Morticom unusual and disturbing punishments through history

Morticom Shop
Enter the weirdest, funniest and most outrageous Shop Here! If You DARE!

WEIRD HISTORY

PUNISHMENT

(25 Entries)

1)
In Gloucester, England, during the early 16th century, a council was set up to deal with all the prostitutes or 'bawds' as they were known.
First the women were arrested, then forced to wear a striped hat and a sign round their necks announcing their trade then they were paraded around the town in a cart until they reached the pillory where they were shackled in public and then bombarded by all the public with stones, filth, rotten eggs, decaying vegetables and even dead dogs and cats.

2)
In London, England, during the Middle Ages, a member of the De Marisco family who ruled the island of Lundy attempted to assassinate King Henry III.
After being captured he was then tied to a horses tail and dragged along the ground to the Tower Of London where he was hung, drawn and quartered.
Pieces of his body were then displayed around the entire Kingdom as a warning to others.

3)
In Plymouth, Cornwall, England, in 1814, French prisoners totalling 17,000 were imprisoned all across the country. A few prisoners, usually the rich ones, were incarcerated in country houses and led an almost normal existence, but the majority were caged in huge prison hulks. These were old warships, stripped of their superstructure, resembling blackened coffins.
Commanders of these prison hulks would regularly conspire with the contractors supplying food, to swindle the prisoners out of their already meagre rations.
Prisoners were usually found to be half starved, wearing coarse clothing and suffering from a variety of diseases caused by overcrowding or the poisonous fumes from the mud of the estuary where the hulks were berthed.
Once a visiting dignitary had his danish hound stolen while aboard, one of the prisoners turning it into 'Two legs of mutton, several ratatouilles and a number of bifteks.'
There were many escape attempts, some quite successful. One group managed to saw their way through the side of the vessel and swim ashore, although on one occasion one prisoner got stuck in the mud and was left there to die as a deterrent to others.

4)
In Princetown, Devon, England, on the bleak moorland, is Dartmoor Prison. Built by captured French prisoners of war this prison housed 9,000 Frenchmen and over 1,000 American prisoners taken during the 1812 war.
An incident still remembered in the USA as "The Dartmoor massacre" came about when American prisoners protested about their repatriation being delayed.
The protests were met with gunfire from the guards resulting in nine men being killed and dozens more wounded.

5)
During the 18th and 19th centuries the Royal Navy had many punishments available to keep their crews in check.
These included:
THE CAT O'NINE TAILS: This was a whip which had each tail of cord tied with three knots and was designed to lift the flesh from the back. Sometimes pieces of metal would be inserted into the knots or the 'cat' would be soaked in salt to give an extra effect.
KEEL-HAULING: The offender would be dragged from one side of the ship to the other under the keel which would usually result in the skin being ripped open by the sharp barnacles covering the bottom of the boat. That's if he didn't die first.
RUNNING THE GAUNTLET: This was a very common punishment. The offender was forced to march between two lines of his shipmates who were themselves forced to strike a heavy blow on the offender.
FLOGGING AROUND THE FLEET: This was probably the worse punishment. The prisoner would be towed from ship to ship and would each time be beaten insensible before the assembled crews.

6)
In London, England, during the mid 16th century, Bridewell Palace became one of the first workhouses in the country, a place where petty destitutes were housed under a grim regime.
The inmates were expected to work at what ever needed doing and if there was no work available they would be thrown onto a treadmill or inside a wheel to walk endlessly.
On arrival into Bridewell the inmates were routinely flogged, the adults given 12 lashes and the children 6 lashes. There was also a gallery where onlookers could enjoy seeing half-naked prostitutes being whipped.

7)
In Germany, during the 2nd century AD, a woman accused of adultery would have all of the hair on her head shaved off then be forced to strip in front of the entire tribe and then finally be flogged out of the village!

8)
In England, during the 10th century, if a Viking raped an Anglo -Saxon woman, she would then be executed for it, to prevent bringing shame on her husband's house!

9)
In Ireland, in ancient times, anybody who chopped down a hazel or an apple tree was sentenced to death as these trees were considered sacred.

10)
Peers of the Realm in England who had been sentenced to hang had the right to die with a silken rope around their necks instead of the normal rough hemp rope that was commonly used.

11)
In ancient Rome a favourite way of executing people was to put them in a barrel lined with spikes and then roll them down a hill.

12)
Hundreds of years ago in India adulterers were punished by having their noses chopped off.

13)
In England, during the 15th century, a criminal was so terrified of the death sentence he received that he instantly agreed to become one of the first human medical guinea pigs.
He had to undergo an agonising operation, was then sewn back up again without any pain relief and survived to receive his pardon.

14)
In 1624, Pope Urban III ordered that any snuff users would be executed if they were caught sniffing the dirty dust.

15)
In Imperial China anyone caught stealing a Pekinese dog would be put to death.

16)
Dr. Guillotin, the French inventor of the guillotine, first made his execution machine in the 18th century during the French Revolution.
There was however a beheading machine which was used in Scotland over 200 years before in 1581 and there were various similar contraptions in common use in Italy.

17)
During the French Revolution the skins of aristocrats were tanned to make leather and one hide was actually used to bind the new French constitution.

18)
The execution of a prisoner by being boiled to death was abolished in 1547.

19)
During the reign of King Canute women who had committed adultery had their ears and their noses cut off.

20)
In England, during the 18th and 19th centuries, many people, including children, were executed for incredibly trivial crimes.
In 1819 Mr. Thomas Wildish was hanged for stealing letters.
In 1750 Mr. Benjamin Beckonfield was hanged for stealing a hat.
In 1833 an unnamed 9 year old boy was hanged for stealing a penny's worth of paint.
In 1782 an unnamed 14 year old girl was hanged for being in the company of gypsies.

21)
In England, in 1264, Miss Inetta d Balsham was hanged at precisely nine o'clock. A few seconds after the hanging the King's messenger arrived carrying a reprieve to stop the execution.
The hangman ran up the scaffold and cut the rope with his sword and even though the victim's face had turned blue she survived and lived for many years.

22)
At Tyburn Tree, England, in 1705, Mr. John Smith was hanged for burglary.
After hanging for about 15 minutes a reprieve arrived and he was instantly cut down. He was eventually revived and managed to recover.
He later became known as John "Half Hanged" Smith.

23)
Also at Tyburn Hill, England, Mr. Thomas Reynolds was hanged for robbery in 1736.
After being executed his body was cut down and placed in a coffin but as the hangman's assistant was nailing down the coffin lid, it was pushed aside and a hand appeared from within the coffin and grabbed the assistant's arm.
Reynold's was then taken out of the coffin and to a nearby house where he vomited about three pints of blood and then died.

24)
In Oxford, England, in 1650, Ann Green was charged with the murder of her newborn baby and was later hanged at Oxford Gaol.
After 1 hour her body was taken down from the scaffold but was seen to be twitching. One person actually jumped on her stomach and a soldier smashed her over the head with his musket to finish off the job.
Her body was then taken to a professor of anatomy who was just about to cut her open when he heard a noise from her throat.
She was then put into a warm bed and her breathing was restarted. By the following day she was almost fully recovered and eventually she was fully pardoned.

25)
Just because you were a hangman did not mean you could not be hanged.
There have been four English hangmen who have themselves been hung.
In 1538 Hangman Cratwell was hanged for robbing a booth at St. Bartholomew's Fair.
In 1558 Hangman Stump-leg was hanged for thieving.
In 1686 Hangman Pascha Rose was hanged for housebreaking and theft.
In 1718 Hangman John Price was hanged for murdering an old woman.