10 Bizarre Torture Methods
Published on September 28, 2009 | 102 commentsIn Medieval times, they sought out ways to cut back on crime. Instead of letting the criminals sit in a jail cell, like today, they would use different torture devices. These devices came in all shapes and sizes and were meant to scare other would be criminals into not doing the crimes committed by the person being tortured.
The Brazen Bull
This device was designed in Greece by Perillos of Athens. He was a brass founder and he cast the shape of a hollow bull with a door on the side. This condemned person was shut in the bull. There was a fire lit underneath the device and because it was brass it became yellow hot, which would cause the person to roast to death. It was configured with tubes and stops, so when the person was screaming it would sound like the bull was raging.
The Breaking Wheel
This wheel of torture was used to kill criminals and it did that very slowly. This device was a large wagon wheel. The criminal would be tied to the wheel, where the punisher would proceed to use a hammer to break the bones of the other person. Once that was completed, they were left there to die and even the birds would peck at their flesh until death was complete.
The Rack
This device is an oblong rectangle with a wooden frame. It was raised from the ground with a roller either at one end or at both ends. One end had a fixed bar, where the feet were locked onto it, and the other end had a moveable bar, where the hands were tied to it. It had a lever that was used as the interrogation progressed. It was on a lever and pulley system that would eventually cause the joints of the person being tortured to dislocate and then separate. Eventually, the muscle fibers, ligaments, and cartilage would break separating the limbs from the body of the condemned.
Judas Cradle
This torture device is a pyramid shaped seat. The victim is placed on top of it, with the point inserted into an orifice, then they are very slowly lowered onto it. The condemned was usually naked in order to add to their humiliation. This device was thought to stretch the orifice or to slowly impale the person. The stretching of the orifice would cause pain, rips and tears, which would eventually cause death.
Coffin Torture
This device was used in the Middle Ages. The condemned would be placed in the metal coffin and left there for the appropriate amount of time. Depending on the crime, the person could be left in there to die, while animals ate their flesh or they would be placed on public display, which would cause their death. The people that would surround the person in the coffin would throw rocks and poke the person with objects until they finally became deceased.
Iron Maiden
This iron cabinet with a hinged front was made to be a tall upright cabinet that would enclose a human being. It would have a small opening, which was closeable, so the interrogator would be able to open and close it at their will. They would then poke the bodies of the person with a sharp object. They would use knives, spikes, or nails and the person inside was forced to remain standing in one position, ultimately causing their demise.
The Knee Splitter
The whole purpose of this device was to make a person’s knees useless. It was used in mainly during the Inquisitional period of time. This device was faceted with spikes, from three to twenty of them, and depending on the crime committed, depended on the number used. IT had a handle the torturer would use to close the device. The spikes would mutilate the skin and begin to crush the knee. They would also use the device on elbows, arms and the lower legs. There were even instances that they would heat the device to cause a maximum amount of pain. Death wasn’t a result of this device, but it the person refused to cooperate they would use other means.
Heretic’s Fork
This device was used during the Spanish Inquisition. It has two forks at opposing ends of a metal rod. One of the forks would be placed under the chin, piercing the skin, and the other end would be piercing the flesh in the upper chest. It didn’t puncture any vital organs, so death would not take place during the use of this method, but it made talking and neck movements impossible. While wearing this device a person’s hands would be tied behind their backs, so they could not escape it. It would harm the person’s neck and, often times, spread diseases.
Saw Torture
This method was used to torture and kill the condemned person, which were typically accused of witchery, adultery, murder, blasphemy, or theft. The accused was hung upside down. This slowed down the blood loss by forcing the blood to the brain and it humiliated the person. This type of torture could last for several hours. Some of the victims would be cut completely in half, while some would only be cut up to their abdomen in order to prolong their deaths.
Thumbscrew
This was used to get a confession from the offenders. The fingers of the person were placed in the device and crushed by the torturer turning the handle on the top. It could last for a very long time and it was very painful. This was also used to crush a person’s toes. They even made bigger versions of this device used to crush feet, knees, elbows and even heads.
Written by Harmony Stalter – Copyrighted © www.weirdworm.com
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102 Comments
Religious types can think of such lovely things to do to people in God’s name, can’t they?
He must be very proud.
What are you talking about? Secular authorities invented most of the torture devices you hear about and were more apt to use them over the Church. The Church tortured yes but if you had a choice back during the inquistion you would much rather be in the hands of the Church than with secular authorities. History is literally a matter of perspective. I suppose people believe that millions were tortured by the Church during the Inquistion. Again, false. The Inquistion although bad, the Church can’t get out from under that shadow was pale in comparison to the surrounding secular authorities
What “secular authorities” are you talking about, exactly? That seems like a cop out to me. The only reason you’d be better off in the hands of the church during the Inquisition was because they would brutally torture you as a heretic if you went against the required beliefs. I’m not saying that some “secular authorities” weren’t also doing awful things to people, but if we’re comparing to the Inquisition here, at least they weren’t doing it “in the name of God”. If you think about it, “evil secularists” are at least better than the Church, because they do not partake in the hypocrisy of torturing people in the name of some perfect, holy religion, as a consequence of merely not believing the same things.
