Brutal

Breast Ripper  

Though women were also subject to many of the torture techniques on this page, this is one that was specifically designed for them.  

Used to cause major blood loss, the claws, which were often red hot, would be placed on the exposed breasts as the spikes penetrated beneath the skin.  

It would then be pulled or jerked causing large chunks of flesh to come off with it.  

The Breaking Wheel  

Also known as the Catherine Wheel, this is a torture device use to slowly kill the victim.  

First, the victim’s limbs were tied to the spokes of a large wooden wheel which would then be slowly revolved as the torturer simultaneously smashed the victim’s limbs with an iron hammer to break them in numerous places.  

As the bones were broken, the victim would be left on the wheel to die or could be place on top of a tall pole so the birds could feed on their flesh while still alive.  

This was slow indeed since it could have taken days before the victims would die from dehydration.  

Sometimes, a coups de grace (blow of mercy) was employed by ordering the executioner to deal a fatal blow on the victim’s chest and stomach to end their agony.  

Spanish Donkey  

One of the torture devices during the Spanish Inquisition, this is probably one of the most gruesome of them all.  

The victim is put astride, naked, on a donkey-like apparatus, which is actually a vertical wooden board with a sharp V-wedge on top of it.  

After that, the torturer would add varying weights to the victim’s feet until finally the wedge sliced through the victim’s body.  

Saw Torture  

In this method, the victim is hung upside down, so that the blood will rush to their heads and keep them conscious during the long torture.  

The torturer would then saw through the victims’ bodies until they were completely sawed in half.  

Most were cut up only in their abdomen to prolong their agony.  

Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered  

During medieval times, the penalty for high treason in England was to be hanged, drawn and quartered in public and though it was abolished in 1814, it has been responsible for the death of thousands of people.  

In this torture technique, the victim is dragged in a wooden frame called a hurdle to the place of execution.  

They would then be hanged by the neck for a short period of time until they are near-death (hanged), followed by disembowelment and castration where the entrails and genitalia are burned in front of the victim (drawn).  

The victim would then be divided into four separate parts and beheaded (quartered).