Since we started writing down the history of our race, man has frequently come up with revolting methods of killing for punishment. This is a list of the most revolting methods of execution from history. Thankfully most of them are no longer used.
10. Brazen Bull
The Brazen Bull was invented by Perilaus of Athens (a Brass worker) in the 6th Century BC and offered to Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, as a gift. It was a large brass bull that was completely hollow inside with a door on the side large enough for a man to enter. Once the man was inside the bull, a fire would be lit beneath it in order to roast him to death. In the head of the bull, Perilaus put a series of tubes and stops that were designed to amplify the screams of the victim and make them sound like the roar of a bull.
Interestingly, Perilaus was the first person to feel the pain of the Brazen Bull. After Perilaus said to Phalaris: “[his screams] will come to you through the pipes as the tenderest, most pathetic, most melodious of bellowings”, Phalaris was so disgusted that he tricked Perilaus in to entering the bull. Lucian recounts the tale:
‘His words revolted me. I loathed the thought of such ingenious cruelty, and resolved to punish the artificer in kind. “If this is anything more than an empty boast, Perilaus,” I said to him, “if your art can really produce this effect, get inside yourself, and pretend to roar; and we will see whether the pipes will make such music as you describe.” He consented; and when he was inside I closed the aperture, and ordered a fire to be kindled. “Receive,” I cried, “the due reward of your wondrous art: let the music-master be the first to play.” Phalaris I:12
Perilaus was removed from the Bull before he died and Phalaris had him thrown off a cliff. The Brazen Bull became one of the most common methods of execution in Ancient Greece.
9. Hanging Drawing and Quartering
Hanging drawing and quartering was the common form of punishment in England for the crime of treason which was considered the worst crime you could commit. The punishment was only applied to men – women found guilty of treason were burnt at the stake. Unbelievably, this punishment remained in law until 1814.
The first stage of the execution was to be tied to a wooden frame and dragged behind a horse to the place of your death. Following that, the criminal would be hanged until they were nearly dead. The criminal would then be removed from the noose and laid on a table. The executioner would then disembowel and emasculate the victim, and burn the entrails in front of his eyes. He would still be alive at this point. The person would then be beheaded and their body cut in to quarters. Samuel Pepys, in his famous diary, was an eyewitness at one of these executions:
To my Lord’s in the morning, where I met with Captain Cuttance, but my Lord not being up I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major-general Harrison hanged, drawn, and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. He was presently cut down, and his head and heart shown to the people, at which there was great shouts of joy. It is said, that he said that he was sure to come shortly at the right hand of Christ to judge them that now had judged him; and that his wife do expect his coming again. Thus it was my chance to see the King beheaded at White Hall, and to see the first blood shed in revenge for the blood of the King at Charing Cross.
The normal practice was to send the five parts of the body to various areas where they would be put on display on a gibbet as a warning to others.
8. Burning
Burning at the Stake was normally done in one of two ways. In the first, the victim would be lead to the center of a wall of sticks and straw and tied to the stake, after which the space between the criminal and the wall would be filled with wood – concealing the person. It is believed that this is the manner in which St Joan of Arc was burnt. The other method was to pile sticks and straw up to the level of the calves only.
When performed by a skilled executioner, the person would burn in this sequence: calves, thighs and hands, torso and forearms, breasts, upper chest, face; and then finally death. Needless to say this would have been excruciating. If a large number of people were to be burnt at the same time, death could occur through carbon monoxide poisoning before the fire reached you. If the fire was small, you could die of shock, blood loss, or heatstroke.
In later versions of burning at the stake, the criminal would be hanged until dead and then burnt symbolically. This method of execution was used to burn witches in most parts of Europe, but it was not used in England for that purpose.
7. Ling Chi
Ling Chi – execution by slow cutting – was practiced in China until it was outlawed in 1905. In the execution, the criminal is slowly cut in the arms, legs, and chest, until finally they are beheaded or stabbed in the heart. Many western accounts of the execution method are largely exaggerated, with some claiming that the execution could take days to perform.
