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00:00Warning, what you're about to see could be disturbing to some viewers.
00:06Viewer discretion is advised.
00:14Imagine being found guilty of a crime and your sentence is hard time in a chicken suit.
00:22Motorists are met with a crazy sight.
00:24You might think that he is advertising for a new fried chicken restaurant, but that's actually not what's happening at all.
00:33Or finding your executioner is an elephant?
00:37Asian elephants can weigh up to 15,000 pounds.
00:40An elephant will crush a person's skull easily and quickly as it would a cantaloupe.
00:47How about a night at the pub that ends in a bizarre walk of shame?
00:51They devise a punishment for public drunkenness, meant to humiliate.
00:56You're not just trying to shame one person, you're trying to shame the entire community.
01:04These are the punishments so peculiar, they are truly unbelievable.
01:21There is seemingly no end to the ways one can punish someone who has done you wrong.
01:26But King Xerxes of Persia has to get creative, when that certain someone isn't a someone at all.
01:34In the 5th century BC, the leader of Persia, which is modern day Iran,
01:43is Xerxes the Great, who is in warfare with surrounding nations, including Greece.
01:49Xerxes has a bit of beef with the Greeks at the time,
01:54because in a previous battle against his father Darius, the Greeks defeated him.
02:00So Xerxes is on a mission to avenge his father's fall at the hands of the Greek forces.
02:06To do this, though, Xerxes and his army has to cross this body of water known as the Strait of Dardanelles.
02:12He has a massive army, and he has to get them across this water.
02:18And remember, this isn't modern mechanized warfare.
02:21This is going to take a lot of work, and most importantly, this is going to take a bridge.
02:26Not just any bridge.
02:29Xerxes orders his men to build a large floating overpass nearly a mile long,
02:34something difficult to pull off in even perfect conditions.
02:37They gather about 600 ships to bridge the gap across the Strait.
02:43They are lashed together with ropes of flax, logs, or other debris.
02:48And then it acts like a pontoon, and the forces can walk across it to get to the other side.
02:55They are all ready to cross it, and then a massive storm sweeps in.
03:01Before one troop can even cross it.
03:08Xerxes is infuriated.
03:10Now he's being stopped from being able to avenge his father, Darius.
03:13So naturally, he turns his ire towards the offending party.
03:17Someone has to be held responsible for this bridge not holding up.
03:20And for Xerxes, there's only one culprit.
03:24The sea.
03:26Xerxes has a plan on how to set the sea straight.
03:29He looks at the sea as he would any other enemy.
03:33Be brutal.
03:35Be decisive.
03:36He has his soldiers line up all along the edge of the Strait of Dardanelles.
03:40And he gives them all a heavy, mighty chain.
03:43And he orders each soldier to whip the sea 300 times each.
03:53It's ridiculous.
03:55We know that.
03:55I know that.
03:56You know that.
03:56But who's going to tell Xerxes that?
03:58If he's crazy enough to order soldiers to whip the ocean, what's he going to do to you if you say no?
04:10But as Xerxes' men punish the water, it starts to fight back.
04:15This punishment doesn't seem to be working on the Strait of Dardanelles.
04:18And so naturally, this pisses Xerxes off even more, so he now ups the ante.
04:24Next, each man is compelled to poke the sea with red-hot pokers.
04:30And they are met with nothing but, well, the sizzle of the iron immediately cooling under the water's touch.
04:36But Xerxes isn't done, so he says, we are going to throw shackles into the sea.
04:45And then it will learn who's boss.
04:48But the sea just, you know, kind of keeps on being in the sea.
04:52Also, as a side note, every engineer who built the bridge was ordered to be decapitated.
04:57Xerxes orders the bridge rebuilt.
05:04But he's killed all his engineers, so he's got to get new engineers.
05:08And he builds a brand new pontoon bridge so that he can exact his vengeance on the Greeks.
05:15Tragically, Xerxes' great feat in crossing the Strait is all for naught.
05:23Despite their massive numbers, they had bad intel on the terrain, and their army is ineffectual.
05:29They're defeated. They have to turn tail and return to Persia.
05:33When Xerxes returns to the Dardanelles, he finds another storm destroyed the bridge.
05:39There's nowhere for the Persians to run to, and so they have to be brutalized even further.
05:44It's not a happy ending for the Persians via the hands of the Greeks.
05:49It's clear the sea just can't learn its lesson.
05:53Next up, a judge who some might say takes his punishments a bridge too far.
06:01It's a beautiful, sunny spring day in Painesville, Ohio,
06:04and motorists are met with a crazy sight, a full-grown man in a chicken suit.
06:10You might think that he is advertising for a new fried chicken restaurant,
06:16or he's one of those sign spinners trying to get people to go inside.
06:20But that's actually not what's happening at all.
06:23Oddly enough, the man in the chicken suit is serving a very unusual sentence from Judge Mike Cicanetti.
06:29Judge Cicanetti is famous for handing out unusual sentences where the punishment fits the crime.
06:37You might be wondering, what did this man do to end up here?
