splitting hairs

Râşnov Fortress / Râşnov, Romania
Set deep in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania, it would appear that the Râşnov Fortress was not known for its customer service. This was a depiction of the "saw" that I shot in the small museum area discussing the fortress' history. The saw may represent human ingenuity's darkest hour. The idea here is that when the victim is suspended upside down, most of the blood will go to the head. That is an important part of the process because as the torturers saw into the victim's crotch, all of the blood in the head will oxygenate the brain so that the victim will not pass out as one normally would under such excruciating pain. Typically, the saw would reach the victim's navel before unconsciousness would take hold -- sometimes as far as the midriff.