The Worst Punishments in Human History - Good Enough Reaction 

VTH: this video is not for the faint of heart Me: you had my attention, but now you have my curiosity😂

"Good fences make great neighbors". "Bad Neighbors make great fences" -Vlad Tepesh

I really appreciate how Chris is able to both show his personal disgust at these things, but also go into why someone might do these things. Our man is still the most genuine reactor out here.

Never thought history guy had Scott Tenerman references in his bag lol.

What a creature we are. The best, the absolute worst, and then a lot in the middle, but we never stop ceasing to amaze in either direction.

the disclaimer just made me even more excited to watch lol

VTH: traumatized by this video Also VTH: if I saw it you gotta see it too

A distant relative of mine were walled inside a pillar in a German castle in the city of Celle. He had a secret liasion with Sophia Dorothea of Celle. However her father had other plans for his daughter, involving George Louis, Electoral Prince of Hanover and future King of Great Britain. The two lovers made a run for it, got caught and my relative disappeared without a trace. In 1988 I visited Celle, unaware of the connection to the city. I even went for a walk around the castle. During the 1990s the castle underwent renovations and a worker discovered a hidden compartment in one of the pillars.

Phew. For once I'm almost glad it's over, it's pretty rough history

That rat through the body punishment was allegedly used by cheka during the russian civil war.

VTH: Humanity is sick sick sick. I feel as a pastor, VTH should know this already. 😁

I feel like the worst punishment is listening to that guy you reacted to that said Abraham Lincoln was a dictator lol

For those interested and not too queasy to read, Vlad III Tepes (The Impaler) Dracula utilized a unique form of impaling. As noted in the video, there are forms of impaling that leave the victim alive. Vlad’s technique was truly cruel in that the stake passed through the body and out the mouth, but it also avoided seriously damaging vital organs. So you were left alive and fully impaled, waiting and probably hoping for death. As Chris said, it is disturbing how ingenious humans are with inflicting pain and suffering.

No Brazen bull? that on scared the shit out of me when I first learned of it.

Death by bamboo. It is said that this technique was employed by the Japanese during World War II on prisoners of war. Apparently, US officers who survived the POW camps later recounted the method of torture. They would basically tie down a soldier horizontally, facing upward, over growing bamboo shoots. The sharpened shoots would then start growing and impale the back of the person. Slowly, and very much painfully so, it would start piercing through the body and finally come out the other side. Eventually, there would be multiple shoots coming out of different parts of the body. Death would be inevitable but slow, making it all the more painful. It was like falling on a bed of nails. From page 32 of RAF radio man Charles McCormac's "You'll Die in Singapore", the story of a 2,000-mile escape: But we did, a few days later, when a live human body was splayed out over an area of young bamboo shoots, arms and legs lashed firmly to stakes driven fast into the ground. In the tropic heat bamboo grows quickly - several inches a day - and the shoots are strong enough to be neither stopped nor diverted by the live flesh of a human body

12:30 Eric Cartman, the devil in disguise.

It’s really sad. At a baseline, we’re usually empathetic and thus don’t like to see people get hurt. In order for somebody to LIKE it, some process has to happen to make them perceive the victim as less than human. That turns one’s empathy switch off, in a sense. We gotta remember that people are people.

“I’m going to try not to pause too much.” *pauses 12 times in 3 minutes* (Love you Chris)

VTH should have put listening to Woodrow Wilson talk about how much he liked "Birth of a Nation" as his number 1 worst punishment.

The thing that gets me about being flayed alive is if it is done well a lot of the times you would die from hypothermia since your skin holds most of your heat in. I don’t know why that gets me since it’s the least horrible thing about it but freezing to death with no skin somehow ales it worse

One thing about scaphism is that a boat was placed on top of the other boat so the person being tortured was essentially trapped inside a boat with just their arms and legs hanging out so they didn't see what was happening to their body while in this horrid contraption. Thankfully, this torture method does not have too much historical evidence compared to many of the others mentioned in the video, the best source of it's existence was plutarch(ancient Greek historian and philosopher). Plutarch got the account of scaphism from Ctesias, an ancient Greek who lived several hundred years prior to Plutarch and who was known to exaggerate and fantasize some stories(which TBF was common for many people in ancient times).

Me before Googling what Drawing and Quartering means: 😃 Me after Googling what Drawing and Quartering means: 😀

You know something is messed up and shocking when Chris is straight up unsure about what to say about it

22:12 This method was used in an episode of Game of Thrones. I remember having a little trouble sleeping that night lol

What I find interesting is that when we talk about history, we often talk about historical figures, moments in history, kings, queens, emperors etc. But this, as gruesome as it is, sheds a light on how the ordinary folks lived as subjects. It's easy to forget certain aspects of what life for the everyday citizen was actually like under the rule/yoke etc of empires (pretty grim if you were a criminal).

