The secret of torture, like the secret of French cuisine, is that nothing is unthinkable ©

…Pain must be as great a challenge to the human imagination as pleasure. Otherwise there's no accounting for the number of torture instruments.
- Phyllis Rose, Tools of Torture



Torture Chamber, St. Petersburg

Interrogation Chair





Famous for its efficiency, it was used in Europe up to 1846. The naked suspect was placed into the chair so that the thorns would stick into their body at the slightest movement. If necessary, the chair could be incandesced, and ‘accessory’ instruments like tongs could be brought into the picture. The torture lasted from a few hours to several weeks.


Constant Water Drip



You were lucky if you just passed out.


Staking Up



The stake was entered through the victim’s anus and then put upright, so that the body could slowly slip down by its own weight, which could take days. A great skill was required to enter the stake “correctly” – that is, without damaging any important vitals or causing major bleeding. Favorite pastime of Romanian voivode "Vlad the Impaler," aka Dracula (15 cent.).


Exorsism



Get thee behind me, Satan.


Breaking on the Wheel



Originated in ancient Greece, one of the most humane cultures. The victim was placed on a cart-wheel, their limbs stretched out along the spokes; the wheel was made to slowly revolve, and the man's bones broken with blows of an iron bar. The process was repeated several times per limb. It then could take hours or even days before shock and dehydration caused death, unless the merciful executioner stroke the broken man on chest and stomach (coups de grâce, aha) to end it sooner.


Stork (or Sweeper’s Daughter, etymology unknown)



An iron band squeezed the person’s head, neck, hands, and feet, so as to cause an extremely painful spasm first in their stomach, and then in their whole body. In just a ‘short while,’ they went ‘completely crazy.’


Rods (Cudgels?)



As popular wisdom of the time – loosely (and quite badly, which I’m sorry about) translated from Russian – had it, “Rods are God’s wood, bear them while you could.”


Prayer(’s) Cross



Want a confession? Fix the guy on a cross like that for just a couple of weeks, and it’s a walkover.


Head Press



Similar things are still used in parts of Latin America.


Iron Shoe&Bootikin




Speak for themselves.


Knee-grinder



Just in case the torturer preferred playing big.


Chastity Belts, female&male varieties




With no adultery guaranteed, who cares about trifles like infections?


Gibbet



Used for hanging a person by the rib pierced with a hook, so that death could take its time.


Hand Saw



One of the most excruciating tortures, more painful than burning at the stake. The person was hung head down by their feet, and just cut in two. Simple as. Especially widely used for witches and homosexuals.


The executioner's axe and block for cutting off arms and legs



Looks durable.


Jeanne d'Arc, "the Maid of Orleans," national heroine of France



At 19, burned alive at the stake.


Yemelyan Pugachov, leader of the largest peasant revolt in Russia's history (18 cent.)



Beheaded and quartered.


The exposition also shows smaller medieval instruments of torture, such as whips, rods, tongs, pincers, branding irons etc.


From the website of a similar museum in Ruedesheim, Rhine, Germany:

“While some of the exhibits may make visitors wince, it should be remembered that what they reflect were the standards acceptable four centuries ago.
What is even a more startling revelation is that in some countries – and not only in the third world – the same medieval practices are prevalent today”.


The torture chamber
Will empty
And refill.
- Ram Tzu, No Way