Who will survive the torture longer - a man or a woman?
The pain threshold for each individual is different. Moreover, it can change depending on the state of health and psyche. If a person is tired, sick or depressed by something, he suffers pain much worse than in a state of complete health and emotional uplift.
Trained people tolerate pain easier: athletes, military personnel, etc. The pain threshold for men and women differs, as is the ability to endure pain for a long time. Women, by virtue of their anatomy and historical role as homemakers, react more sharply to pain.
Men - born warriors who have honed their defense mechanisms for centuries - generally have a higher pain threshold and can endure physical suffering longer. The hormone testosterone helps the representatives of the strong half of the world's population cope with them. It acts as an anesthetic. The higher the level of this hormone in a man, the easier he copes with intense and prolonged pain.
A practical test of endurance
An interesting study on this topic was published in 2005 by the British University of Bath (BathUniversity). It is one of the ten most prestigious universities in the UK, known for its extensive research base. Scientists at Bath University have conducted a series of experiments that refute the generally accepted hypothesis that women are more resilient.
For the study, 2 groups of male and female volunteers were selected. Of course, no one tortured them on end or with the Spanish boot, the favorite instruments of torture of the Medieval Inquisition. Bath experts have found a more humane kind of medieval torture: lowering the non-dominant hand, alternately, first into warm (37 ° C) and then into icy water (1-2 ° C).
Scientists were interested in 2 points: the pain threshold (the point at which a person begins to feel pain) and the tolerance threshold (the time when he is able to endure it). Men bypassed women by both indicators with a significant advantage. Practice has shown that women are hurt more and they can endure pain for a very short time.
So the torture that "witches" were subjected to in the Middle Ages was an exorbitant test for the unfortunate. The opposite point of view - as if women are more enduring - arose erroneously due to incorrect assessment parameters: physiological characteristics, health, etc. were not taken into account.
Is it possible to increase the pain threshold
People of different genders deal with pain differently. Women tend to concentrate on her emotional aspect, which makes it harder for them to endure the torment. Coloring pain with emotion only aggravates suffering. Men act in this respect easier: they fix only on their physical sensations.
If the ladies are completely immersed in pain, torturing themselves at the same time morally, then gentlemen immediately look for a way to get rid of the torment or come to terms with the pain and move on. For this reason, they can endure the worst torture for longer. Thanks to this approach, men are not only able to withstand more severe pain, but they can also significantly increase their pain threshold and endurance through regular training.
These conclusions were insisted on by the head of the group of British researchers Ed Keogh. When Gavin Kenny, an anesthesiologist at the Royal Glasgow Hospital, got acquainted with them, he was very surprised. Kenny himself has done some research on this issue and found that men after major surgery require an average of 25% more pain reliever (morphine). The specialist suggested that this is also a manifestation of the male strategy for the fastest relief from pain.
Torture has been used since ancient times, and, unfortunately, it has not disappeared anywhere. There are many modern methods and instruments of torture that are still used to obtain information, instill fear or punishment. While medieval and ancient methods of torture are known for their cruelty, modern methods are just as fearsome.
1. Water dungeon
This method is allegedly used against Falun Da Fa followers in China. As a punishment, the victim is placed in a cage (sometimes with thorns), and then the cage is partially immersed in dirty water, which reaches the prisoner's neck.
2. Cold chamber
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/206909/310023662.6a71/0_88023b_d1e9512a_orig
This is one of the advanced interrogation techniques that has been legalized by the CIA. The torture consists of placing the victim in front of an air conditioner that operates at full capacity for several hours, or even years.
3. Pillar of shame
This is a classic medieval method of punishment, in which a person was chained to a pole with a collar and shackles. Although this method was banned in most countries, it is still used in some areas of the world as a public humiliation.
4. Pikana
This is a device with which the victim is tortured with a high-voltage but low electric current. The stun gun is applied to sensitive parts of the victim's body, such as the head, mouth, genitals, chest, and nipples.
5. Squatting
This seems like a harmless method, but imagine you have to squat continuously for weeks. Sometimes nails are placed under the victim's heels, and the person still has to keep the heels off the floor.
6. Electrocutioner
Although they are used by police officers around the world, several international organizations consider them a form of torture.
