The 20 Most Brutal Punishments in Human History
There have been many bloody periods in human history when torture and executions were perceived as something ordinary. The screams of prisoners almost never ceased behind the high walls of prison and pools of blood in the main squares appeared to form lakes. And perhaps one of the cruelest executions was invented by the wild tribes of Scandinavia whom we usually call Vikings.
I’m talking about the blood eagle, a legendary execution from Viking themes. The execution supposedly originated during the early middle ages in Scandinavia and was usually applied to high-ranking enemies taken prisoner. For example, it is mentioned that the Anglo-Saxon king Ella who killed Ragnar Lothrock, the father of Ivar the Boneless, was executed in this way as revenge.
This event is recounted by the 11th century poet Sigfar Futrerson in a verse called Kuntraa. The execution consisted of breaking the victim’s ribs on the sides with an axe, then making incisions and pulling out the ribs to resemble wings. After that, the still alive victim would have his lungs pulled out and placed so that breathing would make the improvised wings move.
After all this, the still living person was tied up on ropes and lifted up for public viewing. It is assumed that this execution was not only a cruel method of murder and intimidation, but also some kind of religious sacrifice in the name of the supreme Scandinavian god Odin. However, the existence of this execution is highly doubtful because the existence of Ragnar Lothrock or Ivar the Boneless has never been proven by anything but sagas and legends.
As for King Ella, the exact details of his death, except that he died in battle with the Normans, are unknown. But unlike the blood eagle, the following execution definitely existed and probably was not inferior in cruelty and sophistication to the blood eagle and was used by Europeans up until the mid 19th century. The wheel.
The breaking wheel is an ancient type of torture and execution which was invented in ancient Rome and one of its first uses is attributed to the cruel Roman emperor Komodus. And back then this execution would look like this. However, in the middle ages in Europe, execution already looked different. For example, in the Holy Roman Empire, executions were a mass spectacle and were used primarily for men convicted of aggravated murder, that is committed during another crime or against a family member.
The documents of the Holy Roman Empire even preserved a description of the execution. First, the criminal is placed belly down, hands and feet tied to a board, and in this manner, a horse drags him to the place of execution. Then the body is struck twice on each arm. One blow above the elbow, the other below.
Then the same is done to each leg above and below the knee. The last ninth blow is struck in the middle of the spine so that it breaks. The broken body is then inserted into a wheel that is between the spokes and then the wheel is driven onto a pole which is then fixed vertically with the other end in the ground.
Then the criminal was left to dye a float on the wheel and let rot. But there was another method of this execution originating from Europe. A wheel was placed on a tripod and then rotated while the convict was tortured. The difference between this method and the others was that those watching from all sides could get a good view without the executioner having to go around the wheel.
Sometimes a criminal’s ankles and wrists could be broken beforehand before being placed on the wheel in order to twist them and thus tie the person to the wheel, causing more suffering. Perhaps the most famous and cruel instance of the use of this execution occurred on October 1st, 1786 in the county of Techlanburgg. Hinrich Dal was to be executed by means of the wheel for the aggravated murder of a Jew.
The first blow of the wheel would crush his chest. It was thought that it would kill the criminal instantly. However, this blow did not kill the criminal, and even the town’s people who were familiar with public executions were shocked by such a cruel punishment because Dole was alive throughout the whole process. After the executioner secured Dole to the wheel, he hoisted him onto a pole.
The town doctor climbed the ladder and verified that Dole was indeed alive. He died 6 hours later in terrible agony. The wheel was one of the most cruel and inhumane forms of execution and torture in history. It was intended not only to punish criminals, but also to demonstrate power and terrorize the population.
And the most interesting thing is that in Germany, the wheel was used almost until the middle of the 19th century. It was used as a method of execution in Bavaria until 1813 and was still used until 1836 in Hess Castle. However, the next execution, although it hid the whole process of killing the criminal from the spectators, was not inferior in cruelty to the wheel.
