Brutal ancient torture method used against spies was worryingly simple but one of the worst ever
Human beings have always found creative ways to hurt each other, devising all sorts of inventions, contraptions, and complicated methods in order to inflict pain or, worse, kill.
Whether it be some Greek fellow building a giant bull to cook people inside (and being the first person to be cooked inside it) or an incredibly complicated process involving honey, two boats and a f**kload of insects, there's some very disturbingly inventive ways to cause pain.
However, one of the simplest torture methods has proven to be one of the worst for people who've suffered through it, as this is Chinese water torture.
We should probably point out that it's not actually Chinese, as the first documented use was from an Italian man who lived through the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
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This fellow, Hippolytus de Marsiliis, wrote of how people would be driven mad by the constant dripping of water onto their head until they had a mental breakdown.
That's how Chinese water torture works, the victim is restrained beneath a water source and can see the drops falling down upon their head, one-by-one.
At first it's just a little bit of water but eventually those unfortunate souls subjected to it were in terrible pain and could suffer mental damage from it.
When the MythBusters investigated the method, they found that the constant dripping of water didn't produce much of a result on someone who was unrestrained and relaxed, but was far more impactful on someone who was restrained and under duress.
They were later contacted by someone who told them 'randomising when the drops occurred was incredibly effective', which is a rather creepy thing to know.
However, it appears to be the case as not knowing when the next drop will fall results in feelings of dread that all contributes to the psychological damage that can trigger someone to have a breakdown.
One guy who realised his sink was leaking decided to film himself being subjected to the torture to see how long he could last, describing how he started feeling 'claustrophobic' after about half an hour, and was constantly disturbed by the drops of water so he couldn't calm down.
After less than two hours he decided to tap out of the experiment, something people subjected to Chinese water torture aren't able to do.
Back in 2012, the Australian artist Lottie Consalvo put herself under Chinese water torture for seven hours.
"I went though stages of total discomfort and then to this place, I went to this beautiful place at one stage where the drops were going on my head, really cold, and then falling onto my eye, and warming up in there, and then dripping (down the side of my face) like a tear, and it felt like I was crying," she told SBS.
At one point she felt like she was lying next to her deceased sister. Don't try this at home, kids.
Joe Harker