Torture Devices

The Judas Cradle

The Judas Cradle is usually attributed to the Spanish Inquisition. The victim would be stripped, bound with ropes, and suspended above the device. They would then be lowered, usually very slowly, onto the device, making the pyramid enter the vagina, anus or scrotum. The amount of pain the device inflicted could be changed in several ways. The victim could be rocked, they could be dropped repeatedly onto the device, one leg could be lifted, olive oil could be spread on the pyramid or brass weights could be hung from the victim's legs.

Sometimes to prolong torture the victim would be suspended above the device over night and torture would continue the next morning.

The device was rarely, if ever, cleaned. If the victims did not die from the device, they almost always died from infection. Torture with the Judas Cradle could last several hours to several days.

Apart from the agonizing pain one suffered, the humiliation was the primary attraction for this method of torture. Whenever the victim fainted from the pain, the torturer would lift the victim until the tortured person was awake again to commence with the process.



The Brazen Bull

The Brazen Bull was invented in Ancient Greece by Perillos of Athens. Perillos proposed his idea of a more painful means of execution to Phalaris, the tyrant of Akraga. Phalaris liked the idea of the Brazen Bull and so it was made. Once finished, Phalaris ordered it to be tested on Perillos himself. Perillos was removed from the Bull before he died but was later killed by Phalaris when he threw Perillos off a hill.

When a victim is placed inside the Brazen Bull he or she is slowly burned to death. The device gradually became more sophisticated until the Greeks invented a complex system of tubes in order to make the victim's screams sound more like an infuriated bull, and also made it so the smoke from it rose in clouds of incense.

Even though this torture was not used as frequently during the Middle Ages as it was used earlier by the Greeks and Romans, it was still used in Central Europe. This torture is similar to being boiled alive.