Methods of execution at different times (16 photos). How it was - Silva Rerum Starowilenskie

In Rus', sophisticated executions were not shunned. Moreover, the execution of death sentences was approached seriously, thoroughly. To make the last minutes or hours of the life of the criminal seem the most terrible to him, the most sophisticated and painful executions were chosen. Where the custom of cruelly cracking down on those who broke the law came from in our land is unknown. Some historians believe that this is a logical continuation of the bloody rites of paganism. Others favor the influence of the Byzantines. But, one way or another, in Rus' there were several especially any types of execution by the rulers.

This execution was also awarded to rebels or traitors. For example, Ivan Zarutsky, one of the main accomplices of the troubles of the time of Marina Mnishek, was put on a stake. For this, he was specially brought from Astrakhan to Moscow.

Rebels and traitors to the Motherland were impaled

The execution took place in the following way. First, the executioner lightly impaled the body of the offender on a stake, and then put the "piece of wood" vertically. Under the weight of its own weight, the victim gradually sank lower and lower. But this happened slowly, so the doomed one had a couple of hours of torment before the stake went out through the chest or neck.

Particularly "distinguished" was impaled on a stake with a crossbar so that the point did not reach the heart. And then the torment of the criminal was significantly extended.

And this "entertainment" came into use by Russian executioners during the reign of Peter the Great. sentenced to death penalty the offender was tied to a log St. Andrew's cross, which was attached to the scaffold. And special recesses were made in its rays.

The unfortunate man was stretched so that all his limbs took the “right” place on the beams. Accordingly, the folds of the arms and legs also had to fall where needed - into the recesses. It was the executioner who was engaged in "adjusting" it. Wielding an iron stick, of a special, quadrangular shape, he struck, crushing the bones.

Participants of the Pugachev rebellion were wheeled

When the "puzzle" was being put together, the offender was hit hard in the stomach several times in order to break his spine. After that, the heels of the unfortunate were connected to his own back of the head and laid on the wheel. Usually, by this time the victim was still alive. And she was left to die in that position.

The last time the wheel was taken for the most ardent supporters of the Pugachev rebellion.

Ivan the Terrible loved this type of execution. The offender could be boiled in water, oil, or even wine. The unfortunate was put into a cauldron already filled with some kind of liquid. The hands of the suicide bomber were fixed in special rings inside the container. This was done so that the victim could not escape.

Ivan the Terrible liked to boil criminals in water or oil.

When everything was ready, the cauldron was put on fire. He heated up rather slowly, so the criminal was boiled alive for a long time and very painfully. Usually, such an execution was "prescribed" to a traitor.

This type of execution was most often applied to women who killed their husbands. Usually, they were buried up to the throat (less often up to the chest) in some of the busiest places. For example, on the main square of the city or the local market.

The scene of execution by means of instillation was beautifully described by Alexei Tolstoy in his landmark, albeit unfinished, novel Peter the Great.

They usually buried the murderers

While the murderer was still alive, a special guard was assigned to her - a sentry. He strictly ensured that no one showed compassion to the criminal and did not try to help her by giving food or water. But if passers-by wanted to mock the suicide bomber - please. This was not allowed. If you want to spit in her - spit, if you want to kick - kick. The guard will only support the initiative. Also, anyone could throw a few coins on the coffin and candles.

Usually, after 3-4 days, the criminal died from beatings, or her heart could not stand it.

Most a famous person who was “lucky” to experience all the horrors of quartering is the famous Cossack and rebel Stepan Razin. First they cut off his legs, then his arms, and only after all this - his head.

In fact, Emelyan Pugachev should have been executed in the same way. But first they cut off his head, and only then his limbs.

Quartering was resorted to only in exceptional cases. For an uprising, imposture, treason, personal insult to the sovereign, or an attempt on his life.

Stepan Razin - the most famous quartered

True, such "events" in Rus' practically did not enjoy spectator success, so to speak. The people, on the contrary, sympathized and empathized with those sentenced to death. In contrast, for example, from the same "civilized" European crowd, for which the deprivation of life of a criminal was just an entertainment "event". Therefore, in Rus', at the time of the execution of the sentence, silence reigned in the square, broken only by sobs. And when the executioner completed his work, people dispersed silently to their homes. In Europe, on the contrary, the crowd whistled and shouted, demanding "bread and circuses."

Executed in Rus' for a long time, subtly and painfully. Historians to this day have not come to a consensus about the causes of the death penalty.

Some are inclined to the version of the continuation of the custom of blood feud, others prefer the Byzantine influence. How did they deal with those who broke the law in Rus'?

