Archaeologists discover 'worst possible way to die' with horrifying find

Irish Daily Mirror

07-06-2025

History is littered with gruesome deaths that would make the hardiest of modern-day individuals wince, but among the myriad of brutal and bizarre ways to die, few are as excruciating as the fate of a man whose skeleton was recently unearthed.
Published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, researchers from the University of Milan have stumbled upon the Medieval remains of a young man who appears to have succumbed after suffering through a notoriously agonising torture technique and an unsuccessful beheading attempt.
The unfortunate soul met his demise at the tender age of between 17 and 20, during the 13th century, and was buried near a cathedral in Milan, in the north of Italy.
An initial examination of his bones indicated he had sustained injuries that were symmetrically distributed on his arms and legs, hinting at some sort of intentional harm. Based on historical accounts, the team postulated that the man had been subjected to torture by "the wheel," also known as the "breaking wheel" or the "Catharine wheel".
This wheel was a method of public execution used extensively across Europe until the early modern period began around 1500, reports the Irish Star.
The exact procedure for employing this apparatus varied by time and region, but it typically involved the systematic shattering and fracturing of a person's limbs, followed by additional trauma inflicted with the wheel itself.
In some accounts, torturers would start by dropping the hefty wooden wheel onto people's limbs, beginning with the shin bones and gradually moving upwards. Once the body was sufficiently battered, the broken limbs would be threaded through the wheel spokes or tightly bound to it using a rope.
Further injuries were then inflicted – utilising either blades, blunt objects, fire, whips, or red-hot pincers – after which the wheel was hoisted on a pole and displayed like a flag. The nearly dead victim would hang here for an extended period, possibly days or weeks, until they eventually died or were mercifully executed.
This brutal torture technique was most often used against those accused of heinous crimes, but in northern Italy, where this body was discovered, this kind of torture was typically reserved for individuals suspected of spreading the plague.
"The victim of the wheel could have been viewed as different by his contemporaries, and possibly this discrimination may have led to his final conviction, as he could have been sacrificed, being a "freak", by an irate crowd, as a plague spreader," the researchers write.
As if this wasn't enough, forensic analysis of his skeleton also revealed unusual linear fractures at the base of his skull. This was most likely, the researchers say, the result of a sharp force trauma from a heavy weapon during a "clumsy decapitation."
If this theory of wheel torture is accurate, the researchers will have documented the first archaeological evidence of a human being tortured by the wheel, certainly in medieval northern Italy, if not the world.
One thing is for sure, this unfortunate individual did not have a pleasant last few days on Earth.