So, still limping around Prague, I decided that a museum wouldn't be a bad idea. It involved less walking and a lot of resting between walking to look at exhibits. But those of you who have travelled a lot know all about museum-fatigue, and I haven't gotten over mine from my Western Europe trip two years ago. If I ever see a hall full of Renaisance art again, I may have to decapitate myself with a John the Baptist painting. But Prague has a handful of specialty museums meant to snare the more base interests, including a museum of live snakes and tarantulas, a museum of sex machines (at a $10 entry fee, I decided to give that one a miss), and a museum of torture.
It was educational, to say the least. You've heard of the rack and the iron maiden, but have you heard of the Street Sweeper's Daughter (it pins the wrists, ankles and neck close together)? Or the Spanish Spider (metal claws attached to a wooden handle; used to tear breasts)? The museum was full of hundreds of devices and I suppose the worst realization was that people actually had to sit down and design all of these, knowing full well what they would be used for.
The following is a few photos (surreptiously snapped because I wasn't supposed to) and some of the more interesting stories accompaning the devices.
This device was used to torture people before killing them. The screw was slowly wound into the base of the skull until it finally pierced the brain.
This is called the bock. It was mostly used on females suspected of being witches, and you can guess how. Accompaning this device was the story of one woman who was tortured for four months without confessing. She was sentenced to 12 hours on the bock and confessed after 3 hours. They made her do 5 more hours to make sure the confession was "real". Satisfied, they then beheaded her and burnt her body.
Although I didn't take a picture of it, possibly one of the more sickening tortures was the pear. It was a pear shaped metal device that, when a screw was turned, steadily widened. It was used on women accused of having sex with the devil, blashpemy or provacative speech. It was also used on homosexuals. You can guess how.
Used to impale people. Through the anus and out the mouth...
Although not technically torture devices, there were a couple of chastity belts on display. I found it ironic that one belts had a hole for urination in the shape of a heart.
The infamous rack.
A variation on the rack was "jerking", where people would be hung up by the wrists and painfully jerked. It was supposed to be a more humane form of torture. Along with this device was an account of a whole family being tortured. The father died quickly in jail, but the mother and daughter lived to be tortured by jerking. The daughter didn't confess after being jerked eleven times, but when she was told that her mother had confessed, she then confessed to crimes ranging from: "sex with the devil since she was eight years old, having eaten the hearts of 30 children, participated in the sabbath, caused storms, killed people and denied God."
A torture chair. A victim would wear themselves out trying to hold themselves off the spikes.
Another intersting device that I didn't photograph was the see saw. It was literally used to catapult people into the air, after which they would come crashing down, breaking bones.
Some of the less painful means of toture were the stocks and metal masks used to embarass offenders. One mask that had a metal bit that went into the mouth was used on: "noise makers, disturbing the peace, obscene langauge or swearing and bad morals."
And lastly, there was an account of a minstril from Lancre. His crime was that his music offended a nobleman. His punishement, after having the mask on, was that his tongue was cut out and his hands cut off.