(eery sound effects)
- Crushed spines, pierced
eyeballs, broken jaws,
searing burns.
There are plenty of
reasons in the Middle Ages
that people inflicted
these kinds of punishment
on one another.
Usually, it was religious
firver or legal retribution
or some combination of the two.
People, usually men, took time
to invent horrific devices
to inflict suffering.
So grotesque, it became an art form.
Here are five of the
scariest torture devices
we came up with during the Medieval era:
According to legend, a Greek names Perilis
invented something
called the "Brazen Bull"
for the tyrant, Phalaris of Agrigentum.
It was a hollow, brass statue of a bull
with a door to seal victims inside it.
Fires were lit around
the statue so its metal
became searing hot,
burning its victims alive.
Their dying screams
and attempts to get out
made the "bull" seem alive
while also distancing
the audience from actually
seeing the brutality inflicted.
Reportedly, Perilis was
the bull's first victim
as a "reward" for his creativity.
A British man named Skevington invented
the Scavenger's Daughter.
Basically, an iron hoop
with a hinge in the middle.
Victims were forced to
crouch within the hoop
with the hinge upon their back.
A screw would tighten
the hoop, crushing them
so their ribs and breast bone would crack,
and their spine was dislocated.
If compressed enough,
the Scavenger's Daughter
would force blood to gush
out from your fingertips
and your face.
Many of these torture devices
would make brutal names
for metal bands.
Obviously, the dudes from
Iron Maiden thought so, too,
or they wouldn't have named themselves
after such a grisly device.
The Maiden was an upright sarcophagus,
and its interior was lined with 21 spikes.
When a victim was inside,
and the doors would closed,
the Iron Maiden penetrated
their vital organs,
including their eyes.
The spikes were just
short enough, however,
that death took several
hours of lingering bleeding.
This device was thought to be fictional
until researches found
one in Nuremberg, Germany,
in the 1800s.
- Freedom!
- Ah, the Rack.
The trite man's torture
device, for say, a James Bond
or a Batman and Robin villain.
It works by tying a victim down
while a crank tightens the ropes.
This slowly stretches their body
until their joints dislocate,
or their limbs are torn off.
The more inspired Medieval torturers liked
to spice up their racks--
Get it?
"Spice rack".
I'll get to you later.
By lighting a fire under the
rack or mounting their victims
on something that resembled a horse
before pulling their appendages out.
Finally, we come to what may
be the worst torture device
we've ever heard of,
The Pear of Anguish.
It was a metal instrument
shaped like a pear
that opened into four
leaves when it was cranked
on one end.
Once inserted into an orifice,
the Pear of Anguish was slowly opened,
causing massive internal damage.
If you were a Heraldic,
it was inserted orally.
Anal pears and vaginal pears were reserved
for those accused of
homosexuality or witchcraft,
respectively.
Okay, now that we've covered
these morbid and heinous contraptions,
I've got to ask:
Which one would you want to
be tortured with the least?
Tell us all about your
fears in the comments below.
I promise we'll be responsible with them,
and don't forget to let us know
if you enjoyed this video
by liking it or subscribing
to our channel.
And if you've still
got the stomach for it,
we've got even more
torture devices for you
in our original article
at HowStuffWorks.com.