24:25 i want to point out something i found interesting. after chris explained how much this video was starting to affect him, this happens and he starts going on a spiel about the distinction between Britain and England and while it is an important distinction to make, i have a suspicion that this was either him or his brain trying to find something to take his mind off of the subject material. i dunno, just thought i'd mention it

If it’s your first time in Italy, Chris, I would recommend going over to Tuscany and just sitting there in a rented house for a couple days. The country is some of the most beautiful in the world, rolling hills and houses older than the European discovery of the New World. It’s fantastic.

I’ve been aware of the Roman sack execution for a while, but I always wondered how the Romans had access to monkeys and why they would kill an extremely exotic animal for show.

Chris makes a really good point during the impalement one. Like, who were these psychopaths who came up with all these punishments? Was it one creepy guy or did we form committees to determine the most dehumanizing punishments possible?

I've been watching you since your very first original Oversimplified Civil War video, and since then I've watched maybe 80% of all the videos you've made. I have never seen you so taken aback by the content on your screen.

Respect for sticking through the video lol

I was surprised that Good Enough didn't mention the brazen bull. I think it's up there as the most agonizing and horrifying form of execution ever devised

Me: *wakes up happy* Me after an hour of browsing the internet: 23:23

"Man is wolf to man" the Romans said. Interesting to notice South Park using some of these gruesome stories in their skids.

Dan Carlin has another superb podcast available which I believe is called "Painfotainment." It discusses the method of capital punishment and how it was a form of entertainment for the masses to witness. Bit of a crossover from how Romans putting on games for weeks and weeks at a time essentially to entertain/pacify any grumbling within the Roman population.

Love your channel. I plan to become a member soon!

I would include the viking blood eagle.

I love when I’ve already seen the video you are about to review and was just waiting for you to react too!

Worst punishment imo....watching C-Span

Hello there! I just wanna pop in to say I love your videos and how you explain and present the information!! I don't think you pause too much, in fact its very interesting to hear what you have to say (we could just pause the video to go watch what you're reacting, or we already have watched it) and even watch you literally react to the video. I'm pretty sure we had the same expressions at some points haha. So, I love your videos, keep on going history man!!

Hey VTH. Love your content, it's really been the best way to rewatch some of my favourite history videos on RU-vid, and you have or are currently doing commentary on most of the videos that I like to watch for most history content. I really hope that you would soon get back to your look at Historia Civilis' Ceasar playlist, can't wait for your to give your take on his assassnation, which i think is the most fascinating part of the playlist, duo those historic qoutes ''Et tu, Brute?'' & ''Beware the ides of march'' Thanks again for all the great content!

Well, that was a rough one...

5:00 You know, there has to be a few seconds on that thing where it feels amazing.

Concerning the Sam o'nella copycats, most of them are good, but i'd have to say that for me, the best one remains Bluejay

honestly I was worst when it come to top 3 of the list... Medieval and ancient punishments are on another level of horrible punishment in all of human history: being drawn by a horse, emasculated, burned alive, brazen bull, be a human sacrifice... and the list goes on.

18:23 I remember i saw on a history show on Tv once they talked about the impalement. They did a tons of simulations and acording to it, there was a very small chance that the victim could survive the entire impalement procedure if the pole missed any vital organs. Wich meant the victim would suffer for a few more hours or days before they finally expired.

One I remember and find gruesome is the Chinese Donkey. A sharp wooden box you would be saddled on and then had weights tied to your feet to slowly be split in half

You were right when you said it wasn't for the faint of heart

#10 "So i was locked in a room..."

Utah still uses firing squads. The last one was in 2010

The one with the rat trying to flee the heat through the body? I remember the big bad dude in 2Fast 2Furious using that one on his police connect in the one scene in the club.

Lets not forget we still have horrible things still happening. Here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil there ia the "microondas" (Microwave), where they put the person inside a lot of tires, and put everything on fire. If you watched the movie "Elite Squad" you saw some of that for a few seconds happening to some character.

15:15 this punishment reminds me of Ibn Battuta and I think this may have been the exact same ruler he served under when he was in India.

I still think that you'd be an awesome history teacher Chris. Keep doing your great and educational work

On the last one you mentioned all I was thinking was, "yep that should've been me wholeheartedly, in His place"

I shall say "Nee" to you again. Revise this violence to worst punishments.

“ I don’t want to interrupt a lot”- proceeds to interrupt more than he has in any other video ever

Great, as always!

Future VTH is looking good! You age well, my friend😂

It seems that Chris was warning himself at the beginning

Water boarding , Blazing Bull, Silent Room. People are self destructive.

