Virgin of Nuremberg

The torture device commonly known as the Iron Maiden was also called the Virgin of Nuremberg.

But was it really used in the middle ages?

Here's a whole big discussion about it.

And another, more concise one.

It may just be a modern concept, like the chastity belt.

But then there's this crazy Italian horror movie:

From The Guardian

What Snake Venom Does to Blood

Well, sometimes, and kind of...

A very cool image

... of a man taking clothes pins off of his skin. It's apparently part of a local chess tradition:

From The Guardian

From First Aid for Drawing Injuries

Aesthetically Pleasing Surgical Instruments from the Arabic World

See HERE

The Rack Doesn't Just Tear Tendons

Apparently--according to these folks--the rack is meant to actually fracture bone:

And some more awful things to consider HERE

Vesalius: Oops, I vivisected someone

From Katharine Park, "The Criminal and the Saintly Body: Autopsy and Dissection in Renaissance Italy," Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 1 (Spring, 1994), p. 19.

by Slinkachu, published by the Telegraph

Extreme Surgical Instruments

Supposedly to treat a skull fracture. Or make one?



Tooth key. This is why people didn't want to go to the dentist.







Imaginary gynecological instruments for use on mutant women from the movie Dead Ringers.




Quite possibly the inspiration for A Clockwork Orange.