🚨 Graphic Warning: This article discusses extreme historical torture methods. Some descriptions & images may be disturbing.
Some historical figures got off easy with a beheading. Others? Not so much.
History is full of horrific torture methods—some designed to inflict the maximum amount of pain before death, others meant to make a statement so terrifying that no one would dare defy authority again.
Among the most infamous was Saint Bartholomew, one of Jesus’ twelve apostles, who met his end by being skinned alive. But he wasn’t alone—throughout history, people have been boiled, sawn in half, burned from the inside out, and even impaled on giant wooden stakes.
Here are ten of the most extreme torture deaths ever recorded, and the people unfortunate enough to receive them.
1. Saint Bartholomew – Skinned Alive
📍 Who: Saint Bartholomew, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus.
📍 When: 1st century AD
📍 Where: Armenia
Saint Bartholomew traveled far and wide spreading Christianity, which wasn’t exactly a safe career choice in the Roman era. After allegedly converting the king of Armenia’s brother to Christianity, he made some powerful enemies—ones who decided to make an example out of him.
And when it comes to making an example out of someone, flaying them alive is a pretty effective message.
According to tradition, Bartholomew was captured, stripped, and had his skin peeled away while still alive. Some versions say he was also crucified upside down, just to really drive the point home.
Today, he is often depicted in artwork holding his own skin—because apparently, religious iconography had no chill.
2. Edward II – A Red-Hot Poker Up the… You Know
📍 Who: Edward II, King of England
📍 When: 1327
📍 Where: Berkeley Castle, England
Being a king doesn’t guarantee a painless death—just ask Edward II.
Overthrown by his wife Isabella of France and her lover, Roger Mortimer, Edward was imprisoned under brutal conditions. But a mere imprisonment wasn’t enough; Isabella and Mortimer needed to make sure he never returned to power.
So, they allegedly had him tortured to death in a particularly gruesome way—by inserting a red-hot iron rod up his rectum, burning him from the inside out.
The method was horrifyingly efficient:
- No external wounds, so it didn’t look like murder.
- Maximum pain, ensuring a slow, agonizing death.
And just like that, Edward II was gone—roasted alive from the inside.
3. Hypatia – Flayed with Oyster Shells
📍 Who: Hypatia, philosopher and mathematician
📍 When: 415 AD
📍 Where: Alexandria, Egypt
Hypatia was brilliant—a renowned philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer in Alexandria. Unfortunately, being a highly intelligent, influential woman in a city full of religious and political tension wasn’t a great combination.
She got caught in a power struggle between the Christian bishop Cyril and the Roman governor Orestes. A mob of Christian extremists, blaming her for Orestes’ resistance against Cyril, decided she had to go.
And they didn’t just kill her—they dragged her through the streets, stripped her naked, and flayed her alive using oyster shells before dismembering her body and burning it.
Not exactly an honorable way to treat one of history’s greatest minds.
4. Vlad the Impaler’s Victims – Skewered Alive
📍 Who: Anyone who crossed Vlad III Dracula
📍 When: 15th century
📍 Where: Wallachia (modern-day Romania)
Vlad III, aka Vlad the Impaler, wasn’t called that for nothing.
His favorite execution method was impalement—not the quick, sword-through-the-gut kind. Oh no. His version involved slow, agonizing impalement through the rectum, leaving victims writhing in pain for days.
According to historical accounts, Vlad impaled thousands of people—criminals, enemies, and even innocent civilians—leaving their corpses rotting in forests and fields as a warning.
When Ottoman forces invaded his land, they allegedly found a “forest” of impaled bodies. They turned around and left immediately.
If your torture method is so terrifying it makes an entire army retreat, you’re doing something next-level.
5. William Wallace – Hung, Drawn, and Quartered
📍 Who: William Wallace, Scottish freedom fighter
📍 When: 1305
📍 Where: London, England
“Braveheart” didn’t even show half of what happened to William Wallace.
Captured by the English, Wallace was sentenced to be hung, drawn, and quartered—the most brutal execution method England had to offer.
His punishment included:
- Being dragged through the streets behind a horse.
- Hanging until near death—but not enough to kill him.
- Disembowelment while alive, with his intestines burned in front of him.
- Having his body cut into four pieces and his head placed on a spike on London Bridge.
For Wallace, freedom came at a horrific price.
6. Saint Lawrence – Grilled Alive
📍 Who: Saint Lawrence, Christian deacon
📍 When: 258 AD
📍 Where: Rome
When Emperor Valerian ordered the execution of Christian leaders, Saint Lawrence was captured and sentenced to be burned alive.
But instead of screaming in agony, legend says Lawrence mocked his executioners while being grilled over an open fire, supposedly saying:
“Turn me over, I’m done on this side.”
If true, that might be the most metal thing ever said in history.
7. Balthasar Gérard – The Man Who Killed a King, Then Got Slowly Dismembered
📍 Who: Balthasar Gérard, assassin of William the Silent
📍 When: 1584
📍 Where: Netherlands
Gérard assassinated William of Orange, thinking he’d be rewarded. Instead, he got one of the most drawn-out, brutal executions in history.
His punishment included:
- Being whipped and branded with a red-hot iron.
- Having his hand burned off with a torch.
- Being torn apart by four horses.
It took days for them to fully kill him.
8. The Brazen Bull Victims – Roasted Alive in a Metal Bull
📍 Who: Too many to count
📍 When: Ancient Greece
📍 Where: Sicily
The Brazen Bull was a hollow metal bull where victims were locked inside and slowly roasted alive over a fire.
Designed by Perillos of Athens, its vents turned the victims’ screams into bull sounds—because Greek inventors were apparently very extra.
The first person to die in it? Perillos himself, executed by the tyrant who commissioned it.
9. Mark Smeaton – The Musician Who Confessed Under Torture
📍 Who: Mark Smeaton, court musician accused of adultery with Anne Boleyn
📍 When: 1536
📍 Where: England
Accused of sleeping with Anne Boleyn, Smeaton was tortured so brutally he falsely confessed.
He was then beheaded, proving that sometimes the torture alone was enough to kill a man—even before the execution.
10. The Man Who Survived the Rack—Barely
📍 Who: John Gerard, English Jesuit priest
📍 When: 1594
📍 Where: England
Tortured on the rack, which stretched people until their joints dislocated, Gerard somehow survived. He later escaped from the Tower of London in a legendary prison break.
Not everyone tortured in history died—but most wished they had.