I’m talking about the Iron Maiden. The Iron Maiden is both an instrument of torture and execution, supposedly used in the Middle Ages to punish criminals. Its description varies from source to source. Generally, it is an upright wooden or metal box with nails, spikes, or sharp blades on the inside. Sometimes it is described as a device possessing the form of a human silhouette, as an Egyptian sarcophagus, and sometimes as a cylindrical case with a mask in the form of a woman’s head on top.
The latter version of the device is the most popular, thanks to which it got its name. The criminal or victim was placed inside the device and then the door was closed causing them pain and suffering. There are different variations of the description of the mechanism of the Iron Maiden.
In one variation, the condemned person was placed in a vertical sarcophagus studded with blades or spikes, and then the lid would begin to close smoothly and slowly, penetrating the person with blades from the front, which forced them to move backward, pressing against the blades on the backside as well. All this continued until the sarcophagus was completely closed, after which it was left closed for some time, letting the man or what was left of him bleed out.
The second variation of the Iron Maiden includes a pressure mechanism and in some sources is considered the first example of such an instrument of execution. This variant was invented back in the days of Sparta by the ruler Nabis. According to legend, this type of iron maiden was not in the form of a sarcophagus but had the image of Nabis’s wife Alaga.
The instrument was a female statue with the face of Alaga dotted with nails along the chest and arms. When the ruler decided to execute someone, the instrument was brought into the hall, after which the statue’s arms were spread and the condemned person was placed in front of it. Nabis himself stood behind and pressed on the back of the Iron Maiden to make her embrace the victim, pressing the nails harder and harder into the flesh of the guilty.
However, the Iron Maiden is considered a mythical rather than a real tool. Many historians assume that information about the use of such a tool as the Iron Maiden was invented around the 16th to 18th century because the oldest example of this tool was supposedly created only in the 16th century and there’s no accurate information about its use and the basement of the fortress where it was located was destroyed during World War II.
In written sources, this instrument of execution was described simply as a sarcophagus with sharp spikes inside. All specimens of the Iron Maiden that we can now observe in museums are just an approximation of what this design might have looked like if it had existed and been used in antiquity. And while the existence of the Iron Maiden is highly questionable, there’s no doubt about the existence of a type of execution called crushing.
Execution by crushing is one of the oldest methods of execution. It is based on the use of various heavy objects to crush the victim’s entire body or individual limbs, resulting in a painful and often slow death. There are several variants and methods of application of classical execution by crushing. The perpetrator is secured on a wheel or platform and then a heavy object such as a large stone or roller is lifted over them which is gradually lowered or dropped all at once crushing the person.
The criminal is secured on a special platform and the executioners then use a vice to crush the convict’s limbs causing fatal injuries. The criminal is placed on the ground and then large heavy stones are placed on his body one by one until the victim dies. But there are also particularly sophisticated ways to crush a person.
For example, in the south and southeast of Asia, a popular method of execution was when a bound man was laid on the ground and then an elephant stepped on him. And this method was quite well established in that area because it was used for more than 4,000 years. To give an example for more recent history, we can remember the case of the Salem witch trials.
And in spite of the fact that we associate the Salem witch trials with the burning of those accused of witchcraft at the stake, crushing was also used at the time. And it was applied to an 81-year-old farmer named Giles Cory, who was also accused of witchcraft. And instead of pleading guilty or not guilty, as other members of his community had done, chose to remain silent in court.
This led the court to impose a compulsory measure. Giant stones were placed on the accused in attempt to get the farmer to confess guilt by crushing him. Cory was crushed to death by the stones. The other 19 Salem witches were not burned at the stake either. They were simply hanged. After all, this was the method of execution used in Britain and its colonies for those convicted of witchcraft.
But do not think that burning is a myth. This following execution existed, and in Europe, it was applied to witches and not limited to them. Execution by burning has been widespread in various cultures and eras, and its use has been associated with punishment for serious crimes, political reprisals, religious intolerance, or even simple accusations of witchcraft or hearsay.
In execution by burning, a person was bound and placed on a p, which was then set on fire, subjecting the victim to the flames. The process of burning could be slow and extremely painful. Often the executioners kept an eye on the flames, preventing them from getting too hot, deliberately prolonging the victim’s agony.
