Throughout history, humanity has had a bit of a habit of devising ever-increasingly demonic
ways to torture its citizens and ultimately end their lives in the most painful and excruitating
ways possible.
Particularly throughout the medieval period of Europe, torture devices boomed in frequency--as
mad kings and evil seneschals alike delved deep into the pits of dark human ingenuity,
bolstering their arsenals with wracks, spikes, traps--Brazen Bulls--rats in buckets and anything
else that they could conjure up from the creation of their nightmarish minds.
Perhaps one of the most terrifying of these contraptions, is the infamous Iron Maiden--and,
as is always the case, the SCP Foundation have one particular entry that may change
the way you look at the ultimate goal of Medieval Torture.
Hello internet--what’s going on, and once again welcome back to the most inquisitive
channel on YouTube--Life’s Biggest Questions.
As per usual, I’ll be your disembodied floating voice Jack Finch, as today--we curiously ask
the question, What If SCP-762 Was Real?
Roll the clip.
Wait, do we have a clip of 15th Century Torture Devices?
Oh, yeah--that one.
I forgot about that.
For the curious amongst you--that clip was of course, from Tim Burton’s 1999 gothic
classic, Sleepy Hollow--because--well, it’s pretty difficult to find any kind of cinematic
depiction of an Iron Maiden, as you’d imagine really.
Also, that film is surprisingly awesome--and any chance I get at showing Ichabod Crane
being a weird, gothic badass--I will.
That’s all there is too it really.
And you may be asking--what the hell, Jack?
What are you talking about?
Iron Maiden?
Aren’t they one of the greatest British heavy metal bands ever formed?
Well--yes, of course they are.
But no, not that Iron Maiden.
Because let me introduce you to SCP-762--which, despite being only a brief entry into the
Foundation’s containment, and one of the earliest entries in the Foundation’s history--there’s
actually quite a bit more to this particular anomalous device than first meets the eye.
First though, let’s set the scene.
As the record states, SCP-762 is a torture device similiar to the infamous Iron Maiden
of Nuremberg.
For those of you that don’t know, this particular contraption was a particularly gruesome execution
device--even for Medieval Europe’s standards--that consisted of an iron cabinet with a hinged
front, adorned with a metal-spike covered interior, sufficiently tall enough to enclose
an adult human being inside.
It’s also important to note that, whilst the first grim stories involving the use of
the Iron Maiden as a torture method were first composed sometime in the 19th century--the
use of this device in particular is widely considered to be a myth from the century before,
that was heightened by the belief that the people of the Middle Ages were barbaric, violent
and uncivilized--which in most cases they *were*--but as far as the Iron Maiden is concerned,
it's kind of like a nasty rumour in highschool that got way, way out of hand.
However--in this hypothetical situation, there may be a much more anomalous explanation for
the Iron Maiden’s murky origins.
SCP-762 was first recovered sometime in the early 20th century, from a box found in the
basement of a wealthy benefactor in the Mountainous Regions of Austria.
For the most part, SCP-762 is classified as a Safe Object--and so it’s containment procedures
are relatively straight-forward--as it is currently held inside a storage crate at an
undisclosed Foundation site.
As SCP-762 does not appear to be dangerous to anyone unless they’re placed inside of
it--no further precautions are required, and Foundation Staff are free to experiment with
the anomalous object, although they must be given prior authorization by Dr. Rights--a
particular Foundation Researcher and Analyst that specializes in the more bizarre and the
macabre aspects of the Foundation’s work.
You see, it’s not necessarily because of the device itself--but instead, what was found
inside.
After first being contained by the Foundation, when opened, SCP-762 was found to have male
human inside, now referred to as SCP-762-2.
When he was discovered inside, the unknown male had a number of the device’s large
spikes violently embedded in his flesh in a gory mass--but once he was removed from
the device--suddenly, and instantly, all of his wounds had healed.
Other than being completely catatonic, SCP-762-2 was found to be in decent health--save for
several rotten teeth and a large scar on his left arm.
Now, is that small detail incredibly important to this hypothetical situation?
Well, it could be--because whoever this strange, anomalous man *was*--would have played a large
part in the reason he was encased inside the Iron Maiden.
You see, given his unique properties--the Foundation deemed it impossible to determine
how long SCP-762-2 was in the device, but research has shown that it dates back to at
least the fifteenth century, and it’s entirely possible that SCP-762-2 may have been in the
device for centuries before being discovered.
As the Foundation subsequently discovered, any person that is placed inside the Iron
Maiden object of SCP-762 appears to enter a state of suspended animation.
Subjects no longer need food, water--or even air when inside the contraption--and also
appear to be immune to any effects of disease, injury--or even aging.
Yeah, you know where this is going, right?
The real question isn’t--why are people being placed inside an immortal macabre torture
device that keeps them alive forever--it’s--what *kind* of people would need to be imprisoned
an immortal macabre torture deivce that keeps them alive forever.
You see, the interesting thing that SCP-762 addresses--is that historically, in the real
world--these devices were never actually used as a method of torture.
In fact, for the most part--the infamous Iron Maiden of legend was more of a grim-dark yet
stylish piece of furniture for wealthier collectors throughout 18th Century Europe that had a
fascination with the darker side of human ingenuity.
As far as we know, anyway.
Like many things, the machinations of SCP-762 seem to conflict with the historical description
of this particular anomalous object--but it’s food for thought, right?
If this object *did* indeed exist, perhaps at the hands of an evil, ingenious king or
someone of a similar ilk--would they have paid the painful price to be immortalized,
encased in the confines of SCP-762, waiting patiently to be discovered by modern civilization--where
they could seemingly be resurrected, right now in 2019, where presumably they’d unleash
an ancient, malevolent curse and bring ruin to our fair planet.
Just kidding, but that’s how these things always end, right?
The fact of the matter is, cryo engineering and suspended animation has long been a hypothetical
concept only ever addressed in the confines of science-fiction--but if we flipped that
precedent, and imagined the vast wealth of anomalous antiques, black-market cursed objects
and other such devices similar to SCP-762, that may or may not already exist on the market--the
reversal of these immortal implications offer a strange perspective as to the price of eternal
life.
Hypothetically speaking, if *you* were some wealthy baron in Medieval Europe--and someone
offered you the chance at immortality, and all it involved was stepping inside his iron,
spike-filled contraption--would you do it?
I wouldn’t want to be the first one to find out, put it that way.
Well--there we have it folks--what do you guys think?
Would you step inside SCP-762 like Fry in Futurama?
Let us know your thoughts down in the comment section below, as well as any other interesting
insights that you may have to offer.
Before we depart from today’s video, let’s first take a quick look at some of your more
creative comments from over the past few days.
Carter Evan says --
What if giant spiders were real
-- Carter?!
What the hell do you mean man, they are real!
Have you never been to Australia?
Isaac Serna says --
Dont you hate it when your hippocampus steps on your lamborghini?
-- Yeah, tell me about it Isaac.
I mean, if I ever had a Lamborghini, that’d be such a pet peeve of mine.
SMH… s-m-h.
Well, on that note--unfortunately that’s all we’ve got time for in today’s video,
cheers for sticking around all the way until the end.
If you were a fan of this video, or just Life’s Biggest Questions in general--then please
be a dear and hit that thumbs up button, as well as that subscribe bell, and I’ll be
seeing you in the next one.
As per usual, I’ve been your disembodied floating voice Jack Finch--you’ve been watching
Life’s Biggest Questions--and until next time, you take it easy.