Whirligig (torture)

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The 1913 edition of Websters dictionary refers to a whirligig as a punitive or torture contraption comprising a suspended cage-like device. The victim would be placed in the cage, which was spun violently in order to cause severe nausea.

This was used as a military punishment, as by the British, e.g. in Tangiers, where it was reportedly used on women, by whom it was more feared than the pillory, stocks and wooden horse [[1]].