Drowning

This type of execution was very common in Kievan Rus. Usually it was used in cases where it was required to deal with large quantity criminals. But there were also isolated cases. For example, Kyiv prince Rostislav was somehow angry with Gregory the Wonderworker. He ordered to tie the rebellious hands, throw a rope loop around his neck, at the other end of which a heavy stone was fixed, and throw it into the water. Executed by drowning Ancient Rus' and apostates, that is, Christians. They were sewn into a bag and thrown into the water. Usually such executions took place after battles, during which many prisoners appeared. Execution by drowning, in contrast to execution by burning, was considered the most shameful for Christians. Interestingly, centuries later, the Bolsheviks in the course of civil war used drowning as a reprisal against the families of the "bourgeois", while the condemned were tied hands and thrown into the water.

burning

From the 13th century, this type of execution was usually applied to those who violated church laws - for blasphemy against God, for unpleasing sermons, for witchcraft. Ivan the Terrible especially loved her, who, by the way, was very inventive in the methods of execution. So, for example, he came up with the idea of ​​sewing the offenders into bearskins and giving them to be torn to pieces by dogs or skinning a living person. In the era of Peter, execution by burning was applied to counterfeiters. By the way, they were punished in another way - they poured molten lead or tin into their mouths.

instillation

Burying alive in the ground was usually applied to murderers. Most often, a woman was buried up to her throat, less often - only up to her chest. Such a scene is excellently described by Tolstoy in his novel Peter the Great. Usually, a crowded place became a place for execution - a central square or a city market. Next to the still alive executed criminal, they put up a sentry who stopped any attempts to show compassion, to give the woman water or some bread. It was not forbidden, however, to express their contempt or hatred for the criminal - to spit on her head or even kick her. And those who wished could give alms for the coffin and church candles. Usually, a painful death came on 3-4 days, but history recorded a case when a certain Euphrosyne, buried on August 21, died only on September 22.

Quartering

During quartering, the condemned were cut off their legs, then their arms, and only then their heads. So, for example, Stepan Razin was executed. It was planned to take the life of Yemelyan Pugachev in the same way, but he was first cut off his head, and only then he was deprived of his limbs. From the examples given, it is easy to guess that this type of execution was used for insulting the king, for an attempt on his life, for treason and for imposture. It is worth noting that, unlike the Central European, for example, Parisian crowd, which perceived the execution as a spectacle and dismantled the gallows for souvenirs, Russian people treated the condemned with compassion and mercy. So, during the execution of Razin, there was deathly silence on the square, broken only by rare female sobs. At the end of the procedure, people usually dispersed in silence.

Boiling

Boiling in oil, water or wine was especially popular in Rus' during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The condemned was put into a cauldron filled with liquid. Hands were threaded into special rings built into the cauldron. Then the cauldron was put on fire and slowly heated up. As a result, the person was boiled alive. Such an execution was applied in Rus' to state traitors. However, this view looks humane compared to the execution called "Walking in a circle" - one of the most fierce methods used in Rus'. The condemned was cut open in the stomach in the area of ​​​​the intestines, but so that he did not die too quickly from blood loss. Then they removed the gut, nailed one end of it to a tree and forced the executed person to walk around the tree in a circle.

wheeling

Wheeling became widespread in the era of Peter. The sentenced was tied to a timbered St. Andrew's cross fixed on the scaffold. Notches were made on the rays of the cross. The criminal was stretched on the cross face up in such a way that each of his limbs lay on the rays, and the places of the folds of the limbs were on the notches. The executioner dealt one blow after another with an iron crowbar of a quadrangular shape, gradually breaking the bones in the folds of the arms and legs. The work of crying ended with two or three precise blows to the stomach, with the help of which the ridge was broken. The body of the broken criminal was connected so that the heels converged with the back of the head, laid on a horizontal wheel and left to die in this position. Last time such an execution was applied in Rus' to the participants in the Pugachev rebellion.

Impaling

Like quartering, impalement was usually applied to rebels or thieves' traitors. So Zarutsky, an accomplice of Marina Mnishek, was executed in 1614. During the execution, the executioner drove a stake into the human body with a hammer, then the stake was placed vertically. The executed gradually, under the weight of his own body, began to slide down. After a few hours, the stake came out through his chest or neck. Sometimes a crossbar was made on the stake, which stopped the movement of the body, preventing the stake from reaching the heart. This method significantly extended the time of painful death. Impaling until the 18th century was a very common type of execution among Zaporozhye Cossacks. Smaller stakes were used to punish rapists - they were driven a stake through the heart, as well as against mothers who killed children.