One of the most famous examples of the use of execution by burning is the period of the age of witches in Europe. Women accused of witchcraft, association with the devil or committing various unexplained phenomena were considered witches and were subject to this method of execution. Though the majority of victims were women, men also suffer this fate.
The process of accusing and executing witches was usually full of superstition, improper trials, and torture to coercse confessions. Often, the trial lasted only a couple of minutes, during which time the accused was read the charges and immediately found guilty without being given a chance to defend themselves. But beyond witches, this execution was very closely intertwined with the Holy Inquisition and probably even became its symbol.
The historian Hernando Delpur estimated that between 1,478 and 1,490 to 2,000 people were burned at the stake. And how many more people were burned alive during the entire period of the fight against her can only be guessed. Ancient Rome also used this type of execution. The Roman state regarded burning at the stake as a horrible punishment intended as a demonstration of power and intimidation.
The Moscow Kingdom also liked to execute people by burning, but they had their own interesting variation of this execution. There it was more like being smoked alive rather than burned. For example, in 1701, it was applied to men who distributed leaflets defaming the honor of Pete the Great. For this, they were suspended on a scaffold and for 8 hours, they were smoked with a corrosive composition from which the condemned men lost all the hair on their bodies and their skin melted like wax.
However, it is not known for sure whether they were smoked to death because different sources speak about different things. According to some sources, the bodies eventually burned together with the scaffold. According to others, the convicts began to repent. As a result of which, they were removed from the scaffold, interrogated, and sent to Siberia.
People have always committed crimes against each other. stealing, killing, betrayal, and probably there is no more effective way to combat human vices than torture. Nowadays, it is less popular because of the development of humanity. Still, if we look at our history, we will notice that the path to this humanity was very bloody and filled with sophisticated tortures that left people crippled at best and killed at worst.
One example of the worst of these tortures is probably the Judas Cradle. The Spanish Inquisition invented this torture device to punish heretics who did not embrace official church beliefs or committed serious crimes against the church and its representatives. This torture device was invented by the lawyer Epolito Marceli.
The instrument itself was a wooden structure on four legs in the shape of a pyramid over which a bound prisoner was suspended. Usually the Judas cradle was used during interrogations. With each wrong answer or refusal to answer, the suspect was lowered and lower. As a result of which, the person was literally strung with the crotch area on the pyramid’s tip under the force of his own weight, which caused severe pain and damage to both the upper tissues and internal organs.
If he accused was particularly uncooperative, a weight was tied to his legs which caused additional pressure and allowed him to inflict even greater suffering and damage to the person. The interrogation itself was conducted during the day and at night the person was left in a hanging state to bleed and repent of his sins.
Due to the effectiveness of interrogation with this instrument and the repentance of criminals, the instrument was nicknamed the cradle of Judas in honor of the most famous religious traitor. Death from this torture more often came not so much from injuries as from blood poisoning caused by the fact that the tip of the pyramid was never washed.
And in case a person survived, they left with not only permanent physical injuries but also psychological ones. The psychological impact of the torture is often even more effective and intimidating than the physical one. For example, water boarding. Waterboarding is probably one of the mildest tortures on our list. Even according to the Spanish Inquisition where it was widely used, this torture was considered medium severity.
However, it turned out to be so effective that it is used by the special forces of some countries even in the modern world. The essence of the torture consisted of the victim being tied to a bench or suspended above the floor by his limbs. After securing and immobilizing the person, water was poured on his face in a constant stream so that he could not breathe at a normal pace but at the same time could not die of asphixxiation.
Although the person did not feel any pain in the process and was not injured, in reality, the feeling of constantly pouring water on the face, which flows into the nose and mouth and prevents breathing, caused the victim to constantly feel as if he was on the verge of death, which consequently put the person in extreme panic.
In the USSR, for example, it was used by the police until the collapse of the Soviet Union. And even in modern Russia, it is fairly popular to extract confessions from people about crimes they did not commit. It is known that this torture has changed its form numerous times. For example, in the USSR in Russia, a gas mask with a tube was something put on the victim, the end of which was dipped into a basin or bucket of water so that the person simply filled the gas mask with water in an attempt to breathe.
