The Garrote Vil (vile garrote) was Spain’s favorite way to execute people till the 1970s. After the death of Franco, Spain got rid of the Death Penalty and I guess the device is hidden somewhere or destroyed.
If you are looking for the definition of Cruel and Unusual, this baby here fits the bill so well it will give a collective heart attack to SCOTUS en toto. The condemned man spends its last minute on this planet slowly chocking till the screw pops the cervical vertebrae and decerebrates him. Of course, if the executioner is an asshole, this torture can take forever.
I found a clip of a Spanish movie which did a nice job reproducing an execution by Garrote Vil.
I worked with a guy who was a former employee of a three letter government agency and has spent time in Saudi Arabia. He told me how they executed prisoners and it was very interesting.
Yes, they behead people with a sword. We know that. What we didn’t know was the prep.
You are full of blood and when you are nervous your blood pressure goes up. If you behead a nervous prisoner, blood literally sprays everywhere. It’s messy.
So before the beheading a doctor is brought in and they drain a few quarts of blood put of the prisoner with a needle and a catheter. Then they administer a large dose of barbiturate. The prison is nearly dead when the sword comes down.
Cutting of hands is done fully conscious and the tourniquet is applied first because they are savages. But the execution is done this way to minimize the mess.
I didn’t click on the link. I know it’s only a movie, but I’ve seen enough stuff like that to last me a long time.
I’d always read about being executed by garrote, and I always thought it was a simple strangling. Thanks for explaining it. Or not.
What we normally call a garrote is death by strangling or cutting off the blood to the brain. This one is a screw device for lots of leverage.