... Such an execution, especially popular in the East and Asia, was used everywhere: in Africa, Central America and even in Europe, in the Slavic countries and the German Charles the Fifth, where the Carolina code provided for impalement for mothers guilty of infanticide. In Russia they impaled up to mid-eighteenth century. In the 19th century, impalement was still practiced in Siam, Persia and Turkey, where in the 1930s such executions were carried out in public.

In the Law of Manu, the ancient code of religious and civil laws of Indian society, among the seven types of death penalty, impalement occupied the first place. Assyrian rulers became famous for sentencing the rebels and the vanquished to death on a stake. Ashurnasirpal, mentioned by Gaston Maspero, wrote: “I hung the corpses on poles. I planted some on the top of the post […] and the rest on stakes around the post.”
The Persians also had a special affection for this form of capital punishment. Xerxes, enraged by the disobedience of King Leonidas, who, with three hundred Spartans, tried to block the path of the Persian army at Thermopylae, ordered to plant Greek hero On stake.
Planting techniques throughout the world were almost identical, with the exception of a few details. Some peoples, including the Assyrians, injected a stake through the abdomen and removed it through the armpit or mouth, but this practice was not widespread, and in the vast majority of cases, a wooden or metal stake was inserted through the anus.
The condemned was laid on his stomach on the ground. They spread their legs and either fixed them motionless, or they were held by executioners, their hands were nailed to the ground with spears, or they were tied behind their backs.
In some cases, depending on the diameter of the stake, the anus was previously oiled or cut with a knife. With both hands, the executioner stuck the stake as deep as he could, and then drove it deeper with the help of a club.
There was a wide scope for imagination here. Sometimes in codes or sentences it was specified that a stake inserted into the body by 50-60 cm should be placed vertically in a hole prepared in advance. Death came extremely slowly, and the condemned man experienced indescribable torment. The sophistication of torture was that the execution was carried out by itself and no longer required the intervention of the executioner. The stake penetrated deeper and deeper into the victim under the influence of its weight, until it finally crawled out of the armpit, chest, back or abdomen, depending on the direction given. Sometimes death came after a few days. Cases where the agony lasted longer three days, there was plenty.
It is known for sure that a stake inserted into the anus and exiting the abdomen killed more slowly than exiting the chest or throat.
Often a stake was driven in with a hammer, piercing the body through and through, the task of the executioner in this case was to make it come out of the mouth. In addition to the physical characteristics of the condemned, the duration of the agony depended on the type of stake.
In some cases, the stake inserted through the anus was well sharpened. Then death came quickly, because he easily tore the organs, causing internal injuries and fatal bleeding. Russians usually aimed at the heart, which was not always possible. Many historians say that one boyar, impaled on the orders of Ivan IV, suffered for 2 whole days. The lover of Empress Evdokia, after spending twelve hours on a stake, spat in the face of Peter I.
Persians, Chinese, Burmese and Siamese preferred a thin stake with a rounded end, which caused minimal damage to internal organs, to a pointed stake. He did not pierce or tear them apart, but pushed them apart and pushed back, penetrating deep into. Death remained inevitable, but the execution could last several days, which was very useful from the point of view of edification.
Suleiman Habi was executed on a stake with a rounded tip in 1800 for stabbing General Kléber, the commander-in-chief of the French troops in Egypt after Bonaparte sailed to France, with a knife.
This was perhaps the only case in history when Western jurisprudence resorted to this method of execution. The French military commission departed from the military code in favor of the customs of the country. The execution took place with a large gathering of people on the esplanade of the Cairo Institute with the participation of the French executioner Barthelemy, for whom this was the first experience of this kind. He coped with the task relatively successfully: before proceeding with hammering an iron stake, he considered it necessary to cut the anus with a knife. Suleiman Habi fought in agony for four hours.
The Chinese method of impalement, as always, was particularly sophisticated: a bamboo tube was hammered into the anus, through which an iron rod heated on fire was inserted inside.
By the way, that's how they were executed English king Edward II to pass off his death as natural. A red-hot rod was introduced into his body through a hollow horn. Michelet writes in the History of France: “The corpse was put on public display ... There was not a single wound on the body, but people heard screams and it was clear from the tortured face of the monarch that the killers subjected him to terrible torture.”
In the East, this method of execution was often used for intimidation, impaling captives near the walls of a besieged city in order to sow terror in the souls of the townspeople.
Turkish troops were especially famous for such acts of intimidation. For example, this is how they acted at the walls of Bucharest and Vienna.
As a result of an uprising in Morocco around the middle of the 18th century, the Bukharians, the famous “black guard”, consisting of blacks bought in Sudan, several thousand men, women and children were impaled.
In those same years, in Dahomey, girls were sacrificed to the gods, planting a vagina on pointed masts.
In Europe, impalement was popular at the time religious wars especially in Italy. Jean Legere writes that in 1669, in Piedmont, the notable's daughter, Anne Charbonneau de la Tour, was planted "a causal place" on a pike, and a squadron of executioners carried her through the city, chanting that this was their flag, which they would eventually stick in the ground at the intersection roads.
During the war in Spain, Napoleonic troops impaled Spanish patriots, who paid them the same. Goya captured these terrible scenes in engravings and drawings.
In 1816, after a riot that ended in the killing of more than 15 thousand people, Sultan Mahmud II liquidated the Janissary corps. Many were beheaded, but most were executed with a stake.
Roland Villein writes that in 1958 the uncle of the Iraqi king, known for his homosexual inclinations, "was put on a stake, so that punishment would overtake him through the place of his sin."

