25 of Humanity’s Most Brutal Methods of Execution

An ancient Persian method of execution where a person is stripped naked and placed in a tree trunk with only the head, hands, and feet protruding. They are then forced fed milk and honey until they develop a severe case of diarrhea. All of there exposed skin would then be covered in honey to attract insects while they were left floating in a stagnant pond. As the person’s feces accumulated, the insects it attracted would begin to eat and breed within his/her skin which would become increasingly gangrenous. Death could take over 2 weeks and was likely the result of starvation, dehydration, and shock.

Conceived in the late 1700′s this was one of the first methods of execution created under the assumption that capital punishment was intended to end life rather than inflict pain (successor to #11). Although it was specifically invented as a human form of execution it has been outlawed in France and the last one was in 1977.

A strange form of execution allegedly practiced in France it involved the tying of a man and woman together and then both of them being thrown in a river to drown.

A method of execution preferred by the American mafia, it was similar to Republican Marriage in that it involved drowning but instead of being tied to someone of the opposite gender, your feet were placed in cement blocks.

Employed heavily in southeast asia, the elephants were often trained to prolong the death of the victim. Many times this method was used in order to show that the ruler is even in command of nature.

You’re probably getting tired of people being thrown into the water, but this form of execution many times ended a little differently from the previous two. Mainly practiced by pirates and rogue seafarers the victims often didn’t even have time to drown before they were dealt with by the sharks that tended to follow the ships.

Bestiarii is a reference to those who would combat beasts in the days of Ancient Rome. Although sometimes the act was voluntary and performed for money or recognition, many times the bestearii were political prisoners sent into the arena naked and unable to defend themselves.

Named after the implement used in the execution, usually a mallet, this method of capital punishment was popular in the papal states during the 18th century. The condemned would be led to a scaffold in a public square with nothing more than the executioner and a coffin. The executioner would then raise the mallet and bring it down on the head of the victim. Because this would typically only lead to them being stunned their throat was usually slit right after.

Having originated in the United States, this method of capital punishment is now often employed in countries like Iran. Although it is very similar to hanging, rather than the victim being dropped through a trap door to sever the spinal cord they are violently jerked upwards, typically by a crane.

Allegedly practiced in parts of Europe and Asia, it involved the victim being inverted and then sawn in half starting at the groin. Due to being upside down the brain would receive enough blood to keep the person conscious until the large vessels of the abdomen were severed.

The act of removing a person’s skin from their body, this form of execution was often used in order to stir up fear, as the skin would typically be nailed in a public place for all to see.

Spoken of in Nordic sagas, the Blood Eagle involved cutting the ribs of the victim by the spine, breaking them so they resembled wings, and then pulling the victim’s lungs out through the opening. Salt would then be sprinkled on the wound.Drawing done by Cate Richards, www.caterichards.net

Essentially broiling the victim over a bed of hot coals, the first “burning” method on our list was terribly cruel and the death was not a quick one.

Although we have already seen this method employed by means of elephants, there is so much more to be said here. Crushing was typically used in Europe or America in order to extract a plea from a victim. Every time the victim refused, more weight was added to their chest until fatal suffocation would occur.

Also known as the Catherine Wheel, the victim would be tied to it and then spun while the executioner delivered bone shattering blows to their body. Sometimes the victims appendages would then be woven through the spokes of the wheel and they would be placed on display for all to see.

Also known as the cat’s paw this device was used by the executioner to rip and tear skin off of the victim. Oftentimes death would not occur immediately but rather as a result of infection setting into the wounds.

A historically popular method of capital punishment, if the victim were lucky he or she would be executed along with several others. This would ensure that the flame is much bigger and lead to death by carbon monoxide poisoning rather than actual burning.

An extremely slow and painful punishment used in Asia, the victim was tied down over several bamboo shoots. Because bamboo grows so fast (up to 1 foot per day) it would penetrate directly through the victims body, slowly impaling then.

Somewhat self-explanatory, this technique has been used by governments throughout history to execute condemned prisoners. One of the latest documented cases was during the Nanking Massacre in 1937 when Japanese troops buried Chinese civilians alive.

Also known as the “death by slow cutting” or the “lingering death”, this form of execution was finally outlawed in China at the turn of the 20th century. It involved pieces of the victims body being slowly and methodically removed while the executioner tried to keep him or her alive for as long as possible.

Practiced by Samurai, Seppuku was a form of ritualistic suicide that allowed the warrior to die honorably. Essentially he would disembowel himself and in an ideal situation there would be a close friend standing by ready to behead him as soon as his guts began to spill.

Not only inhumane, the bull was deliberately created for the enjoyment of the executioner and onlookers. First proposed to the tyrant of Akgragas in Sicily by the metal worker Pirillos, the bull was designed to be big enough for one person to fit inside. After a fire was lit below, the person would slowly burn to death. The head of the bull, however, was designed to acoustically convert their screams into “bull sounds” and the smoke from their burning body would be expelled through its nose.

Employed heavily in Colombia (go figure) and the rest of Latin America by drug cartels, we spared you the picture on this one. It involved cutting open the victim’s throat and then pulling his or her tongue out through the opening. Usually the body was left as a warning to others.

A particularly brutal method of execution practiced primarily by the Romans, it was intended to be as slow, painful, and humiliating as possible. Usually after a prolonged period of beating or torture, the victim was forced to carry his own cross to the location of his death. Afterwards they were either nailed or tied to the cross where they would hang sometimes for several weeks. Death, when it did come, usually came by suffocation as the victim could no longer hold themselves up to breathe.

Used mainly in England, it is widely considered to be one of the most brutal forms of execution ever devised. As the name implies it came in three parts. In the first the victim was tied to a wooden frame and dragged to the location of their execution (drawn). They were then hung until nearly dead (hanged). Immediately after being taken down their abdomen was opened and their entrails were removed. As the victim watched they were then burned before his or her eyes. He was then also emasculated and eventually beheaded. After all of this his body was divided into four parts (quartered) and placed in various locations around England as a public crime deterrent. This punishment was only used on men for any convicted woman would generally be burnt at the stake as a matter of decency.