Rat torture method is one of most barbaric used in history
This might be one of the most gruesome methods of torture in history, and given the, let's say seasoned, track record of the human race, that's no easy feat.
Originating in medieval Germany, this method was once widely used to punish criminals and the enemies of those administering the torturing.
Rats are already enough trouble today, whether it be rummaging through rubbish, scouring for food, or if you're unlucky enough, running around your home.
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But the way they were used to torture people is one that proved to be a horrible way to die.
How did Medieval rat torture work?
Traditionally, it starts by placing rats (sometimes starving) on the exposed abdomen of the individual, before trapping them in a cage.
Then, pieces of hot coal would be placed on top of the cage, to the point where rats wouldn't be able to bear it and try and escape by eating away at the person's skin.
They would scratch and chew away at the unfortunate victim's flesh, eventually eating their way through to the person's organs, as the victim would scream in pain as they were getting ripped apart from the inside.
But believe it or not, that's not the worst variation of it.
Sometimes rats would be burrowed inside victims' bodies, so they could eat their way out.
But it doesn't stop there.
20th century examples of rat torture
In Argentina during the 1976 to 1983 military junta, Jewish political dissidents were singled out for particularly horrific treatment, including one sickening variation on the rat torture method.
Survivor Daniel Fernández told a CONADEP (National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons) that a torture method called the 'rectoscope' was used.
It consisted of inserting a tube into the prisoner's anus which a rat would crawl down and burrow inside them.
In Chile, under Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1974-1990), it is reported female prisoners had rats inserted into their vaginas.
According to one prisoner, Lux de las Nieves Ayress Moreno, her captors aimed to infect her with toxoplasmosis through the gruesome torture so she would never be able to have children.
Thankfully, she was treated after her release, and went on to have a daughter.
Below the post about the method on X, formerly Twitter, people were horrified at the method.
One user referenced a scene in 2022's The Batman, where this method was used: "That scene from The Batman had me shivering for a month."
Another said: "The torture methods came up with are so wild."
A third put: "This is the most horrific death I could imagine tbh."
Joshua Nair