In the photo: By order People's Commissar soldiers of the Red Army hanged the Polish captain Razhnsky on a stake, 1917

Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow as much as a meter in a day. Some historians believe that the deadly bamboo torture was used not only by the ancient Chinese, but also by the Japanese military during World War II.
How it works?
1) Live bamboo sprouts are sharpened with a knife to make sharp “spears”;
2) The victim is suspended horizontally, back or belly over a bed of young pointed bamboo;
3) Bamboo grows rapidly in height, pierce into the skin of the martyr and sprout through his abdominal cavity, the person dies very long and painfully.
2. Iron Maiden

Like torture with bamboo, many researchers consider the "iron maiden" a terrible legend. Perhaps these metal sarcophagi with sharp spikes inside only frightened the defendants, after which they confessed to anything. The "iron maiden" was invented at the end of the 18th century, i.e. already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.
How it works?
1) The victim is stuffed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;
2) The spikes driven into the inner walls of the "iron maiden" are rather short and do not pierce the victim through, but only cause pain. The investigator, as a rule, in a matter of minutes receives a confession, which the arrested person only has to sign;
3) If the prisoner shows fortitude and continues to be silent, long nails, knives and rapiers are pushed through special holes in the sarcophagus. The pain becomes simply unbearable;
4) The victim never confesses to his deed, then she was locked in a sarcophagus for a long time, where she died from blood loss;
5) In some models of the “iron maiden”, spikes were provided at eye level in order to quickly poke them out.
3. Skafism
The name of this torture comes from the Greek "skafium", which means "trough". Skafism was popular in ancient Persia. During the torture, the victim, most often a prisoner of war, was devoured alive by various insects and their larvae that were not indifferent to human flesh and blood.
How it works?
1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.
2) He is force-fed with large amounts of milk and honey, which causes the victim to develop copious diarrhea that attracts insects.
3) A prisoner, shabby, smeared with honey, is allowed to swim in a trough in a swamp, where there are many hungry creatures.
4) Insects immediately start the meal, as the main dish - the living flesh of the martyr.
4. Terrible pear


“There is a pear - you can’t eat it,” it is said about the medieval European tool for “educating” blasphemers, liars, women who gave birth out of wedlock, and gay men. Depending on the crime, the tormentor put the pear into the sinner's mouth, anus or vagina.
How it works?
1) The tool, consisting of pointed pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments, is thrust into the client's desired hole in the body;
2) The executioner slowly turns the screw on the top of the pear, while the “leaves”-segments bloom inside the martyr, causing hellish pain;
3) After the pear is opened, the completely guilty person receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he has not already fallen into unconsciousness.
5. Copper bull


The design of this death unit was developed by the ancient Greeks, or to be more precise, the coppersmith Perill, who sold his terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Falaris, who simply adored torturing and killing people in unusual ways.
Inside the copper statue, through a special door, they pushed a living person.
So
Falaris first tested the unit on its creator, the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Falaris himself was roasted in a bull.
How it works?
1) The victim is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;
2) A fire is kindled under the belly of the bull;
3) The victim is roasted alive, like a ham in a frying pan;
4) The structure of the bull is such that the cries of the martyr come from the mouth of the statue, like a bull's roar;
5) Jewelry and amulets were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold in the bazaars and were in great demand ..
6. Torture by rats


Rat torture was very popular in ancient China. However, we will look at the rat punishment technique developed by the leader of the 16th century Dutch Revolution, Didrik Sonoy.
How it works?
1) The naked martyr is laid on a table and tied;
2) Large, heavy cages with hungry rats are placed on the prisoner's stomach and chest. The bottom of the cells is opened with a special valve;
3) Hot coals are placed on top of the cages to stir up the rats;
4) Trying to escape from the heat of hot coals, rats gnaw their way through the flesh of the victim.
7. Cradle of Judas

