Instep borer

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The instep borer was a mediaeval German instrument of torture that externally resembled an iron boot.

[edit] Description

It was hinged to permit the free insertion and removal of the bare foot. A crank projected from a housing over the instep, which concealed a long, thick, serrated iron blade, grooved so as to inflict maximum damage and promote liberal blood flow.

Turning the crank slowly advanced the blade into the boot, punching a generous hole through the center of the instep. The resultant wound was so large and nasty that it was not at all unusual for the prisoner to die of toxaemia not many days thence.

It seems that the instep borer was used only in Nuremberg.

[edit] Reference

Only in Richard Sair's The Book of Torture and Executions (Arnold Hirsch, M.D., ed.; L of C cat #HV8593 .S3) does one find mention of this quaint device.

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