The ball was a torture method that I had heard about, but I didn't really believe that it was something that really happened until I researched it. It is yet another method of torture that was developed by the Chinese, and it was mainly psychological. Basically, the torture victim would be affixed to a wall in some way, and a small ball would be hanging on a rope even with the victim's forehead. The ball would swing back and forth, hitting the victim on the head each time. Eventually, the ball would reach the victim's brain, a process that took several months. Besides the pain of having a ball constantly hit their head, the victim would have to endure blood for the spot where the ball was hitting the forehead going into their eyes. In some cases, it even cause blindness!
Source:
http://medieval-castles.org/index.php?blog=5&cat=31&disp=posts&paged=2
Photo source:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/physics/demo-images/1-Mechanics/1D50-1_ball_and_string.jpg
4 comments:
Huh, I just think of the ball people hang to know where to stop their cars.
That's an interesting thing. I did not know that a "ball" could be used to torture people. How can the ball reach the victim's brain though? Is it a heavy, big ball?
I have one of those hanging in my garage - just a tennis ball attached to a string. When the ball hits the windshield, we stop. Our vehicle barely fits in that stall so we put it up when our kids started driving. It works really well; however, it has now lost its innocence as it bounces off the glass in front of my face!
Cheryl
Thats interesting I never thought of it that way!!
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