Throughout History there have been a number of terrifying and tragic torture methods which
aimed to inflict suffering, pain and even death onto a prisoner. There was the oubliette,
a tiny dungeon inside of many medieval castles where prisoners were forced to be locked into
one position 24 hours a day, driving them mad. The oubliette’s purpose was to simply
forget and leave someone to rot and succumb to their ordeal, and these dungeons were only
ever a one way ticket to death. There were other methods which were aimed to humiliate,
for example the Scold’s bridle was a head device which was applied to women who were
considered gossips and scolds. This sometimes locked the victims tongue in place so they
could not speak, but the main aim of this device was to bring shame onto someone. But
there was another torture method used in history which was aimed to attract shame and hate.
Join us today as we look at tarring and feathering, and to support our channel please make sure
to subscribe.
Tarring and feathering was a form of punishment used to enact revenge. The victim was sometimes
stripped naked, or stripped to the waste and then tar which was sometimes hot was thrown
and poured onto the person whilst they were held down. Following this tar being applied,
the victim then had feathers thrown on them, or they were rolled in feathers so that these
stuck to the tar. This punishment method is older than its believed, as the earliest mention
of it occurred in Richard I’s England, as he issued an order to his navy that, ‘"Concerning
the lawes and ordinances appointed by King Richard for his navie the forme thereof was
this ... item, a thiefe or felon that hath stolen, being lawfully convicted, shal have
his head shorne, and boyling pitch poured upon his head, and feathers or downe strawed
upon the same whereby he may be knowen, and so at the first landing-place they shall come
to, there to be cast up" In many different countries this was used, and in Spain in 1623
it was said that, ‘the "boisterous Bishop of Halberstadt, a German Protestant military
leader... having taken a place where there were two monasteries of nuns and friars, he
caused divers feather beds to be ripped, and all the feathers thrown into a great hall,
whither the nuns and friars were thrust naked with their bodies oiled and pitched and to
tumble among these feathers, which makes them here (Madrid) presage him an ill-death." In
the same century in London, a bailiff tried to get money back from someone who owed money,
and this man had taken shelter in the Savoy. But the Bailiff was then tarred and feathered,
and he was then taken in a wheelbarrow to the Strand, and he was then tied to a maypole
that stood outside of Somerset House in a pillory, to add shame to the Bailiff.
But this punishment was used heavily inside of the Americas, and it became popular during
the 1700s. It was used as a way of protesting, and there were a number of featherings to
protest against the Tea Act. Archibald McCall a landowner was targeted by a mob in Virginia,
and he had collected the British tax that people owed. A mob stormed his house and threw
rocks through his windows, and then when he was captured he was tarred and feathered.
Another man in Virginia was also tarred and feathered, and following his ordeal in 1766
he was then thrown into the harbour by an angry mob. A boat then got him out the water
when he was close to drowning and he later said, ‘they dawned my body and face all
over with tar and afterwards threw feathers on me.’ But the practice spread across states
as a number of attacks occurred and some were more violent than others. In Boston in January
1774, a Customs Commissioner was whipped and beaten also along with the ordeal, and he
was then forced to drink tea until he was sick. Other protesters threw excrement and
waste at the victim also, and some had this smeared in their eyes, and one man in 1775
in Conneticut was forced to eat hogs dung for expressing a pro British sentiment. But
then in 1775 a violent tarring took place, as Thomas Brown was stripped and tied to a
tree, and following this hot pitch was poured over him and he was then set on fire. This
resulted in some of his toes being charred, and he was then feathered and scalped by the
Sons of Liberty. The practice in American continued as people protested, but there was
no known case of someone dying in America during the 18th century from the ordeal.
But the torture continued, and then priests were targeted in America including Joseph
Smith the founder of the Latter Day Saints. But Tarring and Feathering was also applied
to women. Four young married women were accused of evil conduct by their neighbour, and these
women were then feathered in front of 200 workmen. But there were examples of the torture
being used during World War 1, as anti German feelings and sentiment spread across the States.
Because of this Americans with German heritage were attacked, and were tarred and feathered.
But even during the Troubles in Ireland, some women were subjected to this as they were
accused of having relationships with British soldiers or policemen.
Tarring and feathering was a brutal torture method which was aimed to shame and punish
people in public. It was aimed to make people hurl abuse and hurt upon an individual and
it must have been a damaging ordeal for someone to experience.
Thanks for watching
To support please make sure to subscribe
Thanks for watching