The Chinese people had their own method that literally drove people crazy. It consisted of the guilty person being put on a chair and tied up and above him on a special structure a bucket or vat with water with a hole was put through which the water slowly dripped on the victim’s head. Just imagine the feeling of water slowly dripping on your head.
There’s nothing you can do about it. It literally drove people crazy. Also, there was even a worse version of water boarding in the Middle Ages. For this, a funnel was inserted into the victim’s throat to prevent him from closing his mouth. And then water was directly poured in until the belly of the condemned person swelled up and the water started to come out again.
Sometimes such torture resulted in the death of the victim. To diversify the experience, sometimes boiling water could be poured down the victim’s throats, causing severe burns to the mouth and esophagus. But in the modern world, special forces try not to leave traces of torture on the victims and prefer to break people’s psyches.
And one of the most brutal psychological tortures is probably the white room. The white room is a relatively modern type of torture that focuses primarily on the psychological effects on a person. This torture involves the victim being locked in a completely white room, often with padded and soundproof walls. To achieve the effect of complete sensory deprivation, that is isolation of the person from any external stimuli.
The room may also be kept constantly lit. In such conditions, it is impossible even to track the time of day, let alone sleep. In addition to all of the above, the prisoner is forbidden to speak. And if there is a need to go to the toilet, the person must slip a white sheet of paper under the door.
In this case, he can go to the toilets accompanied by a guard who, by the way, wears specially designed shoes that do not make noise when walking. This method of torture may seem very mild and not cruel to some people. But in fact, it may well lead to irreparable psychological injuries due to the fact that the brain, in an attempt to occupy itself with something, can create intrusive thoughts.
And a person with a weak psyche may even cause injury to himself. This kind of torture can go on for a very long time. One of the most famous victims of the white room, Iranian journalist Ibrahim Nabavei, said in an interview:
“The worst thing about this method of torture is that afterward you will never be free.”
Another victim, Amir Abbas Fakraar, said that after 8 months of life in the White Room, he forgot even the faces of his mother and father. And after his release, he was never able to return to a normal life. No wonder because even with short periods of isolation at home, a person’s social skills can degrade or feel stressed going outside.
As some of us may have experienced during the lockdown related to the co pandemic with prolonged and complete sensory deprivation, a person may lose communication skills altogether and never return to their previous lifestyle. Such torture often leads to phobias in the surviving victims. However, brutal physical torture still remains in the modern world and is used in some countries.
For example, torture such as the German chair. Compared to the German chair, the previous tortures can be called perhaps very humane. Although this torture was invented in medieval Europe, its greatest spread and popularity was during the Syrian War. This method of torture is very similar to the well-known rack. It is based on stretching the victim’s muscles, ligaments, and joints.
However, the main difference is that the pressure is not evenly distributed between the person’s limbs due to their stretching, but is directed at the spine. The essence of the process is as follows. A person’s hands and legs are tied. And then the victim is placed on the chair so that his spine or abdomen is on the seat.
The process of torture itself begins when the executioner starts to turn the chair so that the entire weight of the victim is focused on a small part of the spine or abdomen. Such torture could last several hours a day and result in serious injuries. Mr. Shahinan told the Daily Mail:
“I was stripped naked and placed on a chair on my stomach. In this position, I was tortured for 2 to 12 hours a day for 4 days.”
According to him, the torture was so horrific that at one point he started begging to be killed. But the German chair, despite its traumatic nature, is far inferior to rat torture, which in 100% of cases resulted in the slow and agonizing death of the victims.
Rat torture was very popular in ancient China, but it became famous largely due to the 16th century Dutch revolutionary leader Dioderic Sonoi. It is probably one of the simplest and crulest tortures in history. It requires only a steel cage, rope, embers, and a few rats. To begin, the victim was placed on a table after which the hands and feet were securely bound and the cage was placed on the person’s stomach.
