Traveling within the World
Odd Devices of Old
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There’s a 1,200-year-old Phone in the Smithsonian Collections By Neil Baldwin
One of the earliest examples of ingenuity in the Western Hemisphere is composed of gourds and twineFrom the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (Travis Rathbone)…
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Medieval & Renaissance Inventions by Poppy Whiteheart
A lot of Inventions and knowledge was suppressed in the early part of the Medieval age by the Christians as work of the devil or later as Witchcraft, most Inventions came out of China and…
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10 Bizarre Torture Methods
In Medieval times, they sought out ways to cut back on crime. Instead of letting the criminals sit in a jail cell, like today, they would use different torture devices. These devices came in all shapes and sizes and were meant to scare other would be criminals into not doing the crimes committed by…
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The Cat’s Paw (also Spanish tickler)
About as large as four fingers of a man’s hand, these devices, usually attached to a short handle, served to rip the victim’s flesh to shreds and to strip it off the bones, in any part: face, abdomen, back, limbs, breasts.
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The Iron Maiden
The iron maiden, often styled after the Madonna or a favorite daughter, was more an instrument of execution than torture. The device either enclosed the victim within, as the one below, or embraced with the victim with her arms. In either case, the point was to skewer the victim. In the version…
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The Pear
The pear was a device that expanded after being inserted orally, anally, or vaginally. It was used to rupture the sensitive membranes and tissues of these areas. With much of the damage being inside the body cavity, "confessions" thus extracted could seem to be freely given.
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The Breast Ripper
Cold or red-hot, the four claws slowly ripped to formless masses the breasts of countless women condemned for heresy, blasphemy, adultery and many other “libidinous acts”, self-induced abortion, erotic white magic and other crimes. In various places at various times –in some regions of France and…
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The Chair of Spikes
The purpose of this device is fairly obvious. The victim is made to site on the chair with the straps tightening to drive the spikes into his or her flesh. Weights could also be used as well as blows with mallets to further the damage. While quite painful, the chair itself was not always…
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Anvils and Anvil Types
(See Full Image.) The anvil is the primary tool of blacksmiths and one of the few tools that most blacksmiths will purchase. The first metalsmiths probably used flat rocks but as the world entered the iron age, iron…
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A Chronology of the Furniture Influencing
The Pre-Christian EraThe Egyptian is the earliest mode, and is divided into Early Egyptian (4000 B.C. to 1525 B.C.) and the Theban (1557 B.C. to 525 B.C.).The Assyrian is dated 1270 B.C. to 625 B.C.The Indian includes Brahman, 1400 B.C. to 500 B.C., when the Buddhist era commences.The Etruscan…
A place to display devices/utensils/tools/weapons of war and torture used through the ages.
above : Wooden acupuncture model, Asia, 1601-1700
In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture aims to improve the flow of qi (chi) or energy in the body by applying needles to specific points on the skin.
Tradition teaches that qi must flow freely through the body's meridians, or channels, to ensure health and well-being. The male figure made of wood shows where needles should be applied to the skin and the meridians through which qi flows.