1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (126 page)

Jean Kellaway, The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present (Globe Pequot, 2003),

964

FACT :
In 1535, French Huguenot
Antoine Poile had his tongue pierced and attached to his cheek
before being burnt alive.
People pay good money for that now.

Piercing, that is. Not the burning alive part.

Jean Kellaway, The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present (Globe Pequot, 2003).

965

FACT :
In Russia during the time of Ivan the Terrible, it was customary for captured highwaymen
to have their heels cut off or crushed
and be dragged along by their injured ankles.
Okay, but why did they call him Ivan the Terrible?

Jean Kellaway, The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present (Globe Pequot, 2003).

966

FACT :
In sixteenth to nineteenth century England and Scotland, women deemed “troublesome and angry” could be subjected to the “scold’s bridle,”
a metal helmet with a gagging strap
that prevented them from speaking.
And . . . ?

Jean Kellaway, The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present (Globe Pequot, 2003).

967

FACT :
In medieval England, women were punished with the ducking stool,
a dangling seat on a rope used to drop them into water
. The shock of the cold water and the length of the ducking were often enough to kill.
The good news is that the ducking baptized them as well, so they all went to heaven when they drowned.

Jean Kellaway, The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present (Globe Pequot, 2003).

968

FACT :
The Iron Maiden was
an upright coffin with interior spikes used in medieval torture
. The victim was forced inside and, as the door was closed, had his lungs and eyes pierced by the spikes. But the prongs were too short to kill instantly, so the prisoner lingered in agony for hours before expiring.
The device is no longer used; now we have the music of Iron Maiden to torture us instead.

Jean Kellaway, The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present (Globe Pequot, 2003).

969

FACT :
During six centuries of church-sanctioned witch hunts, an estimated
100,000 people died from torture
and being burned at the stake.
That number is probably high, though, so it’s not as bad as it sounds.

Jean Kellaway, The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present (Globe Pequot, 2003).

970

FACT :
As many as
900 people died during witch hunts
in the Lorraine region of France from 1580 to 1595. Some villages cleared of “witches” were left with just a single female resident.
And she probably liked it. Women can be very competitive.

Jean Kellaway, The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present (Globe Pequot, 2003).

971

FACT :
Pressing to death was a form of torture used in fifteenth century England in which the offender was laid naked with a board across his torso.
Iron weights were then piled on the board
each day, until the pressure was excruciating and often fatal.
I’d take my sandwich and say, “Hey, mind if I stick this in there?” Love those pressed sandwiches.

Jean Kellaway, The History of Torture and Execution: From Early Civilization through Medieval Times to the Present (Globe Pequot, 2003).

972

FACT :
Just while making the bed, the average person
traverses four miles
in a year.
That’s one huge bed.

eBizarre,
www.ebizarre.com
.