Kayla Browning's List: hungergames

• Often thought to be a method of execution reserved only for witches and  heretics, burning at the stake was also a popular way to dispose of condemned  females.  This was on account of decency, as other methods used would  publicly mutilate the bodies of the condemned and the magistrates felt that  burning women would protect their modesty.
• Often thought to be a method of execution reserved only for witches and  heretics, burning at the stake was also a popular way to dispose of condemned  females.  This was on account of decency, as other methods used would  publicly mutilate the bodies of the condemned and the magistrates felt that  burning women would protect their modesty.
• Axe 

  Contrary to popular belief, beheading by way of the axe was not a quick and  easy mode of execution.  Most heading axes were heavy and ill-balanced,  designed to crush their way through flesh and bone rather than cut  cleanly.  As a result, it often took more than one or two strokes for the  task to be completed, and often a small knife was used by the executioner to  finish the job by cutting away the bits of muscle and connective tissue after  the bulk of the neck had been destroyed.

   

  Still, condemned European nobles preferred this method to hanging because it  was more akin to being slain in battle.
• Boiling 

  Not just reserved for cannibalistic tribes, boiling was actually on the  records as a legal method of execution in England during the reign of Henry  VIII.  It was used mostly for those who murdered by poison.  The first  victim of legal boiling in England was Richard Rouse, a cook.

   

  Boiling was also popular as a slow torture-execution among various  sects.  Victims could be submerged in heated water, oil, pitch, wax, or  even molten lead.
• The Boots 

  A dreaded torture device that rendered the victim's legs to bloodied, useless  pulp.  The method was to bind the legs tightly together using rope, metal  bands, or a wooden splint.  The executioner would then drive wedge-like  boards between the legs using a heavy mallet.  This action crushed the  bones of the legs.
• Brazen Bull 

  A rarely-used but nonetheless terrifying execution device that literally  roasted the victim to death as he lay cramped inside a large metal bull.  A  fire was lit beneath the beast, heating it gradually.

   

  The original Brazen Bull was fitted with flute-like structures in its  nostrils so that the screams of the victim would sound like the bellowing of a  bull.
• Bridles 

  Also known as "scold's bridles", these contraptions were locked around the  heads of nagging women or blasphemers.  Some designs were harmless and  intended only to bring about shame to the wearer.

   

  But other versions included spiked bits that would piece the tongues and  mouths of the unfortunate wearer
• Burning
• Often thought to be a method of execution reserved only for witches and  heretics, burning at the stake was also a popular way to dispose of condemned  females.  This was on account of decency, as other methods used would  publicly mutilate the bodies of the condemned and the magistrates felt that  burning women would protect their modesty.
• also a popular way to dispose of condemned females.  This was on account of  decency, as other methods

• There were several methods for burning, but the best-known one was to tie the  culprit to a stake and then set the wood around him on fire. Often the  victim would be strangled into unconsciousness or death before the pyre was  lit.  Other methods were more akin to roasting the victim alive by  suspending him in the air above the flames.
• Collars

• Unpopular criminals who could not find a friend to feed and care for him  during his time in a collar would likely starve to death.
• Compression

• A fundamental of torture methods, compression is based on the idea of making  sure the victim is kept in the most uncomfortable position possible.

• The most common of compression tortures involves confining the victim to a  small cell or box that makes sitting, standing upright, or reclining  impossible.  Other methods involved binding the victim with rope or metal  bars in a manner so that his knees would be forced against his chest, or his  joints would be forced in unnatural positions.
• Crucifixion  

  The best-known of ancient execution methods, crucifixion involved tying or  nailing the victim to either a tree or a wooden structure and leaving him  exposed to the elements for a slow death.  Victims of crucifixion often  died of asphyxiation when the weight of their hanging bodies put too much strain  on their lungs.

   

  Other sufferers would perish from exposure to heat, cold, or animals.   If nothing else, the agonizing death of dehydration and starvation would take  its toll.
• Drowning 

  A common method for ancient civilizations to do away with their unwanted  citizens if they were situated near a lake or river.  Methods would vary,  sometimes it was done by hand or the villain would be tied to a heavy object and  thrown into the water.

   

  More interesting methods of drowning involved tying the victim into a large  sack along with live snakes, dogs, or
• other dangerous beasts before throwing the sack into the water
• Electric Chair 

  The first of the "modern age" execution methods.  The electric chair  came into existence only a few years after the development of residential  electricity and was first used in New York.

   

  While alterations regarding the placement of the electrodes and even  submerging the hands in saltwater have been tried on the design, the standard  has been by using electrodes on the calf and headpiece to deliver the shocks to  the victim.  The chair itself is not electrified, but rather made of heavy  wood.
• Elephants, Lions, Vipers, and Other Beasts 

  Both domesticated and wild animals have been used over the ages to do the  dirty work of executions.  Perhaps the most famous examples being those of  the Roman Games where victims were thrown to lions, bears, and other ferocious  beasts.

   

  Trained domestic animals, such as elephants, were also used to literally  stamp the life out of a condemned prisoner.  Often animal-execution victims  were dragged behind a galloping animal
• Firing Squad 

  A relatively newer method of execution, though considered archaic in the  Western world but still used frequently in the East.