One modern eyewitness report from Journalist and Politician Henry Norman, describes an execution thus:
The criminal is fastened to a rough cross, and the executioner, armed with a sharp knife, begins by grasping handfuls from the fleshy parts of the body, such as the thighs and the breasts, and slicing them off. After this he removes the joints and the excrescences of the body one by one-the nose and ears, fingers and toes. Then the limbs are cut off piecemeal at the wrists and the ankles, the elbows and knees, the shoulders and hips. Finally, the victim is stabbed to the heart and his head cut off.
You can see a particularly revolting image of a criminal who has been executed by this method here and another here.
6. Breaking Wheel
The breaking wheel was also known as the Catherine Wheel and it was a mediaeval execution device. The criminal would be attached to a cart wheel and his arms and legs stretched out along the spokes. The wheel would be made to turn while a heavy metal bar or hammer would deliver bone breaking blows to various parts of the body between the spokes. If a merciful execution had been ordered, after a large number of bones were shattered, fatal blows would be delivered. In cases where mercy was not offered, the criminal would remain on the wheel until they died – this could sometimes take days and the person would die of shock and dehydration.
After the shattering was complete, the limbs of the person would be woven between the spokes and the wheel would be hoisted to the top of a pole for birds to eat the, sometimes still living, body.
In France, a special grace was sometimes offered in which the criminal would be strangled to death before the blows were delivered, or after only two or three.
5. Boiling
In execution by boiling, the condemned is stripped naked and either placed in a vat of boiling liquid, or in a vat of cold liquid which was then heated to boiling. The liquid could be oil, acid, tar, water, or molten lead. During the reign of King Henry VIII it was a punishment especially reserved for poisoners.
“The preamble of the statute of Henry VIII (which made poisoning treason) in 1531 recites that one Richard Roose (or Coke), a cook, by putting poison in some food intended for the household of the bishop of Rochester and for the poor of the parish of Lambeth, killed a man and woman. He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to be boiled to death without benefit of clergy. He was publicly boiled at Smithfield. In the same year a maid-servant for poisoning her mistress was boiled at King’s Lynn.” [Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911]
The “Chronicle of the Grey Friars of London” (published by the Camden Society) has an account of a case at Smithfield, in which a man was fastened to a chain and let down into boiling water several times until he was dead. In modern days, Idi Amin has been accused of using this method of execution on his enemies.
4. Flaying
Execution by Flaying is when the skin of the criminal is removed from their body with the use of a very sharp knife. Attempts are made to keep the skin intact. This is a very ancient method of execution. The apostle Bartholomew was flayed and crucified upside down. His skin and bones are kept in a Cathedral in Sicily.
There are accounts of Assyrians flaying the skin from a captured enemy or rebellious ruler and nailing it to the wall of his city, as warning to all who would defy their power. The Aztecs of Mexico flayed victims of ritual human sacrifice, generally after death.
While this method of execution is not lawful in any country, in 2000, government troops in Myanma (Burma) allegedly flayed all of the males of a Karenni village.
3. Necklacing
Necklacing is a type of execution in which a rubber tyre is filled with gasoline, forced over the arms and chest of the victim, and set alight. It was a common practice in South Africa during the 1980s and 1990s anti-apartheid struggle.
Necklacing sentences were sometimes handed down against alleged criminals by “people’s courts” established in black townships as a means of circumventing the apartheid judicial system. Necklacing was also used to punish members of the black community who were perceived as collaborators with the apartheid regime. These included black policemen, town councilors and others, as well as their relatives and associates. The practice was frequently carried out in the name of the African National Congress (ANC), and was even endorsed by Winnie Mandela, then-wife of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela and a senior member of the ANC, although the ANC officially condemned the practice. [Wikipedia]
Necklacing has also occured in Brazil, and Haiti, and at least one person was killed by this method in Nigeria during muslim protests over the Muhammad Cartoons.
2. Scaphism
Scaphism is an Ancient Persian method of execution. According to Wikipedia, a naked person would be firmly fastened within a back-to-back pair of narrow rowboats (or in some variations a hollowed out tree trunk), the head, hands, and feet protruding from this improvised container. The condemned was forced to ingest milk and honey to the point of developing severe diarrhea, and more honey would be rubbed on his body so as to attract insects to the exposed appendages. They would then be left to float on a stagnant pond (or alternately, simply exposed to the sun somewhere). The defenseless individual’s feces accumulated within the container, attracting more insects, which would eat and breed within his or her exposed (and increasingly gangrenous) flesh. Death, when it eventually occurred, was probably due to a combination of dehydration, starvation and septic shock.
