Being pressed to death was one of the slowest and most agonizing methods of execution in human history.
Being pressed to death was one of the slowest and most agonizing methods of execution in human history. Although the specifics varied from culture to culture, the accused was generally tied down with a board laid atop them, followed by weight after weight — and sometimes it would take the victim up to three days to die as their bodies were crushed. Their bones would break, the person would suffocate, and sometimes their cracked ribs and shards of bone would even burst through their skin — all while stunned onlookers watched. In one case of pressing in 1676, the sight was reported to be so horrific that some of the onlookers took pity on the accused as he suffered under 400 pounds of stones — and jumped on top of him to end his suffering. Go inside the horrific history of pressing to death