17th-century thumbscrew, Märkisches Museum Berlin
Thumbscrews are a non-lethal torture device designed to crush and break the fingers of the victim. Historians believe that the thumbscrew may have been created by the Russian Army and a Scottish man brought the device to western Europe.
The victim would place their fingers or thumbs in between three upright metal bars. The middle bar would contain threads for the screw that would push down a metal or wood bar. Some devices had spikes to cause bleeding. Their thumbs or finger would be placed between the bars and the screw would be tightened and begins to crush and break the fingers. This was very painful and was either used to extract forced confessions and information or to show enemies what they are capable of.
SOURCES:
No comments:
Post a Comment