![]() ![]() According to the museum display, in 1714 Tsar Peter the Great wanted to fight alcoholism, so anyone who pounded back a few too many at local taverns was forced to wear a large medal - that weighed nearly 20 pounds - for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. But don’t start reminiscing about the good old days when drunks were appreciated, because this medal for downing vodka isn’t something that had drinkers taking shots to see who would win. If you drank too much in Russia back in the 16th century, you would get a medal. “You’re going everywhere and you’re labeled a gambler, as someone who didn’t pay and nobody wanted to deal with you.” “It would be to humiliate the person,” Sanchez said as he stood next to a display of these heavy necklaces modeled by a wax figure. Those people were made to wear a rope necklace that was weighed down by heavy stones or wood blocks and they were forced to walk around in public like that. Here are a few petty crimes that could get you sentenced to “lighter” forms of torture, which are also explored at the museum.įorget ankle monitors, back in the day it could be a real pain in the neck for those who cheated during a game, didn’t pay debts on time, or even gambled excessively. But surprisingly, torture didn’t always end in death and some of the items on display were used as temporary punishment for smaller offences. Most of the items in the museum are too graphic to describe. Other contraptions on display include metal chairs with spikes meant to get people to confess to alleged crimes, as well as a guillotine and a “Spanish Horse,” which looks like a rocking horse, except victims would sit on metal spikes during a very painful ride. Many of the bigger devices, like a metal bull with a hollow interior that was used as an oven to roast people alive, are just realistic recreations. Smaller items, like knives, saws, metal neck braces, hammers and swords, were acquired at auctions and some are believed to have been used on victims at one point in history. Some of the larger devices are displayed on their own, while others are shown in action, using wax figures instead of actual humans in scenes that graphically recreate the painful torture some endured. ![]() It houses hundreds of Medieval-era torture contraptions and tools of the trade, like spiked metal clubs, spiked neck and ankle bracelets, curved swords used for disemboweling people and whips made out of sharp chains. The approximately 6,000-square foot multi-level museum is squeezed in between the Museum of Illusions and the famed Hollywood Wax Museum. ![]()
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