Human mind can contrive ominous ways to punish people who have wronged us or are alleged wrongdoers in the eyes of law. The punishments have been practiced since ancient times although the measurement of pain was way worse than it is today.
The criminals were deemed fit to receive a considerable physically agonizing punishment that would then become the lesson for others.
Humans have evolved since. Have a better sense of judgement and are less barbaric in modern times. At least when it comes to law and order, however, we can’t say the same for other self-proclaimed punishing authorities who don’t fall under the modern legal system.
1) Crushed by elephants
Primarily popular in South and Southeast Asia, where elephants were found, this was considered an effective mode of punishment. Trained elephants were put to the task to make sure the trampling was brutal and done rightly.
2) Drawing and Quartering
The most inhumane and condemning method in the history of humankind, whoever thought of it must have had a dark and twisted mind and whoever endured this punishment must have blamed themselves for being born in the first place.
The convict was first drawn – tied behind a horse and then dragged to the gallows and then usually hanged or disemboweled. And finally, quartered by tying each of their limbs to four horses and having them run in opposite directions.
The record of first such punishment is found from 13th century England.
3) Blood eagle
Barbarism had no limits back in the olden days. One such example of human brutality was Blood Eagle. This form of punishment was practiced in Nordic legends.
The ribs of the convict were revealed by cutting open the back and then they were twisted upward to make them look like wings. As if that wasn’t enough, the lungs too were pulled out and draped over the ribcage to make it look like real wings.
Hang on, then they poured salt over all that for dramatic effect. Unbelievable!!
4) Slow Slicing
The felon was tied to a post and bits and pieces of limb and skin were gradually sliced one at a time, so the pain would slowly become unbearable. It usually stopped when the punisher cut the heart out or decapitated a part.
The evidence of application of this punishment goes as far as the 10th century and it was finally banned in the 1900s.
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5) Falling
Killing people by throwing them from a cliff sounds like the obvious method for those who wrong you. Yet, it is barbaric nonetheless, letting people suffer from fear first and then while falling some die of heart attacks and some of the splattered heads.
BTW it’s still practiced in Iran.
6) Burning to death
Yet another most horrific way to die is by being burned alive. Its finality and cruelty was the reason it was the most popular means of punishment during the medieval times.
People mostly executed suspected witches by this way of killing. Salem witch trials are an example of burning hundreds of witches together. How true is the incident is still albeit questionable.
Some terrorist groups still practice this form of punishment and who hasn’t heard of dowry cases in India?
7) A watery grave
Practiced in Rome centuries ago, according to their scriptures, people who murdered their own mother, father or other relatives, were sewed into a sack along with a snake, a monkey, a dog, and a rooster and thrown into the river.
Romans were big fans of throwing criminals to the beasts for suffering, so this makes sense.
8) Premature Burial
What if you were buried alive? It could be the worst form of punishment one can have and the most terrifying and suffocating at that.Ancient Turkish buried their condemned alive for maximum suffering and a final death.
It is rumoured to have re-surfaced in some ISIS camps to bury people alive in some Islamic states.
9) Boiling
Can you imagine people were boiled alive like Lobsters in England and East Asia a few centuries ago? Some shocking historical records even show of people being boiled for up to two hours before they finally died.
Brutal punishments still in practice believe it or not
1) Canning and Flogging
Beaten brutally by a cane or a whip was practiced as a normal form of punishment up until the nineteenth century.
You can still see evidence of this form of punishment being used during interrogations in deep dark confinements of jails.
2) Amputation
The dismemberment of one of the limbs like arm, hand, leg or foot was common in India during the medieval times, thanks to the Mughal invasion. The standard punishment for stealing was amputation. In countries like Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, the custom is still on-going.
3) Blinding
Iran is a country that is governed by Sharia law, which means amputation and blinding is a justified form of punishment for felons. It is derived by the principle of “an eye for an eye”.
One or both the condemns eyes are gouged out or burnt with acid.
We all know it is illegally practiced in India as well, where acid attacks happen especially done by the estranged lovers.
4) Beheading
This barbaric form of execution was practiced during the medieval times, but in Islamic countries, there are still some crimes punishable by this method like rape, murder, drug trafficking etc.
Records show a total of around 157 public executions in Saudi Arabia in 2015, many of which were by beheading.
5) Stoning
Hurling stones at someone with full force is a barbaric punishment that is still in practice not only in Islamic countries but Mali, Nigeria, Malaysia and even in India, where crowds go hungry of someone’s blood and kill them by stoning them to death.
6) Witch hunts
Although modern science has taken over the old ways by explaining reasons behind thing we once thought magic, some uneducated societies all over the world including in India, still believe in witches. And so, the hunting by burning or stoning is still on.
7) Mob-lynching
This is not the freshest form of punishment but it is seen being practiced more and more and somehow connected to political and bigoted ideologies of the mob.
The person accused is beaten brutally by the mob against the law till he dies. Sometimes it involves hanging as well.
In Conclusion
I am sure reading about the disturbing forms of punishments must have scared you. Writing about it did me too. But this shows how animalistic and vicious human beings can become. And to what extent our capability of doing good or bad reaches out.
Right now, I am just relieved that at least some of those malicious punishments are not practiced anymore in the world, yet worried there are many more yet to be eliminated from the list.
