Top 20 Disgusting Medieval Torture Devices

While medieval torture devices were unpleasant to behold, reading about them from the comforts of one’s own home may be darkly intriguing.

Torture, to be sure, is hardly awe-inspiring. Many of the most horrible medieval torture devices, however, had a macabre cleverness to them. They could not only produce pain, but they also preyed on psychological anxieties, demonstrating that the study of the mind was alive and thriving even in the dark ages.

It was just being abused to coerce alleged witches and rebels against the church into admitting to crimes against God that they had not committed.

For the curious minds here are the top 20 disgusting medieval torture devices.

Pear of Anguish

Pear of Anguish

So, what is the anguish pear? This horrible mechanical torture gadget would be put within a person’s orifice and then gradually extended.

The most benign application was in a person’s mouth, where it would eventually shatter the skull, resulting in death. More horrible was when it was used on sections of the body in the bottom half, which were rarely lethal but agonizing.

The pear of misery, also known as the choke pear or mouth pear, is a hypothesized medieval torture device based on mechanics from the early modern period that have never been used.

A pear-shaped metal body is divided into spoon-like segments that can be spread apart with a spring or by turning a key. Its intended functionality as a torture device is to enter it into the entrance of the victim’s mouth, rectum, or vagina and then inflate it to gag or mutilate the victim.

Some historians have questioned historical descriptions of the pear as curiously unrealistic. [Source: Coolist]

Judas Cradle

Judas Cradle

The Judas Cradle (also known as Judas’ Chair) is a large pyramid that is put into the victim’s anus or vagina and then lowered onto it, stretching them out grotesquely. The Judas Cradle was a pyramid-shaped wooden structure in which the victim was placed on top.

His or her hands and legs would be restrained, preventing the weight from shifting elsewhere. The feet were bound together to heighten the pain whenever the feet moved.

The pointy edge of the pyramid was progressively forced into the victim’s anus or vagina, and the torture may last anywhere from a few hours to many days. The time, on the other hand, varied from victim to victim, depending on factors other than the victim’s personal ability to take the pain.

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Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden

The Iron Maiden torture apparatus is truly the stuff of nightmares, not simply a rocking metal band. It was a spike-lined framework that would completely encircle a person.

They would be trapped inside for indefinite periods, unable to do anything but stand for fear of being penetrated by the metal protrusions. You can imagine how things would turn out once the legs began to weary. The most renowned iron maiden that popularised the style was that of Nuremberg, which was possibly first displayed in 1802.

The original was destroyed in the 1945 Allied bombing of Nuremberg. A duplicate “from the Royal Castle of Nuremberg,” created for public display, was sold to the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1890 through J. Ichenhauser of London, together with other torture devices, and was carried on an American tour after being presented at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.  This duplicate was auctioned off in the early 1960s and is now on display in Rothenburg ob der Tauber’s Medieval Crime Museum.

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Spanish Donkey

Spanish Donkey

The first type of wooden horse is a triangular device with one end pointing upward and fixed on a saw-horse-like framework. The victim is forced to balance on the triangular “horse.” Weights or other restraints were frequently used to keep the victim from sliding off.

During the American colonial period and afterward, a similar punishment known as “riding the rail” was applied. In this state, the victim was frequently brought around town, typically in conjunction with the penalty of tarring and feathering. The crotch may be wounded, rendering the person unable to walk without agony.

According to the Jesuit Relations, in 1646, a man “The Civil authorities sentenced him to make reparation and climb the Chevalet,” and “a public blasphemer was placed on the Chevalet.”

He admitted his fault, stating he deserved punishment and came of his own to confess that evening or the next day,” and that another man “behaved at the fort as such a glutton, that he was put on the Chevalet, on which he was ruptured.”

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The Rack

The Rack

The rack is a type of torture device that consists of a rectangular, generally wooden frame that is raised slightly above the ground and has a roller at one or both ends.

The victim’s ankles are attached to one roller and his wrists to the other. As the questioning progresses, the chains are gradually retracted using a handle and ratchet mechanism attached to the top roller, gradually increasing the strain on the prisoner’s shoulders, hips, knees, and elbows and creating severe discomfort.

