00:00 When the person is placed inside this brazen bowl, it's just like cooking a turkey in your oven.
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for
00:07 the cruelest and most unusual punishments ever inflicted on individuals throughout history.
00:12 Please! What are you doing? Please stop! Please stop!
00:16 Peter Nierce was a prolific serial killer in 16th century Germany.
00:25 He was finally caught in 1581 and sentenced to be broken on the wheel after being convicted of 544
00:32 murders. The wheel was a fairly common method of execution in Europe during the Middle Ages
00:36 and early Renaissance. In addition to being made of hefty wood, these wheels were outfitted with
00:41 a metal rim, though sometimes they would be modified so that they could inflict further
00:45 damage with protruding iron blades. The punishment typically came in two acts. First, the condemned
00:51 would be tied down and then hit repeatedly with a large wheel, shattering their bones.
00:56 Another approach was to tie a person to the wheel and hit his or her limbs with iron hammers or bars
01:01 while the wheel was rotated. Afterwards, they would be staked to another wheel and either
01:06 decapitated or set ablaze. In the case of Nierce, he received 42 merciless blows after being tortured
01:12 for two days. He was then struck with the wheel from his ankles upward and ultimately slain by
01:18 quartering. 9. The Citizens of Kronstadt - Impalement
01:23 There is a reason why Vlad III, famously known as Vlad the Impaler, earned his grisly nickname.
01:29 Impalement was a somewhat common method of execution at the time, usually reserved for
01:44 crimes against the state. A penetrating object like a stake or hook was inserted into the victim,
01:50 and they'd be left to die. The method was inhuman but effective.
01:54 In 1459, the Saxon city of Kronstadt in Transylvania decided to throw political
02:04 support to one of Vlad's rivals. The cruel dictator responded with abject barbarity.
02:10 He impaled 30,000 of its citizens outside the city walls and burned Kronstadt to the ground.
02:16 According to legend, Vlad ate his dinner that day among his victims so he could watch them suffer.
02:21 8. Saint Bartholomew - Flaying
02:36 Saint Bartholomew was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus of Nazareth. According to Christian belief,
02:41 Bartholomew traveled east and eventually landed himself in Armenia. There, he managed to convert
02:46 the king to Christianity and was executed for his efforts. According to some traditions and
02:51 beliefs, Bartholomew was decapitated after getting flayed. Flaying, or skinning alive,
02:56 was a popular method of torture and execution in Mesopotamia.
03:04 The victim would suffer tremendously before dying from blood loss or infection.
03:09 Traditional depictions of the apostle often show him without his skin. This method of
03:13 execution inspired Christian leaders to make Bartholomew the patron saint of leather workers.
03:18 7. Yuan Chonghuan - Lingchi aka The Death by a Thousand Cuts
03:33 Yuan Chonghuan was field marshal of the Ming forces in northeastern China. In 1629, he repelled a
03:39 Jurchen invasion from the walls of Beijing. Despite his success, Yuan received intense
03:44 criticism from the imperial court. The pressure forced the Chongzhen emperor to sentence him to
03:49 execution via Lingchi, or Death by a Thousand Cuts. Yuan was tied to a post as bits of his
03:54 body were removed one piece at a time. During the Yuan dynasty, the Lingchi would last for about 100
04:00 cuts. In the Ming dynasty, however, the method could stretch as far as 3,000. While it was
04:07 normally a quick death taking around 20 minutes, Yuan's screams were allegedly heard for half a day.
