On this episode Dan, Kevin, and special guest Phil cover: who's Dixon?, an introduction, holiday vacation, death for Christmas, bad present overreaction, Dan's calendar, Rob Reiner, horrible roommates, breaking out in song, a very real story, a Candy Cane Gingerbread Baked Alaska Pie with Cranberry Coulis, a yuletide Top 10, John Cena, Kevin's calves, Happy New Year, and much more!!

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What happens when the thing being used to interrogate you looks less like a torture device and more like a garden tool?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the horrifying history of the Cat’s Paw, also known as the Iron Claw, a deceptively simple device designed to tear into the human body.

We’ll travel from the Roman Empire and the persecution of Christians to medieval and early modern Europe, following the claw through centuries of interrogation, punishment, and religious persecution. Along the way, we’ll meet St. Vincent of Saragossa, François Villon, and others who found themselves on the wrong end of one of history’s nastier pieces of ironwork.

We’ll also look at the different names and variations associated with the device, how it was used alongside other familiar torture methods, and the increasingly formalized rules surrounding judicial torture in places like France and the Holy Roman Empire.

However, the Cat’s Paw has accumulated quite a reputation over the centuries, and not everything said about it can actually be proven. We’ll separate the documented history from the stories that have grown around the device, including one particularly famous name that turns out to have a surprisingly modern origin.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own particularly uncomfortable sense of humor to an episode about a device that proves sometimes the simplest tools can be the most horrifying.

If you’re interested in the Cat’s Paw, Iron Claw, Ungula, French torture, Roman persecution, François Villon, St. Vincent of Saragossa, judicial torture, medieval history, torture devices, and the strange myths that develop around them, this episode is going to get under your skin.

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What happens when an execution method designed to be cleaner, more humane, and more scientific turns out to have a very ugly history?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the disturbing history of lethal injection, from its origins in the late 19th century to the botched executions that have continued into the modern era.

We’ll meet Paul Warner Powell, whose execution appeared to go exactly as planned, before looking at Joseph Cannon and the disastrous attempt to execute him in Texas. From there, we’ll follow the development of the three drug cocktail, the creation of the Oklahoma Model, and the first lethal injection execution in the United States.

We’ll also look at some of the most notorious cases of botched lethal injections, including Ronald Clark O’Bryan, Stephen Morin, Rommell Broom, Angel Nieves Diaz, Clayton Lockett, Dennis McGuire, John Grant, and Joseph Wood, whose executions raised serious questions about whether this supposedly peaceful method was actually as humane as it was intended to be.

Then we’ll follow the problems surrounding the drugs themselves, changing pharmaceutical supplies, the controversial move toward midazolam, and the growing difficulty of finding people willing and able to carry out executions.

Finally, we’ll travel outside the United States to look at lethal injection in China and the use of mobile execution vans, before returning to America and the latest attempts to find alternative methods of execution.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own morbid sense of humor to an episode about an execution method that was supposed to make killing look like a medical procedure.

If you’re interested in lethal injection, capital punishment, the Oklahoma Model, botched executions, death row, sodium thiopental, midazolam, the electric chair, execution history, and the disturbing intersection of medicine and punishment, this episode proves that sometimes making something look more humane doesn’t necessarily make it less horrifying.

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What happens when breaking the rules means being locked into a wooden frame while your entire town gets invited to make fun of you?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the history of two of Europe’s most infamous instruments of public punishment, the stocks and the pillory.

We’ll travel from ancient Judah and Rome into medieval Europe, following the evolution of public humiliation from a way to shame petty offenders into behaving themselves to a much harsher system where crowds could turn punishment into violence. Along the way, we’ll meet Perkin Warbeck, Daniel Defoe, Elizabeth Needham, and others who discovered that being put on display could be considerably more dangerous than simply humiliation.

We’ll also travel beyond Europe to look at similar forms of punishment, including China’s infamous cangue, before following the stocks and pillory across the Atlantic and into colonial America. From drunkards and scolds to thieves, fraudsters, slaves, and accused witches, almost anyone could find themselves spending a very unpleasant afternoon in public.

