When you think about bamboo, you probably imagine fluffy pandas and Chinese food, right? Well, what you should think about is brutal execution.
Currently in the United State, 18 states have abolished the death penalty (the remaining 32 still have it on the books). Most of those states administer the death penalty via a lethal injection, although technically states do have other options.
There has been some controversy recently about exactly how humane that execution method is. However, when compared to how they used to it in medieval times, it’s the most humane thing ever.
Seriously. Check out these 7 ancient execution methods if you don’t believe me.
1.) Firing Squad.
While death by firing squad became popular in the modern era, it was common before that. In ancient Rome and Scandinavia for example, prisoners used to sometimes be executed by squads of archers.
2.) Bamboo.
Back in Medieval Asia, some places used to execute people using bamboo. Bamboo grows very quickly, sometimes up to a foot or more a day. Victims would be tied down over small bamboo plants. As they grew they would slowly, and painfully impale the victim.
3.) Pressing.
In South America and Southeast Asia, pressing was used as a form of execution. In Vietnam for example, they would train elephants to slowly crush a person to death. In Europe, pressing was used a form of torture that usually killed the victim.
4.) Burning at the Stake.
This method is pretty straight forward, but still brutal. Occasionally if many people were being executed at once, the victims would die of carbon monoxide poisoning instead of being burned alive.
5.) Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered.
This brutal form of execution was reserved for the worst criminal and traitors in England. First they were drawn through through town attached to the back of a horse. Then they were hanged until they were nearly dead. Finally, the victim was literally chopped into four pieces.
6.) Hanging.
Though hanging is still in practice in many places across the globe, it was popular in medieval times. At the time it was considered the most humane form of execution.
7.) Guillotine.
Beheading is one of the oldest forms of execution. During the French revolution it was made even more effective with the invention of the guillotine. It was thought to be more humane because it severed the head in one motion rather than with several strokes of the sword or axe.
(Via:All Day)
Well this list certainly makes me happy to be living in 2014. The next time I think about complaining about cell service, I’ll just remember that not too long ago, people were tied to bamboo plants and skewered by them. Sheesh.
