a person's skin was torn into small pieces, which were not difficult to tear off. 
Welded alive
This execution was also invented in antiquity and received a second wind in the Middle Ages. So they executed mostly counterfeiters. A person convicted of counterfeiting money was thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, tar or oil. This variety was quite humane - the offender quickly died from pain shock. More sophisticated executioners put the condemned man in a cauldron of cold water, which was heated gradually, or slowly lowered him into boiling water, starting with his feet. The welded muscles of the legs were moving away from the bones, and the man was still alive.This execution is also practiced by the extremists of the East. According to Saddam Hussein's former bodyguard, he witnessed an acid execution: first, the victim's legs were lowered into a pool filled with caustic substance, and then they were thrown entirely. And in 2016, ISIS militants dissolved 25 people in a cauldron of acid.
cement boots
This method is well known to many of our gangster movie readers. Indeed, they killed their enemies and traitors with such a cruel method during the mafia wars in Chicago. The victim was tied to a chair, then a basin filled with liquid cement was placed under his feet. And when it froze, the person was taken to the nearest reservoir and thrown off the boat. Cement boots instantly dragged him to the bottom to feed the fish. 
Flights of death
In 1976, General Jorge Videla came to power in Argentina. He led the country for only 5 years, but remained in history as one of the most terrible dictators of our time. Among other atrocities of Videla are the so-called "death flights". 
A person who opposed the tyrant's regime was drugged with barbiturates and unconsciously carried on board the aircraft, then thrown down - certainly into the water.
We also invite you to read about the most mysterious deaths in history.
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Mankind has always tried to punish criminals in such a way that other people would remember it and, under fear of a harsh death, they would not repeat such actions. To quickly deprive the convict, who could easily turn out to be innocent, life was not enough then, and therefore they came up with various painful executions. This post will introduce you to similar methods of execution.
Garrote - execution by strangulation or a broken 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. Such an execution was widespread in Spain, and in 1978 it was outlawed. Officially, the garrote was used for the last time in 1990 in Andorra, however, according to some reports, it is still used in India.
Skafism is a cruel method of execution invented in Persia. The man was placed between two boats or hollowed-out tree trunks stacked on top of each other so that his head and limbs remained outside. He was fed only honey and milk, which caused severe diarrhea. They also smeared the body with honey in order to attract insects. After a while, the poor fellow was allowed into a pond with stagnant water, where there were already a huge number of insects, worms and other creatures. All of them slowly ate his flesh and left the larvae in the wounds. There is also a version that honey attracted only stinging insects. In any case, the person was doomed to long agony, lasting several days and even weeks.
The Assyrians used flaying for torture and execution. Like a captured animal, a man was skinned. Some or all of the skin could be torn off.
Ling chi was used in China from the 7th century until 1905. This method involved death by cuts. The victim was tied to poles and stripped of some parts of the flesh. The number of cuts could be very different. They could make several small cuts, cut off part of the skin somewhere, or even deprive the victim of limbs. The number of cuts was determined by the court. Opium was sometimes given to convicts. All this took place in a crowded place, and even after death, the bodies of the dead were left for a while in full view of everyone.
Wheeling was used in ancient Rome, and in the Middle Ages it began to be used in Europe. By the New Age, wheeling had become widespread in Denmark, Germany, France, Romania, Russia (legislatively approved under Peter I), the USA and other states. A person was tied to the wheel with already broken large bones or still intact, after which they broke them with a crowbar or clubs. A still-living person was left to die of dehydration or shock, whichever came first.
The copper bull is the favorite instrument of execution of Falarides, the tyrant of Agrigent, who ruled in the second half of the 6th century BC. e. The person sentenced to death was placed inside a life-sized hollow copper statue of a bull. A fire was lit under the bull. It was impossible to get out of the statue, and the observers could watch the smoke coming out of the nostrils and hear the screams of the dying.
Evisceration was used in Japan. The convict was removed part or all of the internal organs. The heart and lungs were cut out last to prolong the suffering of the victim. Sometimes evisceration served as a method of ritual suicide.
Boiling began to be used about 3000 years ago. Used it in Europe and Russia, as well as some Asian countries. A person sentenced to death was placed in a cauldron that could be filled not only with water, but also with fat, tar, oil, or molten lead. At the moment of immersion, the liquid could already boil, or it would boil later. The executioner could hasten the onset of death, or vice versa, prolong the torment of a person. It also happened that a boiling liquid was poured onto a person or poured into his throat.
Impaling was first used by the Assyrians, Greeks and Romans. They planted the stake 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 that was made in the genital area. Often the top of the stake was blunt to prevent the victim from dying immediately. The stake with the convict impaled on it was lifted up and those sentenced to a painful death slowly descended down it under the influence of gravity.
Hanging and quartering were used in medieval England to punish traitors and criminals who committed a particularly grave act. A person was hanged, but so that he remained alive, after which they were deprived of limbs. It could go as far as cutting off the unfortunate genitals, gouging out his eyes and cutting out his internal organs. If the person was still alive, then at the end they cut off his head. This execution continued until 1814.
