Top 10 Cruel Torture Methods

Rats
I can think of nothing more painful than having a rat dig into my stomach, make its way through my bowels, and possibly emerge from my mouth or anus. Having now said and discarded that nasty thought, one of the cruelest forms of torture and punishment is the use of rats. This torture device originates in China and appears in many works of literature throughout the ages. They would place a rat or rats on your stomach while you are tied down and helpless to prevent it. They place a metal pot or stone bowl over the rats and drop hot coals onto it so that it heats up rapidly. The rats, with nowhere to go will burrow into your body to escape the heat.

Another method, as seen in a popular Denzel Washington movie is a sick and twisted version of this. The victim is tied securely in a chair with peanut butter smeared on his face. A long board runs down from above and the rats travel slowly down the board and then eat the man's face. What a horrible and disgusting way to go.

Pitchcapping
Leave it to the British to think this one up. The tar used back in the day was very flammable and in itself would burn the skin if applied. In their search for rebels, not even civilians were safe as the British soldiers would pour this pitch onto a cone shaped hat made of tough paper or on a rag and then press it down on the shaved heads of their "suspected rebels and rebel sympathizers." Once it dried, they would rip it off pulling huge chucks of flesh with it. You could always spot the survivors of British interrogations from their disfigured heads. Not too many survived, however as the British used to delight in leaving the feet unbound and watch the poor victims bang their heads against anything they could find in an effort to stop the maddening pain.

Electric shocks
Electric shock used as torture is popular because it can be used effectively while not leaving evidence on the body of the tortured or interrogated. Hollywood would have us believe that you can tie someone to a mattress box spring and zap him or her with jumper cables and a car battery. While this is possible, it is also quite ineffective. The 12 volts that a car battery puts our will certainly give you a good jolt but there are much more sophisticated methods that are sure to extract whatever information you need from your victim. The most targeted area of the body and the most painful place to be shocked is the male genitalia. On a female, the most sensitive areas are the nipples. Needless to say, jumper cables are primitive and electrodes are the preferred method of the transference of electricity through the human body. It is a very exacting science since the heart can be stopped if done incorrectly, defeating the purpose of torture. Of course, nothing beats a good cattle prod if you just want to have some good, old-fashioned fun.

Waterboarding
This method of torture was also on the Bush administrations list of approved interrogation techniques for suspected terrorist and al-Qaida operatives. While it is not lethal, it was tested by the staff of the popular cable television show "Mythbusters" and they all agree that it is a terrible thing to endure. It works by tricking the mind into believing you are drowning. It is more of an instinctive reflex than anything else. The person, if you can call a terrorist who kills innocent people to make a political point a person, is tied to a board with his head inclined down and the feet inclined up. A cloth hood is placed over the head and a steady stream of water is poured over the face. The body has to react as if drowning.

This is a clever and effectively cruel form of torture that has been around for a long time and is still in use today.

Scaphism
caphism may be the worst kind of torture the sick mind of man has ever developed. Someone must have been very upset with someone else to think this up. The victim is encased in a chamber made of two hollow logs or narrow canoe type boats put together with only the head, hands, and feet sticking out of holes and then placed in a stagnant body of water like a pond or moat, floating. They are forced fed a mixture of milk and honey to the point of diarrhea and it is rubbed on their body. It does not take very long for insects to start eating, burrowing, and laying eggs in their body while gangrene sets in. Bees, wasps, and hornets are also attracted. This would only last for a few days before insanity and death so they would feed the person the milk and honey mixture daily to prolong the torment. The person's excrement also attracted files and other nasty bugs. The worst part of this torment is that madness and delirium would set in long before death. Now think about this poor soul. Mithridates, murderer of Cyrus the Younger survived in this condition for seventeen days. These were undoubtedly the longest seventeen days of his life. Can you imagine the stench?

Flaying
Flaying was primarily used as a form of punishment although I cannot imagine what crime could possibly fit that bill. One would think that murder or perhaps child abuse but back in the day, it took much less than these terrible and heinous crimes to bring this equally terrible punishment down upon your head. For instance, a corrupt judge named Sisamnes was flayed, or skinned alive, for accepting a bribe. Can you imagine being tied down and having your skin peeled off your body? Just ask the brothers d'Aulnoy, who were skinned for being lovers to King Phillip IV's daughter-in-law. The king did not think that flaying was such a bad punishment since he also castrated and beheaded them as well. Now that we think about it, if this was done to people who sexually assault children, there might be a lot less pedophiles in the world. Contact your local congressman to bring this back.

Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation may not sound like much of a torture, but once you have been up for a few days enduring constant harassment from your tormentors who will allow you to nod off for a few seconds before dousing you with a bucket of cold water, believe me, you will be begging for sleep. There have been numerous studies done in the area of sleep deprivation as used in torture and they all agree on one important point. Pain, in any form, is magnified. The longer you are awake, the worse it can get. That is why it is such an important part of any good tormentor's arsenal.

The Bush administration approved the use of sleep deprivation on our middle-eastern enemies by twisting scientific reports toward a more favorable light until the scientific community made such a fuss that he was forced to change U.S. policy. As it turns out, sleep deprivation while your hands are tied behind your back and you are bent over a chair taking a beating is not what those scientist meant when they said it was safe. C'mon Georgie-boy, play fair.

Picquet
There are some methods of torture that are absolutely amazing in their simplicity. Take the picquet, a simple stake driven into the ground or protruding from the floor of some medieval torture chamber or dungeon. The stake is actually a spike with a relatively dull point. One thumb of the poor victim is tied to an object over his head and he is forced to stand on the spike tip with his or her heel. Now the poor soul has to either rest his or her weight upon the tip of the spike or pull their weight off the spike tip by the thumb tied overhead. Either way, there is excruciating pain. The thumb is usually dislocated very quickly causing even more pain.

This torture was actually used in some militaries as punishment for enlisted men and lower officers. It would last anywhere from an hour to a day and in extreme cases… days

Boiling
Most all of us know what if feels like to spill something hot on ourselves. A cup of hot coffee during a left turn in your car will sure wake you up on that morning drive. Who has not grabbed the handle of a hot pot with the thin part of the potholder, or without the potholder at all? These burns seems bad to us but now, imagine that you are hog-tied and someone is pouring boiling hot oil on your face.

The use of hot liquid and oil has been used as a torture for as long as there has been fire. It is an excruciating pain that lasts and even worsens as the skin chars and blisters. The entire human body is subjected to this treatment until the sadistic tormentors get what they want or get tired of burning you…, or until you die, which is a distinct possibility since you would go into shock. Unfortunately, that takes a while. Executions have been performed by boiling people in a large pot of oil or water. (Like a Lobster)

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Torture… the oldest form of persuasion known to man has been around as long as their has been tribes of peoples with opposing views which, is just about the same time man crawled out of his tree and started walking erect. The capture of an enemy for torture is the best way to know your enemy and man has devised some very effective methods that are proven to get results from even the strongest of captives. If you are the squeamish type, you may not want to read the top ten cruel torture methods.

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