The great Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We have a moral obligation to disobey unjust laws.”
And just imagine if our forefathers didn’t defy the absurd, totally inhumane laws of the past,
violators would still probably be punished by way of humiliation, mutilation and torture!
Man: Don’t be talking so much smack with this up your butt.
Aladeen: That’s the anal umbrella, that’s a good device I’ll give you that.
We dare you not to cringe at these 12 Strangest Punishments Ever!
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serving up your daily dose of the most outrageous, outlandish, and out-of-this-world fun facts!
Stay tuned because our top pick is so brutal, it makes Eli Roth look like a saint!
#12: Cutting Off Noses
3,000 years ago, in a desert location between Ancient Egypt and Palestine,
lay a region called Rhinocolura. It was said that this was a place where
thieves were banished after having their noses cut off as punishment.
The discovery of The Great Edict of Horemheb in the 1880s proves that it was likely to have been
founded by Egyptians, but the place was called Tharu then. In this tablet, it was declared
that punishment for stealing will be: “His nose shall be cut off, and he shall be sent to Tharu.”
Why you ask? Well, ancient Egyptians saw it as a marker for criminals.
This meant that they can never go back to their cities because
people will immediately know that they have been condemned to exile.
Keep watching, because our number 1 pick is something you would not wish
even on your worst enemy!
#11: Drunkard’s Cloak
Rachel: My god, Phoebe, how many have you had? Phoebe: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 times 3, 21.
Good thing Phoebe didn’t live through ancient Britain! Because as early as the 16th century,
excessive drinking was punished in England, specifically in the northeastern region.
This was due to the Ale Houses Act of 1551, which made drunkenness a civil offense.
Habitual heavy drinkers were made to wear the so-called Drunkard’s Cloak
as they were paraded through town. It was an actual barrel with a hole
on top for the head to pass through, and a hole on each side for the arms.
Historical records show that this punishment was used across Europe.
It even crossed the Atlantic and was called the Barrel Shirt in America sometime in the 1860s.
From 19th century barrel shirts to modern wet t-shirt contests, we sure have come a long way!
10: Scold’s Bridle
These days, a lot of reality shows rely on all the drama and the oh-so-juicy confessionals.
Lisa: It’s all going according to plan, she likes me more than Rinna.
But back in the Tudor times,
spilling the tea could make you tongue-tied in the worst way possible.
During the 16th century, the Scold’s Bridle or the Branks was an instrument of humiliation
used by men to punish their wives who have a penchant for gossiping.
The first use of the Scold’s Bridle was recorded in Scotland in 1567. It’s basically an iron mask
with a bridle slid into the mouth and pressed on the tongue to prevent a woman from speaking.
As if that wasn’t torture enough, the men attached a leash on the iron mask
and dragged their wives around town to be ridiculed and shamed.
Man: Put one of these on, it might rip their tongue, they’re tied into a wall,
smeared excrements on them, and beat them. Woman: If they survive the dragging through
chain, they probably won’t survive the beating.
This misogynistic artifact from a bygone era was a barbaric method
to show how husbands can and should contain their wives’ misdemeanors.
#9: The Cangue The Cangue was
used as a form of corporal punishment in 17th century China. It consists of
a heavy flat wooden board with a hole large enough for the person’s neck. Sometimes it
would be placed on top of a cage so that the person’s feet would not touch the ground,
slowly strangling him due to the wooden block’s weight, which was about 12 to 33 pounds!
Offenses were written on paper attached to the Cangue as part of their public humiliation.
Due to the block’s size, offenders cannot eat because their hands couldn’t reach their mouths.
They can only count on passersby feeding them. Because of this,
some prisoners die from dehydration and starvation.
It is unclear what sort of crimes were punished with the use of the Cangue,
but records show that it was still used until the early 20th century.
#8: Bamboo Torture
Another form of punishment widely used in Asia,
the bamboo torture was one of the most insane means of executions throughout history.
This method was reportedly used as early as the 1820s, where a person is tied up and made to lie
on top of a fast-growing bamboo shoot. This means of torture was also believed to be used by
Japanese soldiers to torment their American P.O.W.’s during the Second World War.
In theory, some varieties of bamboo shoot can penetrate several inches
of muscle tissues in just three days, but it still sounds pretty
incredible to make a bamboo tree actually grow through a human body,
right? So the peeps at Mythbusters tried to prove whether the bamboo torture was actually possible.
Man: Our timelapse shows that this penetrated that body in a
matter of a couple of days or so. It’s possible, as gruesome as it is.
#7: Execution by Elephant
Aww, how can something so gentle be utilized to carry out a death sentence?!
But apparently, execution by means of crushing a person’s head with
an elephant’s foot has been done by several civilizations across history.
Dating back to 220 BC with the Carthaginians, prisoners of war
of the well-known general Hannibal were executed under an elephant’s trotter.
