What happens when a torture device is designed to crush your entire body into a position you were never meant to survive?

In the Season 3 finale of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan travel back to Tudor England to explore the horrifying history of the Scavenger’s Daughter, one of the most infamous torture devices ever used inside the Tower of London.

We’ll begin with Luke Kirby, a Catholic priest arrested in 1580 who found himself strapped into the device and tortured for refusing to abandon his faith. We’ll also meet Thomas Cottam, another Catholic priest who faced the same fate, along with the strange story of Humphrey Ely, the man who helped Cottam escape before Cottam made the decision to turn himself back in.

Then we’ll travel back to the device’s origins and the man whose name became attached to it, Leonard Skevington. We’ll look at the evolution of the name and the different versions of the device that appeared inside the Tower.

We’ll also meet Thomas Miagh, an Irish prisoner who endured the Scavenger’s Daughter and left behind a haunting inscription carved into the walls of the Beauchamp Tower, a message that can still be seen today.

And because this is the Season 3 finale of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own dark and twisted humor to an episode about Tudor prisons, Catholic persecution, the Tower of London, and a torture device that proves sometimes history can put you in a "tough position".

If you’re interested in the Scavenger’s Daughter, Skevington’s Gyves, the Tower of London, Tudor England, Elizabeth I, Luke Kirby, Thomas Cottam, Thomas Miagh, Catholic persecution, torture devices, and the darkest corners of British history, join us for the final episode of Season 3.

And after everything we’ve covered this season, what better way to end it than by getting ourselves thoroughly crushed?

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What happens when thousands of people are dumped onto a remote Siberian island with almost no food, shelter, supplies, or hope of survival?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan travel back to Stalin’s Soviet Union and the horrifying story of Nazino Island, a failed resettlement experiment that quickly became a nightmare of starvation, disease, violence, cannibalism, and death.

We’ll follow the people swept up in Stalin’s campaign of mass deportation, their brutal journey through Siberia, and their arrival on an isolated island that was never prepared to support human life. With almost nothing to survive on, conditions deteriorated rapidly as hunger, disease, violence, and desperation took hold.

We’ll look at the guards, criminals, and deportees trapped together on the island, the attempts to escape, the horrifying reports of cannibalism, and the enormous death toll that followed. We’ll also meet Vasily Velichko, the investigator sent to uncover what had really happened, and the report he eventually delivered to Moscow describing the disaster.

But Nazino didn’t simply disappear. The Soviet government buried the story, and the truth remained hidden for decades until the era of glasnost finally opened the door to the archives.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own dark and twisted humor to one of the most horrifying examples of what can happen when human beings are treated as disposable pieces of a much bigger plan.

If you’re interested in Nazino Island, the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, Siberian deportations, special settlements, the Gulag, Vasily Velichko, cannibalism, Stalinist repression, Soviet history, and some of the darkest chapters of the 20th century, this episode is going to take you somewhere you definitely don’t want to visit.

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What happens when electricity, something we use every day, becomes a weapon designed to make someone talk?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the disturbing history of electrocution, from secret police and military dictatorships to execution chambers, interrogation rooms, and even psychiatric hospitals.

We’ll begin in Argentina during the Dirty War with journalist Jacobo Timerman, before traveling to Greece and the story of resistance fighter Alexandros Panagoulis. From there, we’ll follow electricity into the United States, where a battle between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse helped turn alternating current into one of the most infamous methods of execution in American history.

We’ll look at the disastrous first execution in the electric chair, the evolution of the technology, and how electricity eventually became a tool of torture used by regimes and secret police around the world. We’ll also explore its use during the Cold War, in Latin American dictatorships, Nazi Germany, and modern detention centers.

But electricity hasn’t always been used to hurt people. We’ll also look at the strange and controversial history of electroconvulsive therapy, from its earliest experiments to its use as a modern medical treatment, and the disturbing story of institutions that used electrical shocks as a form of behavioral control.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own dark and mildly inappropriate humor to an episode where “getting a little shock” can mean something considerably worse than a balloon and a doorknob.

If you’re interested in electrocution, electric torture, the electric chair, Thomas Edison, the Dirty War, Cold War torture, Gestapo interrogation, electroconvulsive therapy, and the dark history of electricity, this episode is going to leave you with a whole new appreciation for outlets in your home.

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What happens when a teenage girl walks into a police station claiming she is being haunted by the ghost of a woman she helped torture and murder?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan tell the horrifying story of Fan Man Yee, a 23 year old woman whose disappearance in Hong Kong in 1999 would uncover one of the most disturbing cases in the city’s history.

We’ll follow Fan’s difficult life, her struggles with addiction and abusive relationships, and her connection to Chan Man Lok, a member of the Wo Shing Wo triad. After Fan allegedly stole money from Chan, she was kidnapped and taken to an apartment where she would be held captive for weeks while suffering horrific abuse at the hands of Chan and his associates.

Then comes the part that sounds almost too bizarre to be real. A 14 year old girl named Lau Ming Fong eventually goes to the police claiming that the spirit of Fan is haunting her. Her confession leads investigators to an apartment filled with disturbing clues, including a Hello Kitty doll containing something far more horrifying than anyone expected.

We’ll follow the investigation, the discovery of Fan’s remains, the trial that followed, and the question that haunted the entire case: was Fan murdered, or did she die as a result of the abuse inflicted upon her?

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own dark and twisted humor to one of Hong Kong’s most infamous true crime cases, where Hello Kitty, organized crime, torture, and a ghost story somehow end up in the same nightmare.

If you’re interested in Fan Man Yee, the Hello Kitty murder, Hong Kong true crime, triads, captivity, torture, organized crime, and some of the darkest true crime cases in modern history, this episode is one you definitely won’t forget.