But what started as a form of community shame eventually became something much more dangerous. As criminal justice became more centralized, the punishment became harsher, the crowds became more vicious, and in some cases, simply being placed in the pillory could become a death sentence.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring plenty of questionable humor to an episode about two wooden contraptions that prove humanity has always found creative ways to publicly embarrass people.

If you’re interested in the stocks, pillory, cangue, public humiliation, medieval punishment, colonial America, Daniel Defoe, Perkin Warbeck, Elizabeth Needham, historical torture, and the evolution of criminal justice, this episode is going to give you a whole new appreciation for the phrase “laughing stock.”

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What happens when your neighbors stop seeing you as a strange old man and start believing you’re a monster?

For this special Halloween episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan travel back to the forests of medieval and early modern Europe to explore the terrifying history of the Werewolf Trials.

We’ll follow the fear, superstition, and paranoia that turned missing children, dead livestock, strange footprints, and unexplained attacks into accusations of lycanthropy. From Switzerland and France to Germany, Sweden, and Spain, we’ll meet some of the people accused of making pacts with the Devil, transforming into wolves, and preying on their neighbors.

We’ll meet Michel Verdun, Pierre Burgot, Gilles Garnier, Peter Stumpp, Jacques Roulet, Jean Grenier, and Manuel Blanco Romasanta, whose cases helped shape the terrifying idea that the monster hiding in the woods might actually be your neighbor.

But these weren’t just stories about monsters. Torture, religious hysteria, political and social tensions, war, famine, and good old fashioned fear could turn accusations into confessions and confessions into executions.

We’ll also look at where the werewolf legend came from, from ancient mythology and Norse warriors to medieval Christianity, before following the creature through centuries of European history and eventually into the modern world.

And because this is our Halloween episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring plenty of creepy storytelling, questionable humor, and a few laughs to the history of one of humanity’s favorite monsters.

If you’re interested in werewolves, witch trials, lycanthropy, the Devil, Gilles Garnier, Peter Stumpp, the Beast of Gévaudan, Manuel Blanco Romasanta, European folklore, medieval history, torture, and the darker side of Halloween, turn off the lights and join us in the woods.

Just watch out for the guy walking on four legs.

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What happens when the punishment for breaking the law is being lowered into a grave while you’re still alive?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the horrifying history of being buried alive, a punishment used across different cultures for crimes ranging from adultery and infanticide to heresy, sacrilege, and treason.

We’ll travel from ancient Rome and the Vestal Virgins to the Saxons and Franks, before following the practice through medieval Europe and into the story of Anna Utenhoven, one of the last people executed for heresy by live burial in the Low Countries. We’ll also meet Tiufrid, an 18 year old Swedish farmhand whose crime led to one of the strangest executions in the historical record.

But being buried alive wasn’t always intentional.

We’ll also explore the terrifying history of premature burial, from stories of people waking inside their coffins to the rise of taphophobia and the bizarre inventions designed to make sure the dead were actually dead. Safety coffins, corpse bells, waiting houses, and increasingly sophisticated medical techniques all emerged from the fear that someone might be buried before they had actually died.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own morbid sense of humor to an episode about one of humanity’s oldest fears, being trapped underground with no way out.

If you’re interested in being buried alive, live burial, ancient Roman punishment, Vestal Virgins, Anna Utenhoven, premature burial, taphophobia, safety coffins, historical torture, executions, and some of the darkest fears in human history, this episode is going six feet under.

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What happens when a religious blessing becomes one of the most horrifying torture myths in history?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan travel back to the world of the Inquisition and explore the infamous Lead Sprinkler, a supposed torture device designed to turn a priest’s blessing into a weapon.

We’ll step into the dungeon, where the familiar instruments of torture are replaced by something far more unsettling, a device resembling an aspergillum, the tool used to sprinkle holy water over a congregation. Only this time, the “blessing” is anything but holy.