This roller could be turned on its axis using pulleys and levers, stretching the ropes until the sufferer’s joints were dislocated and eventually split. Furthermore, overstretching muscle fibers causes them to lose their capacity to contract, rendering them ineffective.

Spanish Tickler

Spanish Tickler

Throughout most of Europe during the Middle Ages, this dreadful instrument was in use. It’s a basic tool that was used to rip a victim’s skin apart.

Because of its form, neither the bones nor the muscles were spared. The victim was bound and undressed, rendering him or her vulnerable. The torturers then began the (often public) act of mutilating the victim. They frequently began with the limbs and progressed to the chest, back, neck, and lastly the face.

In short, the Spanish Tickler, sometimes known as the Cat’s Paw, is nothing more than an extension of the torturer’s hand. The spikes were razor-sharp, capable of tearing through anything in their path.

Iron Chair

Iron Chair

The Iron Chair is a torture device with numerous variants based on its origin and use throughout history. It also goes by several names, including the Chinese torture chair, the torture chair, and the Iron Chair.

In all cases, the victim was seated on multiple strips or plates of brass and slowly cooked alive over an open flame. In other forms, the “culprits” or convicts were chained to an iron armchair and gradually dragged closer and closer to a raging fire.”

Small sharp spikes laced the back, seat, armrests, and leg rests on other versions of this chair. The number of spikes varied between 500 and 1500.

The Collar

The Collar

One of the more cruel and unusual punishment examples is the collar was meant to hold the neck in a single position. And, it was tightened just enough to be uncomfortable.

The real torture came after days without being able to lay down, rest your head, eat, or swallow.

The Tub

The Tub

The victims’ greatest foe was simple biology. An individual was bound hand and foot, unable to flee, and then their face was slathered with honey. Flies and other biting insects would be enticed to the individual and eat the honey before crawling into the openings in the face.

Tortured prisoners were force-fed food and water to keep them alive. As time passed, the individual would be left in their bodily wastes, where maggots would consume the person’s body as it deteriorated while still alive.

Coffin

Coffin

Throughout the Middle Ages, Coffin Torture was feared. It only takes a glance at the image to the left to understand why.

The deceased was placed into the “coffin.” Torturers were notorious for pushing overweight captives inside the apparatus or even making the “coffin” slightly larger than normal to make the victims more uncomfortable.

The length of time a victim was to be imprisoned in a coffin was determined by his or her crime. Extremely egregious offenses, such as blasphemy, were punished by death within the coffin, where the victim had to be held inside under the sun with animals devouring his or her flesh.

The coffin was occasionally put in a public plaza so that the locals may gather around it and insult the unfortunate victim. Death has occurred as a result of hatred for the victim, as others frequently threw pebbles and other things to add to the pain.

Pillory

Pillory

A victim was publicly humiliated with the pillory. Even though it was intended to be a light kind of punishment, the crowd may sometimes turn it lethal.

The pillory was frequently used as a staging area for flagellation. When the victim was restrained by the gadget, he was powerless and vulnerable to the throng.

In many cases, the audience tossed vegetables, but when the victim committed a significant act, they threw stones or other heavier objects. The victim was frequently ridiculed by the crowd, who cut his hair, left markings on his body, and even mutilated some of his body parts.

The pillory lasted only a few hours, but it was frequently kept up for days. The device was placed in either the marketplace or the plaza, where the majority of the locals could observe the victim’s anguish. The pillory was also often used as a form of punishment by the troops.

Brazen Bull

Brazen Bull

The brazen bull was devised in Ancient Greece as an execution weapon.

Perillos of Athens, its inventor, advocated Phalaris, a tyrant, the need for a more severe method of killing offenders. This was done in the hopes of discouraging the poor populace from committing any further crimes.

According to legend, after Perillos finished the brazen bull, Phalaris requested Perillos to try it out on his own. He then commanded that he be trapped inside the ferocious bull and that a fire is lit beneath it. He was overjoyed with the findings. Being burnt alive was a thrilling event to witness.

When a victim is placed inside the ferocious bull, he or she is gradually roasted to death. This apparatus became more advanced over time until the Greeks created a complex system of tubes to make the victim’s screams seem like an enraged ox.