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What happens when death isn’t the punishment, but the spectacle?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the brutal history of crucifixion, from the ancient world and the Roman Empire to Japan, modern executions, and one infamous case that ended in a very different kind of crucifixion.

We’ll look at how crucifixion evolved, why Rome used it as a weapon of terror, and some of history’s most notorious mass crucifixions, including Spartacus, the siege of Tyre, Jerusalem, and the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki. We’ll also meet one of the few known crucifixion victims whose remains still bear physical evidence of the punishment.

Then we’ll travel into the modern world, where crucifixion has continued in horrifying and unexpected ways, including the tragic death of Maricica Cornici during an attempted exorcism in Romania.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own mildly inappropriate brand of humor to an execution method that has shaped religion, history, art, and popular culture for more than two thousand years.

If you’re interested in crucifixion, Ancient Rome, Spartacus, Alexander the Great, the siege of Jerusalem, Roman torture, Japanese history, the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki, and the darkest forms of execution in human history, this episode is going to hurt.

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What happens when one of history’s most terrifying torture devices turns out to be almost entirely a lie?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan take on the Iron Maiden, the infamous spiked sarcophagus supposedly used to slowly torture and kill prisoners during the Middle Ages.

Except there’s a problem. Almost none of that is true.

We’ll travel from ancient legends and the terrifying Bride of Nabis to the 18th century story that helped create the Iron Maiden myth, then follow the bizarre journey of these supposedly medieval torture machines into museums, exhibitions, and even the 1893 World’s Fair.

But just when it seems the Iron Maiden never tasted blood, we’ll arrive in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, where an actual Iron Maiden was reportedly discovered at the headquarters of Uday Hussein’s Olympic Committee.

So was the Iron Maiden nothing more than a terrifying historical hoax, or did someone eventually put one to use?

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their usual dark humor to a story where the biggest torture device might actually be the B.S. surrounding it.

If you’re interested in the Iron Maiden, medieval torture, torture myths, the Bride of Nabis, Uday Hussein, historical hoaxes, and the strange history behind the world’s most infamous torture devices, this episode is going to poke some serious holes in what you thought you knew.

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What happens when a tire, gasoline, and a mob become instruments of vigilante justice?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the horrifying history of necklacing, a form of mob execution that became infamous during the final years of apartheid South Africa.

We’ll follow the fear, anger, and political violence that helped create an environment where accusations of being an informant could become a death sentence. We’ll meet Benjamin Kinikini, Maki Skosana, and others caught in a cycle of revenge where sometimes the accusation mattered more than the truth.

Then we’ll follow necklacing beyond South Africa, from Sri Lanka and India to Haiti and Brazil, and look at how this brutal form of vigilante justice continued even after apartheid came to an end.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own macabre humor to a story about what happens when a fight for freedom becomes consumed by violence.

If you’re interested in necklacing, apartheid South Africa, vigilante justice, political violence, mob executions, Maki Skosana, Benjamin Kinikini, and the darkest chapters of modern history, this episode is not one you’ll forget.

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What happens when one of the most horrifying secret programs of World War II is finally exposed, and many of the people responsible manage to walk away?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan bring the story of Unit 731 to its conclusion. We’ll follow the organization’s final days as the Soviet invasion of Manchuria forces its members to destroy evidence and flee, before examining what happened to Shiro Ishii and others after the war.

We’ll look at the Allied investigations, the Soviet trials, the controversial decisions that allowed many of those involved to avoid prosecution, and the disturbing postwar lives of people connected to Unit 731.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own dark and twisted humor to the final chapter of one of World War II’s most horrifying stories.

If you’re interested in Unit 731, Japanese war crimes, World War II, biological warfare, war crimes trials, and the dark history left behind after the war, this is where the nightmare finally comes to an end.

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What happens when the walls of Unit 731 close behind you, and there is no way back out?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan go inside Unit 731 and tell the horrifying story of the prisoners who disappeared behind its walls.

We’ll meet the people who were sent to Pingfan, the prisoners labeled “maruta,” and the doctors and soldiers who became part of a system where human beings were treated as disposable material. We’ll follow the experiments conducted on men, women, and children, the horrific conditions they endured, and the witnesses who later described what they saw inside the facility.

We’ll also hear about the people who tried to leave, the researchers who realized too late what they had become involved in, and the chilling reality that not a single prisoner sent into Unit 731 survived.

And this was only one part of a much larger operation.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their dark and deeply uncomfortable humor to one of the most horrifying stories of World War II.

If you’re interested in Unit 731, Japanese war crimes, human experimentation, World War II, torture, and the darkest chapters of Japanese history, this is where the story gets truly horrifying.

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What happens when a Japanese army doctor becomes obsessed with biological warfare and builds one of the most secretive military operations of World War II?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan travel to Imperial Japan and follow the rise of Shiro Ishii, the man who would become the driving force behind Unit 731.

We’ll follow Ishii from his early career in medicine to his work in occupied Manchuria, where he builds a massive secret facility at Pingfan under the innocent sounding name of the Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Unit. Behind the walls, Unit 731 develops biological weapons and carries out attacks against Chinese communities during the Second Sino Japanese War.

We’ll look at the attacks on Ningbo, Changde, and during the Chekiang Campaign, as well as the horrifying consequences for the civilians caught in them.

But Unit 731 had an even darker secret.

Hidden inside Blocks 7 and 8 were the human experiments that would become some of the most infamous atrocities of World War II.

And that’s where we’ll leave things.

Because in Episode 2, we’re going inside.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own dark and deeply uncomfortable humor to the story of Unit 731, Shiro Ishii, Imperial Japan, biological warfare, Japanese war crimes, Manchuria, and some of the darkest history of World War II.

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