The practice later became more widespread in India,
neighboring Sri Lanka, and in Southeast Asia.
Asian elephants, believed to be royal authority symbols, were used for
crushing and dismembering prisoners in public executions. Due to their high intelligence,
elephants were easily trained to be executioners. Some were even taught to prolong the victim’s
agony by inflicting injury using its husks before striking the final death blow! Yikes!
#6: Penalty of the Sack
Also known as Poena Cullei in Latin,
this punishment was imposed for the crime of parricide under ancient Roman law.
Man: That is the Roman way.
The earliest fully documented case of Peona Cullei dates back to 100 BC. In this outrageous
form of death penalty, the offender was sewn up in a sack made with ox leather,
and animals were inserted in it, including a dog, a snake,
a monkey, and a chicken. After which, the sack was thrown into a river or into the sea.
However, a few centuries later, the Penalty of the Sack was replaced by burning alive or being
thrown at beasts in an arena as punishment for parricide. Not exactly more humane if you ask me.
#5: Eaten Alive
Ancient Persia was known for its strict code of justice,
“an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” And they sure enforced it in the most
macabre ways possible. Just like trhough a method called Scaphism.
In scaphism, the condemned person was encased between two boats. Then he was fed excessive
amounts of milk and honey, causing him to eventually vomit and excrete. Oh, and did I
mention that milk and honey were also poured over his face causing insects and vermin to flock over
him? This resulted in the victim being festered and eaten alive by swarms of bugs for days!
Who knew Persia was the OG land of milk and honey!
#4: Tickled by Goats
Oh yes, this torture scene from the Japanese anime Fairy Tail is
actually based on a real-life age-old punishment!
While tickling as a means of torture was widely used by different cultures
throughout history,-- from the ancient Chinese dynasties to Nazi Germany—the
Romans had a more interesting take on the torture technique. They employed goats to do the job!
The restrained prisoner’s feet were dipped in saltwater.
Then a goat was brought in to lick the person’s feet. Once all the salt was licked off,
the process will be repeated until the victim’s laughters turn into cries of agony.
#3: Trial by Ordeal
In this archaic religious practice during Dark Age England, the guilt
of the accused person was determined by subjecting them to the will of God.
It’s believed that if the accused was innocent, God would help them overcome the ordeal.
For instance, ordeal by fire requires the condemned to walk a certain distance over
red-hot plowshares or while holding scalding hot iron. A priest will examine the wound
three days later and proclaim whether or not God had intervened to heal them.
Man: What convicts you is not whether you’re burnt or not, everyone will be burnt,
it’s whether your hand is clean or foul. Has it turned pasty or not.
Meanwhile, the most common ordeal by water documented was where the accused was forced to dip
his hand, sometimes the entire arm, in a pot of boiling water to retrieve a stone. Again, if the
wounds heal, then he is acquitted. If it festers, then he’ll be slapped with a guilty verdict.
#2: Damnatio Memoriae
The ancient Romans sure gave a whole different meaning to the phrase “eternal damnation.”
Just imagine being totally erased from people’s memory!
In this medieval version of getting #cancelled, convicted Roman officials
were stripped off of their titles and sentenced to an eternity of being forgotten.
Ironically, some of the most popular victims of this punishment include Caligula, Nero,
and the Emperor Geta whose names were ordered to be removed from all records and their figures
destroyed. Heck, even the mere mention of their names was punishable by death. But obviously, this
method didn’t really work in the long run because, you know, there’s this thing called historians?
I don’t know about you but it’s giving me some serious
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” vibes.
im: Can you hear me? I don’t want this anymore, I wanna call it off!
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#1: The Blood Eagle
We’ve finally come to what is arguably the most grotesque punishment on this list.
And how fitting that it was the Vikings who practiced it. After all,
weren’t they known for raiding and pillaging large parts of Europe for hundreds of years?
Ivar: I am Ivar the Boneless! I am Ivar the Boneless! You can’t kill me!
The Blood Eagle was a ritual method of execution used by the Vikings on their enemies.
Norse literature describes this ritual in detail – “carve an
eagle on his back with a sword, and cut the ribs all from the backbone,
and draw the lungs there out, and gave him to Odin for the victory he had won.”
Legends say that if the victim can remain still and not make a sound until his death,
he can still go to Valhalla the Viking’s version of heaven--and eat with the gods.
an: I don’t mind dying, but I want someone to hold my hair out of the way so he can make a clean cut.
So, which of these did you find the most gut-wrenching?
Let us know in the comments section below.
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From time travelling back to the past, let’s gear up for the grim
future as we countdown the 8 Cool Ideas to Prepare for a Zombie Apocalypse!
‘Til then, always abide by the law, fact-natics! And see you in the next video!