   

  Firing squads are generally composed of groups of 3-8 marksmen who fire at  the victim at short range.  Some countries include a final coup-de-grace by  firing a bullet into the head of the prisoner after the squad has shot a  volley.  Today, some places omit the squad altogether and just dispatch the  criminal with a single bullet to the brain.
• Flaying & Mutilation

• Also known as being "skinned alive", this horrific execution method has been  performed in a variety of different ways.

   

  Some variations include the amputation of body parts as the executioner  literally whittles his victim down to a bloody pile of organs and appendages.  The dreaded "Death of a Thousand Cuts" is an example of this.
• Garrote 

  Garroting has been used to describe two distinctly different methods of  execution.

   

  The Spanish garrote employs a rope or iron collar that is secured around the  victims neck and gradually tightened until a small knife or metal nub at the  back of the neckboard severs the spinal column.

   

  The other definition of garroting is a method of strangulation where a rope  is passed around the victim's neck, then through a bar behind the neckboard  which is then turned by the executioner like a steering wheel until the victim  
• chokes to death.
• Halifax Gibbet
• A forerunner of the guillotine, this device was used by the town of Halifax and  used as a favorite means of dispatching thieves.  The Halifax Gibbet worked  by running a slightly curved weighted blade down two upright poles and onto the  neck of the victim who was laid prone on the ground below.

• This device was designed so that executions were a group effort, and the  blade was released by a rope that was pulled by several members of the watching  crowd.
• Quartering - Method #1

• A particularly barbaric method of execution that is not as easily  accomplished as many might think.  The idea was to tie each limb of the  victim to a horse, ox, or other strong animal and then drive the animals away in  different directions in order to tear the victim apart.

• In reality, it was not uncommon for victims to have their limbs severely  dislocated but not entirely removed during the execution.  Records tell of  executioners asking permission to use knives to cut the tendons of victims to be  quartered in order to accomplish separation of the limbs.  In some cases,  it was noted that the horses themselves fainted from exhaustion during the  task.
• Quartering - Method #2 

  A method that brought chills up the spines of traitors in England, the dread  sentence to be "drawn and quartered" involved being hanged but cut down before  death, then brought to a table to be castrated before having the stomach sliced  open and being disemboweled while still alive.  After the heart was finally  removed, the head would be cut off and the body would be hacked into quarters to  be displayed.

• In other parts of the world, much of the frivolities were dispensed with and  the culprit was simply sawn into quarters while still alive.
• Rack 

  A fearsome device used as both a torture method for interrogation and as a  method of execution.  There are many different versions of the rack, some  being as simple as to suspend the victim into the air with taunt ropes, but all  produced the painful torture of stretching the culprit to the point of  dislocating the limbs.

   

  Some racks were equipped with spiked rollers which tore the flesh from the  victim's back as he was being stretched across it.
• Scottish Maiden 

  Another forerunner of the guillotine, this head-chopping device required the  victim to kneel before it and place his head between the two upright posts  before the blade came crashing down on the neck.

   

   
• Stoning 

  One of the few ancient execution methods still in practice today.   Stoning required the participation of a crowd to pelt the victim with heavy  stones until death occurred.

• There are several methods of stoning.  Some are designed to last a great  amount of time as the stone-throwers try not to hit the head but rather batter  the victim's body until he succumbs.  More modern methods involve burying  the victim up to his neck in the ground, then hurling the rocks at his head.
• Suspension  

  Akin to racking, suspension tortures are designed to dislocate the joints and  cause great pain to the sufferer.  The most common form being "strapeddo",  where the hands are tied behind the back and then the body is hoisted up by the  wrists.

   

  Often weights were gradually attached to the feet of a suspended victim in  order to prolong the agony
• Sword 

  Second only to the guillotine, the sword was the preferred method of  decapitation because it is much faster than the axe.  Heading swords  wielded by experts could often remove a head in one stroke with very little  fanfare, although
• accidents and mishaps were not altogether unheard of.

• While European swordsman preferred their victims to kneel upright, many Asian  executioners positioned their victims to kneel in a manner to require a downward  stroke.  The latter requiring far more discipline to prevent the blade from  striking the ground after passing through the victim's neck.
• Water Torture 

  An old form or torture that is still practiced in some forms today.  The  original methods involved covering the victim's throat with a gauze cloth that  was slowly forced down the throat as he was forced to swallow great quantities  of water.  Afterward the cloth would be pulled roughly out, damaging the  throat and stomach.

   

  The modern method, known as "waterboarding" simulates drowning and is used  for interrogation purposes.  With this
• method, the cloth is placed over the face but not allowed to go down the throat  as water is poured on the face
• The Wheel Torture is a form of execution that is so named because of the method  of displaying the body rather than how the culprit is executed.  To be  "broken on the wheel" meant to be tied down to either a cross-like structure or  a specialized wheel with supports on the joints in the arms and legs.  The  executioner would then walk around and break each limb by smashing a heavy iron  bar down on it.  The shattered limbs would then be woven around the spokes  of the wheel and the victim left to perish.

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