Man is an inventive creature, especially in the matter of killing his own kind. Reading the description of these terrible types of execution - both ancient and completely modern - do not forget to rejoice that you are destined to learn about them exclusively from the outside!
Impalement
Since the days of ancient Babylon, impaling has been considered one of the worst executions. It was widely practiced not only in Babylon, but also in Russia - first of all, in relation to people who committed crimes against the government and the state, especially during the war, but also for other offenses related to culture, religion and sex. The person was seated on a pointed, upright pole or stake, which slowly pierced the body of the unfortunate person through or, having passed all the way, got stuck in the bones. The executed died within several days, enduring inhuman torment to the very end.
Execution with milk and honey
This execution, invented in ancient Persia, extended the torment of the victim for weeks and months. It was like a buffet that no one wanted to be at. The executed person was placed in a boat, pressing the body between two planks so that the person could not get out. After that, they began to feed him exclusively with milk and honey. If the executed person refused to eat, they poked him with a stick or a needle in the eye until he nevertheless agreed to continue the terrible meal. The body of the unfortunate man was also watered with milk and honey. Soon, the person found himself immersed in his own excrement, which, combined with the sweet smell of honey, attracted whole clouds of insects, which slowly and brutally gnawed the body of the executed person until they ate it almost entirely.
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Rat torture
If you watch Game of Thrones, you know what this is about. This torture was more often used in order to obtain the necessary information than for punishment. It was widespread during the Middle Ages. Little was required for her - just a rat and a cage. To fully appreciate the elegance of the design, it should be remembered: rats have a great will to live. In addition, they are able to gnaw through anything - of course, if you give them enough time. Before the start of the torture, the unfortunate was tied up by tightly tying a cage with a rat to his body. Then the cage was heated, and the rat began frantically to seek shelter. It turned out to be the soft, unprotected belly of the victim. The rat gnawed into the insides of the executed for hours until he died in agony. After that, a well-fed and contented rodent received freedom for a job well done.
Necklace
This eerie and, worst of all, quite modern type of execution comes from South Africa. It is not known who invented it first: either one of the rebel groups, or representatives of the criminal world or even the world of politics. However, it is known that all these groups have used it repeatedly. The "necklace" is a rubber tire, which was filled with gasoline and put on the neck of the unfortunate man, or pulled on his belt, and then set on fire. A man was burnt alive in melting rubber, in clouds of suffocating smoke. At the same time, the victim could stay alive for up to 20 minutes, unsuccessfully calling for death as deliverance.
Elephant execution
As a rule, elephants behave very carefully and politely. But these giant animals can be deadly weapons. Of course, not of their own free will. But in medieval India, elephants were specially trained to torture and kill condemned people. As a rule, this execution was applied to the soldiers of the enemy, but its own citizens who committed certain crimes were also subjected to it. Elephants were trained to trample a man until he dies. An elephant trained in this way could crush the victim's chest, skull or any other part of the body, in accordance with the order of the owner. The most terrible thing about this execution was that a trained elephant could kill a person quickly, but could do it slowly, prolonging the suffering of the sufferer.
Tie
This method of execution was demonstrated to us in the TV series "Hannibal". Fortunately, it never really existed, because it is physically impossible to use it. With this type of execution, the hero of the series wished his victim a cut on the neck and pulled the unfortunate's tongue through it. But in reality, this is unrealistic: the tongue is attached much higher in the mouth, and it is impossible to drag it through the throat. In theory, this can be done with a person who has a record long tongue and at the same time volunteers to help the tormentor - but it is hardly possible to imagine such a picture in reality. Nevertheless, invented by the scriptwriters of the series - clearly people with a sick fantasy! - this execution made an indelible impression on the audience and even entered urban folklore.
Bamboo torture
This grisly execution was invented in China, but probably also existed in Japan. It was also used in modern times, applying, in particular, to prisoners during the Second World War. The fact is that bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth, capable of growing more than a meter per day. The torturers used this property of the plant to inflict maximum suffering on the condemned. The body of the executed was stretched horizontally over young bamboo shoots. The growing shoots sprout through the victim's body, piercing it like sharp spears. At the same time, the victim could stay alive for more than one day, experiencing incomparable suffering.
