What does the Pear of Anguish feel like?

Imagine a lump of cold metal being slowly forced into your anus. It’s shaped like a pear, with a bulbous head on one end and a narrower stem on the other, and attached to the stem is a screw. Your torturer now asks for information, a confession, or whatever it is he wants to get out of you.

How do you use the choke pear?

Shaped like a ripe fruit, the Choke Pear was of intimate design—literally. Once inserted into the vagina, anus, or mouth, the device (which had four sharp metal “leaves”) was cranked open. The leaves expanded wider and wider, mutilating the victim. Want to delve more into the ancient world?

Did people get tortured in medieval times?

Torture was a commonplace form of punishment throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. It was mostly used to either extract or force victims into confessing a crime – regardless of whether they were actually guilty or innocent.

What were thumbscrews used for?

The thumbscrew is a torture instrument which was first used in early modern Europe. It is a simple vice, sometimes with protruding studs on the interior surfaces. The crushing bars were sometimes lined with sharp metal points to puncture the nails and savagely stimulate the exquisitely sensitive flesh of the nail beds.

What are crocodile shears?

An alligator shear, historically known as a lever shear and sometimes as a crocodile shear, is a metal-cutting shear with a hinged jaw, powered by a flywheel or hydraulic cylinder. They are generally used to cut ferrous members, such as rebar, pipe, angle iron, or I-beams.

What is the heretic’s fork?

The heretics fork was used in the Middles Ages mainly during the Spanish Inquisition. The instrument consists of two forks set against each other that penetrated the flesh under the chin in one end and the upper chest in the other. This instrument didn’t harm any vital points; thus avoiding death and prolonging pain.

How does the scavenger daughter work?

The Scavenger’s Daughter would squeeze blood from your anus, ears, and nostrils. As well as instituting the punishment of being boiled alive, Henry VIII’s reign also oversaw the invention of the Scavenger’s Daughter. Essentially, the Scavenger’s Daughter was a series of iron rings hinged together in two parts.

What was the worst crime in medieval times?

People not working hard, cheating on ones spouse and being drunk and disorderly were also considered to be punishable medieval crimes. Murder was also a very common crime in medieval times, high treason, heresy and witchcraft were also the types of crime that had strict punishments.

Was Iron Maiden real?

Despite its reputation as a medieval instrument of torture, there is no evidence of the existence of iron maidens before the early 19th century. There are, however, ancient reports of the Spartan tyrant Nabis using a similar device around 200 B.C. for extortion and murder.

How do you undo a thumbscrew?

A larger flat-head screwdriver or even a coin would work. Throw a little bit of deoxit. Use a proper screwdriver. You’re not supposed to remove thumbscrews.

What does a thumbscrew look like?

A screw drive that features either a tall head, a head with knurled sides, a wing, or a flat-sided vertical head can be categorized as a thumbscrew. Many oversized heads are designed with a spade shape and finished with a diamond-patterned for easy grip, and rounded heads often feature fine knurled ridges.

Why was the Iron Maiden used?

The positioning of the spikes inside the Iron Maiden was crucial to the torture. The spikes were so placed as to cause damage to various bodily organs, although never as much damage as to cause instant death. Similarly, other spikes were placed for chest, genitals, and other organs of the body.