7. Buck
This method was used quite often during the Renaissance, but in modern times it has become known as the Palestinian hanging. The prisoner is hung by the arms behind the head, which leads to dislocation of the arms, and the victim becomes incredibly difficult to breathe.
8. White torture
This is possibly one of the most unusual forms of torture and involves the use of white.
The prisoner is placed in a completely white and silent room, given white food (rice) and deprived of any contact with people. In fact, this is an extreme form of sensory derivation in which all senses are turned off.
9. Tucker's phone
This device was used at the Tucker State Prison in Arkansas in the 60s. The wire was attached to the victim's genitals and the other end to the telephone. When the phone rang, the person received an electric shock.
10. Syrian box
It is also called the torture chamber. The idea itself is simple and truly terrifying. The prisoner is placed in a cramped box, which has barely enough space, where he lies bound in an uncomfortable position for many days in a row.
11. Musical torture
It sounds strange, but many governments have used music as torture.
The torture consists in the fact that the victim is constantly playing loud and aggressive music, most often hard rock. This deals a serious blow to the senses without leaving any visible traces.
12. Burial alive
Everything is very clear here. The prisoners are buried alive in the ground, sometimes leaving a tube for breathing.
13. Infernal conclusion
This method essentially involves placing the prisoner's hands and feet in handcuffs and shackles, connected by a steel rod. The rod presses on the victim's back, which makes the person practically unable to walk, sit, relieve themselves or eat.
14. Nine-tailed cat
Although the Human Rights Court tried to ban the use of this whip in Trinidad and Tobago, it is still used occasionally as a punishment.
The lash is a nine-tailed whip with metal claws at the end. When they dig into the skin during a whipping, they inflict lacerations on the victim.
15. Vise for the thumbs
This weapon, which was used in the Middle Ages, was used to crush the fingers of a prisoner. There are reports that various gangs and rebel groups still use this method.
16. Pulling nails
Pulling out nails is a very painful torture that has been used from ancient times to this day by government and non-government organizations.
17. Rape by a dog
Allegations of the use of this method of torture began to appear more and more throughout the world. This method gives no room for imagination, and its name speaks for itself. The dogs are allowed to be sacrificed, but then there is no need to go into details.
18. Tiger bench
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/510105/310023662.6a71/0_88024a_15ba3395_orig
The torture consists in the fact that the victim is tied to a board, and bricks are placed under his feet until the belts break or the legs break.
19. Forced feeding
Quite often, prisoners who are on hunger strike are force-fed to keep them alive and torture them further. The World Medical Association considers it unethical to involve doctors in force feeding, as it violates international law.
20. Water torture
This is another interrogation technique that needs no introduction. Water is poured over the face of the prisoner to simulate the feeling that he is drowning.
21. Branding
Another instrument of torture that has been used since ancient times.
22. German chair
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The prisoner is tied with straps to a chair, and the back of the chair is lowered down to the ground. As you can understand, the human spine cannot withstand such a load.
23. Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation was often used during interrogations. They tried to deprive the person of sleep in various ways, for example, by continuously interrogating him or forcing him to sit for days and not allowing him to fall asleep.
24. Deathbed
This method was used in parts of Asia, when prisoners were tied to a board and left alone for several days without interruption. This usually led to muscle atrophy and the victims came out severely weakened.
Torture today is a prohibited method of obtaining evidence and confessions of a prisoner or prisoner. But a couple of centuries ago, this was the main method of interrogation. Psychoanalysis was not taught in schools, competent professionals were not trained in the authorities, so they had to work with the main human fear - pain. However, there were those people who were not frightened by torture, but made heroes posthumously.
1. Stephen the First Martyr
One of the first Christian saints to accept torment and death for their religion. In those days, both Jews and Romans practiced terrible torture for Christians. Stefan was beaten - according to one version, by a court decision, according to another - by an angry crowd. During the beating, the saint prayed to Christ and called him to mercy for the murderers. Acts of the Apostles: “Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they, shouting with a loud voice, plugged their ears, and unanimously rushed at him, and, leading him out of the city, began to stone him. "
2. Stepan Razin
Stepan Razin is not the name of the beer in the neighboring stall, but the Don Cossack, the leader of the largest uprising of the people in pre-Petrine Russia. The tsarist administration then actively attacked the Cossacks, enslaved ordinary peasants. State policy was dictated by Russia's participation in complex foreign policy processes, but the population was as exhausted as possible. Then there was a hero - Stenka Razin.