The cage had a very simple design. It had no bottom and at the top there was a special hole through which the rats were inserted and then a mesh with embers was placed inside. Because of the high temperature, the rats began to panic and since they could not bite through the cage bars, the easiest way to get out was through the human body.
The animals began to gnaw their way to freedom through the flesh and endrails of a still living human. It’s not hard to imagine how agonizing such torture was. And the torture by rats is very much in contrast to our next entry, which at first glance sounds frivolous and not at all scary. But in fact, tickling is quite an effective method of torture.
Tickling may sound like a joke, but it has been used as a full-fledged form of torture in many countries. For example, in ancient China, tickling was used to torture both common prisoners and nobles. This method was very convenient, especially in relation to the nobility because it did not leave scars and did not lead to physical injuries, but at the same time allowed to obtain from the victim all the necessary information because some cannot bear a couple of seconds of tickling while the torture could last for several hours or even a whole day.
Even the ancient Romans used tickling. They invented their own special process for this torture. The victim was tied up and his feet were dipped in salt water, after which the person was placed on a bench or sat on a chair with straightened legs and a goat was brought in to lick the salt water off his feet.
Over time, the tickle would stop feeling like a tickle and the goat’s tongue would become more like a razor. The man would literally start to feel pain. Perhaps this kind of torture does not look serious, but according to some information, it was used even in Nazi Germany. Those guys were good at inhumane abuse.
In addition, in reality, prolonged tickling is a life-threatening because continuous laughter raises the intraanial pressure which in consequence can lead to rupture of an anorism and death. Are you afraid of insects? Or maybe you are claustrophobic. In any case, you are very lucky to live in the 21st century and not in the days of ancient Persia when you could be subjected to an execution called scaism.
The essence of the execution was to cause prolonged torment in the convict. A person was stripped naked after which they would be given milk and smeared with honey so that they would have severe diarrhea. Then the offender was placed in a boat covered with a tree or a similar boat on top and lowered into the water, always in a small pond with stagnant water.
Under such conditions and even with diarrhea, a person began to exude a strong stench that attracted insects. They flew in and began their feast. In addition to honey and waste products, insects did not disdain to eat the flesh of the person himself. after which they left their eggs and larae under the skin.
All this caused infections and gangrine due to which a person began to literally rot alive. All of these caused exhaustion of the body and septic shock due to which the person died. Also, it is known that sometimes the executed could be fed to prolong his suffering. From the point of view of history, some question the existence of such an execution.
But there is evidence that it took place in 465 BC in relation to the court unic asper and also in 401 BC in relation to Mithrides who suffered for 17 whole days. But that’s not the worst part. The inhabitants of the dark ages and antiquity had a good imagination and often pleased the specters who came to watch the execution with sophisticated torture.
Now you’ll learn why it was not worth being a counterfeit in the Middle Ages and how the betrayal of the monarch deprived the subjects of male dignity literally. And why in ancient China every woman had to be able to cook rice correctly. Halfhanging, drawing, and quartering. It sounds a little like the name of a dish in a restaurant, but this punishment is in no way inferior in cruelty to scism.
For the first time, this type of execution arose in England during the reign of Henry III, but was officially approved much later in 1351. It was applied exclusively to male traders. The victim was first tied to a stretcher made of wooden boards after attaching them to the horse’s harness. After that, the person was dragged to the place of execution.
The stretcher was designed so that the executed would rub against the ground and wash the skin all the time while in traveling to the place. Upon arrival, the convict was hanged, but they didn’t let him die because he still had a whole session of painful procedures ahead of him. After partial hanging, he would be castrated, causing him to experience severe pain and depriving the traitor of his manhood.
The man would then be disembowed and it would be done as carefully as possible so as not to let him die too soon. The fifth item on this terrible list was quartering. Fortunately, by this time the condemned man would already be dead and not feel any more agony. The lifeless body was deprived of all limbs, the end of which was the head, which was often hung in a public place as a warning to the rest.
This execution was very symbolic because the person who betrayed the crown and his monarch violated the vow of allegiance which deprived him of the right to be a man which is why he was castrated. Evisceration on the other hand said that you would not hide anything from the crown.
