The Rack
Possibly one of the most famous torture devices, “The Rack” was used to get answers out of people by stretching them. Most racks tend to work the same way. One is placed on a wooden slab where their ankles are strapped along with their arms via the wrist. The ties were usually made of tough leather and attached to chains or ropes. The device had rollers at the end that would pull on these areas to stretch out the victim. The device would work via pulley or lever, while the roller would be on its own axis. This made the process easy for the torturer as they did not need to be incredibly strong to pull the body.
The goal is to put stress on the person’s shoulders, hips, knees, and elbows. Pretty much anyone could end up with separated shoulders as well as sometimes severe ligament damage in the legs. Once dislocations happened to a person, pulling no longer could work. On top of this, if muscle fibers are stretched too much, they don’t contract, making them ineffective. Thus, those that could hold on and deal with the pain would regret trying to do so. They along with the torturer would hear bones, cartilage, or ligaments popping. Sometimes, bones could break too. The loudness of all of this is just sickening.