The Cradle of Judas was one of the most painful torture machines in the arsenal of the Suprema - the Spanish Inquisition. The victims usually died from the infection, due to the fact that the peaked seat of the torture machine was never disinfected. The cradle of Judas, as an instrument of torture, was considered "loyal", because it did not break bones and did not tear ligaments.
How it works?
1) The victim, whose hands and feet are tied, is seated on the top of a pointed pyramid;
2) The top of the pyramid pierces the anus or vagina;
3) With the help of ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;
4) Torture continues for several hours or even days, until the victim dies from powerlessness and pain, or from blood loss due to rupture of soft tissues.
8. Elephant trampling

For several centuries, this execution was practiced in India and Indochina. The elephant is very easy to train and to teach him to trample the guilty victim with his huge feet is a matter of several days.
How it works?
1. The victim is tied to the floor;
2. A trained elephant is brought into the hall to crush the head of the martyr;
3. Sometimes before the "control in the head" animals squeeze the victims' arms and legs in order to amuse the audience.
9. Rack

Probably the most famous, and unsurpassed in its kind, death machine called "rack". It was first experienced around 300 AD. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.
Anyone who survived the rack could no longer use their muscles and turned into a helpless vegetable.
How it works?
1. This instrument of torture is a special bed with rollers at both ends, on which ropes were wound, holding the wrists and ankles of the victim. When the rollers rotated, the ropes stretched in opposite directions, stretching the body;
2. Ligaments in the hands and feet of the victim are stretched and torn, bones pop out of the joints.
3. Another version of the rack was also used, called strappado: it consisted of 2 pillars dug into the ground and connected by a crossbar. The interrogated person was tied with his hands behind his back and lifted by the rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. At the same time, the hands of a person raised on a rack twisted back and often came out of their joints, so that the convict had to hang on twisted arms. They were on the rack from several minutes to an hour or more. This type of rack was used most often in Western Europe.
4. In Russia, a suspect raised on a rack was beaten with a whip on the back, and “applied to the fire”, that is, they drove burning brooms over the body.
5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a person hanging on a rack with red-hot tongs.
10. Paraffin in the bladder
A savage form of torture, the actual use of which has not been established.
How it works?
1. Candle paraffin was rolled out by hand into a thin sausage, which was injected through the urethra;
2. Paraffin slipped into the bladder, where it began to precipitate solid salts and other filth.
3. The victim soon developed kidney problems and died of acute kidney failure. On average, death occurred in 3-4 days.
11. Shiri (camel cap)
A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Zhuanzhuans (the union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into their slavery. They destroyed the memory of a slave terrible torture- putting Shiri on the victim's head. Usually this fate befell young guys captured in battles.
How it works?
1. First, the slaves shaved their heads, carefully scraping out every hair under the root.
2. The executioners slaughtered the camel and skinned its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, densest part.
3. Having divided the neck into pieces, it was immediately pulled in pairs over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces, like a plaster, stuck around the heads of slaves. This meant putting on wide.
4. After putting on the width, the neck of the doomed was shackled in a special wooden block so that the subject could not touch his head to the ground. In this form, they were taken away from crowded places so that no one would hear their heartbreaking cries, and they were thrown there in an open field, with hands and feet tied, in the sun, without water and without food.
5. The torture lasted 5 days.
6. Only a few remained alive, and the rest died not from hunger or even from thirst, but from unbearable, inhuman torments caused by drying out, shrinking rawhide camel skin on the head. Inexorably shrinking under the rays of the scorching sun, the width squeezed, squeezing the shaved head of a slave like an iron hoop. Already on the second day, the shaved hair of the martyrs began to sprout. Coarse and straight Asian hair sometimes grew into rawhide, in most cases, finding no way out, the hair bent and again went into the scalp with its ends, causing even greater suffering. A day later, the man lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Zhuanzhuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured was caught alive, it was believed that the goal was achieved. .
7. The one who was subjected to such a procedure either died, unable to withstand the torture, or lost his memory for life, turned into a mankurt - a slave who does not remember his past.
8. The skin of one camel was enough for five or six widths.
12. Implantation of metals
A very strange means of torture-execution was used in the Middle Ages.
How it works?
1. A deep incision was made on a person’s legs, where a piece of metal (iron, lead, etc.) was placed, after which the wound was sutured.
2. Over time, the metal oxidized, poisoning the body and causing terrible pain.
3. Most often, the poor fellows tore the skin in the place where the metal was sewn up and died from blood loss.
13. Dividing a person into two parts
This terrible execution originated in Thailand. The most hardened criminals were subjected to it - mostly murderers.
How it works?
1. The accused is placed in a hoodie woven from lianas, and he is stabbed with sharp objects;
2. After that, his body is quickly cut into two parts, the upper half is immediately placed on a red-hot copper grate; this operation stops the blood and prolongs the life of the upper part of the person.
A small addition: This torture is described in the book of the Marquis de Sade "Justine, or the successes of vice." This is a small excerpt from a large piece of text where de Sade allegedly describes the torture of the peoples of the world. But why supposedly? According to many critics, the Marquis was very fond of lying. He had an extraordinary imagination and a couple of manias, so this torture, like some others, could be a figment of his imagination. But the field of this is not worth referring to Donatien Alphonse as Baron Munchausen. This torture, in my opinion, if it did not exist before, is quite realistic. If, of course, a person is drugged with painkillers before this (opiates, alcohol, etc.), so that he does not die before his body touches the bars.
14. Inflation with air through the anus
A terrible torture in which a person is pumped with air through the anus.
There is evidence that in Rus' even Peter the Great himself sinned with this.
Most often, thieves were executed in this way.
How it works?
1. The victim was tied hand and foot.
2. Then they took cotton and stuffed the ears, nose and mouth of the poor fellow with it.
3. Furs were inserted into the anus, with the help of which they were pumped into a person great amount air, resulting in it becoming like a balloon.
3. After that, I plugged his anus with a piece of cotton.
4. Then they opened two veins above his eyebrows, from which all the blood flowed under great pressure.
5. Sometimes a bound person was placed naked on the roof of the palace and shot with arrows until he died.
6. Prior to 1970, this method was often used in Jordanian prisons.
15. Polledro
The Neapolitan executioners lovingly called this torture "polledro" - "colt" (polledro) and were proud that it was first used in their native city. Although history did not preserve the name of its inventor, they said that he was an expert in horse breeding and came up with an unusual device to pacify his horses.
Only a few decades later, lovers of mocking people turned the horse breeder's device into a real torture machine for people.
The machine was a wooden frame, similar to a ladder, the crossbeams of which were very sharp corners so that when a person is put on their back, they crash into the body from the back of the head to the heels. The staircase ended in a huge wooden spoon, in which, as if in a cap, they put their heads.
How it works?
1. Holes were drilled on both sides of the frame and in the “bonnet”, ropes were threaded into each of them. The first of them was tightened on the forehead of the tortured, the last tied the big toes. As a rule, there were thirteen ropes, but for especially stubborn ones, the number was increased.
2. With special devices, the ropes were pulled tighter and tighter - it seemed to the victims that, having crushed the muscles, they dug into the bones.
16. Dead man's bed (modern China)


