Image: Wikimedia Commons

rack

Torture device

Instance of: torture instrument
Subclass of: device

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

The rack is a torture device consisting of a rectangular, usually wooden frame, slightly raised from the ground, with a roller at one or both ends. The victim's ankles are fastened to one roller and the wrists are chained to the other. As the interrogation progresses, a handle and ratchet mechanism attached to the top roller is used to very gradually retract the chains, slowly increasing the strain on the prisoner's shoulders, hips, knees, and elbows and causing excruciating pain. By means of pulleys and levers, this roller could be rotated on its own axis, thus straining the ropes until the sufferer's joints were dislocated and eventually separated.

Overview

All data

16 statements · 38% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Has use: torture
Partially coincident with: breaking wheel

On other databases

10 identifiers linking rack across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

38%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 16, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). rack (Q1351382). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/rack-Q1351382