In 1671, after military setbacks, Razin was captured by the Kremlin troops and subjected to severe torture. But during the torture, he fully retained his courage. Then, at the executions, he constantly looked at the cross. They say that his brother, Frol, wanted to give secrets to the tsar's subjects, then Razin, despite the pain and suffering, shouted: "Be quiet, dog!"
3. Vasily Shibanov
The character is interesting, another manifestation of "national character", whose story is told a little by Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy in a famous poem. Shibanov is a servant of Andrei Kurbsky, one of the first "pro-Western dissidents" who fled to Poland from the wrath of Ivan the Terrible. Shibanov was a messenger who brought Kurbsky's insulting letter to Tsar Ivan. Vasily was captured, tortured, but he never denied his master.
Grozny, in his reply letter, put Vasily Shibanov as an example for Kurbsky. Here, they say, man, not like you, filthy boyar. He did not betray his master - you, the reptile, even under torture. And you just betrayed your master - me!
4. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
Partisan of the Great Patriotic War. Kosmodemyanskaya, together with a detachment of Komsomol members, acted in the rear of the German occupiers, committing sabotage and calling people into armed struggle. At the time of her death, she was only 18 years old.
In those days, the Soviet leadership issued a directive with the following meaning: the Hitlerite army, accustomed to relative comfort and "civilized war," to deprive of shelters, burn houses in the villages where they lived, agitate local residents for sabotage, destroy infrastructure. Zoe's squad took incendiary mixtures with them.
When, during one unsuccessful operation, Kosmodemyanskaya was seized, the Germans treated the partisan very cruelly. They pulled out her nails, beat her severely, and took her naked in the cold. The locals joined the torture: so the fire-woman, whose house Kosmodemyanskaya burned down, hit her in the face and shouted in anger: "You fool, you did not harm them, but me." The owner of the barn who gave Zoya, which she wanted to destroy, received a bottle of vodka for her capture - quite a generous German gift.
Kosmodemyanskaya was executed. When the Germans were pulling on the noose, she shouted: “170 million cannot be outweighed! German soldiers - surrender! " Even after the execution, the body of the hanged woman was repeatedly desecrated.
In the perestroika and Yeltsin times, the image of a brave and courageous pioneer who fought for her country became the object of numerous speculations and attempts to blacken the memory. Some attributed Kosmodemyanskaya to schizophrenia. Other "authors" believed that the girl was by nature "a born masochist." Modern researchers believe that in the impulse of the "democratic schiza", some Russian journalists tried to reflect the negativity of the era and looked for it in the purest impulses and images of the USSR - naturally, this is how the distorting mirror of Kosmodemyanskaya appeared.
5. Dmitry Karbyshev
General of the Russian army. He participated in the Japanese and First World Wars, in the Second World War he was captured almost immediately in 1941, during the retreat, was captured by the Germans unconscious on the battlefield. For four years of the war, he was transferred to almost all the main Nazi concentration camps, and received numerous offers to cooperate. Karbyshev's reputation was high in his homeland: as a military officer of Tsarist Russia, and then an impeccable Soviet general, for German propaganda he would have been an extremely tasty traitor. But despite all the torture, Karbyshev spat in the face of the fascists. In 1945, he was doused in Mauthausen with ice water in the cold and died. In 1946, the martyr received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union posthumously. Karbyshev is the image of a real general in Russia.
6. Konstantin Rokossovsky
The surname of Rokossovsky is known to almost everyone today. Along with Zhukov, Konev, Vatutin - the best commander of the Great Patriotic War. He commanded the Victory Parade - the highest military honor that only the best and most reliable Soviet military leader could receive.
But back in 1937-1940, Rokossovsky, a Pole, a descendant of the nobility, was accused of betrayal during the "great army purges". The executioners of the NKVD broke his toes, ribs, knocked out several teeth, repeatedly subjected him to mental torture - for example, they took him out with a serious look to be shot and fired a blank shot. But Rokossovsky did not surrender, he did not betray his comrades - he did not slander anyone, and in 1940 he was completely restored in rank and titles.