06:422007, Fabian Rodriguez Ramirez thinks he's soliciting prostitution from a sex worker,
06:47but is actually an undercover police officer.
06:49Judge Cicanetti gives Rodriguez Ramirez a choice.
06:54Either 30 days in the slammer, or wear a chicken suit out in public on a busy street.
07:02Rodriguez Ramirez takes the chicken suit, and Cicanetti adds an intriguing side order.
07:07It seems that Judge Cicanetti is also a bit of a movie buff.
07:11So inspired by the 1982 film, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,
07:16he declares Rodriguez Ramirez, in addition to the chicken suit,
07:19must have a sign, no chicken ranch in our city,
07:23which alludes to the chicken ranch brothel in the movie.
07:28But does this bizarre kind of punishment actually work?
07:31Judge Cicanetti has an amazing track record of these unusual and peculiar punishments,
07:36that also seem to be quite effective.
07:39So much so that he has a 10% recidivist re-offending rate
07:44compared to the national average of 75%.
07:48Most states allow judges to put their own spin on sentences,
07:51especially if it's for low-level misdemeanors.
07:55But some states even allow it for more serious types of crimes.
07:59So in the past, this judge has sentenced a man who called a police officer a pig
08:04to stand next to a pig pen with a sign that says,
08:07this is not a police officer.
08:09He even sentenced a couple guilty of stealing a baby Jesus statue
08:14to dress up as Mary and Joseph and walk through town with a mule.
08:21With roughly 40 cases a day being adjudicated in his courtroom,
08:25Judge Cicanetti is sort of single-handedly overhauling the Ohio judicial system
08:31and helping with jail overcrowding.
08:36Just like when your mom pulls out an embarrassing baby photo,
08:40some experiences never leave you.
08:44Capital punishment is sometimes seen as a necessary evil
08:48in many societies, past and present.
08:51And it's also often considered inhumane.
08:53But what happens when the executioner isn't actually human?
09:01In 9th century India, officials began to look for
09:05a more spectacular and terrorizing way of executing wrongdoers.
09:10They decide to use one of their most abundant natural resources,
09:17the elephant.
09:18Asian elephants can weigh up to 15,000 pounds.
09:23They're industrious, they're intelligent,
09:25they're excellent at following orders,
09:27and they're ubiquitous on the subcontinent.
09:31The elephant's trainer, or mahout,
09:33can teach them to do any number of things,
09:35to entertain an audience,
09:37or to crush a person to death.
09:39They call their new form of punishment Ganga Rao,
09:43and it quite literally means casting beneath an elephant's feet.
09:48This new method of execution becomes very popular among elites,
09:51who often had large menageries of elephants.
09:55It's an enforcement tool.
09:57It separates and makes people know who's in charge.
10:00It's the people with the elephants.
10:03When given a command by a trainer,
10:06an elephant will crush a person's skull
10:09as easily and quickly as it would a cantaloupe.
10:13Or they can engage in a much slower form of execution,
10:18instructing the elephant to break limbs one at a time,
10:21avoiding the vital organs,
10:23trying to draw out the length of the death,
10:25the agony, the pain, the suffering,
10:27and then finally finishing them off.
10:28In some traditions,
10:33the prisoner is forced to undergo
10:35what might be called trial by ordeal.
10:38The elephant is instructed to roll over him,
10:42puppy dog style, crushing him to death.
10:45But if the prisoner survives, he's set free.
10:49This form of punishment becomes so popular,
10:53it begins to spread,
10:54with each country adding their own local flair.
10:57The neighboring country of Sri Lanka
11:00adopts this practice,
11:03but they bring a particular twist to it.
11:05They affix blades to the elephant's tusks,
11:09allowing the beast to tear apart the prisoner
11:12as if he's in a food processor.
11:15In Siam, what we now call Thailand,
11:18they introduced an element of psychological dread
11:20and suspense by having the elephant
11:22walk three times around the prisoner slowly,
11:25increasing the sense of dread
11:28before crushing them to death.
11:30Not to be outdone, in Vietnam,
11:33criminals are condemned to gung gau
11:35by being tied to a stake
11:37and having an elephant run them down.
11:40In essence, it's like an entire city bus
11:43coming straight at you.
11:45Death is imminent.
11:46Death by elephant.
11:50One of the more unbelievable ways
11:52society has mated out justice.
11:55But what happens when it's not the executioner,
11:58but the accused that is an animal?
12:03It's December 1457 in Seven Year Friends.
12:07A five-year-old boy has been brutalized
12:10and will end up dying from his wounds.
12:15This is an outrage to the people in the town.
12:17They demand justice.
12:19The people in the town start combing the town,
12:22trying to find the person
12:23who would dare commit a heinous act like this
12:26to such a small child.
12:28Eventually, the crowd finds the suspect
12:30and brings them before a judge.
12:32But this suspect...
12:33not like other murder suspects.
12:39The accused is a pig.
12:42Actually, a sow.
12:43And she and her six little piglets
12:46have been accused of murdering this boy.