Plutarch writes that it took Mithridates 17 days to die by this method of execution. Native American Indians also used a similar method of execution where they would tie the victim to a tree, smear him and leave him to the ants. Because he was not previously force-fed, he would generally starve in a few days.
1. Sawing
In Execution by sawing, the criminal would be hung upside-down and a large saw would be used to cut their body in half, starting with the groin, all the way to the head. Because the person was hanging upside-down, the brain received sufficient blood to keep them alive until the saw finally reached the main blood vessels in the abdomen. In the Asian version of this execution, the victim would stand upright and the sawing would begin at the top of the head.
Some traditions state that the Prophet Isaiah was executed by the saw. It is believed that Saint Paul is making reference to this in his Epistle to the Hebrews 11:37:
They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted.
This method of execution was used in the Middle East, Europe, and parts of Asia. It was also used in the Roman Empire and was considered to be the favorite punishment dished out by Emperor Caligula.
My God…
What about that method of execution wherby a person was tied down when an upturned vase was placed on their bellies with rats inside. The vase was then heated using a fire, causing that rats to frantically scratch at your belly until they had burried inside you. I remember hearing about this as a torture method in the medievil period.
Flaying was used by Mongol rebels during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. A particularly gruesome account is given in the (fiction) book 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle'.
I have read of this method of inducing rats to dig into the stomach. It may or may not have actually happened, but it is pictured in the French picturebook "Theatre des Cruautés" by Verstegan and edited by Lestringant. The text dates from 1572 I believe and is part of the reformation and anti-reformation dialogue where each side is trying to vilify the other, here using images. Exaggeration is likely part of many of the tortures pictured in this text but the ideas must have come from somewhere!
I just paid $22.87 for an iPad2-64GB and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic Lumix GF 1 Camera that we got for $38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $675 which only cost me $62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, CentBuzz.com
JT: am not sure if that is an urban legend or a fact. If I can find any evidence that it is a real execution method I will add it as a notable.
I know this method was not used much, but one man that was recorded in history died the most horrible execution of all time… György Dózsa, Székely man-at-arms and peasants’ revolt leader in Hungary, was condemned to sit on a red-hot iron throne with a red-hot iron crown on his head and a red-hot sceptre in his hand (mocking at his ambition to be king), by Hungarian landed nobility in Transylvania. While Dózsa was still alive, he was set upon and his partially roasted body was eaten by six of his fellow rebels, who had been starved for a week beforehand.
Imagine that…
You missed out vlad the impalers favourite method. Have a large virtually blunt grease stake slowly enter your body through the gravity of your body weight sounds pretty horrific to me.
It’s sad that humans have been so ingenious in their cruelty throughout history.
Oh, what a gruesome list! ( But I am still fascinated ) I was aware of most of these, but the shock is always fresh regarding this subject. I’m so glad these methods of execution for the most part are not still used. Shiver!
i like it
conni: tell me about it! I am just shocked that some of them lived in to the 20th century!
Some of them were INVENTED in the twenty-first century, like necklacing (probably wouldn't work too well before rubber car tires and gasoline start popping up).
[JT] Yes, and sometimes the rats managed to get out of the body, emerging from the back.
Another one was the “Chinese drop” or something like that, which consisted in just tying someone to a chair, and letting a drop of water fall in the top of his head regularly. Before the continous drop falling reached the brain, the person had already gone mad.
Inquisition had those atrocities and more, like the “head smasher” (wonder what it does?) http://ainis.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/aplasta.jpg ; the “garrote vil”, which slowly pushed a pointed piece of iron into the nape, http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/Garrote.JPG ….
I think the thing with the saw (#10) was punishment for homo*****uals. I have seen a saw which was used for that kind of execution at a Torture museum in Amsterdam a few years back. It was huge and REALLY bad looking (the saw not the museum :p. Seeing it AND knowing for what was used for, made me dizzy.