In 1962, Khrushchev, during the de-Stalinization campaign, suggested that Rokossovsky write "thicker and blacker" about Stalin - hinting at the suffering that the great man had undeservedly endured. Konstantin Konstantinovich refused. The result was a quarrel with Khrushchev and a complete break in relations. A real man, what do you think?
7. Anna Askew
Recently we told in one of the historical articles how the king of England, Henry VIII, executed Thomas More - for his Catholic views. But Henry also executed the Protestants - and with quite such real enthusiasm. Anna Askew is a Protestant martyr of the last era, a rather strange phenomenon for England - after all, it seems like “the king has already calmed down,” but here it is.
At first, Anna was kept in the Tower, like all criminals. She was charged with a number of crimes: rejection of the rituals of the English church, unwillingness to obey the king. The executioners tortured her in a variety of ways - stretching her body, breaking her bones. By the end of the procedures, Anna was completely disfigured, she could not walk. They burned her at the stake of their unfinished firewood, which she could hardly climb, but no one sympathized with her. Too memorable in the minds of the people were the stories of the robberies and closings of monasteries, which until recently were done by the Protestant advisers of Henry, who had been executed before. Anna prayed to Christ for mercy to England.
Anna's Protestant fanaticism is shown in the fourth season of The Tudors - you can get acquainted with a certain modern Western perception of the "heretic." Her faith is in many ways characteristic of the radical reformers of that time - who not only denied the dogmas of the Christian Catholic Church, but also sought to completely change the rites of the Faith. With the "fall" of Anna, the era of repression against Protestants and reformers began in England, when the most radical-minded people began to leave for the New World - America.
8. Giordano Bruno
Not only Christians and war heroes became martyrs. Giordano Bruno is the best example of a man who did not want to admit the "fallacy" of his views, even in the face of a terrible execution. After spending six years in Roman prisons, Bruno never agreed with a single thought of his tormentors. And what can I say - after all, he was the first to express his confidence that “the earth is round”, and his opponents stubbornly insisted: “Square!” Bruno was credited with an attempt through cosmogony and experiments to create a different world and universe, contrary to the "laws of the Church and God."
In 1600, Bruno was burned at the stake. Today's Catholics call his execution "an unfortunate mistake."
9. Evgeny Rodionov
Hero of modern Russia - the first Chechen campaign. In 1996 he was captured by the militants. After 100 days of brutal torture and abuse, he did not lose his fortitude and constantly tried to escape. The Wahhabis demanded that Yevgeny tear off his pectoral cross and convert to Islam, go over to their side. He refused. Then the Chechens cut off the soldier's head. The story received a wide resonance later, when the participants in the execution confessed to what they had done and told about Yevgeny Rodionov as a man whom, it seems, even such animals as they, respected.
Rodionov is a unique case for another reason. Parents reacted negatively to the son's wearing of the cross, but the soldier did not betray the Orthodox Faith. Therefore, in 2003, it was proposed to canonize him - to be canonized. Officially, the church did not recognize the canonization, since, according to the rules, evidence is needed that until the moment of testing the warrior led a "conscious Christian life." Nevertheless, Rodionov is revered in Serbia as a local saint, in some regions of Russia there are prayers and cults. In the United States, since 2011, Rodionov has been included in the memorial service recommended for reading to the Orthodox chaplains of the country's army.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the current President of Chechnya, commented on Yevgeny Rodionov's action as follows: "My opinion about the death of soldier Rodionov, who was killed by bandits, demanding to change his faith, is a heroic act of one person and a vile abomination of those who killed him."
Can a person endure torture? The answer depends only on a combination of three circumstances.
The first is who uses torture and why. If torture is used by a master of "his craft", then even a specially trained person with a low threshold of pain sensitivity and high simple motivation does not have a chance.
The second is the degree of importance of the "military secret" and the amount of time the enemy has to receive the "correct answer." Importance is a key concept. Yes, something great, such as "special school numbers and drop targets" is usually known to quite a few people and therefore such information is relatively easily available. Which makes torture by itself pretty much pointless. By the way, that is why the James Bond romance with shooting and chases takes hardly 5% in intelligence activities. Everything else is painstaking and unhurried work of analysts, many of whom have only seen the gun in the picture. Torture, as a tool, is used when you need to get a quick answer (for example, a key callsign or a password for passing a secret) in the shortest possible time. When there is simply no time to engage in long psychological duels.
