Boiling alive by inches.

[**The following is in relation to the brutal prosecutions against native Christians by Ranavalona I, Queen of Madagascar in the mid-1800s.**] >Immediately after [Ranavalona](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Ranavalona_I.jpg) had vowed that every missionary or convert caught reading the Bible would be put to death, a large number of men were condemned to die either by being thrown from high rocks, burned at the stake, beheaded, boiled or, in some cases, forced to drink poisonous liquids. A particularly gruesome description of ‘death by boiling’ appears in *Flashman’s Lady*, in which the author describes in meticulous detail exactly how the torture was implemented. At the bottom of a steep mountainside pits were dug out in which those condemned to die were made to stand with their hands tied behind their backs to long wooden stakes. At the far end of each pit stood blazing fires upon which were balanced huge cauldrons of water. When the water was at the boiling point guardsmen then slowly tipped the cauldrons upwards and over so that the boiling liquid would run down specially constructed channels into the pits. >The water caused steam to rise up but when this evaporated ‘I saw to my horror that [the water] only filled the pit waist deep – the victims were boiling alive by inches’. Meanwhile, all this was being watched by countless natives who stood at the top of the mountain baying and jeering at the victims below. >Another method of execution, equally repulsive, was to yoke several victims together by the neck with a heavy iron wheel and then dump these unfortunates in the wilderness, where they would either starve to death or break each other’s necks in an attempt to get free. No torture was too gruesome or too inhumane to use. Ranavalona was a sadist with a whole kingdom of people with whom she could play. ____________________________ **Source:** Klein, Shelley. “Queen Ravalona I.” *The Most Evil Women in History*. Barnes & Noble Books, 2003. 87-8. Print. ____________________________ **Further Reading:** [Ranavalona I (born Rabodoandrianampoinimerina)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranavalona_I) ___________________________ **If you enjoy this type of content, please consider donating to my [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/HistoryLockeBox)!**