In #1: “the blood received sufficient blood to keep them alive”
Isn’t it “the brain received…”?
Other than that, a morbidly fascinating list. And an excellent site.
It helps explain why more ‘modern’ methods of execution were considered more humane. Beheading by sword or axe or the less-likely-to-miss guillotine… Even electrocution comes off as much less horrendous.
Of course, many of the listed execution methods were designed to torment as much as kill. The idea was often that someone should suffer for their crime. Quick deaths (such as by hanging) were when the only punishment was to be death. But treason and such were considered deserving of not just death, but pain and a warning to others. (Admittedly, if I were plotting against a king, and someone I knew was drawn and quartered, I’d really rethink my position.)
wow the saw is just disgusting…i dont think i could ever do that to someone, it would physically make me sick to do that. it’s sad to think that modern execution styles are “more humane” than those of years past. It is simply gruesome, yet curiosly fascinating
I have to wonder about the mental state of the executioners. I know some of them loved thier jobs, but I assume others did it with very little enjoyment or even perhaps because if they didn’t, they could be next. But then, it may not have been too difficult to find true sadists to fill the position.Makes me think about the recent beheadings going on in the Middle East.They don’t just chop the head off, but use a sawing motion. I wonder how long the victim stays conscious? Far too long at any rate!
There may have been executioners who enjoyed their jobs but I strongly believe the vast majority didn't. They did it because it was simply their job. Some were appointed to the position without the choice of refusing, others may have been offered the job and chose and go with it because they had a family to take care of, mouthes to feed. I'm no expert. I can just immagine the conditions our ancestors had to live under especially throughout the middle ages and that's what I think about that. Just my opinion, I don't have facts to back it up but I'm sure I could find them.
Angie: corrected – thanks
Morgaine: The drip method was torture rather than execution I believe. The rat thing – wow – thanks for pointing that out. The Inquisition thing: the inquisition was forbidden from drawing blood – so if those were used at the inquisition they must have been for torture and not death.
Cat Skyfire: I would rethink too! I guess they were at least effective.
Mike: I would love to see that and I would hate to see that.
Once again, from the movie faces of death (part 3 I believe) they showed a guy getting drawn and quartered in what appears to be russia or the soviet union. except they used horses, or maybe army jeeps, it has been a long time since I saw it.. but they just tied his arms and legs each to a horse, and then was the proverbial ‘giddy up’
ouch.
I saw that footage as well. Who knows if it's real but I do know that many people have had that happen to them. I don't know what the methods official name is but I know it has happened a lot throughout history and even into present day. My guess would be that the numbers are deffinately in the thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. I've heard of it happening in medieval Europe but more recently in the Soviet Union and Post Soviet Russia as well as Eastern Europe. I'd be willing to bet my life that it has been done at least once somwhere in the world in the last month. Make it any month.
conni: I thought about the recent beheadings as well – I just cannot comprehend how insane a man must be – or deluded by his religion – that he can calmly cut off another man’s head with a knife. Utterly disgusting.
Sakul: I have heard of that being done as well – I didn’t come across a mention of it today but I am sure that it must have happened somewhere because it is a very well known method of quartering.
thanks. i’m loving your morbid lists. you should’ve put stoning on this list. – http://www.apostatesofislam.com/media/stoning.htm
inanytime: you are welcome
What about being stoned to death? The same people who so love to behead are known to do that. Being wrapped in a white sheet and buried waist high then have rocks thrown at your body until death. I think they also are required to use rocks not big enough to land a fatal blow so as to not kill them quickly. Also, they dont go for head shots until the end I think to keep them living longer.
jfrater, you should check out the book “What A Way To Go” by Geoffrey Abbott. (Pretty sure that’s the name.) These are included as well as the first post that JT mentioned. Based on your other lists & posts I’m sure it’s right up your alley! (Not that that’s a bad thing!)
Adam W.: If there were more than 10 on the list stoning would definitely be included – especially as it is still legally sanctioned in many countries that use Sharia law.
How about sitting in your car or taxi in Gaza and having it blown to bits by an apache helicopter from a couple miles away. BONUS Your entire family gets executed too!
