# What was this execution device called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2022, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421 "2022-11-23T02:59:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/1 "2022-11-23T02:59:38Z")
At 18:30 of this episode of the ridiculously absurd show Speed Racer Spridle (WTF kind of name is that?) is in peril of getting cut in half by some execution device. I seem to recall seeing such a device in a museum once. What was the name of this device? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd62s7NAXuU) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/2 "2022-11-23T03:02:21Z")
Is that what Poe was on about in The Pit And The Pendulum? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/3 "2022-11-23T03:10:13Z")
Yep, that’s the Pendulum part all right. > **[Pendulum | Torture device](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum#Torture_device)** > > It is claimed that the pendulum was used as an instrument of torture and execution by the Spanish Inquisition in the 18th century. The allegation is contained in the 1826 book The history of the Inquisition of Spain by the Spanish priest, historian and liberal activist Juan Antonio Llorente. A swinging pendulum whose edge is a knife blade slowly descends toward a bound prisoner until it cuts into his body. This method of torture came to popular consciousness through the 1842 sh Most knowledge... ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/4 "2022-11-23T03:11:20Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Is that what Poe was on about in The Pit And The Pendulum? It seems to be. But was such a device ever actually used in real life? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/5 "2022-11-23T03:12:08Z")
Whoop. Ninjad ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/6 "2022-11-23T04:49:31Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Spridle (WTF kind of name is that? It’s Spritle, which is the diminutive of “sprite”. In the original Japanese his name is Sanpei or “Three cups”. Figure that one out. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2022, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/7 "2022-11-23T13:05:07Z")
Was it used in real life ? What did exist, was the strapado, the prisoner becomes the pendulum … far cheaper and easier … obviously an arrangement where the prisoner is the pendulum may also be called the pendulum . ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2022, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/8 "2022-11-24T12:39:10Z")
I once went to a museum in Spain which had a large collection of instruments of torture. I don’t remember that particular one but something I did learn was that torture was not used to gather information (it wouldn’t be reliable anyway) or even as a punishment (although that was part of it). The main purpose of torture was to inflict as much terror and pain on individuals as a deterrent to others who might support their cause. Do not read the description if you have a good imagination. The nastiest one that I saw there was very simple, A pole - think telegraph pole - about six feet long, set in the ground with the top trimmed to a blunt point. The visiting would be sat on the top with their legs hanging down and weights attached to their feet. The pole would penetrate a long way and cause enormous pain for quite some time before the victim died or lost consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2022, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/9 "2022-11-24T17:32:39Z")
3 cups - one girl. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/10 "2022-11-25T01:18:54Z")
I know I saw this device in some weird “museum of horrors” I’ve been to sometime in my life but I cannot remember where or when, Maybe it’s a false memory but it’s in the back of my mind that it was in the Niagara Falls area (USA or Canada side). But I could be wrong and the last time I was there was during my honeymoon in 1980. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/11 "2022-11-25T01:41:43Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Do not read the description if you have a good imagination. That’s basically where the “Impaler” part of Vlad the Impaler’s name came from, IIRC. He was rather fond of that particular execution device. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/12 "2022-11-25T01:44:31Z")
The gradually lowering pendulum does seem an overly elaborate method of torture/execution, along the lines of sharks with frickin lasers in their heads. It seems to me that building such a mechanism would be fairly complex and expensive, when there are much simpler methods of torture. It’s hard to see an advantage of the pendulum device. The [Wikipedia article about Poe’s story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pit_and_the_Pendulum) says “The original source of the pendulum torture method is one paragraph in the preface of the 1826 book _The history of the Inquisition of Spain_ by the Spanish priest, historian, and activist, Juan Antonio Llorente, relating a second-hand account by a single prisoner released from the Inquisition’s Madrid dungeon in 1820, who purportedly described the pendulum torture method. Most modern sources dismiss this as fantasy.” I take this to mean that there is no physical evidence that such a pendulum ever existed. ETA: I see that Skywatcher has already linked to another Wikipedia article which says much the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/13 "2022-11-25T16:09:28Z")
nevermind ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-execution-device-called/975421/14 "2022-11-25T16:19:39Z")
There is a Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum in Niagara Falls; that might be what you’re remembering.