12:49And the court takes this very seriously.
12:53One of the more interesting aspects of medieval life
12:56is that animals could be put on trial.
12:58Both the pig and the pig's owner
13:02are dragged off to jail.
13:05But this little piggy lawyers up.
13:08The thinking is at the time
13:10that because animals are considered God's creatures
13:13that they are entitled to have representation.
13:16And these animals don't just have lawyers.
13:18Sometimes they have the best lawyers that are in town.
13:23So at the trial,
13:25despite the accused being a pig and her piglets,
13:28everything seems, like, oddly normal.
13:32Witnesses are called to testify
13:34and they're talking about how heinous of an act this is
13:37and how terrible this pig is.
13:40It's a full-on trial.
13:42And on top of that,
13:43the animal is put in human clothes
13:45because they have to be presented well in court.
13:47And if the animal really needed it,
13:50because, you know, if they're on the witness stand,
13:51they would be given, like, a little booster seat,
13:54you know, just to prop them up
13:55so that everybody could see them.
13:56After closing arguments,
13:59the sow's fate lies in the hands of the judge.
14:03The judge considers the sow
14:05to be the ringleader of this heinous attack.
14:09And as per the sentence and guidelines of the day,
14:11says that the sow must be hung by her hind legs
14:15from a tree until she is dead.
14:19The judge decides to spare the six little piglets,
14:23deciding that they were young
14:25and they were simply products of their poor environment.
14:29Today, we'd think that this situation is totally outlandish,
14:32but the spectacle of an animal being brought to justice
14:36is surprisingly not uncommon
14:37in medieval England and Europe.
14:40There are roughly 100 known cases
14:43of an animal being brought before a court of law
14:47and being accused of a certain offense.
14:50And it wasn't limited to pigs,
14:53but it seems that people just need an outlet for their anger.
14:59And if they can't take it out on Mother Nature,
15:02they take it out on the agent of Mother Nature.
15:06These days, we've gotten past putting animals on trial,
15:09even for high crimes, like eating your favorite slippers.
15:15Public humiliation.
15:17It's a punishment employed for centuries
15:19to chastise wrongdoers,
15:21but few have done it better or more unbelievably
15:23than the folks of 16th-century England.
15:28In 16th-century England,
15:30it was far more common to drink beer than water,
15:33especially in cities like London.
15:34Anyone can brew their own ale
15:39and serve it and sell it.
15:41It's the Wild West of pub culture.
15:45And because beer is so common,
15:48it's not unusual to see people
15:50staggering drunk in the city.
15:52So you have an outbreak of public drunkenness
15:55that becomes a real problem in the community.
15:59Then, Parliament decides
16:00they must do something about it.
16:02The 16th-century killjoys in Parliament
16:06come up with the Alehouse Act of 1551.
16:09It makes public drunken disorderly conduct
16:13a civil offense.
16:16The way it works is that
16:18the first time you are drunk in public,
16:20you have to pay a fine,
16:22and it's five shillings,
16:23which is about eight days' worth of wages
16:25for a skilled tradesperson.
16:28As painful as it is to cough up that kind of cash,
16:30repeat offenders face paying a much higher price,
16:34their dignity.
16:36The act is difficult to enforce
16:38because public drunkenness is common.
16:41But repeat offenders
16:43are nailed with what is called
16:47the drunkard's cloak.
16:49The drunkard's cloak is a beer barrel
16:53with a hole in the top for your head.
16:57It comes down over your shoulders,
16:58and if you're lucky,
16:59there'll be holes in the sides
17:00for you to put your arms through.
17:02The offender would be forced to wear this barrel
17:05and parade through the town,
17:07and then people could throw things at them
17:09and yell insults,
17:11basically humiliate them
17:12with the idea that this would prevent
17:14the drunk person
17:15from becoming drunk in public again.
17:18It becomes the original walk of shame.
17:22The drunkard's cloak punishment
17:23is used so often
17:25in the hard-drinking town
17:26of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
17:28that it's sometimes called
17:29the Newcastle cloak.
17:31You're not just trying to shame one person.
17:34You're trying to shame
17:35the entire community
17:37out of public drunkenness
17:38because they're going to see
17:40people walking up and down
17:42in this perpetual drunkenness walk of shame
17:44and say,
17:45I don't want to be like that.
17:47I don't want to wear
17:48the drunkard's cloak.
17:49Once the drunkard's cloak
17:51takes off across England,
17:52it spreads into other countries
17:54across Europe.
17:55It is adopted in Spain.
17:57It's adopted in Denmark.
17:59In Germany,
18:00it's now known as the Schandmantel,
18:02or literally,
18:04the coat or the cloak of shame.
18:07Now, German authorities
18:09add a particular twist.
18:10They line the barrel
18:13with sheet metal
18:14so that wearing it
18:16becomes not only
18:18personally embarrassing,
18:20but a physical affliction as well.
18:23If you're wearing
18:24the Schandmantel in public,
18:26get ready for some rotten vegetables
18:28because your peers
18:30and your neighbors
18:31are encouraged to hurl
18:33rotten refuse at you
18:35while you take your walk of shame.
