Summit Gist

We can’t help but think of dungeons and brutal torture devices when we think of the medieval era. The iron maiden was one of these devices—or was it? Most historians today believe the iron maiden to be a myth, readily accepted as the truth based on the belief that our medieval ancestors were a bloodthirsty and ruthless breed. The iron maiden was a human-shaped iron sarcophagus lined with spikes that would impale its victims when closed, leading to a slow and excruciating death. After being forced into the device, the spikes would pierce the victim in several, yet non-fatal, places over the body, and the unfortunate victim would slowly bleed out. There are no medieval texts that mention this mode of torture; indeed, the first mention of the iron maiden appears in historical texts from the 1800s.  Although there are one or two references in antiquity to similar devices, the Spartan tyrant Nabis is said to have used something similar for torture, and the Abbasid vizier Ibn al-Za...

Brutal torture methods - including pepper spraying genitals, pulling out finger nails and stringing prisoners up in agonising 'chicken kebab' position - are revealed in Amnesty report on 'Iranian interrogation tactics' Amnesty International on Wednesday accused Iran's security forces of using torture to extract confessions, saying hundreds of people have been jailed since a sweeping crackdown against protests last year. Demonstrations erupted across Iran in November 2019 after a major petrol price hike, but they were put down by security forces with mass arrests amid a near-total internet blackout. Amnesty said it had gathered dozens of testimonies from the 7,000 people it estimated were arrested, which included children as young as 10. The accounts reveal 'a catalogue of shocking human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment', the London-based human rights group said. Torture techniques...

Naked and humiliated woman cries out in rage and anguish as an older woman comforts her while a mob surround them during an anti-Jewish pogrom. Lvov, July.1st, 1941 The Soviet Union occupied Lvov in September 1939, according to secret provisions of the German-Soviet Pact. Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, occupying Lvov within a week. The Germans claimed that the city's Jewish population had supported the Soviets. Ukrainian mobs went on a rampage against Jews. They stripped and beat Jewish women and men in the streets of Lvov. Ukrainian partisans supported by German authorities killed about 4,000 Jews in Lvov during this pogrom. US forces discovered this 8mm footage in SS barracks in Augsberg, Germany, after the war. Lwów (modern: Lviv) was a multicultural city just before World War II, with a population of 312,231. It had been part of the Second Polish Republic from 1918 to 1939. The city's 157,490 ethnic Poles constituted just over 50 per cent, with Jews at 3...

A woman executed by the ancient Chinese form of torture, Ling Chi, c. 1900 Ling Chi, or Slow slicing, or the lingering death, or death by a thousand cuts , was a form of execution used in China from roughly AD 900 until its abolition in 1905. In this form of execution, the condemned person was killed by using a knife to methodically remove portions of the body over an extended period of time. The term língchí derives from a classical description of ascending a mountain slowly. Lingchi was reserved for crimes viewed as especially severe, such as treason and killing one's parents. It was meted out for offenses against the Confucian value system such as acts of treason, mass murder, parenticide or the murder of one's master or employer. Emperors used it to threaten people and sometimes ordered it for minor offences. There were forced convictions and wrongful executions. Some emperors meted out this punishment to the family members of his enemies. The process involved tying the per...

I Have Sex 7 Times a Day to Keep Fit - Meet the World's Fattest Woman (Photos) The official world fattest living female has revealed that sex helps her burn calories and reduces her fats. The woman who has the Guinness World Record for fattest female on the planet, which she achieved by reaching a weight of 700 pound, has shared the most compelling secret for losing weight - having sex with her husband seven times a day! According to The Closer, Pauline Potter's appearance makes her 'an unlikely spokesperson for the health benefits of sex.' Her husband Alex, who himself tips the scale at 200 pounds (which is less than one of his wife’s legs), insists that the sex is anything but normal: "It’s hard to position her and find her pleasure spots as she has a lot of fat in the pelvic area. But it turns me on knowing she’s satisfied. Although once, when she got on top, I couldn’t breathe." Potter who is continuing to trim down slowly, claims to burn 500 calorie...

Perseus kills Medusa The tale of Perseus is one of the most thrilling stories in Greek mythology. Perseus, who was the son of Danae, a mortal woman, and Zeus, the Greek king of the gods, is an exciting figure in Greek Mythology and is mostly known for killing the gorgon Medusa. Cast into the sea as an infant due to a prophecy, Perseus grows up on the island of Serifos, where he becomes a strong and intelligent young man. King Polydectes, who desires Danae, sends Perseus on a quest to behead Medusa, a cursed Gorgon whose gaze turns people to stone. Aided by gifts from the gods—Hades' cap of invisibility, Hermes' winged sandals, Athena's reflective shield, and Hephaestus' sword—Perseus locates Medusa while avoiding direct eye contact by using the shield's reflection. With courage and skill, he beheads Medusa, giving birth to Pegasus and Chrysaor in the process. Along the way, he saves Andromeda from a sea monster and turns her would-be suitor, Phineus, into stone usin...

Evil Meets Power, 1996:The history of the raised fist, a global symbol of fighting oppression A black woman salutes a KKK member with a closed fist, which is a symbol of black resistance against racism and oppression. The KKK member salutes her with an open hand, a symbol that goes back to fascist Germany, which represents hatred towards anyone who is not white. The man in the picture is Thomas Robb. Robb is a hardline white supremacist and has been in control of the KKK since 1989. He is also a Christian pastor. Robb has been the admin for racist websites and forums, and even wrote a lengthy article in 2016, in the racist newspaper "The Crusader" in which he heavily endorsed Donald Trump and showed his support for Trump's run for presidency. The Trump administration denounced the article. This woman is the definition of defiance. Photographer: David Crenshaw Source: reddit.com The forceful salute is intertwined with some of the 20th century's most tumultuous events, ...

