15 Most Cruel Punishments of the Wild American West!
Uncontrolled by government, with no laws to enforce, the American West of the past was a wilderness. Before the presence of the federal government stabilized, this area is often dominated by groups of thugs, spontaneous criminals and gangs operating independently. Each gang and organization have its own punishments for them to come up with. There are hundreds of ways for them to torture and punish others, from simple beatings to extremely disgusting ways such as mutilation or burning. In today’s video, let’s delve into the dark past of this area to learn about the 15 most brutal punishments of the American West.
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15 most cruel punishments of the wild American West receiving a sentence from prison is purely lucky uncontrolled by government with no laws to enforce the American West of the past was a Wilderness before the presence of the federal government stabilized this area is often dominated by groups of thugs spontaneous criminals and gangs
Operating indep each gang and organization have its own punishments for them to come up with there are hundreds of ways for them to torture and punish others from simple beatings to extremely disgusting ways such as mutilation or burn in today’s video Let’s delve into the dark past of this
Area to learn about the 15 most brutal punishments of the American West hanging short and tell from my around this was a way to end a prisoner’s life or rather the most common way of executing people in the Western United States in the past the authorities carried out the death
Penalty by placing a chain or rope Around The Condemned person’s neck then hanging it up in front of the people of the area in the American West hanging was commonly used during the period of settlement and Frontier expansion it is often used to punish criminal offenses such as bank robbery murder or other
Serious crimes additionally despite the trend of many northern states these states would hang criminals for lesser crimes such as robbery and rape because lawlessness and crime were rif in the wild west judges were strict and hangings were common occurring regularly on a weekly or even daily basis judges
Who were particularly cruel would come to be known as hanging judges Isaac Parker perhaps the most famous hanging judge sentenced 160 people to death by hanging however of those 160 only 79 were actually executed the remaining 81 appealed rotted in prison although at the time these judges were criticized
For handing down too many death sentences some Modern Scholars maintain that most judges were respectable people trying to establish the law law and order in America’s Wild Frontier however since the 1930s the use of hanging has gradually decreased has been replaced by other methods of executing the death
Penalty such as lethal injection or using an electronic hanging machine currently the death penalty by hanging is rarely carried out and has been banned in Most states in the United States fuel burned among hundreds of painful and humiliating punishments in the American West feather burns are probably the most terrifying type of torture because of the feeling of being stripped of skin that it brings scolding is a form of public torture and Punishment the victim is stripped naked
And hot tarus poured on next victim would have feathers thrown on them or curled up on a pile of feathers so that they would stick to the tear it is difficult to describe the horrors that torment the body of the punished person but like I said probably no less than
Having their skin peeled off when their entire body is stuck with feathers and peeling it off is practically impossible because of the brutality of this form of torture it was often used as Revenge by mobs first Golding was introduced to the Americans becoming popular in the mid 18th century during
The 1760s it was increasingly used as a means of protesting the town shend Revenue Act and those seeking to execute it number 13 SE the star penalty also known as the physical Mark penalty is a method of carrying out a sentence by marking or making marks on the body of the
Convicted person to identify them as a criminal in the legal history of the American West this punishment was extremely common several centuries ago stamping on the bodies of criminals was done in some cases to mark them as having committed a crime helping to identify them when they reoffend these
Types of punishments may include burning cutting or scaring the body usually on the face hands or forehead one letter that is often branded is the letter R which stands for runaway slaves were often physically sentenced for very minor indiscretions if they Tred to escape the letter R will be engraved on
Their forehead the forehead and cheeks are common burn locations depending on the crime some perpetrators may sometimes beg for mercy and instead of their arms or hands branded being marked for life is a very bad thing of course the pain of burning from red hot metal pressed against the skin is terrible but
What’s even worse is that they will have to live like disgusting animals for the rest of their lives with that Mark on their skin People number 12 crushed by a heavy Rock death by crushing or pressing is an execution method that shows all the brutality of the western land in the past it is a torture method previously used in the common law legal system system in which if the defendant refused
To pled he was subjected to more severe torture heavier and heavier Rock are placed on the person’s chest until a plea is made or the weight of the stones on the chest becomes so great that The Condemned person cannot breathe early Common Law Courts took a very limited
View of their own jurisdiction they argued that they lacked jurisdiction over the defendant until he voluntarily submitted by entering a plea to seek judgment from the court because the criminal justice system only tries and pun es those who plead guilty but this is impossible when criminals are often
Extremely stubborn therefore this is the means chosen to coers them or kill them without imposing a death sentence number 11 cut off ears and slit nose in the list of terrible punishments that existed in the American West the punishment of ear cutting and nose slitting sin can be seen as symbols of
Lawlessness in this land true to their name the punished person will have part or all their ears and nose cut off the criminal’s ears or nose will be cut off with a blade the punishment of cutting off the nose is quite rare but cutting off the ears is extremely common not
Simply using a knife to cut off the ears of criminal in the wild west they also came up with all kinds of ways to make these people as painful and humiliating as possible there is no overarching set of rules when sentencing a penalty there is no consensus on what is considered
