Random Jaw-Droppingly Evil Torture Devices Used Throughout History (12 items)

(#10) The Tongue Tearer

The tongue tearer was developed during the Spanish Inquisition as a means of ripping someone's tongue out. It could also be used to slice the tongue in half or ribbons, in keeping with the biblical theme of the period (forked tongue).

It was simple in design - your average tongue tearer resembles a large pair of pliers, grooved in the mouth, with a crossbar through the handle.
(#9) The Scavenger's Daughter

The Scavenger’s Daughter appeared at some point during the reign of King Henry VIII and worked as something of an inverse of the rack, compressing victims rather than extending them. According to surviving documentation, it was hardly ever used.

The device consisted of an A-frame hoop of iron with a hinge in the middle. A loop at the top went around the condemned person's neck and a crossbar at the bottom was shackled across the ankles. If the victim stood up, the Scavenger's Daughter forced him or her into a painful crouch. If laying down, it pulled the body into a fetal position. The torturer could use a screw to tighten the hinge, forcing victims into increasingly unnatural positions.
(#5) The Judas Cradle

The Judas Cradle was a gruesome medieval torture device - if you believe it was a real thing. Certainly, examples exist, though there's some dispute as to whether the device was ever used to torture people. According to sources such as A History of Torture: From Iron Maidens to Vlad's Impalin, the Judas Cradle was initially devised in ancient Rome as a way to deprive people of sleep. It's nastier uses were devised in later centuries.

The idea behind the device is relatively simple: The cradle is a stool topped with a pyramid rather than a flat surface. The condemned person was supposedly suspended from ropes above the device and slowly lowered on the tip of the pyramid. After that, the victim was slowly dropped so that their own body weight forced the pyramid into their body, ripping them open.
(#3) The Knee Splitter

A favored torture device of the Spanish Inquisition, the knee splitter was built of two wooden blocks lined with large spikes. The blocks were attached by a pair of screws. The victim’s leg was inserted between the spiked blocks and the screws were turned, drawing the blocks together.

The knee splitter crippled victims by rendering the knee useless.
(#8) Gibbet Cages And Coffin Torture

Coffin torture is similar to the practice of gibbeting, by which a victim is placed in a cage and hung from a support structure (known as a gibbet). The difference between general gibbeting and coffin torture, according to Jack Paraskovich, author of The Wrong View of History, is that cages for the latter were not one-size-fits-all, but tightened to conform to the body. Those who fitted the cages had a nasty habit of making the so-called coffins slightly too small.

In both gibbeting and coffin torture, victims were placed in metal confinements and left exposed to the elements. The amount of time spent in a coffin or cage depended upon the offense. Those guilty of serious crimes perished in their confinements, either through dehydration in the summer or exposure to extreme weather in the winter.
(#11) The Thumbscrew

The thumbscrew, yet another innovation from medieval Europe, was preferred for its simplicity. It wasn’t as complicated as other torture devices from the era; all you needed to do was slot the victim's thumbs into the device and screw away. It was usually used to punish thieves.

The simplicity of the device is a marvel of engineering. The victim’s thumbs or fingers were slowly crushed with a metal bar using a screw.