There was a historic torture method which was so cruel you could only hope to never have it inflicted upon you.
We all know our ancestors loved themselves some gory torture.
From throwing people into a sack with animals, to the infamous Brazen Bull and even a caged device which would wound your tongue if you tried to speak, there’s been a lot of creativity that’s gone into punishing criminals.
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However, this might just be even worse than that, and it’s because of the slow and depraved method used.
YouTube channel, The Infographic Show - which often educates its viewers on a range of topics from wars, what would happen during a nuclear fallout zone, and even lists of the weirdest ways to die - has depicted the horrors of the Breaking Wheel.
What is the Breaking Wheel?
Now, wheels might not sound too scary, but this was no upright roundabout in a playground.
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It was called ‘The Breaking Wheel’ for a reason, after all.
Essentially, the giant wooden wheel with large spikes aimed to mutilate bodies, not necessarily kill.
The executioner would drop the wheel, and first work their way from the legs to the arms, ensuring that each limb would be broken, beating the person with the heavy instrument.
However, there were instances where the executioner was ordered to be their saving grace and execute the person by aiming for their neck or heart or decapitating them.
Who would become the victim of the Breaking Wheel ?
Typically used from the Middle Ages right up until the 19th century, it was reserved for the likes of murderers, rapists, traitors or robbers, though sometimes even highway men or common thieves were placed upon it.
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It was something that the Romans did for quite some time and for those who committed something particularly heinous, they’d place the offender bottom-up and beat and break their lower half. Ouch.
In France, they would ensure that the bones were slowly broken, and it would be repeated mercilessly on all limbs several times until the executioner put the sod out of their misery.
So, what happens if they don't die?
If the person made it alive to the second act, their broken body would be braided through another wheel, where they would be erected on a pole, similar to a crucifixion, before a garrotte would end their life.
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Or a fire would be lit underneath the wheel, and they’d be burned alive.
It was believed that if the dead convict was left on the wheel for scavenging animals and the elements, it would hinder their transition from death to resurrection and they would not come back to life.
However, if someone was lucky enough to fall from the wheel before dying, or if the execution failed in any way, it would have been seen as divine intervention and the person would be looked after.
At least it’s not the honey and milk method, which was also pretty grim.
When was the last known execution using the breaking wheel?
While the practice was abolished in Bavaria in 1813, the last known execution by the wheel took place in Prussia in 1841.
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In probably one of the most awful instances, a German serial killer called Christman Genipperteinga was placed on the wheel in 1581, where he remained conscious for nine days on the breaking wheel after being deliberately kept alive with a strong drink before he finally died.
Britt Jones