04:12 6. Ishikawa Goemon - Boiled Alive
04:17 Ishikawa Goemon was a real-life Japanese Robin Hood. The legendary outlaw robbed from the rich
04:22 and gave his loot to the poor. He also allegedly attempted several political assassinations of
04:27 warlords, including the powerful Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Goemon was captured and sentenced
04:32 to death by boiling along with his young son. Accounts of this event have varied over the years,
04:38 but most agree on one detail. As they were immersed in a large cauldron, Goemon held his son above his
04:44 head in an attempt to save him. The outcome of this remains disputed. Some claim that this action
04:50 moved the executioner and the child was spared. Others say that both father and son ultimately
04:55 met the same agonizing fate. 5. The Prisoners of Diederik Sonoy - Rat Torture
05:01 The Eighty Years' War was the Dutch offshoot of the tension between Catholics and Protestants
05:12 that spread throughout Europe during the Renaissance. Diederik Sonoy was one of the
05:16 leaders of the Gerschen, a group of rebellious Calvinist nobles. His tactics were borderline
05:21 savage, having been the first known individual to employ the rat torture. Sonoy would take some of
05:26 his Catholic prisoners and tie them to a table bare-chested. He would then fill a large bowl
05:31 with rats and place it upside down on the prisoner's stomach. The bowl would get heated
05:36 with white-hot coals, panicking the rats inside. With no other routes of escape, the rats would
05:46 eventually gnaw and claw their way through the victim. 4. Jajar Khan Bakshi - Execution by
05:57 Elephant Death by rampaging elephant was a mode of execution popular in parts of Asia and India.
06:02 These were territories where elephants were bred to be used as weapons of war.
06:12 During the back half of the 16th century, much of India was ruled by Mughal Emperor Akbar the
06:18 Great. During one of his military campaigns, Akbar was traveling through the territory of
06:22 Gujarat. There, a woman spoke to Akbar and accused military chief Jajar Khan Bakshi of
06:28 murdering her son. After an inquiry, Bakshi confessed. As punishment, he was thrown at the
06:33 feet of a war elephant named Manmil and was trampled to death. The Europeans that watched
06:38 the feat sometimes compared it to being broken on the wheel since the Mahout made the bashing
06:43 last so long. 3. Mithridates the Soldier - Scaphism
06:47 Mithridates was a Persian soldier who was executed after bragging about killing King Cyrus. He was
06:53 sentenced to scaphism, a Persian method of torture. The victim was strung up between two boats or a
06:58 hollowed-out log and force-fed milk and honey. The supposed sweetness of this mixture would then
07:03 attract flies, wasps, and bees that would then attack the victim for days. In addition, the milk
07:14 and honey would cause the individual's bowels to rebel, resulting in terrible diarrhea, which would
07:20 in turn breed worms. The combination of all these horrible effects would eventually lead to the
07:24 victim dying a prolonged and miserable death. In the
07:33 case of Mithridates, it allegedly took him 17 days to give up the ghost.
07:38 2. St. Eustace the Brazen Bull - Ancient Civilizations
07:45 Say what you will about ancient civilizations, they were nothing if not inventive when it came
07:50 to execution. The brazen bull was a device supposedly invented during ancient Greece.
07:55 From a distance, it appeared to be merely a life-sized bronze statue of a bull. However,
08:00 the structure was hollow and fitted with a door on one side. Underneath, a large fire would be lit
08:06 as victims were shoved inside the belly of the bull. They were then essentially roasted.
08:11 In Rome, St. Eustace was a pagan general who converted to Christianity. As punishment for
08:20 not submitting to the Roman gods, Emperor Hadrian sentenced Eustace and his family to
08:25 death by brazen bull. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to
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08:49 Number 1. Jesus of Nazareth - Crucifixion
08:53 Anyone with a passing familiarity with Christianity knows that the Romans were
08:57 fond of crucifixion. After stirring up unrest and potential rebellion, Jesus of Nazareth was
09:09 arrested by Roman governor Pontius Pilate. He was stripped of his clothing and then nailed to a large
09:14 wooden cross. While contemporary portrayals show wounds in Jesus' hands, he may actually have been
09:20 nailed through his wrists as well as his feet. Victims of crucifixion would often endure agonizing
09:26 pain for hours or days until they died by asphyxiation from the strain of the weight.
09:31 According to biblical accounts, Jesus suffered for around six hours before ultimately succumbing.
09:37 Human beings have spent centuries devising cruel and horrific ways to hurt one another.
09:42 If you're a history buff with insight into other torturous methods, sound off in the comments below.
09:47 "This is for posterity, so be honest. How do you feel?"
09:51 "Interesting."
09:58 "I'm not sure."
10:05 "I'm not sure."
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