18:36The practice even makes
18:38its way to America.
18:40In 1863,
18:42in the state of Maine,
18:44a Civil War-era lieutenant
18:46forces two of his recruits
18:48to walk around
18:49wearing the barrel of shame
18:51and also carrying signs
18:53saying,
18:54I'm wearing this
18:55for being publicly drunk.
18:57The men are mercilessly razzed
18:59by their peers
19:00and fellow soldiers.
19:01According to the lieutenant,
19:03they'll never get drunk
19:04in uniform again.
19:06Turns out,
19:07wearing a barrel
19:08is the universal
19:09drunkard's walk of shame.
19:13Centuries later,
19:14public shaming
19:15still proves
19:15an effective form of punishment,
19:17especially when one Texas judge
19:19opts for something
19:20unbelievable.
19:23It's 2010 in Texas,
19:26and Eloise and Daniel Morales
19:28are in a courtroom
19:29waiting for their sentence.
19:32Eloise is an employee
19:33of Harris County.
19:34She and her husband
19:36have taken over $250,000
19:38from a fund set aside
19:41for victims of crime
19:42called the Harris County
19:43Crime Victims Fund.
19:45As an employee
19:46of Harris County,
19:48Eloise identifies
19:49a loophole
19:51that allows her
19:52to divert money orders
19:54and cashiers' checks
19:56away from the
19:57Crime Victims Fund
19:58and into her personal
19:59bank account.
20:01She's taking money
20:02from people
20:02who do need the money,
20:04and she's using it
20:05to do nights on the town,
20:07buy new clothes.
20:09Her and her husband
20:09are having a ball.
20:10In this case,
20:13the judge, Kevin Fine,
20:14orders them to pay back
20:16the $255,000
20:17that they took
20:18over a period
20:19of 10 years
20:19and to also serve
20:21180 days
20:22in the Harris County Jail.
20:24But Judge Fine
20:25is not done
20:26serving out
20:26his justice yet.
20:28He also says,
20:30since you stole
20:31from the people
20:33of your community,
20:34we also want
20:35the people in the town
20:36to know
20:37what exactly it is
20:38that you did.
20:40Then the judge
20:41adds something
20:41bound to make them
20:43unpopular
20:43with their neighbors.
20:45He orders them
20:47to place this
20:48giant sign
20:49in front of their house
20:50which reads,
20:51the occupants
20:52of this house,
20:52Daniel and Eloise Morellas,
20:54are convicted thieves.
20:57He also says
20:58that the couple,
20:59for five hours
21:01on the weekend,
21:02for six years straight,
21:04must wear a sign
21:05that says,
21:06I am a thief.
21:08I stole $250,000
21:10from the Harris County
21:12Crime Victims Fund.
21:14They have to wear
21:16sandwich board signs
21:18over their bodies
21:19and walk around
21:21public streets
21:22at busy intersections,
21:25in busy shopping districts,
21:27in fact,
21:28some of the same places
21:29where they might have spent
21:31some of this
21:32pilfered money.
21:33This is a really
21:34personal sentence
21:35and the judge
21:36does build in
21:37a failsafe.
21:38If they fail
21:39to complete
21:40any part of their sentence,
21:41if they take the sign down,
21:43if they miss a weekend,
21:44they will have to go to prison
21:46for up to 10 years.
21:50Newspaper articles report
21:51that every single weekend,
21:54this couple can be seen
21:55wandering the busy intersection
21:56of Post Oak
21:57and Westheimer
21:58with nothing but
21:59their signs
22:00and just these
22:01sullen grimaces
22:02on their faces.
22:04But at the same time,
22:06one could also argue
22:07it is still better
22:09than prison.
22:09At least you get
22:09to be outside.
22:10You know what they say,
22:14the couple that's
22:15shamed together
22:16stays together.
22:19These days,
22:20anyone can showcase
22:21their perceived talents
22:22online
22:23and at worst
22:24be hit with an unfollow
22:25or a few nasty comments.
22:27But back in medieval times,
22:29musicians performing
22:30off-key
22:31were met with something
22:32much more brutal.
22:36We like to think
22:37that we take our music
22:38seriously these days, right?
22:39We've got the Grammy Awards,
22:41you've got the Billboard Awards,
22:42you've got CMAs,
22:43you've got all manner
22:44of accolades
22:45are placed upon musicians
22:46that we love
22:47because they make good music.
22:49But back in medieval Europe,
22:51it is actually considered
22:52a crime
22:53to play music badly.
22:57Enter the shame flute
22:59for the aspiring
23:01but terrible musician
23:02in your life.
23:03The shame flute
23:04isn't actually
23:05an instrument at all.
23:07The idea is
23:09that it is
23:10this massive instrument
23:12that is bolted around
23:13the neck of a person
23:15who did a terrible job
23:17playing music.
23:20And their hands
23:21are clamped to it,
23:23giving the impression
23:24the musician is playing,
23:25yet no sound comes out,
23:27which is probably a good thing
23:28if they're a bad musician
23:29in the first place.