Triple execution
This type of execution was widely used in England in the 13th century. To begin with, the condemned was tied to a horse and dragged through the streets to the gallows. There he was hanged, but seconds before his death, the choking victim was freed from the noose by cutting the rope. Then the sufferer was castrated, burning the severed body parts before his eyes. If by that time he was still alive, he was finally finished off by cutting off his head. But even after death, the mockery of the body continued: the executed man was tied by the arms and legs to four horses and drove them in different directions. As a rule, murderers were subjected to such executions, on whose account there was more than one victim.
The Brazen Bull
In the dark era of the Middle Ages, it was not only an execution, but also a favorite pastime of the rough crowd. The prisoner was cut off his tongue and locked inside a hollow copper statue in the shape of a giant bull. Then a fire was lit under the statue, on which the sufferer was actually roasted alive. There was no way out of the hellish frying pan, and the executed man, deprived of his tongue, could not even scream. The only thing left for him was to pound madly against the walls in a vain search for a way out. The bull was shaking so wildly that it seemed alive. The wild spectacle seemed so funny to the people of the Middle Ages who did not know the values of humanism that it attracted much larger crowds than any other type of execution.
Bloody Angel
This type of execution, also known as the "bloody eagle", was widely practiced by the Vikings up to the XIII-XIV centuries. Warriors and kings became its victims. The executed person was tied up and laid face down on the ground. Then the executed man's back was cut open and one by one they began to cut the ribs with an ax, so that the debris would stick out from the back in the form of monstrous "wings". Horrible as it may seem, after this the executed, as a rule, was still alive. Then the wounds were sprinkled with salt and, finally, through a gaping wound in the back, they tore out the lungs and heart from the body, throwing them over the "angel's wings." And, finally, the most incredible: among the Vikings, this type of execution was considered so honorable that sometimes they themselves asked their enemies to make them a "bloody eagle", thus showing contempt for pain and death.
Excoriation
Peeling off the skin aimed not only to kill the victim, but also to inflict maximum suffering on her, so it was rather torture than execution - however, this torture, for obvious reasons, always ended in death. However, perhaps not always: for example, the Assyrians used to flay the skin from the young children of their enemies in front of their parents - and although for those it was clearly worse than their own death, they remained alive. At the same time, each of the many peoples who practiced this type of execution had their own customs regarding where exactly the skin should be ripped off: the Chinese usually ripped it off the face, medieval Europeans - from the chest, and the Assyrians skinned the whole victim.
Ash execution
Not too spectacular and quite rarely used, this execution, however, was especially painful for the victim. A person was locked in a cramped room full of ashes - and painfully died of suffocation, and not in minutes or hours, like a victim of a fire, but for many days, or even weeks.
Stoning
This type of execution was clearly sexist in nature. Typically, he was subjected to a woman guilty of adultery, even if her guilt was not proven. True, sometimes men and even children became victims of stoning. As a rule, the victim was buried in the ground up to the waist: this did not allow the victim to move and deprived of the hope of salvation. Then the assembled crowd began to throw stones at the person being executed, and strictly observing the rules: the stones should not be too large so that the victim would not die immediately, but too small are also not suitable. As a rule, after hundreds of medium-sized cobblestones hits the head and chest, death occurs. The worst thing about this type of execution is that it is still used today.
Shooting from a cannon
This type of execution was usually applied to soldiers guilty of mutiny or desertion. The first information about it dates back to the 16th century, while it existed for at least three centuries. The convict was tied with his back to the muzzle of the gun, and when fired, his head was torn off, which sometimes flew off several tens of meters. The first, as far as historians know, this execution was applied by the emperor of Ceylon, but it was also practiced in the army of the British Empire. There is information that it is being used today in the ever-warring Afghanistan.
Crocodile Jaws
This type of execution in medieval Europe was applied to murderers who killed for money. "Crocodile jaws" was called an iron mechanism resembling a pincer, really resembling the mouth of a crocodile and filled with razor-sharp blades - "teeth". Having heated the "jaws" red hot, the executioner closed them on the victim's penis and pulled it out. If the executed did not die of pain shock, he retired to another world within a few minutes from massive bleeding from a severed artery. From the description it is clear that this type of execution was intended only for men: indeed, medieval legislators could not even imagine that women could choose the path of a hired killer.