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"Worst punishments in human history"

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Humans are God's best and maybe the cruelest creation, especially when it comes to destroying each other. If we dive deep into history, we'll see that humans have created the most horrendous conditions to punish others in a terrifying way. From blood eagle to rat torture and Gridiron to Strappado, here are some of the brutal, bizarre, and worst punishments in human history.

Scaphism

Scaphism was one of the cruelest, most excruciating, most horrifyingly humiliating forms of torture. According to the Greeks, the Persians employed it as a form of punishment, and if we were to trust what they said, then the Persians must have been quite insane. The offender was confined between two boats or within a tree trunk that had been hollowed out and forced to consume milk and honey as part of this method of capital punishment. That particular portion doesn't appear to be too terrible. However, after some time, the diet of milk and honey led to terrible diarrhea, which remained contained within the wooden cage. The poor condemned person was then covered with milk and honey and left out in the sun or near still water, where the filth, rot, and sweetness would attract insects. It seemed inevitable that the person would perish from lack of water, exposure, or injuries caused by bites and stings. Yikes!

Riding the stang

For ages, rural Britain was the home of unusual community punishment. It was known as 'Riding the Stang' in the north of England and Scotland and 'Skimmington Riding' in sections of southern England. But, whatever it was called, it had one thing in common: a raucous rabble of unruly villagers mocking and shaming the offender with an elaborate parade.

When it was discovered that a husband had beaten his wife, the community's young men set about organizing the parade. The stang was a hurdle or pole on which a local comedian would sit and be carried through the streets high. Pots and pans were banged, as well as whistles and horns. The entire village would join in, and the parade would usually circle the village before arriving at the transgressor's house, where they would probably be peering nervously through the curtains. Sometimes the person being carried around was a member of the same team, and other times it was the offender himself.

White torture

The next one on our list is White torture. The phrase "white torture" might refer to any form of psychological distress in general, but the meaning of this phrase in this context is more literal. Used by many nations, white torture is a form of sensory deprivation in which a prisoner's whole environment, including their cell, clothing, and food, is bleached white. Apart from that, the security personnel is also advised to wear a white uniform, and no one is allowed to speak. In 2004, Russian authorities used this method to punish Amir Fakhravar and jailed him for 8 months.

Although the physical torture wasn't that bad, this psychological torture by sensory deprivation is incomparable to anything. According to what Fakhravar was quoted as saying after his release, he was no longer a normal person and could not even remember the faces of his parents.

Crucifixion

Even if we don't see this punishment in real, we've witnessed Crucifixion in movies many times. As is evident from the story of Jesus Christ's Crucifixion, a common practice in the middle ages was to crucify people by nailing or tying them to a wooden cross and then leaving them out in the open, both for people to see and for them to die a slow and agonizing death. This was done so that people could watch them suffer. The most beneficial effect of the Crucifixion was the fear it instilled in the people who saw it; as a result, these people were incapable of committing any wrongdoing or rebelling against the government.

Chinese water torture

It's time to take a break from physical punishment, as the next one on our list is psychological torture. And no, it's not like watching a Simpson episode. Instead, we're going to talk about the technique of interrogation, known as "Chinese water torture," which dates back hundreds of years and was first used outside of Asia, eventually giving way to much more horrible kinds of punishment. These staff at the asylum utilized a "dripping machine" to relieve internal congestion since they were under the impression that insanity was caused by a buildup of blood in the skull. Accordingly, patients were bound and frequently blindfolded before ice water was poured over their foreheads from a bucket suspended above them at regular intervals. This medication was also used to cure headaches and insomnia, but naturally, it was unsuccessful in doing either of those things. Psychosis is a common consequence of the mental breakdowns that victims of the Chinese Water Torture experience. Similarly, a person experiencing a psychotic incident may have hallucinations, delusions, and lose contact with reality.

Rat Torture

The practice of torturing or killing someone with rats is still widely practiced today, although, in earlier times, it was more common. A device known as a rat trap consisted of placing a live rat inside a container. The inmate would have the bottomless cage placed on their body, usually on their torso, and the opposite side of the cage would have heat applied to it. After discovering that the other side was blocked by the heat, the unfortunate rat would progressively consume the victim's flesh to make room for itself. This was one of the most terrifying and Bizzare punishment methods used by humans to punish other humans.

The breaking wheel

Although the wheel is considered one of the biggest inventions in human history, it was also used to give one of the worst punishments to humans. In the past, the breaking wheel was another traditional method used to execute the death penalty. This reasonably straightforward apparatus comprised a wheel on which the condemned person would be bound and occasionally spikes. Then, the convicted person would have his limbs pounded with a club or a cudgel, and as the wheel turned, the bones in his body would slowly break, resulting in a horribly painful death.

Upright Jerker

The upright jerker was a unique take on a traditional execution method. While hanging is a staple worldwide, its effectiveness leaves much to be desired. It can be a very slow or awkward way to die, depending on the victim's weight, rope, trap door, and numerous other elements. So what is the natural solution? Reverse the process! The upright jerker was a modified hanging method that jerked the condemned into the air using heavy weights and pulleys. It was hoped that this would be a more effective means of immediately breaking the neck...but it didn't always go as expected.

The virgin kiss of Baden-Baden

In the German town of Baden-Baden, a castle was used for a particularly gruesome and complicated kind of capital punishment. This was referred to as the "Baiser de la Vierge," meaning "Virgin Kiss." The condemned person would first be chained up before being winched down a long shaft running from the castle, kept all the way into the rock the fort was built on. The perpetrator of the crime was locked away in this gloomy prison. They were forced to endure hours of agony in a torture chamber before being instructed to kiss a statue at the opposite end of the space. The condemned individual would hobble over to the bronze statue of the Virgin Mary and lean down to kiss it. At this same instant, a trapdoor opened just beneath them. They were sucked into a shaft lined with wheels with spikes along the edges and spun as they went down. It was stated that remnants of bone and fabric could still be seen on the pointed extremities of this gruesome device even after hundreds of years had passed.

Outro

Well, these are some spine-chilling punishments humanity has ever given to humans. Which one do you think is the worst? Would you be interested in watching more videos like this? Do let us know in the comments below. Thanks for watching, and see you next time.