Museum of Medieval Torture

My whole trip to Prague can be found here.

Accused persons had to sit in this chair covered in spikes during their interrogation.  Any movement caused the skin to be pierced.  Talk about not squirming in your chair.


This device is called the Spanish Tickle Torture.  Unfortunately, it wasn't an amusing form of punishment.  Instead, the blades were used to literally scrape off the skin and muscles of the person being tortured.




Side note: I learned that when placed in the stocks, other citizens would unmercifully tickle the person being punished.  I always thought they just threw fruit and rocks at the people...but there actually was real tickle torture.

To the right is a sarcophagus style torture chamber.  This one amazed me greatly because the spikes are strategically placed to not pierce vital organs, causing the tortured person to live longer in agony.  You can't say the medieval people were stupid, many of the torture devices presented a surprisingly advanced level of medical knowledge.  Another example was a stake used to impale people from the anus or upside down from the mouth.  The stake wasn't removed because it stops the massive blood flow leading to an excruciating and lengthy demise.

Perhaps my favorite torture device was this one on the right.  It wasn't meant to kill people, but to punish meddlesome women or bad musicians.  It's called something fife, which if worn actually looks like the person is playing a fife.  The large metal thing goes around the neck and the fingers are latched into the finger holes or "key holes".  It really is a fitting punishment for the guy who butchered your favorite song.

There were so many other devices, many of them centering on sexual organs, but slightly inappropriate for my younger viewing audience so suffice to say I crossed my legs many times and cringed at the thought!