23:30Then this awful musician
23:31is paraded through the town
23:33where they are regaled
23:34with insults,
23:36jeers,
23:37rotting fruit
23:38being thrown at them.
23:39Heckling is actually encouraged.
23:41How does one avoid
23:42a session on the shame flute?
23:44Practice, practice, practice.
23:47If poor musicians
23:48are forced to wear
23:49the shame flute,
23:50then aspiring musicians
23:51are much less likely
23:52to play an instrument
23:54in public
23:54until they're really good at it,
23:55which helps you
23:56to understand
23:57that the real offense here
23:58isn't playing bad music.
23:59It's playing bad music
24:01where you can be heard.
24:02You can actually see
24:03a real shame flute
24:04in one of two places,
24:06either the Medieval Crime Museum
24:07in Rothenburg
24:08or at the Torture Museum
24:09in Amsterdam.
24:10It might also make you
24:11start to think about
24:12which musicians
24:13that are around today
24:14should we be shackling
24:16to the shame flute.
24:18While these tone-deaf culprits
24:20are silenced,
24:21this next set of offenders
24:23long for some quiet.
24:26It's a warm summer evening
24:28in 2008,
24:29and 24-year-old student
24:31Andrew Vaktor
24:32is driving around
24:34Urbana, Ohio.
24:36He's taking in
24:37the nice breezes,
24:38his windows are down,
24:39he's feeling the flow,
24:41and he's blasting hip-hop.
24:45Let's be clear.
24:46To those not interested
24:47in what Andrew's playing,
24:49the music is a nuisance.
24:50Some might even call it
24:51a form of noise pollution
24:53that disturbs their pets,
24:55unsettles their children,
24:56and quite frankly,
24:57wakes them up
24:58in the middle of the night.
24:59And yet for Andrew,
25:01it's just a good time.
25:03Despite the commotion,
25:04Andrew continues
25:05to cruise around,
25:06enjoying his mobile concert,
25:08oblivious to the outside world.
25:11He's got the volume
25:12up to 11.
25:14It's so loud,
25:15Andrew fails to hear
25:17the police sirens
25:18as he's pulled over.
25:20When Andrew finally
25:21gets pulled over,
25:22he's cited
25:23for public disturbance
25:24due to the loud beats
25:26emanating from his ride.
25:28And eventually,
25:29Andrew finds himself
25:30at the Champaign County Courthouse
25:31in front of Judge
25:32Susan Fornoff Lippincott.
25:34In court,
25:35the judge hears Andrew's case,
25:37and she actually offers
25:39the young man a deal,
25:41a bargain, so to speak.
25:42He can either pay
25:43a $150 fine,
25:46or,
25:47at an 80% reduction,
25:49a $35 fine.
25:50However,
25:52he'll be sentenced
25:53to listen to
25:5420 hours of music.
25:56Andrew decides
25:57to take the deal.
25:5920 hours of music
26:00doesn't sound so bad,
26:01but this DJ's
26:02not taking any requests.
26:05Judge Fornoff Lippincott
26:07decides to give Andrew
26:08a taste of his own medicine.
26:10Since he subjected
26:11so many people
26:12to listen to music
26:13they didn't want to hear,
26:15she's going to subject him
26:16to music
26:17that he might not want to hear.
26:19Instead of the deep,
26:21urban,
26:22bass music,
26:23which Andrew loves,
26:24the judge orders
26:25that he listen
26:26to classical music,
26:27which he also hopes
26:29might broaden
26:30his horizons.
26:31So Andrew settles in
26:32to fulfill his sentence,
26:33and the classical music begins.
26:37So we can imagine
26:39him sitting there listening
26:40as the orchestra
26:40begins to swell,
26:42and the room fills
26:43with the sounds
26:43of Beethoven, Mozart,
26:45and it drives him
26:46to the point of madness.
26:49Andrew only lasts
26:50about 15 minutes.
26:53Andrew decides
26:54to pay the $150 fine
26:55rather than be subjected
26:56to what he considers
26:57to be cruel
26:58and unusual punishment
26:59by classical music.
27:0315 years later,
27:05a man in Wales
27:06takes a similar tactic
27:07when his ears
27:08are accosted
27:09by his noisy neighbors.
27:10It's Swansea, Wales,
27:12in 2023,
27:13and a man
27:14is at his wit's end.
27:16His noisy neighbors,
27:17three young women,
27:18are perpetually
27:19blasting music next door.
27:21He has no peace
27:22and quiet.
27:23It's nonstop music.
27:24It's so loud,
27:25everything in his home
27:26is shaking.
27:26The windows are rattling,
27:28the pictures on the wall
27:29are vibrating,
27:30and he decides
27:31he's got to do
27:31something about it.
27:32So the man conducts
27:34an experiment of his own.
27:36Just like Special Forces
27:37broke drug lord Noriega
27:39with heavy metal,
27:40he's going to blast music
27:42of his own kind.
