How Do Thumb Screws Work?

A thumbscrew works thanks to three upright metal bars. The middle bar contained threads for the screw. In between the metal bars, the victim placed their thumbs. The people interrogating the person would slowly turn the screw, which pushed a wooden or metal bar onto the thumbs and squeezed them.

What crime is the thumb screw for?

The Thumbscrew was a tool that was commonly used for purposes of torture in medieval times. It was a simple torture device used to crush the fingers of the person to be tortured. The thumbscrew was a particularly effective torture tool for gaining confessions.

When were thumb screws used?

The thumbscrew is a torture instrument which was first used in early modern Europe. It is a simple vice, sometimes with protruding studs on the interior surfaces. The crushing bars were sometimes lined with sharp metal points to puncture the nails and savagely stimulate the exquisitely sensitive flesh of the nail beds.