People will kill and torture. There are good people and bad people. It’s just that simple. Keep your lame excuses of people using religion or not to torture. Whoever has the most power will do whatever they want with it, good or bad…check out the governments and the people these days that promote it… Is killing and torturing OK just because it is more accepted in our “modern” society since we are so used to seeing it in the media and is embraced by creating new amendments to national and international laws?
There were no ’secular authorities.’ Church and State were completely intertwined.
It was the middle ages. There was no ’secular authority’. Those people who were ’secular’ were the ones who had these lovely little devices used on them.
Holy shit !!!! These people are ucked up !!!! and I agree religion is the main cause of these things and war , RELIGION !!!!! IS FUCKED UP !!!!! they praise a god then do these things !!!!! sorry to say all those ignorant little religions fucks , wake the fuck up
Oh Suze, people think of lovely types of things to do to get what they want, and it’s not just in God’s name. I knew someone would quickly make a religious comment, and look at that! It was you!
Check your history books, more people have been killed through other means rather than in the name of Christianity.
Religious types can think of lovely things to do in God’s name, when, God is only a metaphor, and a disguise for a powerful man. Christianity was bred by the Roman Empire, and spread to every corner of it, as it’s impending doom, came to collapse, which, explains why the people that would have killed Jesus, and hated him so much, were the one’s to suddenly have an epiphany, after all of their guards took a conveniently timed lunch break, from his tomb, and, he “Rose from the dead.” I doubt that many of Jesus’ followers would’ve been able to read or write in Latin, seeing as, Jesus was meant to be Jewish, thus, would’ve probably spoke Hebrew, so, isn’t it convenient that that collapsing empire, decided to print a load of bibles in Latin, appoint a member of their public to be the voice of God, and, to rule from down the road from where the Roman emperor did?
Also, Jesus, and the “Saints” magic, would be classed as witchcraft too, doesn’t anyone think?
The short and simple fact of the matter is, there’s loads of crazy and deluded people in the world, and, there’s plenty of people ready to do whatever they can for power.
Religious wars and persecution? Just ancient gang warfare:
What are you doing wearing blue in Blood territory, Crip?
What are you doing believing in Allah in Christian territory, Heretic?
Switch some of the words around, and, you’ll see every generations had someting similar: Mods vs Rockers, Black vs White, England vs France, America vs Everyone in sight…
Same shit, different decade.
First I thought it would be nice to read this page. Now I’m really disgusted.
fu*** weir methods, isn’t it? :S
how would you think “bizarre torture methods” would be nice… D:
Ouch, I alway thought the spanish inquisition had the worst torture instruments but there are some really bizaree ones on the list.
This is my first time on this sight and this is a rare a neat site, if you are friends with Dark Roasted lend you are in excellent company.
Should have included the pear of anguish too
The Inquisition.All done in the name of a loving and compassionate God.
More people have been killed in the name of God than in all wars combined.If he(or she),loves you so much why allow this to happen in their name? Religion is a strange cup of tea.God loves you unconditionally,but if you don’t follow his rules,he will kill you.God loves you so much he will condemn you to the firey depths of hell for All Eternity.Read the Bible,there are so many contradictions about God’s love for mankind and the way he(or she)expresses displeasure at us.That maybe it is better to be an Atheist.Well that and the story about the invisible man that lives in the sky,who knocked a woman up,without having sex with her.Then was born as his own son,came to earth.Was killed came back to life,and then went back up to the sky to live with himself.But that’s for you to decide,isn’t it.
The Inquisition – started by Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic church is one of the beasts described in Bible prophecy, in Daniel and Revelation. This beast arises from the people and is a religious-political power that many worship, but does not following the teachings of Christ. One horn of the beast(the Pope) speaks blasphemies against God and true followers. The pope declares to be replacement of Jesus and have power to change the Bible law. For this fact, it is in complete opposition to God. Any torture “in the name of God” is not of biblical teachings. Anything of such is purely satanic, and not what true followers of Christ believe.
Sure, death will be a result of rejection of Jesus, but, if you can’t love Him now than why would you want eternal life? You obviously would be unhappy to live with Him forever, so eternal death is the only alternative. And no – no one will be condemned to hell(as in a fiery place) for eternity (that would mean those who reject God would become immortal).
You must be a Jehovah’s Witless to believe that (that there is no Hell) Jesus spoke more about Hell than any other preacher in both Testaments. He talked about it more than the Kingdom of Heaven.
These devices are NOT biblical. They were used by an elite order of sadists to maintain they’re power over an uneducated people who were repeatedly taught specific passages out of context. God was only an excuse. No member of the inquisition is in Heaven.
If you believe in that, of course.
Reading the bible from front to back will always cause confusion because it is not time-line based.
Study something (not just read) before you form opinions and comment.
