With the head placed under the upper cap and the chin placed above the
bottom bar, the top screw of this awful device was slowly turned,
compressing the skull tightly. First the teeth are destroyed, shattering
and splintering into the jaw. Then the eyes are squeezed from the
sockets – some versions had special receptacles to catch them. Lastly,
the skull fractures and the contents of the head are forced out. In
earlier stages, the torturer could keep the head firmly clamped and
strike the metal skull cap periodically; each blow echoing pain
throughout the victim’s body.
The Cat’s Paw (or Spanish Tickler) was oftentimes attached to a handle;
in size and appearance it was an extension of the torturer’s hand. In
this way it was used to rip and tear flesh away from the bone, from any
part of the body.
A popular torture device during the Inquisition, the knee splitter does
what it says: split victims’ knees and render them useless. Built from
two spiked wood blocks, the knee splitter is placed on top of and behind
the knee of its victims. Two large screws connecting the blocks are
then turned, causing the two blocks to close towards each other and
effectively destroy a victim’s knee. This device could also be used to
inflict damage on other parts of the body such as the arms.
The Scavenger’s Daughter was invented as an instrument of torture in the
reign of Henry VIII by Sir William Skevington (also known as William
Skeffington), Lieutenant of the Tower of London. It was an A-frame
shaped metal rack to which the head was strapped to the top point of the
A, the hands at the mid-point and the legs at the lower spread ends;
swinging the head down and forcing the knees up in a sitting position so
compressed the body as to force the blood from the nose and ears. The
Scavenger’s Daughter was conceived as the perfect complement to the Duke
of Exeter’s Daughter (the rack) because it worked the opposite
principle to the rack by compressing the body rather than stretching it.
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