27:43He props his speakers
27:44up against their common wall,
27:46and he turns the volume
27:47all the way up,
27:48and he chooses
27:49one of the most metal
27:51classical music pieces
27:52of all time.
27:53Gustav hulsts the planets,
27:59specifically Mars,
28:01the bringer of war.
28:04Puts it on loop
28:05and then leaves the house.
28:10After three days,
28:12he comes home,
28:13turns off his stereo,
28:14and it's quiet.
28:16Somehow the message
28:16has been delivered.
28:20Let this be a lesson
28:21to the younger set.
28:22Don't piss off
28:23your elders.
28:24We've got classical music,
28:26and we're not afraid
28:26to use it.
28:30Perhaps no era
28:31is as synonymous
28:32with punishment
28:32as the Spanish Inquisition.
28:35Getting a confession
28:36is a requirement
28:37for the Inquisitors,
28:38and should the accused
28:39choose not to cooperate,
28:41their punishment
28:42is nothing short
28:43of cruel and unusual.
28:47The Inquisition
28:49is a powerful office
28:50established by
28:51the Roman Catholic Church
28:52to root out heresy
28:53during the 15th century.
28:56At this time,
28:57the Catholic Church
28:58is the ultimate authority.
29:00There is no separation
29:01of church and state.
29:03The church law
29:04is the law.
29:06And the church
29:07deem that it's acceptable
29:09to attack
29:10and torture anyone
29:12who doesn't follow
29:13the religious law
29:14as they see it.
29:15Now, just to make sure
29:17that Catholic law
29:18is being upheld,
29:20there is a group
29:22of people
29:22that are known
29:24as Inquisitors.
29:26The Inquisitor's job
29:27is not to kill you.
29:29No, no,
29:29that would be too quick.
29:30It's to get you
29:31to admit
29:32your liaisons
29:33with Satan,
29:34and they can do this
29:35any way they see fit.
29:36So they want
29:37to develop devices
29:38and types of torture
29:39that are truly
29:42horrendous to endure.
29:44It's something
29:45one Dominican friar
29:46learns in an excruciating way.
29:50Giordano Bruno
29:50is a Dominican friar
29:52who is very much seen
29:54as a heretic
29:54by the Catholic Church
29:55and the Inquisitors.
29:56For starters,
29:57he is someone
29:58that believes
29:59in the Copernicus model,
30:00a.k.a. the sun
30:02is what the earth
30:03revolves around,
30:04not the opposite direction,
30:05not the sun
30:06revolves around the earth.
30:07The sun is the center,
30:08not the earth.
30:09And so naturally,
30:10he must be brought in
30:11to have his sins purged.
30:15And they will proceed
30:16to torture the friar
30:18using a very special tool
30:21in the Inquisitor's toolbox,
30:24the heretic's fork.
30:27It's a fork with prongs
30:29on this end
30:30that press right
30:31against your soft palate
30:32and prongs on this end
30:34which poke right
30:34into your chest,
30:36attached with a leather strap
30:37to keep your head
30:38faced upward
30:39as if in prayer.
30:44If you get tired
30:45and your head sags,
30:46you stab yourself here
30:47or here
30:48or both.
30:50As long as Bruno
30:51can keep his head
30:52and jaw
30:53completely still,
30:54he's okay.
30:55But that means
30:56not even swallowing
30:57your own spit.
30:58It's a punishment
30:59meant to cause
31:00mental anguish
31:01as well as physical suffering.
31:03And there's no way out.
31:04How long
31:05can he keep this up for?
31:07Bruno ultimately
31:08remains steadfast
31:09in his beliefs.
31:10He never admits to heresy.
31:11But his ordeal
31:12is far from over.
31:14If you survive
31:15the heretic's fort,
31:16you get to be paraded
31:17in front of a long
31:19Inquisitor's tribunal
31:20where you will be found
31:22guilty of heresy
31:22and burned
31:23at the stake,
31:25which is exactly
31:26what happens
31:27to Friar Bruno.
31:29You could say
31:30the rights of the accused
31:31have come a long way
31:32since the Middle Ages.
31:34Nowadays,
31:34most get to make
31:35a phone call.
31:36And that's a good thing.
31:38Unless
31:38you're incarcerated
31:40at a certain prison
31:41in Arkansas.
31:44It's the 1960s
31:45in Arkansas
31:46at the Tucker State
31:47Prison Farm.
31:48Tucker State
31:49is not like
31:50the conventional prison
31:51that you might think of.
31:53This is a 4,500-acre farm.
31:56It's a self-sufficient farm
31:57and it is a for-profit farm.
31:59That which is grown there
32:00is sold
32:01to profit
32:02the state of Arkansas.
32:03And these criminals
32:04are doing hard labor
32:06in the sweltering
32:07Arkansas heat.
32:10The guards
32:10at this prison
32:11are remarkably brutal
32:13and they're going to use
32:15violence
32:15and even torture
32:16to force these inmates
32:18into the field
32:19into the hot sun.
32:22The worst of the guards
32:23jack money
32:24from prisoners.