Cruel and fair even in the sentence ear cutting there are various sometimes the ears are nailed at the base sometimes they are cut straight and sometimes they’re just removed piece by piece as with branding losing ears is not only painful but also humiliating hiding your new earless appearance isn’t
Easy number 10 greens andj Drey Teel hauling was a form of punishment and execution commonly inflicted on Sailors on pirate ships however like many other forms of torture it was introduced to the wild west and was seen frequently on rivers and in coastal areas The Condemned sailor was tied to a rope
Loops underneath the ship thrown overboard on one side of the ship and dragged along the ship’s side from side to side all the length of the ship from the bow ship to Star this injured the sailors causing infection the hull of a ship is often covered with Barnacles and
Other marine life and as a result Towing the ship often results in serious lacerations if the victim is hold slowly his weight can lower him enough to slide off the Barnacles but this method usually causes him to drown there is also a risk of head injury from Impact
With the hull or Keel especially if the vessel is in motion if the Sailor is unluckier he may be attacked by underwater creatures the origins of the Keel hauling punishment are closely linked to the history of piracy in Naval Warfare in the 17th and 18th centuries in the west evidence of this punishment
Is quite Limited although anecdotes are frequent mention it and any sailor feels afraid of this extremely brutal form of torture ke hauling is one of the examples of extremely cruel and inhumane punishments from the past once again we see how scary the wild west can be when the legal system is not in Place number nine branks The Witch’s Bridal the gossips bridal the branks bridal simply Brank was an instrument of punishment as a form of public humiliation in the American West although said to be less painful than losing an ear this form of torture still resembles something out of a horror
Movie brank’s combination of pain and incredible humiliation makes it one of those haunting punishments it is used for those who speak out against the church gossip or neck an iron cage was placed over the defendants head with a plate stuffed into their mouth to hold their tongue sometimes the plate is
Decorated with spikes the disc is almost always large enough to cause vomiting for hours while wearing it to make this form of torture worse it can be fitted with a bell to let people know you are near or a leash for walks around town one of the reasons why branks are so
Terrible is that there is no set time limit you may have to wear it for a few hours maybe a few days because branks were used to punish those who bragged and gossiped it was mainly women who suffered this punishment number eight duck stool and drosses
Poisoning in the Far West wiches are one of the most hated and excluded thing and this form of torture is reserved for those suspected of knowing how to use magic a stool or duck store was a chair that the victim was tied to and paraded through town stools are similar in
Structure most are simply chairs on which the offender can be tied and dried at the door or location of the crime some have wheels like a hearse that can be pulled throughout the parish some were placed at the end of a lever that could could move up and down plunging
The tied person underwater duck stools became so popular that the government eventually passed a law allowing duck stool torture like Brank this chair was mainly used as a workaround for female criminals because most witches AR there was no set time limit for the torture nor for the time kept underwater
Casualties occurred because of this bending over is not believed to be fatal but sometimes the victim can die of shock or drowning the truth is people who are tortured in this way are often innocent because you know real witches don’t exist it is the Superstition in some communities in the American West
That has created anecdotes about witches and turned many innocent people into torture by this form number say chain leg chain in the past when infrastructure conditions in the Western United States were not yet developed and prisoner management was difficult the use of chains to control and restrain prisoners often took place
When slaves or convicts were were captured and placed under house arrest they were often chained together and called a chain of criminal at that time these chains proved to be extremely effective the rulers were satisfied because with just one long chain they could punish dozens of prisoners extremely effectively the prisoners
Would wake up together eat together sleep together go to labor camps together and like I said they would even have to deal with their personal needs in front of the people they were chained to although not as brutal as other forms of torture chain leg chains often cause
Sever damage to the ankle area of the person being punished with an underdeveloped health system and infrastructure medical conditions are often poorer than in other areas in situations where the prisoner is Chained or has any injury especially a bad one providing Medical Care is an impossibility this increases the risk of
Infection inflammation or damage spreading causing more serious health in the modern era such forms of chaining have been completely banned because they not only violate human rights but are also inconsistent with Humane and human rights standards of crime handling and prisoner management instead modern prison systems often focus on applying
Smarter security and control measures to manage prisoners without violating their human rights number six fences and pillars a plinth is a device made of a wooden or metal frame mounted on a pole with holes to secure the head and arms formerly used for punishment by public humiliation like the milder punishment
Known as shackles the pillar consisted of hinged wooden panels that formed holes into which the head and various limbs were inserted the planks were then locked together so that the captive could not Escape pillars were erected to hold people in markets intersections and other public places they’re often placed
On pedestals to increase the person’s public visibility often a plank detailing the crime is placed nearby this punishment lasts from a few hours to a few days until the person giving the punishment feels satisfied then the prisoner will be forgiven the offender must Bend forward stick his head out and