Me-Mo
Please learn to use spaces.
Ah, people always saying it’s religion’s fault! It’s not religion’s fault at all at all, the people who have badly interpreted it are the ones to blame
awesome. it’s so true, it’s all just ridiculousness. such hypocrisy, torturing someone so they’ll believe that God really does love them….
Uh, you might want to check that statistic on the casualties of war. I think you might be a little off… Unless of course you consider every war to be a holy war, in which case, you’re absolutely right!
committing a crime in those days didn’t seem like a good decision.
that’s just creepy.
“committing a crime in those days didn’t seem like a good decision. that’s just creepy.”
The only “crime” many of the unlucky torture victims “committed” was not believing in the society’s prevailing delusional fantasy, also known as “God”. Let’s see… you’re a heretic so we’ll torture you until you convert. Then we’ll torture you to make sure you’re not lying. Perhaps you’re a witch. If you drown, you’re innocent.
all robb said was ‘crime’, and you’re turning it into a religious battle. You could at least acknowledge that murder and theft were punished in these ways as well. The guy didn’t even mention heretics as being real criminals or deserving it or anything.
now that it is a religious battle:
do you really think belief in god is what caused these problems? It’s fanatical people. Anyone who goes batshit crazy over something is causing the problem. Like insane politicians and mad movie fans. It’s not the fault of a belief system that provides some explanation of the existence of humanity, gives people a feeling of purpose in their lives and reassures people that dying isn’t the end of everything. As someone mentioned elsewhere, interpretations of religion are the issue.
Like so many of our friends above have stated, it had nothing to do with crime but differing views of religion.
Nothing has changed though except these days mace, handguns, knives, bombs and the rest are used in Gods name..
What a sick lot!
Nothing was ever commited in atheisms name.
Read the news, i’ve seen 3 cases of murders committed in churches and school by a group of or just one atheist questioning if they believed in God, if they stated that they did not believe in God, they were let go if otherwise they were shot in place in 2 out of 3 cases, the third was a test to see who really believed in God… only two men stood and said they believed in God.
This is proof that there are people who refuse God easily and truly do not follow the teachings of the Bible, that is proof that not all man who exclaims God is part of religion and that you should not judge religion for its abusers.
get a clue.
could u please be more specific? it is really easy to write all that without any citation to back it up.
As I often say, most of the world’s problems are, and always have been, caused by religion. These are some excellent examples of what “god-loving” people will do to you if you dare to think different;y than they do.
God had NOTHING to do with the torture devices these sick fucks thought up. Most of the inquisition torture/terrorism was to obtain land, money and possessions from the people the inquisitors sought and was to be given to the catholic church. Please try not to confuse God’s love with man’s inherent flaws.
Yeah, sure God had nothing to do with these devices. If god wants you punished for whatever reason he simply sends a couple of thugs (I mean angels) over to perhaps turn you into a pillar of salt or change everyone’s language so there’s no communication or kill your first born son or …well we can go on all day like this. Read the bible – God is the master of torture!
Also, if god made man in his own image, how did man get these flaws you speak of? Inherent means permanent and inseparable- if it were inherent how would we get to heaven. You should try thinking for yourself instead or regurgitating the nonsense you have filled your head with….jackass.
Listen… As many before me have said, do some real research before you start claiming that God is the master of torture or the cause to all the evil in this world.. Is it God that tortures? Is it God that kills,rapes and steals? NO! Humankind does!
Sure..God made man in his own image, but God also gave us free will, and selfish as we humans are, we do things that will satisfy our own selfish needs..The evil in this world is created by our own evil actions, God didn’t teach us to torture or be evil, we did that very nicely ourselves.. The sadistic and evil people that came up with these sick instruments were NOT men of God, they were inspired by their own evil and by Satan. Read some of the new testament as well, not just the old. Jesus died for us! He was tortured and crusified, by humankind! We let a murderer live in order to kill Jesus Christ..
And by the way, Dave is thinking more for himself than your do, with your ignorance, you follow the easiest way,as most people do,we blame God for our own actions!
You cannot have a New Testament without an Old Testament. One does not contradict the other. I have read and studied the Holy Bible, as a matter of fact I studied theology to become a minister some years ago, the sadistic and evil people you mention are all a part of a story prophesied thousands of years before it happened. And if YOU had read the Holy Bible, New and Old Test., you would realize according to the story -Jesus’ torture and crucifixion were all necessary to receive eternal life. He was a perfect sacrifice to take away our sins. Soooo…. If you believe the word of God than you have to believe that these men were not inspired by evil or Satan- they were actually doing God’s work, because without Crists’ perfect sacrifice none of us evil humans would be forgiven and we would not get to heaven. Maritimuse, I think you may be just as much of a jackass as Dave. See, if you would think a little more for yourself you would understand you are the one taking the easy way out. You blame all these atrocities on Satan or Evil, when really it’s mankind doing it. And if God has a plan, which as a good Christian you must believe, THIS IS ALL PART OF IT!!!
