The torture devices of old are well-known by many (the iron maiden, etc.) but what are “common” modern implements?
Reality TV
Bindings. Binding people in uncomfortable postions for very long periods is an of used form of torture. It’s not a new form of torture IIRC it was used by the French Foreign Legion the colonial period too.
Electrocution. Electric charge is applied to body in various places including the gentialia.
Cigarettes. Cigarettes are stubbed out on the victims skin
These are three of the most common forms of torture in the world today.
During the Greek junta they used to insert a glass rod into the penis and then whack it with a hammer so that it would break inside the penis.
Bottled Mineral Water.
A “favorite” torture device used by the federal police in Mexico is to use a bottle of mineral water and mix with chile powder (preferably chile piquin). Mix. Shake well. Gag victim’s mouth. Introduce at victim’s nostrils.
I am not sure if our “honorable” Mexican police invented it, but patent may be still be pending.
XicanoreX
Denistry tools?
It’s called “tehuacanazo”, because a common mineral water brand name is “tehuacan”.
Greetings, from another mexican.
I think that a lot of mental and psychological tortures are used–like sleep depravation, mind games, etc.
Yes, I was just about to mention sleep deprivation. Modern interrogation techniques are slightly more sophisticated than the rack, but torture itself is still unreliable as a method of extracting accurate information. I believe sleep and sensory deprivation, combined with all sorts of drugs, are used to interrogate prisoners.
Non-lethal weapons can also double as torture devices. Consider the taser, or pepper spray. They can cause a lot of pain, but don’t permanently damage the victim. Not physically, anyway. This information comes from an article in Time magazine read years ago.
Read Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago - especially volume one, which can be distressingly graphic.
Or Amnesty International reports. Their details on the Marcos regime in the Philippines gave me sleepless nights.
Wives. Soon to be Ex Wives.
Heavy metal music.
(I remember reading an article on this. Sorry, I don’t have a link!)
Yes, I heard this on NPR. Used by US troops in Iraq. They said 24-48 hours of heavy metal will break down almost all the subjects. The US intelligence person they intervued also said that during his training they had to endure 24 hours of Barney and it turned him into a babbling idiot.
/Markus
Karaoke?
-FK
Drugs are a modern article in the torturer’s toybox.
You can see this being done in the movie Traffic. The scream they used on the soundtrack will stay with you for a while.
There’s always the ginger beer trick.
Manuel Noriega can vouch for that.
(Bastard always knows when someone doesn’t have a link!)
Ah, a classic spongin!
Feed him some McDonald’s and let Grimace heal his shattered mind…
Someday the Army is going to run into some dictator who’s immune to heavy metal warfare. Just imagine; they’ve surrounded the Beloved Leader’s final bunker and blasted him with a hundred hours of Metallica at full volume. A recon unit is sent forward and one scout is able to peer isnide through a bomb crack. And there he sees Kim Il Sung, playing air guitar in the middle of a pile of empty beer bottles and pizza boxes, yelling “Lars Rules!!!” at the top of his lungs.
They’d just send in Lars himself. Dictator would surrender in no time flat.