We’ll look at the stories surrounding the Lead Sprinkler, the supposed punishments for blasphemers, heretics, criminals, and accused witches, and the gruesome legends that grew around the device. But there’s a catch. Despite its reputation and its appearance in museums and modern collections of torture devices, there is a serious question about whether the Lead Sprinkler was ever actually used.

The question is, where did this terrifying device come from, and how did a supposed instrument of the Inquisition become one of the most recognizable torture myths in history?

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own irreverent sense of humor to a story where apparently even getting a blessing can go horribly wrong.

If you’re interested in the Lead Sprinkler, the Inquisition, religious torture, blasphemy, heresy, the aspergillum, torture devices, medieval punishment, torture myths, and the darker side of European history, this episode might make you think twice the next time someone offers you a blessing.

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What happens when your punishment doesn’t end with your execution, but with your body being locked inside an iron cage and left hanging for everyone to see?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the disturbing history of the hanging cage, a punishment designed not only to kill, but to turn the dead into a warning for everyone who passed by.

We’ll travel across Europe, England, America, and Asia, following the stories of criminals, pirates, rebels, and prisoners whose bodies were displayed in cages after their executions. We’ll meet Kohlhans the Robber, James Aitken, Captain William Kidd, and others whose deaths became public spectacles long after the execution itself was over.

But occasionally, the line between execution and torture became disturbingly blurred. We’ll look at stories of people supposedly placed inside the cages alive, left exposed to the elements with no food or water, and forced to endure days of suffering while crowds watched from below.

We’ll also explore the different forms these cages took, from simple iron frames to custom fitted “man cages,” and see how similar practices appeared in France, Germany, England, colonial America, China, Japan, Korea, and beyond.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own morbid sense of humor to a punishment where even death apparently wasn’t enough.

If you’re interested in hanging cages, gibbets, public executions, Captain William Kidd, highwaymen, pirates, witchcraft accusations, historical torture, medieval and early modern punishment, and the darker history of public spectacle, this episode is going to leave you looking at old city gates a little differently.

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What happens when an emperor becomes so obsessed with power, performance, and being adored that Rome finally decides it has had enough?

In the second and final episode of Torture: A Dark History on Nero, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan pick up where we left off as Nero’s reign descends into paranoia, violence, excess, and chaos.

We’ll follow the emperor through the Great Fire of Rome, the persecution of Christians, political conspiracies, brutal purges, and the increasingly bizarre world surrounding Nero as his grip on reality and his empire begins to slip.

From Rome to Greece and back again, Nero becomes more obsessed with his identity as an artist, while the people around him pay an increasingly deadly price for failing to play along.

Eventually, the military turns against him, the Senate declares him an enemy of the state, and Nero finds himself running for his life with nowhere left to go.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own dark and twisted humor to the spectacular collapse of one of Rome’s most infamous emperors.

If you’re interested in Nero, the Great Fire of Rome, Christian persecution, Roman emperors, political conspiracies, ancient Rome, the Year of the Four Emperors, and the spectacular downfall of one of history’s most notorious rulers, this is where Nero’s story finally comes to an end.

And what an ending it is.

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What happens when a young boy is groomed from birth to become emperor, only to grow into one of the most infamous rulers in Roman history?

In the Season 4 premiere of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan travel back to Imperial Rome to explore the rise of Nero, the family that shaped him, and the political machinations that put him on the throne at just sixteen years old.

We’ll follow Nero from his complicated childhood and powerful family connections to his early years as emperor, when Rome briefly saw him as a promising young ruler. But as Nero grows older and begins breaking away from the people who helped guide him, his personality, ambitions, and appetite for power begin to change.

What follows is a story of family conflict, political intrigue, murder, obsession, and a young emperor slowly becoming something far more dangerous.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own dark and twisted humor to one of the most dysfunctional families in Roman history.

If you’re interested in Nero, Ancient Rome, Roman emperors, imperial politics, murder, power, and the darker side of Roman history, the Season 4 premiere is where Nero’s story begins.

And trust us, it only gets worse.

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