So, you believe that because Jesus died for our sins, now we can do whatever we want because we’ll be forgiven for it? So, you’re saying that it would be God’s will that I go torture and murder someone who does not believe the same things I do today? …That is the dumbest and least thought out argument I have seen here. Just because Jesus was crucified for us, it doesn’t mean that the devil and all his evil disappeared – that’s why His second coming is necessary.
Anna, honestly, if we were raised in another part of the world, this debate would be about Allah, Buddha, Harry Krishna, whatever…
Mankind as a whole, has developed more in the past 150 years, than it ever did in the 1860 years that these books formed the basis’ for most peoples existences.
If God sets paths for everything to happen for a reason, if God really gave a rats arse about humanity, would he not have given us the minor pushes that we required to connect our planet, and to make everyone see that we’re one and the same, and, that the future of mankind, and our planet, rests in our hands, rather than advising us that heretics should be stoned to death, or killed?
Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGoYbjzy8-s
Anna, c’mon. Where did you read that I believe Jesus died for my sins?
Pay attention:
You said “…Jesus died for our sins, now we can do whatever we want because we’ll be forgiven for it.”
According to the Bible, yes. I can break any of The Ten Commandments, ask God for forgiveness, get baptized, be forgiven and go to Heaven (Acts 2:38, among many other passages).
You also said “Just because Jesus was crucified for us, it doesn’t mean that the devil and all his evil disappeared – that’s why His second coming is necessary.”
WTF, where did I say the devil and evil has disappeared?!?!
I think all the insight and wisdom you have managed to acquire in high school has really let you down here.
Here’s an idea- Try thinking for yourself.
You believe that the simple act of asking for forgiveness will grant you just that, haha. Sheer logic and reason, mister “think for yourself”, would tell you that you obviously cannot half-ass an apology and expect to be free from it, when it is an honest repentance it will not be a matter of “ask God for forgiveness, get baptized, be forgiven and go to Heaven” after you do whatever the hell you want, you’re just quoting modern catholic practices and their loose and vague interpretations of how the underlining of God’s TRUE work goes, you clearly have no real idea of what the bible says, you can read it front to back and take as many fancy classes as you like, if your heart is empty and you take every single word to it’s most common interpretations you will easily be tricked out of your “belief” by the simplest of ways. The true meanings often lie behind the smallest details that can change any “just do it and you’re forgiven” into an act of righteousness, God can tell if you’ve learned nothing and simply do it to pick the easy way out. You can quote the bible as much as you want, it is evident you have no idea what it means in reality.
I understand and respect where you stand in theological views and i won’t bother you or anyone else in w/e they believe or don’t believe in. But have the decency to at least act like a man (or woman?) of experience (as you so claim) and don’t Ridicule other beliefs in a vague act to find meaning in your life. If you don’t believe in it that’s you, but it would be ignorant and stupid to take it to others who don’t even aggravate you or KNOW you for no reason(because im led to believe you have no spiritual beliefs). But if you belong some religion, dedicated to ridicule others, by all means make an asshole out of yourself on the internet.
God bless you regardless.
also, an issue i faild to address its this:
You obviously understand, that by the writings in the bible it is said that everything that happens, good or bad, is meant to happen because it is by this occurring that it will all be better in the end *end rainbow*
No, Jesus may have died to cleanse our us of our sins but Jesus’ purpose, which went till the grave was not to be at the start of it all, we were sinners since the forbidden fruit and it was by then that our free will became the “fruit” of our sins, it was when god saw that we took his gift and turned it into an array or selfishness and sin that he sent Jesus as a sort of guide for us, to ultimately die and cleanse us, brutal as it may be, you all must be thinking “Wow what a bastard! sending his son to cleanse us?! BAH! seems awfully selfish!” It’s a sacrifice, i know we did not deserve it, i know it was brutal for a selfish nation, but hay, none of them killed jesus to be cleansed but when we learned that it was the hidden purpose we became devoted to thanking him for giving us something we know we do not deserve, for being eternally mercifull with a clearly selfish race. It’s the very reason that we’re so grateful for this and why we are so driven to serve God, sacrifice pleasures of life, hours maybe even days of our life to him still in prosecution by today’s modern society, still thinking were that barbaric bunch of bastards that killed “in the name of God” gibberish, these killed for power, these killed to have their word as law, many of them did not believe in god as much as the heretics they tortured. Anyone can scream a thousand lies, does that mean they believe in them? or maybe that they did it for their own selfish reasons, far from let’s say…what a certain book talks about? maybe they used lies to spread fear and used the name of God not as a right but as an excuse? So religion really isn’t such a card in that tragic page of history as much as how man abuses religion to get what he wants, if you don’t care or believe for any kind of religion, why are you all so crazed to believe “that it must have been religion!!!” no other explanation, it couldn’t be a selfish man, abusing the word of God, “nope, it had to be the invisible man i certainly don’t believe exists, but it was HIM!!!” listen to yourselves for once.
