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

(#1) The Iron Chair

The Iron Chair existed in many forms and went by various names, including the Chinese torture chair, the Judas Chair, and the fantastically generic chair of torture. Despite these variants, in pretty much all cases, the victim was seated on brass and placed over an open flame to slowly roast alive.

A more brutal version (pictured) than the standard flesh-roaster had spikes on the seat, armrests, leg rest, and back. In The History of Torture, author Brian Innes quotes a source on the Roman practice of roasting Christians in such chairs, who wrote, "...their bodies were so scorched that all the people that stood by were savored by the frying."
(#6) The Breaking Wheel

The breaking wheel dates back to antiquity, when it was used for capital punishment. Also known as the Catherine Wheel, it was a popular torture device in medieval Europe, and numerous variations were developed, some consisting of a wooden cross rather than a wheel.

The victim’s limbs were tied to the spokes of a large wooden wheel, which slowly revolved while a torturer smashed the limbs with an iron hammer, breaking them in many places. Torture on the breaking wheel might last days, resulting in a slow and painful demise.
(#7) The Rack

Introduced to the Tower of London in the 1420s by the Duke of Exeter, the rack was used by to extract confessions and incriminating information from suspected traitors, heretics, and conspirators. The key word here is suspected; in many cases, victims were innocent and usually confessed to stop the torture.

So what is the rack? Imagine a bed-like wooden frame, raised from the ground, with a roller at one end (or both). The victim was forced to lie down on the device, with his or her ankles and wrists secured by ropes wrapped around axles near the head and foot of the rack. The axles were turned by poles inserted into sockets, so the victim’s hip, knee, shoulder, and elbow joints were dislocated as slowly and painfully as possible.
(#2) The Head Crusher

The head crusher was a big hit during the Middle Ages. It was employed as a political tool to strike fear into the hearts of subjects in order to engender compliance with a regime's dictums.

It was also used to extract confessions from those accused of crimes.
(#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.
(#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.