Sooner or later everything will be revealed and everyone will know about it. Well, this punishment was just a very intelligible reminder to everyone else that the monarch’s power is complete. And you should not argue with that, pouring metal into the throats. They did it in Russia, the Middle East, and Europe. Have you ever been burnt by soup or hot tea? So, this is something similar.
They give you water, not with sweet tea, but with liquid metal, the melting point of which is 1 and a half thousand° C. Yes. And pour not a couple of drops, but about a liter or even more. It is not difficult to guess that such a punishment was extremely painful and due to the vitality of our body could stretch for quite a long time.
Not for a few days as a scam, of course, but even 3 to 5 minutes was enough for the convict to regret. not only his misdeed but also that he was born at all. Such a punishment was applied to counterfeits which is somewhat ironic because money at that time was cast from precious metal alloys. By the way, one of the first cases of using such an execution was recorded back in the days of the Roman Empire in 53 BC.
Then Marcus Lasinius Cassus, one of the richest men in Rome after the defeat of the Parththeians, had molded gold poured down his throats. And what is interesting is that such punishment was practiced even by the Indians who punished the greedy and gold hungry Spaniards in exactly the same way. Copper bull or Feris’ bull. This execution was used on Sicily in the second half of the 6th century BC.
And as the name suggests, the bull was cast from copper and was used by King Agriento Feladaris. This execution tool has a rather unusual history of creation. Its peculiarity is at the copper smith peril who created it became its first victim immediately after demolishing the bolt to Felaris. And all of that because the king was a very mentally unstable person.
And at that moment he considered that it was worth punishing Perilla for his cruel product. Its name fully describes the product. It was made of copper and was a life-sized statue of a bull. Inside there was a cavity in which through a door in the side they put the condemned to death. In the nose the bowl had two narrowed holes which also had their own purpose.
The temperature inside the statue rose sharply due to which all the liquid in the human body began to boil and evaporate from which the victim felt unbearable pain. If you have ever sunbathed under the sun then try to remember this feeling and imagine that at the same time you are closed into cramped space and it is impossible to hide from the heat.
All this brought the executed to martyr cries which coupled with steam came from the nose of the statue and emitted a piercing whistle. Faris enjoyed the whistle as he watched the man boil slowly inside the bull. This is ironic and the tyrant himself had time to fully try out this tool for execution. After all, after his overthrow in 554 BC, he was executed in his favorite bowl, a thousand cuts.
The first state where such an execution was used was ancient Rome. Zero convict turned out to be a student of Cicero, who allegedly betrayed him, which did not please the philosopher. They forced the young man to cut off the flesh from himself, fry and eat it. Unfortunately, a more detailed history of the conflict is unknown.
And now about China. These guys always knew how to make a person regret his crimes. In their interpretation, the execution was called Lingqi, which means death by a thousand cuts. The method of punishment existed for a long time in the Middle Kingdom and was used until 1905. Mostly parasites and state traders were punished in this way.
The convict was tied to a pole in a place where a lot of people pass, preferably on a market square. After that, he was pumped with opium so that the executed person felt less pain and did not lose consciousness for as long as possible. After the opium began to act, the executioner took a knife and began to cut off pieces of flesh from a person, putting them in a unique basket.
The victim all this time being under the influence of a psychotropic could not feel all the pain of this procedure but watched how his body was slowly cut into pieces. The procedure ended only when there was no skin, fingers, and tendons left on the human body. Only at this moment did the executioner end the torment of the condemned with a sharp blow to the heart.
It is also curious that for each part of the body, there was a knife. And when the executioner took the knife, he always looked at the inscription on the blade which denoted one of the parts of the body. Sawing. This execution was invented in Europe during the Roman Empire, becoming popular in the Middle Ages, especially in Spain.
However, it was most widely used in India and China. The essence of the execution fully corresponds to its name. A person sentenced to sawing by the legs and arms was tied between two pillars and saw with a two-handed saw along the body starting from the groin. The executioners themselves did not like this execution very much because it was slow since it was inconvenient to see the swaying body.