There is many new methods of torture and execution that anyone could just come up with on the spot. I can think of all kinds of ways to torture and kill someone that top any of these listed ones. I know I'll be shunned by many for even saying this but torture is 100% legal in Israel. The things they are doing to people make me sick. They won't admit it and even if they did none of their puppets such as the U.S. would say a thing about it. Just as a side note, Slavery is also legal in that sick and twisted stolen country. Israel kidnaps thousands of poor Russian girls and makes them suffer as ***** slaves in Israel. I've strayed from the main jubject of discussion here but I think it's important people know what is going on over there. Being forced into slavery, especially as a ***** slave is torture in my eyes. God help those helpless girls (and boys). Israel and its Citizens will get what they deverve one day.
What the hell are you talking about, in 1999 Israel's Supreme Court outlawed torture it's not even .01% legal. Just Google any country name with the words “***** slave" after it and you'll soon find that it's everywhere. And considering the size of Israel I'd imagine it would be allot worse in other places. As a mater of fact, if you openyoureyes and read the page on Human ***** on Wikipedia you'll find that western Europe is THE MAJOR DESTINATION for women trafficked for *****. Next is the Middle East -Turkey, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, etc.
Sounds like you got a more of a problem with Israel than human *****.
Disgusting.
and our bonus would be they deserved it.
Gruesome list… yeah, I’d say the worst is what JT originally posted – it is true. I read about it in a national geographic once actually: a pot filled with rats would be placed over the victim’s abdomen. The pot would then be super-heated causing the rats to boar into the victims body. Ugh.
The morbid lists are definitely fascinating, and some of my favorites. Not that I would ever want it done to myself or anyone else. THE SAWING…wow…. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain all of these people went through. THANK GOD we live in more modern times. I would take the gas chamber or electric chair over any of these for sure….(hopefully I will never have to though =P )
It’s very interesting to see that other people feel the same about the saw as I do! Not that any of the other methods are any less hideous, it’s just super disturbing. But I think the Brazen Bull would be so extra awful. Trapped like a rat and no way to escape the ever increasing heat. You know you would try to move around and adjust your body to the “coolest” part of the thing to no avail. And knowing your screams are to the delight of the wicked crowd. Ugh. If I had to be executed, I would prefer the guillotine or lethal injection.
What about staking? Vlad Tepes was on your list of most evil. Putting a rounded, greased pole up someone’s rear and then hoisting them up so that the pole slowly smooshes their insides and finds its way out at the mouth…
Gotta say, that would be a bummer.
Crucifixion wasn’t such a fun way to go either.
I like the iron maiden, but then thats probably too well known of a torture and execution device.
You guys have very active imaginations
The extras mentioned are definitely worthy additions. If I had to be executed I would prefer guillotine I think – you don’t see it coming and don’t feel it.
People who were executed by the guillotine would still be conscious (for seconds)after the blade separated their heads from the body;you might not feel it or see it coming but you would be aware of your head rolling into that basket or being held up for the gawking crowd.
Some say you’re still alive for a second or two. Enough to get a view of your own severed body and cheering crowd….:( lethal injection please, you just go to sleep.
An addition… Toppling
To me, in a morbid sense of humor, is the funniest. The condemned would stand next to a large wall while it is pushed, and toppled on to them. If they survive it 7 times, they are set free.
evan: That is so crazy! What a convoluted way to execute a person. I heard about a method of stoning that meant that if you could get out of the mountain of stones you were buried in before people started to stone you, you were allowed to go free.
i guess its fairly common in places like Afghanistan, where there are a bunch of basically useless standing walls all over the place.
evan: hehe no doubt.
Lethal injection isnt always as pretty as you think. The amount of drugs they pump into you isnt exactly a ‘science.’ They just kinda guess, and if the first one doesnt knock you out, you’re laying there paralyzed and you slowly suffocate to death. I’d rather be put down via firing squad… at least then you’re not always tied up. I’d make an effort to run as fast as I could knowing i’ll be dead either way, but at least I tried y’know.
Firing squad would be my choice as far as modern methods are concerned. I think you die with the most honor that way. Not that it's really an honorable way to go but compared to the other modern methods I think it's the most. Back in the day I would hope for a simple beheading, by sword though, not axe.
