Ropes are easy to make, easy to find, and easy to use to inflict terrible retribution on others. A victim could be tied to a tree and left at the mercy of the populace, hanged at the gallows as a form of entertainment, or dealt with in an even more horrifying fashion… some victims would have a rope attached tightly to each limb, with the other ends attached to horses. (Images via Guildford Ghost, eoscatchlight, and Baden-Powell BSA) When those four horses were spurred to a gallop in different directions, the victim would be torn instantly asunder.
This is arguably the most creative of the tortures in this list, and it involves an animal that many consider torture enough in its own right: rats. A cage with one open side was strapped against a victim’s body, and filled with large rodents.
