16. The Torture Rack could tear off limbs and rupture organs
Although primarily a method of extracting information, the Torture Rack could also be a method of execution, whether by design or miscalculation. Quite simply, the torture rack was a wooden frame containing a series of rollers, around which ropes were tied. The victim was placed on the rack, their limbs spread out and tied with the ropes, which could then be tightened by means of a lever. The effect was to stretch the body beyond its natural limitations, dislocating the limbs and even severing them entirely. Death came from loss of blood or the over-stretching and rupturing of internal organs.
Invented by the Romans, the Torture Rack was wheeled out throughout the medieval and Early Modern periods in Europe pretty much whenever heresy or conspiracy was afoot. The Rack was thus a widely-known, and widely-feared, instrument for centuries. In the sixteenth century, the Baron Scanaw of Bohemia was accused of heresy and sentenced to be tortured on the rack to extract a confession and the names of his co-conspirators. His dread was such that he cut out his own tongue to avoid it. Cruelly, the court simply changed his sentence to being executed on the Torture Rack. Nice try, Baron.