You'd think the human race would know how to accomplish a humane lethal injection nowadays, considering how many animals are 'humanely euthanized' in shelters.. oO
Flying Guillotine anyone?
trebek: is it actually a real instrument of death or is it just known in fiction? It appears in one of the Bond movies but I don’t remember which.
Being entombed isn't any fun either… :s
this stuff realyy freakss me outt
yeah the dripping method was used as torture, where the person was tied up and a dripping tap or something similar was placed over their heads. the dripping water would continuously land on their head, causing them to become delusioned at first, beleiving that insects etc were crawling all over their faces, and then eventually become mad.
another common technique is it put strips of bamboo under and into a persons nails, and then put it in water. the bamboo would slowly expand, causing the nail to lift off from the finger.
all i can say is ouch. that would seriously be sucky.
Blondie: that bamboo one sounds awful – I agree. There was also the method of putting bamboo plants under a person who lying on his back – it grows so fast that apparently it would grow in to the person. I am not sure if it is true or not though.
Oh My God! I would like to execute the executioners this way:
He will be forced to eat feces that is mix with broken pieces of glass and pig tape worms. He will be given 3 to 4 meals like this per day. At the same time his abdomen is poked a small hole, all kinds of worms, leeches, maggots are shoved into that hole. The broken glass will kill him from internal bleeding in a few days if he is lucky. If not the parasites specifically the maggots will eat up his internal organs.
ohmygod: um wow – that is really revolting!
The thing with the rat inside a heated bowl mentioned in the comments, its from an old story I remember reading as a kid, most probably not true.
The torture museum in a Danish manor (I forget the name) actually contains metal boxes intended for rats there is a sliding box for charccoal opposit the opening and the box is fittet with chains for fastning to the victim.
i first saw the rat thing in a movie, it was The fast and the furious, i think…some mobs put a rat in a can or something…
Reading the BOILING thing, I was wondering which would be more pleasant – starting with cold water and upto the boiling point, or being dipped directly into boiling water??? God!! Smell of Death really stinks! I am not scared of death, but these methods are making me think twice!!!
I think being dipped righ in, as long as it's a single dip and isn't to slow. Imagine how slow they could do it…..
“Smell of death?” More like the smell of cooking. With the right herbs and spices, it could add a nice touch to entertain the culinary afficionados in the audience.
Simon Templar, yaurt: That has to be one of the worst things you could do to someone – consider most people have a strong disliking of rats – and, of course, being eaten alive!
flower: I think that I would probably opt for cold water to start if I had a choice – though I imagine that is probably the worse of the two. I just can’t fathom the idea of being dropped into a vat of boiling liquid.
The most gruesome punishment is to have to listen to Bush explain anything that requires multi syllables!
The rat thing might be real, but its literal origin is in the book 1984.
(can’t remember protaginist’s name) was caught and wouldn’t talk until they brought out the cage full of rats that was going to be placed onto his head so they could eat his face. He freaked and gave up his lover. She gave him up too, but from a different torture technique.
That whole book is so freaky and sad and so where we are headed as a society…
1964
The rat torture method was real, apparently. Someone mentioned that it was in a story, so it can’t be real, but the torture method came first and the story likely merely used it for effect rather than being the source. The movie Fast and the Furious used it too in a way, but it is not the originator of the story (merely the originator of a bad script.) Again, the stories and movies based their rat tortures on an actual method of execution.
I’m surprised the Iron Maiden isn’t on here. Another one that I read about somewhere was a method of execution in India whereby a person would be knelt down with their head on a block, and an elephant would step down on it, smashing it like a grape. Yuck.
oh my sweet Jesus….
thats rad…
What about crucifixion? that was certainly nasty.
Whoa…..Cool
a lot of these comments do have some good suggestions but some of them are methods of torture and not necessarily execution.
and to the thing about the bamboo under the finger nails, i’ve read that they would light the bamboo on fire and let it burn. I also suggest checking out stuff from the Japanese “Rape of Nanking”, it was brutal…
by the way good, yet creepy, list
what about blood-winging – where they would strip a victim – hack up his back and then pull his lungs out and let him "run free" just tried finding some info on the net briefly and did not see anything ….. I think the vikings did this….
