Painful Punishments: The Four Worst Torture Methods Through The Ages

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EXPOSED. The Drunkard’s cloak, a humiliating reminder of the past. Delve into the depths of the dark history of torture methods used throughout history. Photo courtesy of the Sunbeam Prison C.

Throughout the ages, justice has been carried out in the most uncouth ways–some designed to humiliate, while others executed in ways that seem almost absurd by today’s standards. From contraptions that forced people into uncomfortable positions for hours, to methods that relied on psychological torture rather than physical, here are the top 5 worst torture methods ever recorded.

4. The Drunkard's Cloak, also known as the Newcastle Cloak, was used to punish public intoxication in 16th Century England by using a wooden alcohol barrel with a hole cut on the top for the person’s head, and cut out holes for the limbs as well. The offender was forced to wear this through the streets of their town, while ridiculed and publicly humiliated. Though this method was used in many different towns and cities, historians are unsure of where it first originated. The reason the name Newcastle Cloak stuck around was because that was the researchers best guess, as Newcastle upon Tyne has a long running history when it comes to drinking.

3. During this time another more cruel method had just been invented. The Scavenger's Daughter was a method first conjured up during the Tudor Era by a man named Leonard Skeffington. It was created to be opposite to the rack, compressing the body into a fetal position which secured the victim into place. A different version of the device, but still just as painful, can be found in the Spanish Armouries of the White Tower, which is an A-framed metal rack in which the head would be secured where the A shape starts, the hands would be cuffed around the midway point, and the feet would be secured at the bottom. This would be used to contort the body into different painful positions. Surprisingly, there are not that many accounts of this device being used, even though a metal worker could easily craft it.

2. Rat Torture, unlike its predecessors, was one of the less complicated apparatusess, though it was no less deadly. The starving rat was placed inside a bucket on a person's stomach, which would heat up to uncomfortable temperatures. The rat, not having anywhere else to go, would start digging down into the person's stomach, chewing through any organs it could find on the way out. This was an extremely painful, and unfortunate way to die. The first documented account of this method being used was somewhere in the 16th century, and there is no official record of it being abolished.

1. Scaphism, the most brutal on the list, was a method used by the Greeks to punish the Persians. In this method, the accused would be entrapped between two boats or a hollowed out tree, and they would either be smeared with or forced to feed on milk and honey. Eventually this caused a bad case of diarrhea and the smells would attract insects, leading the person to be devoured or killed by the bites and stings of the critters.

This is only a glimpse into what messed up things humans came up with, and though the extreme torture methods of yester-year are long gone (for the most part), we still have to acknowledge that cruelty in the name of justice has not entirely disappeared. Issues such as police brutality and inhumane prison conditions persist in parts of the world. However, society is pushing for change, and as we learn from our past mistakes, we can continue to grow and reinvent the justice systems to truly value fairness and dignity.