idk its just been something that always had bothered me lol
Yes the sins are inherent to the human race, you also said that it was through Jesus’ torture and crucifixion that we got a crack at heaven and it is also mentioned in the bible that even though our race has been stained by sin, the few who are righteous and stay firm in the teachings of the bible(not the bullcrap spouted by those blood thirsty, power-drunk “religious leaders” that call themselves men of God, do not worry because they never were) will be granted entrance, NOT by getting on your knees and quickly expecting God to forgive you, not by getting wet and walking off saying “Let’s hit the stripclub i’m cleansed!!!!” a righteous man would never do that would he? not according to the bible which clearly states against the man with two lives, a fake inside the church’s walls and blasphemy outside (don’t bother to quote against me as its obvious you will take anything from the bible with no comprehension) it’s a sacrifice, and Boscos, you have clearly not gone through any sort of sacrifice but your time as you speak with no real knowledge of what the christian religion really is but with what you’ve been told in your little classes, vaguely read and “studied” in the bible and what society has fed you so you could leave the faith. Don’t get into a stupid discussion with stupid reasons and little to no REAL knowledge of what you’re talking about, take the time out your senseless ridicule and hate into REAL Christianity not what you find written or told by obvious Fakes, that will only confuse you and lead you to doubt the bible’s sense when it is really a deep text that “Men of Logic” are trying to dig into with a plastic spork.
The sawing method seems similar to another method I’ve heard of in which the torturer hand the victim upside down in an X fashion, while two people saw, very, very slowly, down the middle, starting with the groin. Nobody would survive past the abdomen, due to suffocation. Since the blood rushed to their head, they would not lose consciousness due to blood loss, so they would feel every tooth of the saw.
These things are not from, for and of God. These are from people themselves, people who hated God. There is no love in them. That’s why they’re able to come up with these.
oh shit manzzzzzz
Don’t forget that most of the target torturees also believed in God. Throughout history people have fought over the perfect way to serve their God. The problems start when those people start following their own selfish desires instead of God’s perfect plan for their lives. They turn from pleasing God to pleasing man. Without God’s guidance, man is capable of doing pretty much anything evil. With God’s guidance made possible through Jesus Christ, just the opposite is true. God’s Word never changes, it is people who change, for better or for worse.
Actually, these WERE made by the church and were officially sanctioned by the pope. Remember the Salem Witch Trials? How they would crush you with stones until you pled guilty and were then killed? That was a Catholic Movement. No matter how you say that they sicken you, or that the people who used these went to hell, or that they weren’t TRUE Catholics, the fact remains that they are a part of the churches history, and there they will remain.
The people who were killed were also part of the history…did they believe in God? small possibility but it is most likely that they didn’t, therefore were not part of the following or belief per se… They are still part of the history of the Men and Women who abused the name of God and killed thousands to maintain their twisted reigns of power FAR from God’s will and the belief itself.
So i hope you don’t mean this is still fault of religion. You can be a worker in a special cuisines’ shop and sell a kitchen knife to a man who later kills his wife with that knife, was it your fault? no, you were used to create the effect but you were not the cause.
Actually, most of the tyrants were inspired by the Church, and not just using it as cover. For example, Hitler, while he was also angry at the Jews for amassing wealth in the down-turned economy of Germany post WW1, in many of his speeches he also blamed the Jews for killing Jesus and used that to inspire the Nazis, many of whom were Catholic, including Hitler himself. Now you also said that the Church is not directly responsible for this, but you forget all the Crusades and Inquisitions there were, which were started by the Church specifically. Lastly, in my first example (the Salem Witch Trials) the Church WAS directly responsible as it was not citizens taking matters into their own hands, it was priests meddling in the courthouses on orders from the Church to kill “witches”. The Church even made a document explaining exactly how to do it for FSM’s sake!!!
Some Pig
To say that the people who are willing to use these devices on other people are inheirently evil is an obvious misunderstanding of the nature of evil. A good person can commit evil acts in a causes name and still feel regret/remorse. An evil person can do good deeds but will care nothing as to whom, a “buying a stairway to heaven” complex to use the old song. It is true that many of these devices were used on actual criminals, but is also true that in those times almost all crimes were cinsidered to be crimes against God. And thus the church was involved with many crime’s punishment regardless as to nature of the crime. And it is also true that more blood has been spilled in the name of religion than in any other cause in human history. So, you must wonder then, since people were so willing to torture others and not only not feel at least tinged with regret or remorse about it, but feel joy and pleasure were the people who used these devices good or evil? And since they took their feelings on using these thyings from their religious aspect of life… what of their religion?
u should of put in elmo….
I believe in unicorns.
Nothing was ever committed in atheisms name???
I take it that you have never heard of the soviet union.
most amusing
what ignorance!! you think these methods of torture and execution were devised for CRIMINALS ????? hahaha, a good one! there were designed to provide pleasure for the torturers, and the victims were usually innocent!