The "dead man's bed" torture is used by the Chinese Communist Party mainly on those prisoners who try to protest their illegal imprisonment through a hunger strike. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience who went to prison for their beliefs.
How it works?
1. The hands and feet of a naked prisoner are tied to the corners of the bed, on which, instead of a mattress, there is a wooden board with a hole cut out. A bucket for excrement is placed under the hole. Often, ropes are tightly tied to the bed and the body of a person so that he cannot move at all. In this position, a person is continuously from several days to weeks.
2. In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, the police still place a hard object under the victim's back to increase the suffering.
3. It also happens that the bed is placed vertically and for 3-4 days a person hangs, stretched by the limbs.
4. Force-feeding is added to these torments, which is carried out with the help of a tube inserted through the nose into the esophagus, into which liquid food is poured.
5. This procedure is done mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by health workers. They do it very rudely and not professionally, often causing more serious damage to the internal organs of a person.
6. Those who have gone through this torture say that it causes displacement of the vertebrae, joints of the arms and legs, as well as numbness and blackening of the limbs, which often leads to disability.
17. Collar (Modern China)

One of the medieval tortures used in modern Chinese prisons is the wearing of a wooden collar. It is put on a prisoner, which is why he cannot walk or stand normally.
The collar is a board from 50 to 80 cm long, from 30 to 50 cm wide and 10 - 15 cm thick. There are two holes for the legs in the middle of the collar.
The shackled victim is difficult to move, must crawl into the bed, and usually must sit or lie down, as the upright position causes pain and injury to the legs. Without assistance, a person with a collar cannot go to eat or go to the toilet. When a person gets out of bed, the collar not only presses on the legs and heels, causing pain, but its edge clings to the bed and prevents the person from returning to it. At night, the prisoner is not able to turn around, and in winter, a short blanket does not cover his legs.
An even worse form of this torture is called "crawling with a wooden collar." The guards put a collar on the man and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, he is hit on the back with a police baton. An hour later, fingers, toenails and knees bleed profusely, while the back is covered with wounds from blows.
18. Impaling

