Rat torture

Being in an enclosure with rats is torture enough; but apparently, this is not enough for medieval times. One of the most sadistic of all torture techniques involved having a cage with one open side strapped against the victim's body. It would then be filled with large rodents and a heating element which would be placed on the other side of the cage. The rodents' natural instinct led them to flee the intense heat. In order to escape they would burrow through the victim's body with fatal results.