No one kills anyone in the name of god, they use it as an excuse.
the church wanted people to believe in them, so they could make money to build what today we know as the vatican, or to rule the friggin world, they didnt do it for god or satan or they daughters and sons, they did it for money and power, god’s an excuse.
the wars that go on today for “religion” are for oil and dominance, again not god, that’s just an excuse that the terrorists use.
and if god loves us so, why does he let this shit happen? well, there’s something that makes this shit happens… its called humanity..
stop blaming god for shit and blame humanity, god didn’t kill 6 million jews in the holocaust, nazis did, and god didn’t torture people in the inquisition era, the fucking church did…
don’t blame god for anything you can come up with, blame humans..
Amen – It always amazes me that there are so very few who see the truth. Even Jesus said that not all who hear (read) the word of god will understand..
Pi you are FUCKING AWESOME! Stole the words from my mouth
The tools of torture are cruel beyond belief, but also prove the innocence/ignorance of mankind. Most responses blame religious zealots. True or false, todays religious persons, especially all of the televangelists are so full of shit that these devices should be used on them to “go some place and get an honest job !!!
I love when people see lists like this then start making irrational claims about how religion is the cause of wars and torture and blah blah blah. Quite a lot of these tortures were performed on Christians who refused to accept the power hungry churches sadistic views. Maybe some of you want to actually read the Bible before you make such ignorant claims about how Christians tortured and how God loves to torture people. These devices were designed by sadistic minds who used the religion of the day to control the masses by any means necessary. It was all about power and had very little to do with Christian beliefs. I can say I’m anything I want, but if my actions do not match my beliefs then I’m a fraud. Which were most of these people who murdered and tortured others for not believing what they believed. Not very Christian at all.
There is no god.
People are stupid.
The end.
So your saying your stupid? How do you know there isnt a God? The end? So now its a story? I dont think people are stupid. You might be though. Have you even read the Bible, Hain? Before you comment, why dont you learn a little bit more of what your talking about.
So your (you’re) saying your (you’re) stupid? How do you know there isnt (isn’t) a God? The end? (Fragment) So now its (it’s) a story? I dont (don’t) think people are stupid. You might be(comma) though. Have you even read the Bible (bible should be lowercase unless a specific version being mentioned.), Hain? Before you comment, why dont (don’t) you learn a little bit more of what your talking about. (Awkward grammar) D-, See me after class.
How do you know there IS one? Can you produce a god right here right now? What was your god smoking when 9/11 happened, or when Auschwitz happened?
You don’t know…few decades back, lung cancer caused by cigarettes was not known/possible and now countless were lost because of it. In the end you are not sure of anything until proven and that’s were faith comes in, you believe there is no god. Claiming that he does not exist without any hard backup is as ridiculous as you believe religion is! and no i’m not saying religion is ridiculous because we have faith in it and if you are one to claim against it without any facts, and have the sheer ignorance to call US stupid it just makes you as stupid and ridiculous as you so claim we, the people of faith, are.
Gonna have to agree with you on the stupid part…thanks for the example btw!
So, do you have any evidence that the Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn’t exist? Claiming that the FSM isn’t the one true god without any evidence is absurd!
BTW, before you try, you can’t prove a negative.
Umm… What evidence have you got that God existed, other than a 2000 year old book?
Where were the dinosaurs mentioned in the bible?
Why do so many religious peoples reject evolution, when, we have proof that natural selection DOES happen, seeing as, we can estimate genetics, and provide artifical selection. Also, there are many examples of evolution working, for example, people getting taller, etc etc. Although, if you want to believe in a book that was designed to fool uneducated people into following one empires rules, when, most people who are engaged in these discussions, have been to school and been educated, etc, are the one’s questioning religion, due to their educations, then, that’s fine with me.
By the way, the only evidence that I had of God, was a friend of mine’s encounter with him.. But… He’d taken a lot of LSD, so, I don’t think that really counts. If God’s done a Michael Jackson to you, and touched you in your sleep, then, please share…
I wasnt there when these devices were used, I dont know anybody who saw them being used so I choose to believe it never existed. I think people with nothing better to do made these things and try to convince us that there was a time worste than the one we live in.
HAHAHA-You’re a tool.
You also weren’t there when the US Constitution was written, or when America was founded,nor have you met anyone alive from that time, so according to you the US must not exist either.
@Rina:
Ignorance is strength/bliss, I suppose.
Were they been used by Muslims or only midevel christian communities.