It is called Blodd-Eagle
Excuse me: Blood Eagle, “cutting the ribs of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out. Salt was sprinkled in the wounds.” Source: Wikipedia
Jh: That is a purported myth that Vikings would do the Blood-Eagle execution. It was originally believed that the Viking king, Ivar the Boneless, had created this torture specifically for King Aella of Northumbria when they captured him. There is also stories of monks that escaped Viking raids that tell of this form of execution towards prisoners although it was never confirmed.
Impaling is about as gruesome as any I know of. Vlad Dracula was a real Transylvanian count about whom the vampire stories were created, but he was supposed to have run nearly a hundred thousand enemies through with a stake and left to die. Inserted through the anus, vagina or just through the torso, the body would be suspended. Often the stake would poke out the neck, which is the source of the neck puncture aspect of the vampire story.
There is a video of an execution by impalement in Iran (of course)at http://www.holycrime.com/AudioVidio/impalement.asx It looks a little faked to me, but if not, it is more digusting by far than the stoning video.
Jh: that is revolting – if you can find some information on it would you forward it to me? It would make an excellent other list.
Pieter: there is no evidence at all that this happened apart from word of mouth?
dwa: Thanks for the link – I will check it out when I feel up to it
I have included vlad on another list: Top 10 Most Evil Men which mentions his impaling.
Nice post I loved it.
Similiar to the lungs, in Portugal´s inquisition they used to open the bowels and attach the intestines to a rolling lever (like lifting a bucket of water from a well) and pull his guts out.
I have a pic of that machine, can look for it if you will, let me know.
great nice and morbid list! that saw thing is horrible! have you heard of ancient laws where you have to pay respect to certain trees? if you don’t you’ll have to be exposed to ants until you die. ancient filipinos observed these crazy rules. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Kalantiaw
I read that most killed by burning were strangled first since strangling was an ignominious way to die. I read a lot and fair cop it does say there were hangings first. Mind would smoke inhalation not of killed the condemned first not the same thing as co poisoning.
This comment made my head hurt…
Great list. In reading the comments I read about impaling and staking. The Vietnamese liked to use a form of staking to execute people, don’t know if they still do or not. But they’d plant bamboo and then tie the victim sitting over it. As you mentioned earlier because it grows so fast it would grow right through them. Only your version had them lying on the bamboo to go through their body. The version I’m speaking of was a little more gruesome and took a little longer for the vic to die.
Cauldron:”One of the many ways in which devout Christian believers were martyred was by means of the cauldron. The “heretic”,tied down securely on a bench,would have a cauldron or large metal bowl placed upside-down on his bare stomach. The bowl covered a number of dormice which,after a fire had
been kindled on top of the bowl,would be driven into a frenzy by the increasing heat,and,after scuttling madly around,would eventually burrow their way out through the victim’s stomach and entrails. Not mice but cats were used in Germany during the seventeenth-century persecution of Protestants by the Catholic church”—The book of execution,Geoffrey Abbott,Headline Book Publishing. Looks to be legit.
NightProwler: I would recommend verifying his sources – the Catholic Church was not in power in Germany during the 17th century – the country was divided in to separate groups of Catholics and Protestants – both of which were at war with each other. Having said that, can you find any other sources for that information as I can’t find any outside of what you have quoted.
I think it is almost definitely likely to have occured in Asia in modern times, but I have my doubts at the middle ages.
Actually, there was more than one means of "impaling". Although Vlad the Impaler was known for it as described here in this forum, he also used a more common method which would have the stake imbedded in the ground at an angle that would make the point hover a foot or so above the surface, and then the victim was layed spread eagle so the point was against their groin area. Then their feet would be tied to a war horse or two and the horses would pull them onto the stake. Vlad was also known to have ordered that the stakes not be sharpened too much as to cause the most pain and suffering.
After death, the stakes would then be hoisted and planted and the bodies would be left to rot as an example to all. At one point there were rows of victims lining the sides of the road that led up the the castle for nearly a mile, and the stench reached all the way to the nearby village.
Curiously, Vlad himself didn't seem to mind the smell, and would regularly sit on the balcony of the castle eating his lunch while watching an afternoon of executions!
yo wasuup???