The third is the degree of importance of hiding a secret for the secret carrier himself. Relatively speaking, the bearded Wakhabites removed you from your post, dragged you quietly to a secluded place and demand to tell, for example, the route of safe crossing of a minefield (or the current password-recall for passing ambushes and secrets). Whether you will overcome the pain of torture, no matter what it may or not, depends only on what is more important for you personally, your own skin (although in the overwhelming majority of cases death follows after torture, for those who torture, as a rule, do not distinguished by nobility) in the hope of life if you "tell everything" or the life of those people who will be killed as a result of the fact that you break.
Each specific situation is nothing more than an instantaneous value of the combination of these three factors. Therefore, here every choice is made by himself. Be silent and pray that the torturers will be too stupid and you will turn off before the pain becomes completely unbearable, or immediately defecate "to the very bottom" in a desperate hope to save your life at any cost, even if this price will be the lives of people with whom you lived, ate, slept, shared your last cigarette.
In different armies of the world, the official position in relation to torture is very different in form, but the same in essence. A soldier who has been captured has the right to immediately indicate his affiliation with the army of a particular country. This extends to him the action of many international conventions, such as those regulating the methods of warfare and the treatment of prisoners of war. In practice, quite often the parties wanted to spit on all these conventions, but theory remains theory. A prisoner of war has the right to give his name, surname, rank, military registration number. Under pressure, he is also allowed to give the number of his unit. And that's it! Everything else is officially considered to be actions close to betrayal. Although usually the information told under torture is considered rather mildly.
This all concerns, so to speak, conventional troops. In special forces (not to be confused with special forces), the requirement to keep secrets even at the cost of your own life is an absolute norm. By the way, the norm is very, very justified. Therefore, in particular, during the execution of the task, if the fighter was injured, completely preventing him from performing his task (he broke his leg while parachuting, "caught" a heavy bullet, became blind or deaf from a nearby explosion of a grenade, etc.) his own people kill him.
Well, as for the personal choice of everyone - to endure or not - then he is a personal choice. Everyone decides for himself. One on one. And with the consequences of such a step, he, too, will then live alone. If he lives. 06/17/2002 09:53:46,
Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth. Some of its Chinese varieties can grow 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) The sprouts of living bamboo are sharpened with a knife to make sharp "spears";
2) The victim is suspended horizontally, with his back or belly above a bed of young pointed bamboo;
3) Bamboo grows rapidly to the height, pierces the skin of the martyr and grows through his abdominal cavity, a person dies for a very long time and painfully.
2. Iron maiden
Like the torture with bamboo, many researchers consider the "iron maiden" a terrible legend. Perhaps these metal sarcophagi with sharp thorns inside only frightened those under investigation, after which they confessed to anything. The Iron Maiden was invented at the end of the 18th century; already at the end of the Catholic Inquisition.
How it works?
1) The victim is pushed into the sarcophagus and the door is closed;
2) The thorns 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 remains 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 the 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. Scafism
The name of this torture comes from the Greek "scaphium", which means "trough". Skafism was popular in ancient Persia. The victim, most often a prisoner of war, during the torture was devoured alive by various insects not indifferent to human flesh and blood and their larvae.
How it works?
1) The prisoner is placed in a shallow trough and wrapped in chains.
2) He is forcibly fed with large quantities of milk and honey, from which the victim begins to have profuse diarrhea, attracting insects.
3) The prisoner, who has been crap, smeared with honey, is allowed to swim in the trough in the swamp, where many hungry creatures are found.
4) Insects immediately begin their meal, with the living flesh of the martyr as the main course.
4. Terrible pear 
“If a pear is lying down, you cannot eat it,” it says about the medieval European instrument of “educating” blasphemers, liars, women who gave birth outside of marriage, and gay men. Depending on the crime, the torturer would thrust a pear into the sinner's (tse) mouth, anus or vagina.
How it works?
1) An instrument consisting of pointed, pear-shaped leaf-shaped segments is pushed by the client into the desired hole in the body;
2) The executioner gradually 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 completely, the guilty one receives internal injuries incompatible with life and dies in terrible agony, if he has not already fallen into unconsciousness before.