The devices from the Inquisition were used by members of the ruling Catholic church on the Jews (mostly) and Muslims of Spain and Portugal in the mid 1400s-early 1500s. My dad’s side is Sephardic (Spanish) Jewish, and they fled Spain during the middle ages to (relative) safety in Turkey, where there were indigenous Mizrachi (Middle Eastern) Jews and a more friendly (at the time) Muslim community.
lol a page about torture devices turned into a religios debate come on now aren’t we passed this yet boys and girls
You know what would happen if all religion disappeared, erased from people’s minds, all notion of a god or any supernatural being governing our actions simply blinked out of reality? Friggin’ nothing. A few people who were religious zealots and felt they were terrible sinners might be a little happier. A lot of people who derived purpose from their beliefs would feel lost and hopeless. The people who did terrible things in the name of their gods would do terrible things in the name of their countries or their leaders or for power or riches. Crime would probably increase, because if you think about it without the benefit of religion, there’s not really any meaning to…anything; people would be greedier, because what’s to stop them? Natural selection would take its course. Humanity would die out at about the same time it will now and be forgotten forever. Unless there turns out to be a god, in which case who knows, maybe he’ll sit around missing us for a while. Terrible things have been done in the name of god. Other terrible things have, yes, been done for atheism (there have been shootings in churches because people wanted to kill the people spreading lies about “gods” among other things) and there have been terrible things done for greed or in anger. Greed causes the most. As somebody pointed out, Hitler was a superstitious atheist and killed a lot of people in the name of no god at all, so clearly you can’t pin it all on religions.
And by the way, little known fact about the Spanish Inquisition. If you confessed to being a heretic, you weren’t generally killed or tortured. You were made to read from the bible aloud, do penance, give money to the church, things like that, unless you had done something really serious. The torture was for people who wouldn’t confess, which was a relatively small number. Am I saying the inquisition was a happy swell time when people were given ever more reason to love god? Nope. I’m just saying that people exaggerate it to make points. Atheists claim tens of thousands were killed horribly for no crimes, christians claim maybe a dozen people were killed for being incarnations of ultimate evil and also eating babies sometimes. Just like atheists say that all that’s wrong in the world is because of religion, and religious people say all that’s wrong in the world is because of the absence of religion. But if you really think about it, the things that are wrong with the world are wrong because lots of people are greedy idiots, some of whom believe in gods. That isn’t going to change, and as long as you’re shouting about how religion is the tar heroin of the masses, you’re not part of the solution. You’re just a fanatic.
Actually, your comment about the Inquisition is rather misleading. Yes, if a Muslim or Jew “confessed” their crime of not being Catholic– which was often brought out via torture, btw–and were forced to perform Auto de Fe (the reading from the bible, penance, etc that you mentioned). If the confession or vow to convert was deemed insincere, the victim would face risk of exile, execution, or further torture.
Even after the penance, known Jews (I am not sure about Muslims, I only know from my own family history) who had passed Auto de Fe were often interrogated (and tortured if they did not cooperate) to reveal the names of their Jewish family members or neighbors, or to give the names of known crypto Jews (those who continued to practice in secret). Thousands were executed, and over a quarter of a million were exiled http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Spain#Number_of_the_exiles (note: this is just Spain, a similar number exists for Portugal as well). So no, there is not much of an exaggeration.
And to those of you who blame the torture on religion: religion is NOT the direct cause of these atrocities. Looking back in Medieval or even ancient times, people were savages. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Pagan, irreligious… people killed each other, and quite brutally at that! As our societies develop and become more modern, these practices slowly diminish. It is not in any religion’s creed to kill or torture others. It is simply a misinterpretation of their religion’s/cultures laws coupled with the already brutal nature of the era. They used religion to substantiate/excuse their horrible actions, but in reality it was just how society worked back then- all over the world.
Atheists claim tens of thousands were killed horribly for no crimes, christians claim maybe a dozen people were killed for being incarnations of ultimate evil and also eating babies sometimes. Just like atheists say that all that’s wrong in the world is because of religion, and religious people say all that’s wrong in the world is because of the absence of religion. But if you really think about it, the things that are wrong with the world are wrong because lots of people are greedy idiots, some of whom believe in gods. That isn’t going to change, and as long as you’re shouting about how religion is the tar heroin of the masses, you’re not part of the solution. You’re just a fanatic.
^^^ Sorry, Joe, for copying your last paragraph in my comment! I put it down there to see what you wrote, and forgot to take it off at the end.
it’s like i read in a book, all humans seek a leader, or something to base their way of life on.. without one, chaos would reign in our world.. thats is how religions, rulers, goverments are created..
hmmm actually, the catholic church has admitted its’ mistakes they made during that period. but those horrendous acts were committed by people who wanted power and/or fanatics. they were using religion as an excuse.
also, just something i kinda thought up of, aren’t atheists believing in “not believing”?
No, that’s absurd. Are you believing in something for not believing in the Hindu gods? Are you believing in something for not believing in Zeus, Odin, Ra, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Invisible Pink Unicorn? All religions don’t believe in others, we just go one god further.
You left out one of the Romans more creative torture methods.
They had method where the prisoner is placed in a wooden box, with only their hands, feet and head poking through holes.
The wooden box is place on a raft or small boat, and towed out to the middle of a small pond. Then the prisoners face is smeared with honey.
The honey attracts insects which will crawl over the prisoner day and night.
Each day the prisoner is force fed to keep them alive, but the box is never opened or emptied. Over time the box fills with urine, faeces, then maggots and flies.
Some prisoners lasted for weeks.
