Sadism, Cruelty, Punishment, and Torture
Shocking Presentation
Just to prove that B. F. Skinner was not the only guy who could do operant conditioning, Willard Hayes Yeager decided to teach his student to speak better in public by the use of electric shocks.You can read his textbook here.
Teachers shock students at George Washington U. Washington, D.C., Aug. 2. Public speaking students at G.W. U. are only too well acquainted with the shocking machine, invented by Dr. Willard Hayes Yeager, Head of the department, to take the "ahs" "ers" and "ums" out of their diction. He is shown putting on the shocker to Jane Hampton, 17. When the student makes a mistake the professor at the other end of the room, notifies her by a gentle electric shock.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 08, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Education, Sadism, Cruelty, Punishment, and Torture, Rhetoric, Eloquence, Public Speaking, and Vocabulary, 1930s
Ill-Treating Prawns
We've previously posted about a British case involving cruelty to goldfish. Here the British courts took up the question of whether it's possible to be cruel to prawns (aka shrimp), but dropped the case when it decided that prawns were insects and so not covered by anti-cruelty laws. They're actually crustaceans, but close enough I guess.
Feb 28, 1974 - Minneapolis Star
Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 25, 2023 -
Comments (2)
Category: Insects and Spiders, Law, Sadism, Cruelty, Punishment, and Torture, United Kingdom
Tortured by Ants
This isn't a type of crime one hears about very often:the boys were strapped to the tree for more than an hour, suffering the painful bites of thousands of ants.
On this subject, the Fossil Hunters site has an interesting article about forms of insect torture throughout history, including the gruesome ancient Persian practice of "scaphism," and the "Bug Pit" of Nasrullah Bahadur-Khan.
Alexandria Daily Town Talk - Aug 8, 1978
Posted By: Alex - Mon May 15, 2023 -
Comments (1)
Category: Insects and Spiders, Torture, Sadism, Cruelty, Punishment, and Torture, 1970s
Glove Taser
The patent is here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Sep 01, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Police and Other Law Enforcement, Sadism, Cruelty, Punishment, and Torture, 1930s
Spanking Toy
Although cats are featured in the drawing, the inventor wants you to know the figures may be generalized to other animals or humans.The patent is here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 27, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Inventions, Patents, Toys, Sadism, Cruelty, Punishment, and Torture, 1900s
Secretarial Sadism
Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 01, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Business, Advertising, Sadism, Cruelty, Punishment, and Torture, Women, Twentieth Century
| Who We Are |
|---|
| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |