Strappado: The Ropes w/ Sam Brears

What happens when the simplest way to torture someone is to tie their hands behind their back and let gravity do the rest?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan are joined by Patreon supporter and super fan Sam Brears to explore the brutal history of the strappado, a torture method designed to put incredible stress on the shoulders, arms, nerves, and entire upper body.

We’ll travel from the Medieval Inquisition and Renaissance Italy to Auschwitz, Turkey, Iraq, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and the American War on Terror, looking at the different forms of the strappado and the real people who endured them. Along the way, we’ll meet Niccolò Machiavelli, Richard Belmar, Mykola Slyvotskyy, and Manadel al Jamadi, whose death at Abu Ghraib showed just how deadly suspension torture could become.

We’ll also look at the infamous squassation, the use of weights, the devastating injuries caused by prolonged suspension, and the surprising ways this centuries old torture method continued to appear in the modern world.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin, Dan, and special guest Sam bring their own dark and twisted humor to a subject that proves sometimes you don’t need complicated machinery to make someone’s life absolutely miserable.

If you’re interested in the strappado, squassation, Machiavelli, the Inquisition, Auschwitz, Abu Ghraib, torture history, psychological torture, prisoner abuse, and some of the darkest methods humans have used to hurt one another, this episode won't leave you hanging.

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