32:26The little amount
32:27of money
32:27that prisoners make
32:28for their labor
32:29is pilfered
32:30as a kind
32:31of protection money.
32:33You pay up
32:33or you can be beaten,
32:35tortured,
32:36deprived of rations.
32:38It's a system
32:38of terror
32:39and usury
32:41and extortion.
32:43But by far
32:45the most brutal way
32:46guards keep
32:46these prisoners in line
32:47is something that comes
32:49from the mind
32:49of a surprising source.
32:51Normally a prison doctor
32:52is there to help inmates
32:53but not Dr. A.E. Rollins.
32:56In cahoots
32:56with the superintendent
32:57Jim Bruton
32:58he uses his knowledge
33:00of the body
33:00and anatomy
33:01to develop
33:02a new monstrous
33:03torture device.
33:05What is known
33:05as the Tucker Telephone.
33:07The Tucker Telephone
33:09is a hand-cranked telephone
33:12with its insides
33:13hollowed out.
33:15When you crank
33:15the handle
33:16you're delivering
33:18an electrical charge
33:19to two dry cell batteries
33:21which in turn
33:22are hooked up
33:23to wires
33:24which send the charge
33:26coursing
33:26through the body
33:28of the victim.
33:29In the 1960s
33:31the Tucker Telephone
33:32is quietly put
33:33into service
33:33and one unlucky prisoner
33:36is about to become
33:37its first
33:38unfortunate victim.
33:41It's the fall of 1964
33:43and a 27-year-old inmate
33:45named Gordon Ray Ross Jr.
33:47is at his breaking point
33:48with the treatment
33:49at Tucker State Farm.
33:51He can't handle
33:52the extortion
33:53the torture
33:53so what he finally
33:55decides to do
33:56is rebel
33:56and he attacks
33:58another inmate.
33:59He figures
33:59if I kill him
34:00they have to transfer me
34:02to another prison.
34:04Gordon suffers
34:04some injuries
34:05in this incident
34:06and is sent
34:07to the hospital
34:07so he thinks
34:08he's going to get
34:09his wounds cared for
34:10but instead
34:10he's taken to a back room
34:12and he knows
34:13something's up.
34:15Gordon is in
34:16a state of terror
34:17forced to strip
34:18laid down
34:20on a table
34:21as the guards
34:22attach electrodes
34:25to bodily parts
34:27including his genitals.
34:29Gordon
34:29now restrained
34:31and unable
34:31to escape
34:32his impending fate
34:33braces for what's
34:34to come.
34:35The guard
34:36starts to crank
34:37the crank
34:38on the telephone
34:38and a surge
34:40of electricity
34:40pours into
34:42Gordon's body
34:42sending him
34:44into convulsions
34:44causing him
34:45to scream
34:46to gasp for air
34:47to shout for help
34:48he described it
34:49later as feeling
34:50like muscles
34:50are being torn
34:51from the bones
34:52of his body.
34:53This process
34:53would come to be
34:54known among the
34:55inmates
34:55as a long distance
34:57call.
34:57These long distance
34:59calls bring the
35:01prisoner to the
35:02brink of
35:03unconsciousness
35:04but they keep
35:05them conscious
35:06so that they can
35:06feel the pain.
35:08These types of
35:09shocks delivered
35:11to sensitive body
35:12parts like the
35:13genitals create
35:14irreparable damage.
35:15It also leads to
35:17intense psychological
35:18damage.
35:20Sadly,
35:21hundreds of inmates
35:22are put through the
35:23ringer before the
35:23Tucker telephone is
35:25disconnected in 1968.
35:28One of the more
35:28sadistic devices used
35:30to torture inmates
35:30by then-superintendent
35:32Jim Bruton was
35:33the Tucker telephone.
35:34The superintendent
35:35Jim Bruton is
35:37sentenced to a year
35:39in prison and fined
35:41for violating
35:42prisoners'
35:43constitutional rights
35:44against cruel and
35:45unusual punishment.
35:48And in fact,
35:48Gordon Ray Ross Jr.
35:50is one of the inmates
35:50who takes the stand
35:52against the
35:53superintendent, which
35:54I have to think
35:55felt almost as good
35:58as hooking the
35:59superintendent up
36:00to the telephone
36:01himself.
36:03Thankfully,
36:04today,
36:05the Tucker telephone
36:07is officially
36:08out of service.
36:11The Salem Witch Trials
36:13came at a peculiar
36:14time in American history.
36:16It was a model
36:17of mass hysteria
36:18where simply being
36:19accused was enough
36:20to ensure any number
36:21of painful punishments.
36:22Salem Village,
36:26Massachusetts,
36:27circa 1692.
36:29In this village,
36:30you have a group
36:31of young girls
36:31and women
36:32who claim
36:33that they are
36:34being bewitched.
36:38We're talking about,
36:39of course,
36:40the infamous
36:40Salem Witch Trials.
36:42So during the course
36:43of these trials,
36:44these young girls
36:45are being dragged
36:47into these courts
36:48and being asked,
36:49who is doing
36:50this to you?