Terrible wild execution that came from the East.
The essence of this execution was that a person was placed on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A person was inserted into the anus with a stake, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove a stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to go deeper and deeper, and finally it came out under the armpit or between the ribs.
19. Spanish water torture

To the best way perform the procedure of this torture, the accused was placed on one of the varieties of the rack or on a special big table with a rising middle part. After the victim's hands and feet were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner went to work in one of several ways. One of these methods was that the victim was forced to swallow a large amount of water with a funnel, then beaten on the inflated and arched stomach. Another form involved placing a rag tube down the victim's throat, through which water was slowly poured in, causing the victim to bloat and suffocate. If that wasn't enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then reinserted and the process repeated. Sometimes they used torture cold water. In this case, the accused lay naked on the table for hours under a jet of icy water. It is interesting to note that this kind of torture was regarded as light, and confessions obtained in this way were accepted by the court as voluntary and given to the defendants without the use of torture. Most often, these tortures were used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to knock out confessions from heretics and witches.
20. Chinese water torture
The person was seated in a very cold room, they tied him so that he could not move his head, and in complete darkness cold water was very slowly dripping on his forehead. After a few days, the person froze or went crazy.
21. Spanish chair

This instrument of torture was widely used by the executioners of the Spanish Inquisition and was a chair made of iron, on which the prisoner was seated, and his legs were enclosed in stocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he was in such a completely helpless position, a brazier was placed under his feet; with hot coals, so that the legs began to slowly roast, and in order to prolong the suffering of the poor fellow, the legs were poured with oil from time to time.
Another version of the Spanish chair was often used, which was a metal throne, to which the victim was tied and a fire was made under the seat, roasting the buttocks. The well-known poisoner La Voisin was tortured on such an armchair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.
22. GRIDIRON (Grate for torture by fire)


Torture of Saint Lawrence on the gridiron.
This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and fictional, but there is no evidence that the gridiron "survived" until the Middle Ages and had at least little circulation in Europe. It is usually described as a simple metal grate 6 feet long and two and a half feet wide, set horizontally on legs to allow a fire to be built underneath.
Sometimes the gridiron was made in the form of a rack in order to be able to resort to combined torture.
Saint Lawrence was martyred on a similar grid.
This torture was rarely resorted to. Firstly, it was easy enough to kill the interrogated person, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.
23. Pectoral

Pectoral in ancient times was called a breast adornment for women in the form of a pair of carved gold or silver bowls, often strewn with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and fastened with chains.
By a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.
In 1985, the pectoral was red-hot and, taking it with tongs, put it on the chest of the tortured woman and held until she confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral, cooled by the living body again, and continued the interrogation.
Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred, torn holes remained in place of the woman's breasts.
24. Tickle Torture

This seemingly harmless influence was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person’s nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch caused at first twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If such torture was continued for a long time, then after a while spasms of the respiratory muscles arose and, in the end, the tortured person died from suffocation.
At the most simple version the interrogated were tortured by tickling sensitive places either simply with their hands or with hairbrushes and brushes. Rigid bird feathers were popular. Usually tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, inguinal folds, genitals, women also under the breasts.
In addition, torture was often used with the use of animals that licked some tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated. A goat was often used, because its very hard tongue, adapted for eating herbs, caused very strong irritation.
There was also a form of beetle tickling, most common in India. With her, a small bug was planted on the head of the penis of a man or on the nipple of a woman and covered with half a nut shell. After some time, the tickling caused by the movement of the legs of an insect over a living body became so unbearable that the interrogated person confessed to anything.
25. Crocodile


These tubular metal tongs "Crocodile" were red-hot and used to tear the penis of the tortured. At first, with a few caressing movements (often performed by women), or with a tight bandage, they achieved a stable hard erection and then the torture began.
26. Serrated crusher


These serrated iron tongs slowly crushed the testicles of the interrogated.
Something similar was widely used in Stalinist and fascist prisons.
27. A terrible tradition.


Actually, this is not torture, but an African rite, but, in my opinion, it is very cruel. Girls from 3-6 years old without anesthesia were simply scraped out the external genitalia.
Thus, the girl did not lose the ability to have children, but was forever deprived of the opportunity to experience sexual desire and pleasure. This rite is done “for the good” of women so that they will never be tempted to cheat on their husband
28. Blood Eagle


One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and his back was opened, the ribs were broken off at the spine and spread apart like wings. In Scandinavian legends, it is stated that during such an execution, salt was sprinkled on the wounds of the victim.
Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses convicted of treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend.

Executed in Rus' for a long time, subtly and painfully. Historians to this day have not come to a consensus about the causes of the death penalty.

