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The Gallowzette
23 July 2009 14:32Only a few people know that the guillotine was the end result of a long, innovative process. Before the guillotine was invented, a speedier, more convenient method of execution was needed as the nobles were being put to death.
The Gallowzette was one such device.
It was a ferris wheel of gallows. A prisoner was stationed on the loading platform and had a noose tied around his or her neck. The giant wheel would keep turning, dragging the prisoner forward off of the platform into open air. The prisoner would strangle and kick as he or she was raised up into the air and the prisoner behind them was fitted with an incoming, recently emptied noose.
The prisoners went up into the sky, kicking and twitching, before losing consciousness near the top of the wheel’s journey. The trip down made sure that brain death was permanent. With a hitch and jerk the hangmen could make sure the neck was broken before unhooking the body as it came onto the loading bay, clearing the noose for the next victim.
At the height of its popularity, there were fifty-five gallowzettes running simultaneously in France.
The largest of these held seventy-six victims at once if it was fully loaded. The Versailles Gallowzette. Famously, it kept turning continuously for sixteen weeks in the autumn of 1766. At night, it was lit by torches. It was decorated with the banners and colours of the revolution. A fairground engine of death rising high into the sky. At a rate of six deaths an hour, the math for sixteen weeks of continuous use was impressive.
Success seemed certain for the designers of the gallowzette. Unfortunately, it was never meant to be.
For one, the process was slow and bloodless. No sharp shock for an audience. Plus, the victim’s eyes would pop and their face would go black at the apex of the wheel’s turn, far from the gathered crowd. In terms of theatrics, it was great on paper but ultimately failed in front of a gathering of people hungry for violence.
The Versailles Gallowzette was never meant to run for so long at a constant rate. It burnt down one night after a torch came loose. It was never rebuilt. The fad drifted away.
Then came the Scissortina.
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The Gallowzette was one such device.
It was a ferris wheel of gallows. A prisoner was stationed on the loading platform and had a noose tied around his or her neck. The giant wheel would keep turning, dragging the prisoner forward off of the platform into open air. The prisoner would strangle and kick as he or she was raised up into the air and the prisoner behind them was fitted with an incoming, recently emptied noose.
The prisoners went up into the sky, kicking and twitching, before losing consciousness near the top of the wheel’s journey. The trip down made sure that brain death was permanent. With a hitch and jerk the hangmen could make sure the neck was broken before unhooking the body as it came onto the loading bay, clearing the noose for the next victim.
At the height of its popularity, there were fifty-five gallowzettes running simultaneously in France.
The largest of these held seventy-six victims at once if it was fully loaded. The Versailles Gallowzette. Famously, it kept turning continuously for sixteen weeks in the autumn of 1766. At night, it was lit by torches. It was decorated with the banners and colours of the revolution. A fairground engine of death rising high into the sky. At a rate of six deaths an hour, the math for sixteen weeks of continuous use was impressive.
Success seemed certain for the designers of the gallowzette. Unfortunately, it was never meant to be.
For one, the process was slow and bloodless. No sharp shock for an audience. Plus, the victim’s eyes would pop and their face would go black at the apex of the wheel’s turn, far from the gathered crowd. In terms of theatrics, it was great on paper but ultimately failed in front of a gathering of people hungry for violence.
The Versailles Gallowzette was never meant to run for so long at a constant rate. It burnt down one night after a torch came loose. It was never rebuilt. The fad drifted away.
Then came the Scissortina.
tags