36:51Who is making
36:52you act in this
36:53manner?
36:54The allegations
36:55they level
36:56are usually
36:57against neighbors,
36:58claiming that
36:59their neighbors
36:59are in league
37:01with the devil.
37:03In need of a
37:03scapegoat,
37:04the ladies point
37:05to a man
37:06already unpopular
37:07within the village.
37:08Giles Corey
37:10is a successful farmer.
37:12He's done well
37:12for himself
37:13and that can
37:14make people jealous,
37:15but he's also
37:15extremely unpleasant.
37:17He's a curmudgeon,
37:18the get-off-my-lawn type.
37:20He's managed
37:21to offend
37:21pretty much
37:22everyone in his community.
37:24He's on his
37:25third wife,
37:26Martha,
37:27and she and he
37:28really don't get along
37:29and are frequently
37:31seen arguing
37:32out in public,
37:33which is
37:35a huge no-no
37:36in 17th century
37:38Salem, Massachusetts.
37:40They're not
37:40difficult people
37:41to dislike
37:42and also
37:43they're not going
37:43to have a lot
37:44of people sticking
37:44up for them
37:45if they are accused,
37:46which is exactly
37:47what happens.
37:48The girls
37:48accuse Martha
37:49of witchcraft.
37:52And at
37:52Martha Corey's trial,
37:54even Giles
37:54doesn't come
37:55to her aid.
37:56In fact,
37:56he does the opposite.
37:58He takes the stand
37:59and testifies
38:00against her.
38:03Apparently ready
38:03for wife number four,
38:05he sort of
38:05throws her under
38:06the bus,
38:07tells people,
38:07yes,
38:08she won't say
38:08her prayers,
38:09she whispers
38:09her prayers
38:10under her breath,
38:11which for some
38:11strange reason
38:12is evidence
38:12of witchcraft.
38:14But at some
38:14point in the trial,
38:15the tables turn
38:16on Giles Corey.
38:19It's not just
38:19Martha that's
38:20accused of witchcraft,
38:21he's now being
38:22accused of being
38:23a wizard.
38:27And so he has
38:28to plea,
38:30guilty or not guilty.
38:31The law at the time
38:33in Massachusetts
38:34declares that
38:36you cannot have
38:37a trial
38:37if the accused
38:39does not enter
38:40a plea one way
38:41or another.
38:42Giles Corey knows
38:43that either way
38:44he is most likely
38:45dead.
38:46So he refuses
38:47to say whether
38:49he is guilty
38:49or not guilty.
38:52In order to get
38:53Giles to plead out,
38:54the judge makes
38:55a fateful decision.
38:56There's only one way
38:59that the judge
38:59sees himself
39:00getting a plea
39:01from Giles Corey,
39:02and that's a procedure
39:02called penne forte
39:04et dure,
39:05which translates
39:06from Latin
39:06into strong
39:07and hard pain.
39:11Giles is made
39:12to lay naked
39:13on the ground
39:13face up
39:14with a giant board
39:15pressed on his body.
39:18And then
39:18the sheriff,
39:19a man by the name
39:20of George Corwin,
39:21takes these
39:22incredibly heavy stones
39:23and places them
39:25one at a time
39:26on top of the wooden plank,
39:28on top of Giles Corey.
39:30The torture
39:31goes on for days,
39:33but Corey doesn't cave.
39:35During this time,
39:36the weight is so bad
39:37that at one point,
39:38apparently,
39:38his tongue
39:39has been forced
39:40out of his mouth.
39:41And the sheriff
39:42who was trying to get him
39:43to enter a plea
39:44actually comes up,
39:45shoves the tongue
39:46back in his mouth,
39:47and then says,
39:48are you ready
39:48to plead one way
39:50or another?
39:51And according to legend,
39:52in response,
39:53Giles Corey says,
39:55more weight.
40:00Now, some say
40:01he also utters the words,
40:03damn you,
40:03I curse you,
40:04and Salem
40:05to George Corwin
40:06before he passes,
40:07but we will never
40:08truly know.
40:10But what would be
40:10the ending to the story
40:12is merely the beginning
40:13of a curse
40:14that would haunt
40:15Salem for centuries.
40:17Just three years later,
40:18in 1696,
40:19the sheriff suddenly dies
40:21of a massive heart attack,
40:22and it becomes part
40:23of a disturbing pattern.
40:25All the sheriffs
40:26subsequently,
40:27for years,
40:28die of heart disease.
40:30It isn't until 1991,
40:32almost 300 years later,
40:33when the sheriff's office
40:34has moved from Salem
40:35to Middleton, Massachusetts,
40:37that this deadly trend
40:38finally stops.
40:40talk about your afterlife sentence.
40:45From lawsuits
40:46to chicken suits,
40:47instruments of torture,
40:48or tortured for playing
40:49instruments poorly,
40:51these are all punishments
40:52so peculiar,
40:53they can only be called
40:55unbelievable.
40:56unbelievable.
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