5. Copper bull 
The design of this death machine was developed by the ancient Greeks, or, to be more precise, the coppersmith Perillus, who sold his terrible bull to the Sicilian tyrant Phalaris, who simply adored torturing and killing people in unusual ways.
A living person was pushed inside the copper statue through a special door.
So
First of all, Falaris tested the unit on its creator, the greedy Perilla. Subsequently, Falaris himself was roasted in a bull.
How it works?
1) The sacrifice is closed in a hollow copper statue of a bull;
2) A fire is made 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 are heard from the jaws of the statue, like a bull's roar;
5) Jewelry and amulets were made from the bones of the executed, which were sold in bazaars and were in great demand ..
6. Torture by rats 
Rat torture was very popular in ancient China. However, we take a look at the rat punishment technique developed by the leader of the 16th century Netherlands Revolution, Didrik Sonoi.
How it works?
1) The martyr stripped naked is placed on the table and tied;
2) Large, heavy cages with hungry rats are placed on the prisoner's stomach and chest. The bottom of the cages is opened with a special latch;
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. Victims usually died of 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", for 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 is pierced into the anus or vagina;
3) With the help of ropes, the victim is gradually lowered lower and lower;
4) The torture continues for several hours or even days until the victim dies from powerlessness and pain, or from blood loss as a result of soft tissue rupture.
8. Trampling by elephants 
This execution was practiced in India and Indochina for several centuries. The elephant is very easy to train and teach him to trample the guilty victim with his huge feet for 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 martyr's head;
3. Sometimes, before the “control in the head”, the animals press the hands and feet of the victims in order to amuse the audience.
9. Dyba 
Probably the most famous, and unsurpassed death machine called "rack". It was first experienced around AD 300. on the Christian martyr Vincent of Zaragoza.
Anyone who survived the rearing 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 to hold the victim's wrists and ankles. As the rollers rotated, the ropes were pulled in opposite directions, stretching the body;
2. Ligaments on the victim's arms and legs stretch and break, bones pop out of the joints.
3. Another version of the rack was also used, called the strappado: it consisted of 2 pillars dug into the ground and connected by a crossbar. The person being interrogated was tied behind his back and lifted by a rope tied to his hands. Sometimes a log or other weights were attached to his bound legs. At the same time, the hands of the person raised on the rack were twisted back and often came out of the joints, so that the convict had to hang on the twisted hands. 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 who was raised on a rack was beaten on the back with a whip, and “put on the fire,” that is, they drove over the body with burning brooms.
5. In some cases, the executioner broke the ribs of a man hanging on a rack with hot pincers.
10. Paraffin in the bladder
A savage form of torture, the exact use of which has not been established.
How it works?
1. Candle paraffin was rolled out by hand into a thin sausage, which was introduced through the urethra;
2. Paraffin slipped into the bladder, where solid salts and other nasty things began to precipitate on it.
3. The victim soon developed kidney problems and was dying of acute kidney failure. On average, death occurred in 3-4 days.
11. Shiri (camel cap)
A monstrous fate awaited those whom the Juanzhuans (a union of nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples) took into slavery. They destroyed the memory of the slave with terrible torture - putting a width on the victim's head. Usually this fate befell young men captured in battles.
How it works?
1. First, the slaves' heads were shaved baldly, each hair was carefully scraped out at the root.
2. Executors slaughtered the camel and refreshed its carcass, first of all, separating its heaviest, densenest part.
3. Having divided the neck into pieces, it was immediately pulled in paired form over the shaved heads of the prisoners. These pieces covered the slaves' heads like plaster. This meant putting on a shir.
4. After putting on the width, the neck of the doomed was shackled into 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 could hear their heartbreaking cries, and were thrown there in an open field, with their hands and feet tied, in the sun, without water and without food.
5. The torture lasted 5 days.
6. Only a few survived, and the rest died not from hunger and not even from thirst, but from unbearable, inhuman torment caused by the drying rawhide camel skin shrinking on the head. Compressing inexorably under the rays of the scorching sun, it squeezed wide, squeezed 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 grows into rawhide, in most cases, finding no way out, the hair curled and again left the ends in the scalp, causing even greater suffering. Within a day, the person lost his mind. Only on the fifth day did the Zhuangjuans come to check whether any of the prisoners had survived. If at least one of the tortured was found alive, it was believed that the goal was achieved. ...