There are also the Chinese besides many old civilizations like the Aztecs, Mayas etc who had some pretty inhumane torture methods…Secular or religious…torture has been with us all along and today is still happening…We even watch it more and more in movies and I think it is as a medium to get us to accept it more…
Here is a small link of what is currently happening in China…http://chinaview.wordpress.com/2007/03/29/list-of-china-modern-torture-methods-photo/
I think that as we head into a fascist state here in America and more into government control allow our value system to be dictated by personal assets and valuables our country will become more like China. I hope the future proves me wrong though.
love the articles here very interesting looking forward to reading more.
Only people who suffer themselves can inflict such terror on other people – but the others an ourselves are actually one, so they are torturing themselves.
i’d like to see one of those things in action. heck, maybe try one of the non-lethal ones for bondage. yum
Woa these torture are crazy, it must of been a whole lot of people that suffered badly from these torture machines.
terrible to think that these stuff where used on human beings.!!
I know about a torture that happens everyday. It is called abortion.
torture manmade/rape earthman/ death lifemade/birth earthmade/religion manmade/ ….GOD MANMADE!!!!! The book written by man,the stories made up or experienced by man, the concept..Hummmmmm….abeautifully constucted way of countrolling the masses,for those in power. All of that stuff is . What do we say to our children to control them. Do this or so-and-so will love you; Do that bad and you,ll be punished. So I guess you will always be the children of the world. Selfish, tantrum filled, sneeky, lying ,deceitful,theiving,destuctive ,disrespectful little children. Well ,have fun I,m going like so many other adults, to learn something useful.Like leaving others,and their belongings alone; out of respect. Basic isn’t it…just like our elders taught us.
“maybe it’s me” says something important – respect. Religion can play an important role here – treat others as you’d like to be treated. I’m not religious because of the hipocracy I see day to day but I think some of those tools used on this web page can be put to good use in a lot of cases with government, murderers, rapists and thieves. How do you feel when you see a young child whose life has been snuffed out, a parent or sib that was not granted mercy before being killed. Be it your own sib or parent you would not feel mercy. (in most cases). I live in a country (like most let’s be honest – I’m a South African)where theft is the order of the day. To kill someone to steal I’d go with a public hanging. Let the punishment suit the crime. I like the idea of chopping hands off, beheadings, castration, stocks, stone throwing and the rack. Publicly. You see, we haven’t really moved too far off the dark ages. Unfortunately humankind are in most part still no better than fucking savages.
if only Barney was around back then.
The inquisitions and mass murders during the dark ages were orchestrated by the Roman Catholic Church. They do not represent the true God of the Bible.
Tell that to Jesus and the Crucifix, or the victims of the Salem Witch Trials, or the people who were invaded in any of the 8 Crusades or 3 Inquisitions. They were sanctioned by the Pope, who acts as “Gods” mouthpiece, they represent your nonexistent god. Case Closed.
The argument over who did it more is beside the point: they both did. Besides, torture way predates the Church and Christian-era governments.
Come to think of it, I want to expand on my brief posting I made a few minutes ago.
The argument over whether religious groups — the Catholic Church in particular — or secular authorities used these sorts of devices is rather beside the underlying point: they both did. Nobody kept a scorecard. To do so would allow the “loser” to use the so-called “Nuremberg defense,” so dubbed when a German on trial for war atrocities, (a relatively low-ranking guy) stammered he had “no idea it would be so many,” to which the prosecutor thundered, “One was too many! (or words to that effect).
Besides, torture, including using devices to do so, WAY predates the Church and Christian-era secular governments (where those existed separate from religion, which I’m not too sure there were very many — if any — of). Think of the “death of a thousand cuts,” a method perfected by the ancient Chinese. It is said that a skilled torturer could stretch out a person’s terrible death over a period of 1,000 days. Check out the Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Egyptians, etc. They all had nifty ways of torturing folks, too. Ever hear of the (possibly mythical) “Iron Maiden?” Then there were those fun games in Rome in which the condemned were armed then put into the arena with wild animals. The prisoner could defend himself only so long, and Caesar sure as heck had plenty of animals to loose if need be, unless he decided “Good show!” and spared the poor bast*rd at the last second. (I know, that’s not people directly torturing other people, but it sort of qualifies, doesn’t it?)
Modern examples abound. In parts of the world, the authorities, be they religious or secular, will do stuff like have a person stretched out on the ground, then let the crowd start piling rocks on him (or her) — but ordering a halt before the person died. But the person didn’t know ahead of time he would be “only” tortured, not executed, adding, psychologically, to the terror of the torture.
then there’s Iran, for instance, which when a person is hanged, he isn’t dropped; he’s hoisted, the reasoning being the victim or family of the victim (if the victim died) can forgive the condemned right up until he’s choking his last breath. A few years ago some poor devil dangled for upwards of four minutes, according to media reports, before the surviving family of the victim — I forget the crime — gave in and forgave the guy, at which point he was lowered and revived. Wouldn’t want to have HIS dreams!
Yes, people are capable of extraordinary cruelty; it’s one of the things that distinguishes us from the rest of the animal world.