Why were (are?) people such sick bastards?

Originally posted on A History of Violence
The Catherine Wheel was a product of the middle ages, especially popular in Germany. The victim's limbs were crushed with blunt objects. His (or her) still-living remains were subjected to the wheel. This meant the mangled arms and legs were threaded through the spokes. The wheel was then hoisted into the air using a long pole. Hungry vultures and crows picked at the body. Death came slowly.

A seventeenth-century chronicler wrote the victim looked like, "A sort of huge screaming puppet writhing in rivulets of blood, a puppet with four tentacles, like a sea monster, of raw, slimy and shapeless flesh mixed up with splinters of smashed bones."

This was one of the most popular spectacles of the time. This, and similar methods of torture, took place in the squares of Europe from 1450-1750. The masses, both common and noble, watched in fascination, cheering at a good wheeling. A woman (or a number of women in a row) brought even greater enthusiasm.

The wheel was named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria from the early 4th century. She was believed to have been killed in this fashion during the rule of the Roman Emperor Maxentius.

What the **** is wrong with people? It was a popular spectacle? Anyone who cheered at seeing this deserved to have the same punishment enacted upon him or her.

(And then there's bastinado and some forms of water torture...)

Let us not forget the Pear of Anguish.

Probably the same reason we expand and deplete resources, like a virus, to quote the Matrix.

Originally posted by FeceMan
Seriously.

What the **** is wrong with people?

present tense indeed.
most people have the smug attitude that such practices are beneath the
human race at present. but how different are we today, and how little would
it take to reduce us to the same state?

Originally posted by FeceMan
Seriously.

What the **** is wrong with people? It was a popular spectacle? Anyone who cheered at seeing this deserved to have the same punishment enacted upon him or her.

(And then there's bastinado and some forms of water torture...)

both, and prolly more innocent than guilty at times.

You have to look at it in context and you have to take into account what was and was not accepted at the time. If everyone here would be raised to here that it is ok to torture and that it is god who will show who is innocent and guilty and whatever we wouldn't question it as well.

Originally posted by DanieLs_4_Ever
Well were the people that went through the torture deserving of it, or innocent?

are you for f***ing real????

Originally posted by Fire
both, and prolly more innocent than guilty at times.

You have to look at it in context and you have to take into account what was and was not accepted at the time. If everyone here would be raised to here that it is ok to torture and that it is god who will show who is innocent and guilty and whatever we wouldn't question it as well.

Not to mention the nice little system thay had in place for the Witchcraft Trials-if you sank you were innocent, if you were guilty you swam. We allknow that the laws of physics worked out well for the lawmakers on THIS one..if they sank they drowned, and they floated, they were still guilty and put to death. Either way they were screwed.

osted by Feceman

What the **** is wrong with people?
It was a popular spectacle? Anyone who cheered at seeing this deserved to have the same punishment enacted upon him or her.

They might have had it coming to them, but remember we're not supposed to think that way, because capital punishment is wrong 😉

Originally posted by PVS
are you for f***ing real????

Originally posted by Snoopbert
She thought a fat kid's head getting bashed into a concrete wall was 'great'. So yes, she is.

Then we had Elizabeth Bathory and her blood treatments. Always nice to know that people believe that the blood of others is their immortality.

Vlad Tepes and his impaling of his enemies-apparently this is what scared the Turks away when they came to a clearing and saw the bodies. They thought the noise was the wind howling but it was the victims. Nice incentive to head back across the border if you ask me...

Originally posted by Dagons Blade
Then we had Elizabeth Bathory and her blood treatments. Always nice to know that people believe that the blood of others is their immortality.

Vlad Tepes and his impaling of his enemies-apparently this is what scared the Turks away when they came to a clearing and saw the bodies. They thought the noise was the wind howling but it was the victims. Nice incentive to head back across the border if you ask me...

that and one time he invited all the homless and sick in his kingdom to his castle and fed them then he gave them one wish............

His people asked to be free of their pain in life so he had his soldiers burn them in the courtyard......bam now thats a problem solver I think he could find a great job on wall street still! 😱

Originally posted by soleran30
that and one time he invited all the homless and sick in his kingdom to his castle and fed them then he gave them one wish............

His people asked to be free of their pain in life so he had his soldiers burn them in the courtyard......bam now thats a problem solver I think he could find a great job on wall street still! 😱

Or a police commissioner in Beirut....

Dagon, I'm completely in favor of capital punishment. I'm more concerned by the method with which it is accomplished. I don't care of the person was deserving it or not; the torture described is beyond horrific.