7. Anyone who underwent such a procedure, or died, could not bear the torture, or lost his memory for life, turned into a mankurt - a slave who does not remember his past.
8. The pelt of one camel was enough for five to six widths.
12. Metal implantation
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 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 gruesome execution originated in Thailand. The most inveterate criminals - mostly murderers - were subjected to it.
How it works?
1. The accused is placed in a robe, woven of lianas, and pricked with sharp objects;
2. After that, his body is quickly cut into two parts, the upper half is immediately laid on a red-hot copper lattice; this operation stops the blood and prolongs the life of the upper part of the person.
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 possessed an extraordinary fantasy and a couple of manias, so this torture, like some others, could be a figment of his imagination. But it is not worth the field of this refers to Donassien Alfons as Baron Munchausen. This torture, in my opinion, if it did not exist before, it is quite realistic. If, of course, you pump up a person before this with painkillers (opiates, alcohol, etc.), so that he does not die before his body touches the grate.
14. Inflation with air through the anus
A terrible torture in which a person is pumped with air through the anal passage.
There is evidence that in Russia even Peter the Great himself sinned.
Most often, thieves were executed this way.
How it works?
1. The victim was tied hand and foot.
2. Then they took cotton and stuffed them into the ears, nose and mouth of the poor fellow.
3. Mechs were inserted into the anus, with the help of which a huge amount of air was pumped into a person, as a result of which he became like a balloon.
3. Then he plugged his anus with a piece of cotton.
4. Then he opened two veins above the eyebrows, from which all the blood flowed out under enormous pressure.
5. Sometimes the tied man was put undressed on the roof of the palace and shot with arrows until he died.
6. Until 1970, this method was used frequently 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 hometown. Although history did not preserve the name of its inventor, it was said that he was an expert in horse breeding and invented an unusual device to pacify his horses.
Only a few decades later, those who like to make fun of 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 had very sharp angles so that when a person was laid on them with their backs, they cut into the body from the back of the head to the heels. The staircase ended with a huge wooden spoon, into which the head was put, as if in a cap.
How it works?
1. Holes were drilled on both sides of the frame and in the “cap”, and ropes were threaded into each of them. The first of them was tightened on the forehead of the tortured, the last one tied the big toes. As a rule, there were thirteen ropes, but for especially stubborn ones the number was increased.
2. Special devices were used to tighten the ropes more and more - it seemed to the victims that, having crushed the muscles, they were digging into the bones.
16. Dead Man's Bed (modern China) 
Torture "dead man's bed" is used by the Chinese Communist Party mainly on those prisoners who are trying to protest against illegal imprisonment through hunger strikes. In most cases, these are prisoners of conscience who have been sent to prison for their beliefs.
How it works?
1. The arms and legs of a stripped prisoner are tied to the corners of a bed, on which, instead of a mattress, there is a wooden board with a cut out hole. A bucket for feces is placed under the hole. Often, ropes are tightly tied to the bed and the human body so that he cannot move at all. A person is in this position continuously from several days to weeks.
2. In some prisons, such as Shenyang City No. 2 Prison and Jilin City Prison, the police 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 the person hangs, stretched out by the limbs.
4. To this torment is added force-feeding, 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 carried out mainly by prisoners on the orders of the guards, and not by medical 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. Clamp (Modern China) 
One of the medieval tortures used in modern Chinese prisons is wearing a wooden collar. It is put on a prisoner, which is why he can neither walk nor stand normally.
The clamp is a board from 50 to 80 cm in length, from 30 to 50 cm in width and 10 to 15 cm in thickness. In the middle of the clamp there are two holes for the legs.
The victim who is wearing the strap has difficulty moving, must crawl into bed, and usually must sit or lie down as standing upright causes pain and injuries to the legs. Without help, a person with a clamp 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 unable to turn, and in winter, a short blanket does not cover his legs.
An even worse form of this torture is called "crawling with a wooden clamp." The guards put a collar on the person and order him to crawl on the concrete floor. If he stops, they hit him on the back with a police baton. After an hour, fingers, toenails and knees bleed profusely, while the back is covered with impact wounds.
