Though it seems outrageously excessive and incredibly time-consuming, one of the most common forms of execution in the past was actually boiling a person to death. This method commonly involved a large container of heated liquid, such as wax, molten lead, oil, water, or wine, into which a convicted prisoner was slowly lowered, starting with his feet, until he died.Â
Boiling to death is said to be an intensely painful and slow death, because as the liquid touches your body, the first things to burn will be your limbs and extremities, which tend to have more nerve endings than many other areas. Additionally, your innards will begin to cook as your outer layers heat up, literally boiling your stomach, liver, heart, kidneys, and intestines in their own juices inside of you. How long it takes, exactly, will depend on the pace chosen by the executioners. If you’re dunked under quickly, head and all, your brain will boil and speed up the process. However, this was usually not the direction executioners took, and it could take minutes or even hours for prisoners to die. Â
Death by boiling was one of the Roman emperor Nero’s favorite ways of culling the population of Christians in his cities. France and Germany also employed this torturous form of execution from the 13th to the 16th century specifically for the crime of coin fraud. London also boiled people to death from the late 12th to the mid-16th century for treason and brutal murder. Â
