Dunking

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A common scold gets her comeuppance in the ducking stool.

For other uses, see Dunking (disambiguation).

Dunking is a form of torture and punishment that was applied to scolds and supposed witches.

In a trial by ordeal, supposed witches were immersed into a vat of water or pond, and taken out after some time, and given the ability to confess. If she confessed, she was killed. If she did not confess, she was submerged again. This process usually was repeated until the victim drowned or gave up and let herself be executed in another way (hanging or, rarely, burning).

In its 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the U.S. Department of State formally recognizes "submersion of the head in water" as torture in its examination of Tunisia's poor human rights record.^[1]