Water torture, a centuries-old interrogation method, was actually invented far from Asia and evolved over time into much crueler forms of punishment.

Wikimedia CommonsA 1674 Swedish illustration depicting Chinese water torture (left) and a reproduction of a water torture device on display in Berlin (right).

Humans have inflicted untold suffering on one another since the beginning of time. Over the centuries, people have worked to devise ever-evolving forms of punishment and coercion. Compared to devices like the Iron Maiden or chains and whips, Chinese water torture may not seem particularly grueling, but history doesn’t tell you so.

Medieval torture instruments often used sharp blades, ropes, or blunt instruments to extract confessions from subjects. However, Chinese water torture was more insidious.

According to the  New York Times Magazine  , the torture method involves holding a person in place while drops of cold water are slowly poured onto their face, forehead, or scalp. The water jet is shocking, and the victim experiences anxiety as they try to anticipate the next drop.

From the Vietnam War to the War on Terror, other “enhanced interrogation” methods using water, such as waterboarding and simulated drowning, have largely subdued the general curiosity about Chinese water torture. But while there is little evidence of its actual use, Chinese water torture has a long and fascinating history.

The gruesome story of water torture in China

Although there are no historical records of Chinese water torture, Hippolytus of Marsilis first described it in the late 15th or early 16th century. This native of Bologna, Italy, was a successful lawyer, but he is best known for being the first to document the method now known as Chinese water torture.

According to legend, De Marsiliis came up with the idea after observing how the continuous dripping of water on stone eventually eroded parts of the rock. He then applied this method to humans.

According to the  Encyclopedia of Asylum Therapy  , this form of water torture stood the test of time, having been used in French and German asylums in the mid-19th century. Some doctors of the time believed that insanity had physical causes and that water torture could cure patients of their mental conditions.

Wikimedia CommonsHarry Houdini and the “Chinese water torture cell” in Berlin.

Convinced that the accumulation of blood in the head was causing people to go mad, these asylum workers used a “drip machine” to relieve internal congestion. Patients were restrained and usually blindfolded before cold water was poured onto their foreheads at regular intervals from a bucket above. This treatment was also used to cure headaches and insomnia, though, naturally, without success.

It’s unclear when the term “Chinese water torture” first came into use, but by 1892 it had entered the public vocabulary and was mentioned in an  Overland Monthly story  titled “The Conciliator.” However, it was Harry Houdini who made the term famous.

In 1911, the famous illusionist built a water-filled tank in England that he called the “Chinese Aquatic Torture Cell.” With both feet tied, he was lowered face down into the water. After spectators watched him through the tank’s glass front, curtains concealed his miraculous escape. According to The Public Domain  Review  , he first performed the trick in front of an audience on September 21, 1912, in Berlin.

Other methods of water torture throughout history

After Harry Houdini performed his impressive feat, stories of his bravery spread throughout Europe and popularized the name of torture. Meanwhile, water torture would proliferate in the form of atrocities that constituted war crimes in the latter part of the 20th century and would be legislated as “enhanced interrogation” in the 21st.

Waterboarding existed long before Guantanamo Bay inmates were tortured after the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent War on Terror. According to The Nation, US troops suppressing a Philippine independence movement employed the method in the early 20th century, and both US troops and the Viet Cong used it during the Vietnam War.

Wikimedia CommonsAmerican soldiers subjecting a prisoner of war to a technique known as waterboarding in Vietnam in 1968.

Waterboarding became infamous when it was discovered that the US government had carried out this cruel practice at Guantanamo Bay in the 2000s, and it was revealed that similar torture had taken place in prisons like Abu Ghraib. If the Geneva Convention had anything to do with it, these tortures would be classified as war crimes. In the end, they never were.

Does Chinese water torture really work?

In light of the revelations about torture in the United States and the endless debates about its effectiveness, the television show  MythBusters  set out to investigate. While host Adam Savage concluded that the Chinese method of water torture was certainly effective in getting prisoners to confess, he believed that the restraints used to immobilize the victims were responsible for causing the prisoners to collapse, not the water itself.

Savage later revealed in his web series  Mind Field  that someone emailed him after the  MythBusters episode aired  to explain that “randomizing the timing of the drops was incredibly effective.” They claimed that anything that happened regularly could be relaxing and meditative, but random drops could drive people crazy.

“If you couldn’t predict it, he said, ‘We found we were able to induce a psychotic break within 20 hours,’” Savage recalled of the strange email.

It’s unclear whether Chinese water torture was invented by ancient Asians or simply got its name from opportunists in medieval Europe. Ultimately, it seems unlikely that it was a popular form of torture in later centuries, as waterboarding and other, more gruesome forms followed.