10 Worst torture devices of all time

Although the Middle Ages did present some troubled times to the whole of humanity in terms of widespread religious reformation and a revolution in political beliefs, it may not be a surprise that there did exist a time called the Dark Ages. One read through the torture devices, and methods, listed below should convince you about the aptness of that name. They are a reflection of mankind’s darkest times as well as the convoluted desires we bear and seldom expose.

1. Punishing Shoes: The shoes were often used in conjunction with the standing pillory (a device that holds your head and wrists in place while you stand). How long do you think you could stand on your tippy-toes before you had to rest your heels on those iron spikes?
2. The Boots: The victim’s legs were placed between two planks of wood and bound together with cords. Between the cords the torturers placed wedges which they would violently hammer. Each time a wedge was thumped down, an small portion of the shin bone was shattered. The tormentors could hammer at least a dozen wedges up and down the legs. When the boots were removed, the bone fragments fell to pieces and the skin of the lower legs merely served as loose sacks for them.
3. Water Torture: The water torture was a favorite among Japanese POW guards during WWII. The victim was first bound with barbed wire and his mouth stuffed with rags. Next, the guards would snake a tube down the victim’s nasal passage and bloat his belly with water. Once that was finished, the guards would kick and beat the poor chap’s midsection until his stomach lining burst and and death ensued.
4. Cat’s Paw: This was simply used to slowly tear the flesh from its victim, often times all the way down to the bone, after being strapped face-front onto a wall.
5. Drawing and quartering: Quartering is the rack taken to the next level and was reserved only for murderers and those who attempted regicide. Each of the prisoner’s limbs were tied to a horse and the horses were whipped simultaneously so that each limb would erupt from the body in an instant. Exhibit A: Guy Fawkes.
   
6. Cleansing the soul: This was a “warm-up” torture, where the guy was chained down to a bed and made to swallow boiling water or coals. Or both. The names is because this practice was believed to cleanse the unfortunate’s soul of all evil before beginning the more actions packed stuff.
7. The Hanging Cage: I pity the guy, or lady, who ended up like this. First, the victim is stripped to nothing and then placed in a cage  – and not any cage. This is could be adjusted such that the bars completely constrained all movements of the victim. Next, the whole arrangement was suspended from a high point to die of starvation, thirst or exposure to extreme temperatures – which could take weeks.
   
8. The Judas Cradle: The victim was hoisted above the sharpened vertex of a small pyramid and brought down crotch first on it. The torturer could also decide how much of the person’s weight came down on it by pulling on cords and chains the victim was hoisted with.
   
9. Iron Maiden: The following is a depiction of the first recorded use of the Iron Maiden on August 14, 1515 : “A forger of coins was placed inside, and the doors shut slowly, so that the very sharp points penetrated his arms and legs in several places, and his belly and chest, and his bladder and the root of his member, and his eyes, and his shoulders, and his buttocks, but not enough to kill him; and so, he remained making great cry and lament for two days, after which he died.”
10. Impalement: You still here? You sick bastard! Anyway, a long spike, seldom oiled or greased, was thrust into the unfortunate fellow’s anus and pushed in until it jutted out of his mouth. What made it more gruesome was that after impalement, the victim could survive up to a day before blood loss and infection killed him. The most famous perpetrator of this method even incorporated this technique into his name – Vlad the Impaler.
    

The shameful immunity of Unit 731

“After Imperial Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, Douglas MacArthur became the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, rebuilding Japan during the Allied occupation. MacArthur secretly granted immunity to the physicians of Unit 731 in exchange for providing America with their research on biological warfare.

The United States believed that the research data was valuable because the Allies had never publicly conducted or condoned such experiments on humans due to moral and political revulsion. The United States also did not want other nations, particularly the Soviet Union, to acquire data on biological weapons, not to mention the military benefits of such research.”

– Wikipedia page on Unit 731

The excerpt is about the infamous Unit 731, a covert chemical and biological warfare research and development unit in Japan that was run by the Imperial Japanese army. The unit was responsible for some of the most horrendous Japanese war crimes committed during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and WWII (1939-1945).

What is even more alarming about the above excerpt is the secret immunity granted by MacArthur to the perpetrators of the violation, instead of having them persecuted as should have been the case, just so the United States of America gained a significant edge over the Soviet Union. Does this mean that if Oppenheimer had decided to stay back in Germany, that if Adolf Hitler had built the nuclear missile before Roosevelt or Truman, MacArthur would have granted him immunity in exchange for the nuclear tecchnology? Further, to quote: “The United States believed that the research data was valuable because the Allies had never publicly conducted or condoned such experiments on humans due to moral and political revulsion.” Is that the only basis for the non-performance of such activities? Mustn’t the abhorrence toward the very idea be based upon the much more empathetic viewpoint of respecting humanity as a whole? In fact, in the same article, it has been mentioned that the only trials involving the staff at Unit 731 were conducted by the Soviet Union, whose soldiers had been captured for the sole purpose of being guinea pigs in the unit.

I’m not well versed in policy formation and conflict research and what not, but I don’t think it takes a scholar here to see that the USA betrayed the whole world when it pardoned those criminals, that the USA granted immunity that was not its to grant at all.