Even though this torture was not as common in the Middle Ages as it had been previously by the Greeks and Romans, it was nonetheless utilized in Central Europe. This is a form of torture equivalent to being boiled alive.

Strappado

Strappado

The strappado, also known as Corda, is a type of torture in which the victim’s hands are tied behind his back and suspended by a rope hooked to his wrists, resulting in dislocated shoulders. Weights can be added to the body to increase the effect and agony.

This type of torture would typically continue for little more than an hour without rest, as it would almost certainly result in death.

The correct strappado results in permanent visual harm. Pain and resistance vary from person to person, usually according to the person’s or the weight attached. It is not a “chastisement by blows,” as Samuel Johnson incorrectly defined it in his dictionary.

Crocodile Shears

Crocodile Shears

The crocodile shears were designed to mutilate anybody who attempted to assassinate the king.

The internal design is reminiscent of a tube with multiple spikes on both ends. Although it was occasionally used to mutilate fingers, it was more commonly used to mutilate a man’s penis.

Because the vascular damage caused by the torture frequently resulted in death, this torture method was regularly used to execute people.

There are few documented instances of crocodile shears being used.

Lead Sprinkler

Lead Sprinkler

It appears to be a holy water sprinkler at first glance, but it is a bit more complicated. The torturer poured molten metals into one end, causing the contents to slowly flow to the other side and fall on any portion of the victim’s body. This instrument was used in several executions.

Pouring molten silver over a victim’s eyes was a common method of execution. This resulted in a great deal of anguish and, finally, death.

The Crucifix

The Crucifix

Crucifixion is a kind of capital punishment in which the victim is bound or nailed to a large wooden beam and hanged until death through exhaustion and asphyxiation.

The Romans, among others, utilized it as a kind of punishment. Crucifixion was still practiced in several regions of the world as recently as the twentieth century.

The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are important to Christianity, and the cross (often depicted with Jesus crucified to it) is the primary religious symbol for many Christian churches.

Brodequin

Brodequin

The Brodequin was a torture device employed throughout the Middle Ages.

The victim would be restrained in a sitting position on a sturdy bench. His bare legs were sandwiched between three sturdy, narrow vertical boards, one outside and one between each leg, all tightly bound together with a strong rope.

Wedges of wood were inserted into any open crevices and beaten down with a mallet, squeezing the legs with enough force to shatter bones and bleed both blood and marrow. Torture was carried out with four wedges for so-called regular infractions, while eight wedges tortured the legs of serious offenders.

Shrew’s Fiddle

Shrew’s Fiddle

A shrew’s fiddle, also known as a neck violin, is a type of yoke, pillory, or inflexible irons in which the wrists are secured in front of the bound person by a hinged board or steel bar. It was first used in the Middle Ages to punish those who were caught squabbling or fighting.

In medieval Germany and Austria, the shrew’s fiddle was called a Halsgeige, which translates as “neck viola” or “neck violin.”

It was initially constructed of two pieces of wood with a hinge and a lock at the front.

The shrew’s fiddle has three holes in it. The first was a huge hole for the neck, while the other two were smaller holes that held the wrists in front of the face.

A bell was often affixed to this mobile pillory to warn locals that the victim was approaching so that they may be mocked and humiliated. Another variation was a “double violin,” in which two persons were attached face-to-face, forcing them to communicate. They were not allowed to leave until the argument was resolved.

Tongue Tearer

Tongue Tearer

A heretic or blasphemer was shackled and the Mouth Opener was used to forcibly open his or her mouth.

Following that, the iron Tongue Tearer was created, which was used to grasp the most likely uncomfortable twitching tongue within its rough grippers. Once a solid grip was established, the screw could be tightly tightened and the prisoner’s tongue was roughly pulled from his skull.

The Spider

The Spider

The Breast Ripper was frequently used during torture and has four claws that were used to slowly rip the breasts off women for various crimes. The apparatus would be imposed on the woman’s solitary breast. They were intended to shred or tear the victim’s breasts off.

The Spider, also known as the Iron Spider, was a kind of torture akin to the Breast Ripper. The Iron Spider would have been affixed to the wall, and the woman’s breasts would have been connected to the tool’s claws. The woman has then yanked away from the wall, her breasts ripped off. Spiked bars fastened slightly away from the wall were another kind.