Since ancient times, mankind has brutally dealt with its enemies, some even ate them, but mostly they were executed, deprived of their lives in a terrible way. The same was done with criminals who violated the laws of God and man. Over a thousand-year history, a lot of experience has been accumulated in the execution of the condemned. I will give you the Top 10 most common executions of the ancient world. According to the website
1
The physical separation of the head from the body with the help of an ax or any military weapon (knife, sword) later, a machine invented in France, the Guillotine, was used for these purposes.
It is believed that during such an execution, the head, separated from the body, retains sight and hearing for another 10 seconds. Decapitation was considered a "noble execution" and was applied to aristocrats. In Germany, beheading was abolished in 1949 due to the failure of the last guillotine.
2
Strangulation of a person on a rope loop, the end of which is fixed motionless, death occurs in a few minutes, but not at all from suffocation, but from squeezing the carotid arteries, while after a few seconds the person loses consciousness, and later dies. In England, a type of hanging was used, when a person was thrown from a height with a noose around his neck, while death occurs instantly from a rupture of the cervical vertebrae. In England, there was an "official table of falls" with the help of which they calculated the required length of the rope depending on the weight of the convict; if the rope is too long, the head is separated from the body.
A variation of hanging is the garrote. In this case, the person is seated on a chair, and the executioner suffocates the victim with a rope loop and a metal rod.
The last high-profile hanging - Saddam Hussein.
3
It is considered one of the most cruel executions, and was applied to the most dangerous criminals. When quartered, the victim was strangled, then the stomach was cut open and the genitals were cut off, and only then the body was cut into four or more parts and the head was cut off. Thomas More, sentenced to quartering with burning of the inside, but on the morning before the execution he was pardoned, and the quartering was replaced by decapitation, to which More replied: "God save my friends from such mercy"
4
The death penalty common in the Middle Ages. Professor A.F. Kistyakovsky in the 19th century described the wheeling process used in Russia as follows:
The St. Andrew's Cross, made of two logs, was tied to the scaffold in a horizontal position. On each of the branches of this cross two notches were made, one foot apart from the other. On this cross, the criminal was stretched so that his face was turned to the sky; each end of it lay on one of the branches of the cross, and in every place of each joint it was tied to the cross. Then the executioner, armed with an iron quadrangular crowbar, struck at the part of the penis between the joint, which just lay above the notch. In this way, the bones of each member were broken in two places. The operation ended with two or three blows to the stomach and a breaking of the backbone. The criminal, broken in this way, was placed on a horizontally placed wheel so that the heels converged with the back of the head, and they left him in this position to die.
The death penalty, in which the victim is burned at the stake in public. Execution became widespread during the period of the Holy Inquisition, and only in Spain about 32 thousand people were burned. On the one hand, the execution took place without the shedding of blood, and the fire also contributed to the purification and salvation of the soul, which was very suitable for the inquisitors to exorcise demons. In fairness, it should be said that the Inquisition at the expense of witches and heretics replenished the "budget", burning, as a rule, the most wealthy citizens.
The most famous people burned at the stake by Giorgiano Bruno are as a heretic (he was engaged in scientific activities) and Joan of Arc, who commanded the French troops in the Hundred Years' War.
6
The death penalty, in which the condemned was put on a pointed vertical stake. Impaling was used in the Commonwealth until the 18th century, and many Zaporizhian Cossacks were executed in this way. Also, this execution was used in Europe, in particular in Sweden in the 17th century.
Death occurs as a result of bleeding or peritonitis, the person died slowly and painfully over several days. With regard to women, this execution was used in Romania, and a stake was inserted into the vagina, while death occurred quickly from profuse bleeding.
7
A type of death penalty in which an iron hook was thrust into the side of the victim and hung up. Death came from thirst and blood loss after a few days. The hands of the victim were tied so that he could not free himself. Execution was common among the Zaporizhian Cossacks. According to legend, Dmitry Vishnevetsky, the founder of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, the legendary "Baida Veshnivetsky", was executed in this way.
8
A common type of ancient execution, common among many peoples of the world. Death came because you were eaten by crocodiles, lions, bears, sharks, piranhas, ants.
9
Burial alive was applied to many Christian martyrs. In medieval Italy, unrepentant murderers were buried alive. In Russia of the 17th-18th centuries, women who killed their husbands were buried alive up to the neck.
10
Condemned to death, the hands and feet were nailed to the ends of the cross or the limbs were fixed with ropes. This is how Jesus Christ was executed.
The main cause of death during crucifixion is asphyxia caused by developing pulmonary edema and fatigue of the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles involved in the process of breathing. The main support of the body in this position is the hands, and when breathing, the abdominal muscles and intercostal muscles had to lift the weight of the whole body, which led to their rapid fatigue. Also, squeezing the chest with tense muscles of the shoulder girdle and chest caused stagnation of fluid in the lungs and pulmonary edema. Additional causes of death were dehydration and blood loss.