Hey just wanted to let you know that yesterday a video called 'Worl War 1 every day with army sizes' by Italian Mapper has been released and since you made a reaction video to Christopher about 'World War2 every day with army sized' you have to do that one because it is the same formula!!!

Ye Sam'Onella be proud seeing everyone get inspired by him

The leather bag was shown in "The First Punic war - Oversimplified ( part 1 ) Time: 19:00 :)

Alright Chris, I’m gonna have to disagree with the point at 14:40, and I’m honestly surprised that point was even made. There just is absolutely no comparison between watching an execution and watching an actor fake die on a screen. TV shows are an art form, and we’ve constantly struggled as a society to pidgeon-hole art away from something it’s always been- a fantasy. Does me being a lover of horror mean that I would also love to watch a living, breathing human die? By watching the D-Day scene from Saving Private Ryan, am I now prepared to witness war with my own eyes? No. So I respectfully disagree

I feel you so much chris, this is tough to watch/contemplate. And you're absolutely correct, humanity is sick and twisted. Why we cant love and appreciate eachother is beyond me, as im an agmostic/athiest but you are very christian but we have very similar views as well as interests. Tough to watch man but thank you for sharing and your input as always!

23:10 - That one also brings to mind a South Park episode. 🤣

The thing about the death penalty in America is we have the protections laid out in the constitution; things like the presumption of innocence and due process and protections from cruel and unusual punishment Also speaking of Jesus, crucifixion should’ve been on this list

The looks on your face as you listen to the various punishments.......😂😂🤣🤣🤣

Ah another peaceful VTH video to fall asleep too.

Warwick is actually the neighbouring town to where I live. One of the hardest for me to hear mispronounced 😂

Ughhhh this video gives me chills

Seeing your discomfort and almost pain makes me hesitant to hit "like" but the algorithm demands sacrifice.

Chris, this is the first time I've ever seen you go pale. This one is pretty rough, I need to go watch kittens now.

Wow, this was up my alley.

I bet the Rack felt good for a second.

Yea now I’m glad the animation was as simple as it was. I don’t think I would’ve handle it being more graphic

I feel sorry for Chris to go through this list. It was hard enough for me already watching this before he covered this and I prayed that he wouldn't have to go through the same... And I am hardened through the heavy usage of internet

In a way, this video is incredibly good at reminding us how much we, in general, have evolved as a society

Now a whole generation understands that line from lord of the rings: “when you hang from a gibbet for the sport of your own crows, we shall have peace!”

our 5th grade teacher told us about the first one. terrified me as a kid lmao! this is gonna be a good one

Definitely dark, but very informative and enjoyable video.....didnt even mention the brazen bull though!

That was intense. Had to pause halfway through and come back because it was making me a little queasy. Definitely not for the faint of heart, or stomach. Okay. Now to watch some videos that make me happy so I can detox

Hey VTH, just want to say i love your content, however I do want to ask are you going to go over any more of the american revolution videos from history rebels again?, it's cool to watch.

Wow. You were not lying that this one was extreme. You warned me but did I listen? I’m gonna go and rewatch all your atun shie reactions again for the billionth time.

"Not for the faint of heart" *Me eating dinner enjoying the video

I really relate to your reactions. Horrific stuff.

I'd "like" (is like the right word here?) another interesting form of torture. It was called "Schwedentrunk" (Swedish drink), was performed during the 30 years war and is basically developed by people who thought "Waterboarding? Nah, that is to humane". Basically, you were pinned down on your back, either completely horizontally or even with an slight angle putting your head down, they put a funnel in your mouth and filled you up with slurry(? google translate says that's the right word. basically processed animal excrements that were used to fertilize the fields). Sometimes they also sealed the nose so that you had to drink. The result: Not only was this whole stuff stinky as hell, it is also slightly acidic. Your body would tell you to swallow and in addition to quite literally drowning in crap, you would also have your esophagus slowly burn away through the acid. Now granted, the procedure didn't take as long as some others, but if I had to decide between being trampled by an Elephant and this, I would search for an Elephant myself.

“When the bag is sewn shut, it is then tossed into the ocean.” Chris:😧

There is a difference between forms of execution and torture (and yes torture will kill people if it goes too far)- this list seems to mix both ideas

Great reaction and very interesting and insightful. That said... I hated everything about that video lol.

Awww, how wholesome!

I definitely had keelhauling on my list. Reassuring to know I wasn't the only one.

The show Black Flag has a good depiction of keel hauling

It's sad, but stuff like this is still happening in pMyanmar, China, and some parts of Africa

Interesting but wow. That was rough to get through.

Yeah I need to watch a travel or farm vlog now. 😅

Something warm and fuzzy to watch now. Human Centipede counts right

The worst torture ive heard of is the bronze bull, where people were cooked alive. The thought of the heating metal seems so awful

Me, watching this video at work: "huh, these don't seem all that bad right now"