The Most Torturous and Most Peculiar Deaths Ever

Throughout history, humans have displayed their savagery, evidence than we are indeed animals. We have witness the unimaginable and cruelest forms of punishments. Here’s a list of popular personalities in history who suffered the most painful and most inhuman punishments.

1.) William Wallace – hanged, drawn and Cut into Pieces

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If you have seen the film Brave Heart, you’ll probably remember Sir William Wallace. The leading star on the said film is Mel Gibson. Wallace, born in 1272 or 1273, was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the War of Scottish Independence.

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He, along with Andrew Moray, defeated the English Army at the Battle of Sterling Bridge in 1297 and many other battles and was called the “Guardian of Scotland. He was finally defeated at the Battle of Falkirk. In 1305, he was captured and handed over to King Edward I of England. He was hanged, drawn and quartered for treason in August 23, 1305. He was fastened to a wooden hurdle and drawn by horse to the place of execution, where he was hanged and quartered (chopped into four pieces).

2.) Gyorgy Dozsa – Roasted Alive

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Gyorgy Dozsa who lived about the 15^th was a man-at-arms and peasants’ revolt leader in Hungary. Because his revolt was unsuccessful (he could have been a hero if the revolt succeeded), he was condemned to sit on a red-hot iron throne with a red-hot iron crown on his head and a red-hot scepter in his hand (mocking at his ambition to be king), by Hungarian landowners in Transylvania on July 20, 1514. To make things crueler, while he was still alive, he was set upon and his partially roasted body was eaten by six of his fellow rebels, who had been starved for a week beforehand.

3.) Hypatia of Alexandria – Skinned Alive

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Isn’t it madness to murder a woman as beautiful as Hypatia? Hypatia of Alexandria, who was born about 350 CE, was a Greek mathematician and pagan philosopher. She was murdered by a mob that ripped her skin off with sharp sea-shells such as clams, oysters, abalones, etc. Other sources claim tiles or pottery-shards were used. She was considered the first notable woman in mathematics, who also taught astronomy and philosophy. She was accused of causing religious turmoil.

4.) Saint Antipas – Burn Alive

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Non-Christians during the early days were so cruel. Saint Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum, was roasted to death in a brazen bull during the persecutions of Emperor Domitian in 92 C.E.   Some Catholics pray to this saint for ailments of the teeth.

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The brazen bull, bronze bull, or the Sicilian bull was a torture and execution device designed in ancient Greece. It’s a new means of executing criminals during that time. The bull was made entirely of bronze, hollow, with a door in one side. The condemned were shut inside and a fire was set underneath, heating the metal and roasting the person inside to death.

5.) Herod the Great – Died of Bizarre Multiple Unexplained Reasons

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Herod the Great was not punished or tortured. He died in 4 BC after suffering from fever, intense rashes, colon pains, foot drop, and inflammation of the abdomen, a putrefaction of his genitals that produced worms, convulsions, and difficulty breathing before he finally expired. Herod I or Herod the Great was born in 73 or 74 B.C.E. This king of Israel was described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many.

6.) Prince Popiel – Eaten by Mice Alive

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Prince Popiel of the proto-Polish Goplans and Polans encountered death in the most unusual manner. Popiel and his wife were eaten alive by mice in the Kruszwica Tower in the 9^th century. This curse was a consequence of his lack of hospitability or obeying traditions. He was the ruler of the West Slavic and as a consequence of bad rule he was deposed, besieged by his subjects. Prince Popiel was a cruel and corrupt ruler who cared only for wine, women, and song. He was greatly influenced by his wife, a beautiful, but power-hungry German princess. His twelve uncles conspired to depose him. However, at his wife's instigation, he had them all poisoned during a feast (she might have done it herself). Instead of cremating their bodies, as was the custom, he had them cast into Lake Goplo.

7.) Hatto II

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Hatto II was the Archbishop of Mainz. He was a crooked ruler who oppressed and exploited the peasants in his domain. He used the Mouse Tower as a platform for crossbow men and demanded tribute from passing ships. The crews of those who refused to pay were shot. During a famine in 974 CE, the poor people were without food, and Hatto, having all the grain stored up in his barns, used his monopoly to sell it at such a high price that most could not afford any.

The peasants were getting angry and organizing to rebel, so Hatto devised a cruel trick. He promised to feed the hungry people and told them to go to an empty barn and wait for him to come with food. The peasants were overjoyed and praised Hatto heartily, and all of them journeyed to the barn to await his coming. When he showed up with his servants, he ordered the barn's doors shut and locked, then set the barn on fire and burned the peasants to death, derisively commenting on their death cries with the words "Hear the mice squeak!"

When Hatto retired to his castle, he was instantly besieged by an army of mice. He fled the swarm and took a boat across the river to his tower, hoping that the mice could not swim. The mice followed him and rushed into the river by the thousands. Many of them drowned, but even more crawled onto the island. There, they ate through the tower's doors and crawled up to the top floor, where they found Hatto and ate him alive.

See also 

• The 12 Most Absurd and Weirdest Acts of World Leaders and Their Obscure Deaths
• The Most Peculiar and Unusual Ways on How People Were Killed by Machines
• The 13 Most Horrifying and Ridiculous Deaths Ever
• 12 Absurd and Strange Ways To Die
• The Most Excruciating, Brutal and Cruel Punishments in History
• 10 Weirdest and Bizarre Causes of Deaths 
• 15 Most Notable Crucifixions in History