18. Impaling 
A terrible wild execution that came from the East.
The essence of this execution consisted in the fact that a man was placed on his stomach, one sat on him to prevent him from moving, the other held him by the neck. A stake was inserted into a person's anus, which was then driven in with a mallet; then they drove the stake into the ground. The weight of the body forced the stake to enter deeper and deeper and finally it came out under the arm or between the ribs.
19. Spanish water torture 
In order to best carry out the procedure for this torture, the accused was placed on one of the types of rack or on a special large table with a rising middle part. After the victim's arms and legs were tied to the edges of the table, the executioner proceeded to work in one of several ways. One of these methods was to force the victim with a funnel to swallow a large amount of water, then beat the inflated and arched abdomen. Another form involved placing a rag tube into the victim's throat, through which water was slowly poured, which caused the victim to swell and suffocate. If that was not enough, the tube was pulled out, causing internal damage, and then reinserted and the process repeated. Sometimes they used cold water torture. In this case, the accused lay for hours on the table naked under a stream of ice cold water. It is interesting to note that this kind of torture was considered easy, and the confessions obtained in this way were accepted by the court as voluntary and given to the defendants without torture. Most often, this torture was used by the Spanish Inquisition in order to beat 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 dripped onto 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 blocks attached to the legs of the chair. When he found himself 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 poor man's suffering, 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, frying the buttocks. The famous poisoner La Voisin was tortured in such a chair during the famous Poisoning Case in France.
22. GRIDIRON (Grill for torture by fire) 
Torture of Saint Lawrence on Gridiron.
This type of torture is often mentioned in the lives of saints - real and invented, but there is no evidence that Gridiron "lived" to the Middle Ages and had even a small circulation in Europe. It is usually described as an ordinary metal grate 6 feet long and two and a half wide, set horizontally on legs so that a fire can be made 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 lattice.
This torture was rarely used. Firstly, it was easy enough to kill the person being interrogated, and secondly, there were a lot of simpler, but no less cruel tortures.
23. Pectoral 
Pectoral in ancient times was called a female breast adornment in the form of a paired carved gold or silver bowl, often showered with precious stones. It was worn like a modern bra and was attached with chains.
By a mocking analogy with this decoration, the savage instrument of torture used by the Venetian Inquisition was named.
In 1885, the pectoral was red-hot and, taking it with tongs, they put it on the tortured chest and held it until it confessed. If the accused persisted, the executioners heated up the pectoral, which had been cooled again by a living body, and continued the interrogation.
Very often, after this barbaric torture, charred ragged holes remained in the place of the woman's breasts.
24. Tickle Torture 
This seemingly harmless impact was a terrible torture. With prolonged tickling, a person's nerve conduction increased so much that even the lightest touch at first caused twitching, laughter, and then turned into terrible pain. If this 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.
In the simplest version of torture, the interrogated was tickled sensitive areas either simply with his hands, or with hair brushes and brushes. Hard bird feathers were popular. Usually tickled under the armpits, heels, nipples, groin folds, genitals, women also under the breasts.
In addition, torture was often practiced using animals that licked any tasty substance from the heels of the interrogated. The goat was very often used, because its very hard tongue, adapted for eating grasses, caused very strong irritation.
There was also a form of tickling beetle torture, most common in India. With her, a small bug was planted on the head of a man's penis or on a woman's nipple and covered with half a nut shell. After a while, the tickling caused by the movement of the legs of the insect on the living body became so intolerable that the interrogated confessed to anything
25. Crocodile 
These tubular metal crocodile pliers were red-hot and used to tear off the tortured person's penis. At first, with a few caressing movements (often performed by women), or with a tight bandage, a persistent hard erection was achieved and then the torture began
26. Toothed crusher 
The testicles of the person being interrogated were slowly crushed with these serrated iron forceps.
Something similar was widely used in Stalin's and fascist prisons.
27. An eerie 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 genitals.
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 ceremony is done "for the good" of women, so that they never have the temptation to cheat on their husband
28. Bloody Eagle 
One of the most ancient tortures, during which the victim was tied face down and the 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, the victims were sprinkled with salt.
Many historians claim that this torture was used by pagans against Christians, others are sure that spouses caught in treason were punished in this way, and still others claim that the bloody eagle is just a terrible legend. 