The Stocks

The stocks are a torture device that I'm sure many of you have heard of. A person's hands and feet would be trapped within the confines of the stocks themselves, and the victim would be rendered helpless. Although the stocks themselves weren't really that painful, the person would be placed in the middle of a common area where they'd be subject to public scorn. People would urinate, beat, ridicule, and sometimes even stone a person in stocks. In some cases, angry townspeople would even cut of parts off the victim, like feet and hands. Whoa!

Source:
http://pictures.exploitz.com/The-Old-Fremantle-Jail-2--The-Stocks--photo-Fremantle-_smgpx10001x15651x175c920c8.jpg

Photo Source:
http://pictures.exploitz.com/The-Old-Fremantle-Jail-2--The-Stocks--photo-Fremantle-_smgpx10001x15651x175c920c8.jpg

The Wheel

The wheel is a form of torture that I think sounds extremely painful. In one form of the torture, the victim would be tied to a horse and dragged behind it, and sometimes they hands were even nailed to a wall to inflict even more pain. The stronger a person was, the more horses it would take to ripped them away from the wall. Once the person's bones were crushed and separated from being stretched by the horse, the victim would be tied to a wheel. In some cases, the wheel was even mobile, which was much more painful than if it were stationary. Sound like a good way to die? Nope...

Source:
http://medieval-castles.org/index.php/the_wheel_torture_device_deadly_and_pain

Photo Source:
dim.com/~randl/cg/wheel.jpg

Water Torture

This week I’m going to talk about different kinds of water torture. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Chinese water torture. Basically, a person is strapped down, and water is dripped onto their forehead until they go insane. Since it leaves no distinguishing marks on a victim, it was often a favored method of torture. Would this really work? I had my doubts. Sure, water dripping constantly on my head wouldn’t be exactly pleasant, but to go as far as to call it torture?

Another form a water torture was used a lot during wartimes. It’s called water boarding, and it dates all the way back to the fourteenth century. A person is restrained and water is poured on him/her to simulate the feeling of drowning. Sometimes the prisoner’s face would even be covered to enhance the torture. Creepy!

Source:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/it-may-be-chinese-water-torture-for-the-gallery-but-bertie-remains-unfazed-1084801.html
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1356870

Photo Source:
http://www.geocities.com/daveclarkecb/Australia/FailAust.html

The Thumbscrew

Ok, so I realize that torture devices is kind of a weird topic to have, and it probably makes me look like a total psycho, but I promise I’m not. One of my brothers did a paper about all the different types of torture devices the different countries and cultures used, and I thought it was really interesting. There are so many different forms of torture out in the world, and it’s crazy that they were actually used on people, and some are still used!

The first device I’m going to cover is the thumbscrew. Basically, it’s exactly what it sounds like – a screw for your thumb. The person who was being tortured would be forced to put their fingers into the thumbscrew, and then the torturer would tighten the screws until the victim’s fingers were crushed. A bigger version of the thumbscrew was made to be used on feet, and does essentially the same thing. Ouch!

Source:
http://medieval-castles.org/index.php/thumbscrew_torture

Photo Source:
http://www.firstfoot.com