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

(#1) Keelhauling Used Barnacles To Pull The Skin From A Body

Surprising no one, pirates were not afraid to dole out some truly horrendous punishments to seamen behaving badly while at sea. Keelhauling was one of the more gruesome of pirate punishment practices.

While this drawing makes keelhauling look like an awesome pirate game, it was actually the opposite of fun. The crueler alternative to walking the plank, keelhauling involved throwing a person off of a boat with a rope attached to them. As the boat moved, the person would be pulled underneath it, and their body would scrape against the rough, barnacle-covered bottom of the ship.

The process was repeated until the person's skin was fully scraped off. This was, as you might imagine, often fatal.
(#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.
(#13) Bamboo Impalement Could Be Accomplished In A Matter Of Days

Bamboo is known for its ability to grow extremely quickly. At some point in history, some sadistic individual had the brilliant idea of turning bamboo's fast growth into a way of slowly torturing people. Reports of bamboo torture in Ceylon started appearing in the 19th century, and many claim that it was used by the Japanese during WWII, but this has not been proven. Basically, bamboo torture involved letting bamboo grow into - and impale - a person.

A victim would be tied securely to a young bamboo shoot, and, over several days, the plant would enter their body and eventually come out the other side.
(#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.
(#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."
(#9) Boiling Alive Was One Of Henry VIII's Fave Slow Torture Methods

A favorite method of King Henry VIII, being boiled alive can be an extremely drawn out process. Although being boiled at a consistently hot temperature for several minutes straight can quickly do the trick, this wasn't always the method used by torturers. In fact, some boiling involved lowering the liquid to an unbearably hot - but not quite boiling - temperature, torturing the victim.

Also, the liquid used for boiling was totally up to the torturer - oil and water were two favorite options.