Random Historical Torture Methods Designed To Make The Pain Last As Long As Possible (14 items)

(#5) The Judas Cradle Slowly Impaled Through The Anus

The Judas cradle was an amazingly simple torture design that could produce some truly horrendous results. Basically, a Judas cradle is a chair - except there's a large, pointed triangle (facing upward, obviously) where the seat should be. When subjected to this form of torture, a person would be bound and hoisted above the chair using pulleys and ropes. From there, they would be slowly lowered onto the triangle, which would begin to enter either their anus or vagina. If a torturer wanted to increase the pain of the inestimably painful process, they would cover the triangle in oil.

The amount of time it would take to perish differed from person to person. Those who didn't immediately perish from the process would do so later as a result of infection, as the device was never cleaned between uses.
(#7) Rat Torture Allowed Rats To Eat A Person's Internal Organs

This gruesome torture method is scary enough to be have been featured on an episode of Game of Thrones, a show known for the heights to which it's willing to take a violent scene. Basically, during rat torture, several rats are placed on the stomach of the torture victim. A barrel is then strapped over the rats, trapping them inside. From there, the barrel is set on fire, and in their desperate bid to escape the flames, the rats eat their way through the target's internal organs.

With their sharp incisors, the rats will gnaw their way all the way through a person's back.
(#12) Live Burial Is A Tried-And-True Method

Live burial is one of the most widespread, longlasting, and well-documented execution methods in the world. In ancient Egypt, for example, some slaves who were forced to build pyramids were interred alive in the walls of the structures. Live burial was also used throughout Europe from a time before some European countries even existed, and it was a common punishment for heresy in the Holy Roman Empire.

However, this is not the extent of this punishment's practice; reports of this form of execution also exist from the Nanking Massacre.
(#11) Immurement Ended Targets Through Claustrophobia And Starvation

Not to be confused with live burial, immurement involves a person being isolated and confined within narrow walls. The person's demise is caused by starvation, and they must watch as walls are slowly built around them. Immurement has been used across the world, but was used notably in Persia.

One account describes the potentially lengthy event: "The victim is put into the pillar, which is half built up in readiness; then if the executioner is merciful he will cement quickly up to the face, and death comes speedily. But sometimes a small amount of air is allowed to permeate through the bricks, and in this case the torture is cruel and the agony prolonged. Men bricked up in this way have been heard groaning and calling for water at the end of three days."
(#3) Lingchi Cutting Made A Victim Slowly Bleed Out

Lingchi is a traditional Chinese method of execution that also goes by the snappy nickname of "death by 1,000 cuts." In use for 1,000 years, a lingchi recipient would be tied to a pole and then gashed all over their body, and the cuts would just keep coming until they finally bled out. In some cases, the cuts would number over 3,000, and the person's demise would take three days.

Lingchi was used in China up until the 20th century, and it didn't always involve simply slashing a victim. It also took the form of live dismemberment.
(#10) Breast Rippers Did Exactly What They Sound Like

Breast rippers were a special kind of device reserved for the "wickedest" women in medieval Europe. If you were a woman convicted of heresy, adultery, self-inflicted miscarriage, or any of a number of other crimes, then you could expect to be bound to a wall and have your breasts pulled from your body with this device.

Sometimes heated, sometimes left cold, breast rippers were essentially a large set of pincers that would pierce the flesh and slowly tear muscle from bone, marking and mutilating women for their misdeeds.