Apatani women wear nose plugs to give themselves this unique look, but why? This tribe are found mostly within the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh in India. Years ago, when the tribe was at war with other tribes, women were often taken as spoils of war. To try to prevent this, the women would insert nose plugs into their noses to make themselves appear less "attractive". They also would get face tattoos too, and were usually given when the women got their first periods. The tribe are known for their colourful culture and is recognised by UNESCO for its high-efficiency farming without the use of machinery or animals. They are also known for their bamboo crafts and colourful clothing. Around 60,000 Apatani people are alive today. Apatani people recite their history through oral traditions and very few written records survive today. They follow the Danyi-Piilo faith, praying to the Sun ( Ayo Danyii) and the Moon (Atoh Piilo), but some have converted to Christianity...

School shooter Brenda Ann Spencer is arrested after shooting at an elementary school, 1979 Brenda Spencer was a 16-year-old girl from San Diego, California. Her parents were divorced and her father was an alcoholic. Brenda showed exceptional photography skills and won awards for her work but took little interest in school with one teacher claiming that she always had to check on Brenda to make sure that she was not sleeping in class. It was discovered later in custody that she suffered an injury to her frontal lobe which she acquired during a bicycle accident. She was also suicidal around this time too. It has also been said that Brenda had been sexually abused by her father, though there was no evidence presented by Brenda for this accusation, despite it being brought to the attention of the police. During the summer of 1978, she started hunting birds in her neighbourhood. She was also arrested for shooting a BB gun out her window and for burglary. Neighbours also reported that she ab...

The body of one of the victims of the Hinterkaifeck murders, 1922 In 1922, a remote farm in Hinterkaifeck, Bavaria, Germany was the site of a mysterious and chilling mass murder that saw the deaths of 5 members of the Gruber family and one maid. All the victims died of blunt-force trauma to the head. The bodies were discovered by neighbours on March 31 when they saw there was little activity on the farm. The Hinterkaifeck murders are some of the most chilling and eerie murders ever documented. 6 people were murdered on the farm, however, the events and circumstances make the situation all the more scary. It is speculated that the family were killed one by one over a short period, to be specific, they were killed over a few days. It is speculated that there was more than one killer involved. Either the entire family was taken hostage and killed one by one, or they were picked off over several days as the bodies were hidden around the farm.The family had noted several strange activities ...

The tale of Amou Haji, the man who could not be stopped This is Amou Haji, also known as "The dirtiest man in the world". He did not bathe for SIXTY years. He feared that water and soap caused diseases. He lived in a hole that he dug himself and lived an isolated life due to a heartbreak. Haji lived in Southern Iran. He survived by eating roadkill or donations from neighbours. His name is actually a nickname, meaning "old timer". He drank water from puddles and rusty oil cans. Villagers once tried to force him to have a shower but he escaped. Despite his unhygienic lifestyle, Haji lived for 94 years! He died in October of last year, a few weeks after finally having a bath. He was described be an author that he "blends in" to the "barren landscape of southern Iran" and that, when he sits still, he "resembles a rock". CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO .

A video has been uploaded on hardwarezone and imgur of a couple making out on the pavement. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO .

Get a room! Incredibly awkward photos showing couples getting intimate and some even pictured having s*x in very public places sweep the internet and social media. Some couples who seemed to completely forget they were in public as they put their hands all over each other, have been spotted in photographs which were posted online by onlookers who were simultaneously amused and horrified by what they were witnessing.   The couples were snapped getting intimate in a range of public places, from the local park to the subway and more.    See the sizzling photos below; CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO .

Stomper  Anonymous  feels that every couple has the freedom to display their affection for one another in their own way, but sexual advances should be done only behind closed doors. This is his entry for October's What Say You topic, 'Making out in public: How far is too far?' Every couple has the right to show their affection or love to each other in their own way. We are living in a very modern society where our laws are based on logic and analysis, not based on religion like other certain countries. However, the special thing about Singapore is that our country is very conservative and majority of the population believe that upbringing must be infused with cultural or religious beliefs and practices. This group of people also has a right to practice their upbringing and beliefs to their children and the public display of affection (PDA) might interfere with this teachings. Being a Muslim myself, I know Islam does forbid physical contact between...

Awoman with syphilis is photographed before penicillin was invented, 1890s. In the Victorian era, rampant disease kept life expectancies low while high photography costs kept most people from ever having their picture taken. So when adults and especially young children died without ever sitting for a picture, their family would often dress and pose the corpse in a lifelike way before inviting a photographer over to have a portrait taken with the departed.  From postmortem photos to those taken of the living, see more of the most haunting portraits of the Victorian era —  .The first recorded outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494/1495 in Naples, Italy, during a French invasion.Because it was spread by returning French troops, the disease was known as "French disease", and it was not until 1530 that the term "syphilis" was first applied by the Italian physician and poet Girolamo Fracastoro.  The causative organism, Treponema pallidum, was first identified by ...

After stabbing her boyfriend 37 times with a butcher knife, Katherine Knight skinned John Price’s lifeless body and hung him from a meat hook. She then cut him apart and turned him into a stew with pumpkin, beets, and zucchini. When the police arrived on the scene, they realized in horror that she had possibly served his corpse to his dog and his own children. Katherine Mary Knight (born 24 October 1955) is an Australian murderer and the first woman in the country's history to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. She was convicted for the murder of her partner, John Charles Thomas Price, in February 2000, and is currently imprisoned at the Silverwater Women's Correctional Centre in New South Wales. Knight stabbed Price to death, skinned him, and then put his skin on a meat hook. She then cooked his head and parts of his body with the intention of feeding them to Price's children but was stopped by police. In February 2000, a series of assaults on Price culminat...