Some are inclined to the version of the continuation of the custom of blood feud, others prefer the Byzantine influence. How did they deal with those who broke the law in Rus'? Drowning This type of execution was very common in Kievan Rus. Usually it was used in cases where it was required to deal with a large number of criminals. But there were also isolated cases. So, for example, the Kyiv prince Rostislav was somehow angry with Gregory the Wonderworker. He ordered to tie the rebellious hands, throw a rope loop around his neck, at the other end of which a heavy stone was fixed, and throw it into the water. With the help of drowning, in Ancient Rus', apostates, that is, Christians, were also executed. They were sewn into a bag and thrown into the water. Usually such executions took place after battles, during which many prisoners appeared. Execution by drowning, in contrast to execution by burning, was considered the most shameful for Christians. Interestingly, centuries later, the Bolsheviks during the Civil War used drowning as a massacre against the families of the "bourgeois", while the condemned were tied hands and thrown into the water.

Burning From the 13th century, this type of execution was usually applied to those who violated church laws - for blasphemy against God, for unholy sermons, for witchcraft. Ivan the Terrible especially loved her, who, by the way, was very inventive in the methods of execution. So, for example, he came up with the idea of ​​sewing the offenders into bearskins and giving them to be torn to pieces by dogs or skinning a living person. In the era of Peter, execution by burning was applied to counterfeiters. By the way, they were punished in another way - they poured molten lead or tin into their mouths. Burying Burying alive in the ground was usually applied to murderers. Most often, a woman was buried up to her throat, less often - only up to her chest. Such a scene is excellently described by Tolstoy in his novel Peter the Great. Usually, a crowded place became a place for execution - a central square or a city market. Next to the still alive executed criminal, they put up a sentry who stopped any attempts to show compassion, to give the woman water or some bread. It was not forbidden, however, to express their contempt or hatred for the criminal - to spit on her head or even kick her. And those who wished could give alms for the coffin and church candles. Usually, a painful death came on 3-4 days, but history recorded a case when a certain Euphrosyne, buried on August 21, died only on September 22. Quartering During quartering, the condemned were cut off their legs, then their arms, and only then their heads. So, for example, Stepan Razin was executed. It was planned to take the life of Yemelyan Pugachev in the same way, but he was first cut off his head, and only then he was deprived of his limbs. From the examples given, it is easy to guess that this type of execution was used for insulting the king, for an attempt on his life, for treason and for imposture. It is worth noting that, unlike the Central European, for example, Parisian crowd, which perceived the execution as a spectacle and dismantled the gallows for souvenirs, Russian people treated the condemned with compassion and mercy.

So, during the execution of Razin, there was deathly silence on the square, broken only by rare female sobs. At the end of the procedure, people usually dispersed in silence. Boiling Boiling in oil, water or wine was especially popular in Rus' during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The condemned was put into a cauldron filled with liquid. Hands were threaded into special rings built into the cauldron. Then the cauldron was put on fire and slowly heated up. As a result, the person was boiled alive. Such an execution was applied in Rus' to state traitors. However, this view looks humane compared to the execution called "Walking in a circle" - one of the most fierce methods used in Rus'. The condemned was cut open in the stomach in the area of ​​​​the intestines, but so that he did not die too quickly from blood loss. Then they removed the gut, nailed one end of it to a tree and forced the executed person to walk around the tree in a circle. Wheeling Widespread wheeling was in the era of Peter. The sentenced was tied to a timbered St. Andrew's cross fixed on the scaffold. Notches were made on the rays of the cross. The criminal was stretched on the cross face up in such a way that each of his limbs lay on the rays, and the places of the folds of the limbs were on the notches. The executioner dealt one blow after another with an iron crowbar of a quadrangular shape, gradually breaking the bones in the folds of the arms and legs.

The work of crying ended with two or three precise blows to the stomach, with the help of which the ridge was broken. The body of the broken criminal was connected so that the heels converged with the back of the head, laid on a horizontal wheel and left to die in this position. The last time such an execution was applied in Rus' to the participants in the Pugachev rebellion. Impaling Like quartering, impalement was usually applied to rebels or traitor thieves. So Zarutsky, an accomplice of Marina Mnishek, was executed in 1614. During the execution, the executioner drove a stake into the human body with a hammer, then the stake was placed vertically. The executed gradually, under the weight of his own body, began to slide down. After a few hours, the stake came out through his chest or neck. Sometimes a crossbar was made on the stake, which stopped the movement of the body, preventing the stake from reaching the heart. This method significantly extended the time of painful death. Impaling until the 18th century was a very common type of execution among the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. Smaller stakes were used to punish rapists - they were driven a stake through the heart, as well as against mothers who killed children.