[Dimnos]

Originally Posted by Kitsa

- And during the period in Germany where beheadings with a short, rounded sword were common, one punishment was to lead the prisoner to believe they were going to die and then reprieve them at the last minute. By that, I mean they were allowed to prepare for death, got trussed-up, went to the execution site, knelt down, were blindfolded, and waited. The executioner would start swinging the sword over his head to build up speed. The prisoner would be kneeling there, hearing the sword swing. Then the executioner would either lop off the head or swing the sword harmlessly over top of the head. The prisoner didn't know he'd been reprieved until he'd already gone through the torture of hearing the executioner power up and everything.

This might actually have been a good way of scaring them into not doing whatever they did again. You came this F-ing close to having your head lobbed off and probably shat yourself in front of the entire town. DONT DO IT AGAIN.