Put his hands forward the offender will be extremely uncomfortable during the punishment process however the main purpose of putting criminals in columns is to publicly humiliate them when a prisoner is discovered to be serving this sentence people will excitedly Gather in the market to tun tease and
Laugh at the criminal on display those who gather to watch the punishment often want to make the offender experience as unpleasant as possible in addition to being taunted and taunted criminals may be pelted with rotten food mud animal carcasses and animal excrement sometimes criminals can lose their lives or get
Injured in the process because the crowd can become too violent and throw stones bricks and other dangerous objects at the criminals in the American West where Cowboys were full of arrogance this highly humiliating punishment was much scarier than other forms of physical torture blood eagle before I elaborate
On this form of torture I want to make sure you are mentally strong because blood eagle is the most brutal form of torture in human history not just confined to the American West once again this cruel punishment was brought by immigrants who are Viking origin historians confirm that the blood eagle
Ritual dedicated to the arames of the Vikings who lived in Scandinavia northern Europe from the 8th to the 11th century and in the wild west people have also seen them appear in gang revenges however it has not been verified by law enforcement agencies but all people believe that this terrible form of
Torture really exists and has appeared many times in the past any e victim would not be able to survive for too long with the horrifyingly painful tortures of the blood eagle ritual cutting open the enemy’s back cutting their ribs and ripping out their lungs so that they could kill them looking
Like a pair of bloody Wings the victim is said to die before their lungs are completely removed Purge group the American West was once likened to a land forgotten by law with almost no government presence or little intervention therefore to protect themselves people have formed Purge groups in the hope of ensuring the
Safety of the majority however this group of people often goes too far away from the concept of self- protection they assume the power of the majority and unjustly take the lives of many people nearly 5,000 extrajudicial executions took place between 1882 and 196 8 most involving Purgatory groups
Hanging is often carried out for offenses not prohibited by criminal law sometimes the actions of the purging group are carried out contrary to the wishes of official law enforcement many lynchings in the west were carried out with the participation of sheriffs who were members of purge groups purging
Groups often have no control or legal consideration mechanism and often handle issues on their own emotionally living in the west during those dark times it was best not to let any purging group pay attention to you because sometimes just because of an unfriendly look they will Roar slander you as a danger to
Society and together take your Life number three it clant dlet is a form of punishment that is existed in many different cultures when it came to the American West it was quickly accepted and made scarier in this punishment The Prisoner will stand in front of a corridor formed by two long lines of soldiers or people holding
Weapons and sticks if The Condemned man can run through this Corridor and Escape The Gauntlet at the other end his guilt will be erased and he will return home immediately however in the wild west things get a lot more brutal even if the prisoner escapes the first time he will
Still be sent back to run again until he dies various rules May apply such as Banning bladed weapons requiring the group to keep one foot in place or allowing the prisoner to attempt to protect his or her head with his or her hand there are times when punishment do
Not necessarily have to continue until death a prisoner can be finished off as soon as he’s unable to walk number two with a whip beatings with whips were extremely common in the wild west it is a form of judicial punishment and a means of maintaining discipline in schools prisons military
Forces and private homes spanking tools and methods are very diverse children in school at at home were beaten with st whips belts whips whips and other objects meanwhile in prisons whipping is used more widely and with more brutality to cause as much pain in as possible like the whip called the nine-tailed cat
Is made from nine knotted cords or cowhide cords attached to the handle or people tie in not several dry and hard CAD strings interwoven with the string the strings are often very rough and rough when in contact with a flesh it will tear the Flesh of the person being
Beaten spanking used to be very brutal in the west the backs of The Condemned were often torn and salt was poured into the wounds to increase the pain the history of flogging dates to the Roman Empire where it occurred before crucifixion including the crucifixion of Jesus the revered Jewish text the toras
Also mentions flogging as a form of punishment and states that no more than 40 lashes should be given for an unpunishable offense during the age of slavery in America Masters used whipping as a means of disciplining their slaves the iconic painting of Peter being whipped from the American Civil War era
Is strong evidence of such a number one burned at the stake last punishment on today’s list is one of the most brutal punishments ever invented in the world that is burning one’s own kind of life but in the wild west it was actually very popular from the ancient
World it was introduced to Europe then spread to this western land and became a symbol of anti-religious punishment Heretics blasphemers and Rebels were burned like so many other laws and punishments in this land burning at the stake has a racist history most of the women burned at the stake were black
White women convicted of similar crimes were often hanged gay people also have to fear fire because homosexuality was then considered an insult to the gods punishment by burning was the most effective and cleanest method for devout people sometimes death row inmates in the west feel lucky because they’re
Executed with just a gun instead of terrible torture methods like this brutal punishments from the past of the American West are part of a dark history that deals with cruelty and human rights violations remembering and understanding these punishments helps us realize the need to maintain a respectful and Humane
System of law and human governance let’s learn from the past so we don’t repeat painful mistakes and let’s contribute building a more Equitable and Humane future for everyone
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Video “15 Most Cruel Punishments of the Wild American West!” was uploaded on 12/30/2023 to Youtube Channel DiscoveryQuest