The Instruments of Agony: A Chronicle of Human Cruelty Through the Ages

Humanity’s darkest ingenuity revealed through the devices designed to inflict maximum suffering.

Jul 12, 2025

Throughout history, the human capacity for inflicting pain has manifested in increasingly elaborate and horrifying ways, creating devices that stand as monuments to our species’ capacity for calculated cruelty.

This deep-dive article is an expanded examination of the topic from the Weird Darkness episode, “PUNISHMENTS WORSE THAN DEATH: Brutal Torture Methods Through The Ages” which you can hear through the player below.

Medieval torture chambers carried a distinct smell—hot metal mixed with human sweat and waste. The stone walls absorbed years of fear and suffering. These spaces housed devices specifically engineered to produce maximum pain while keeping victims conscious for as long as possible. Each instrument represented centuries of refinement in the science of suffering.

The Brazen Bull: Bronze Furnace of Death

Perillus of Athens created the Brazen Bull for Phalaris, the tyrant of Agrigentum, in the 6th century BCE. This hollow bronze statue mimicked a life-size bull, complete with anatomical details. A hinged door on the side allowed guards to force victims inside.

The interior could barely accommodate an adult in a crouched position. Once sealed inside, the victim existed in absolute darkness. The bronze walls, already warm from the Sicilian sun, would begin heating as soon as fires were lit beneath. The metal conducted heat with brutal efficiency—within minutes, the temperature inside would exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

The victim’s skin would redden wherever it touched the bronze. Attempting to shift position only brought flesh into contact with different sections of increasingly hot metal. As temperatures climbed past 200 degrees, skin would blister and stick to the bronze. Pulling away tore the blistered skin off, leaving raw tissue exposed to searing metal.

The true genius lay in the acoustic system. Perillus had installed a network of pipes that channeled screams through chambers that altered their pitch and timber. What emerged from the bull’s mouth sounded like bovine bellowing. Spectators heard animal noises, not human agony—a psychological distancing that made the spectacle more palatable.

Inside, the victim’s lungs burned with each breath of superheated air. At 300 degrees, body fat began rendering. The smell of cooking meat filled the bronze chamber. Death came from a combination of heatstroke, severe burns, and eventually asphyxiation as lung tissue was destroyed. The process took 10 to 20 minutes—an eternity for those inside.

When Perillus demonstrated his invention to Phalaris, the tyrant ordered him to test it personally. The inventor’s screams became the first to echo through his creation’s bronze throat.

The Rack: Methodical Dismemberment

The rack appeared deceptively simple—a rectangular wooden frame approximately seven feet long with rollers at each end. Heavy ropes attached to these rollers would secure the victim’s wrists and ankles. A ratcheting mechanism allowed torturers to increase tension incrementally.

Victims were stripped and laid on their backs. The initial positioning stretched them just enough to immobilize movement. Then came the first turn of the wheel. Muscles throughout the body would tense involuntarily, fighting against the pull. The sensation began as an uncomfortable stretch, similar to overextending during exercise.

Additional turns brought genuine distress. Joints began separating with subtle grinding sensations. The shoulders typically surrendered first—the shallow ball-and-socket joint offering less resistance than the deeper hip sockets. Victims described feeling and hearing their own cartilage tearing. The sound resembled thick cloth ripping.

At the fifth or sixth turn, shoulders would fully dislocate. The humeral head would pop from the glenoid cavity with an audible crack. Nerve damage occurred immediately. Arms would go numb below the dislocation point, then burn with phantom pain as confused nerves fired randomly.

The hips required more force. The femoral head sat deeper in the acetabulum, secured by stronger ligaments. When these finally gave way, the pop could be heard across the torture chamber. By this point, the victim’s spine was under tremendous strain. Vertebrae separated, intervertebral discs compressed and sometimes ruptured. The spinal cord itself might stretch, causing paralysis.

Continued cranking would tear ligaments completely. These tough bands of tissue would snap like overtightened cables. Blood vessels running through joints would rupture, causing internal bleeding. Skin would begin splitting where the tension was greatest—usually at the joints. In extreme cases, limbs separated entirely from the torso in a spray of blood and torn tissue.

The Tower of London’s rack included measurement marks. Torturers maintained detailed records: three turns for shoulder dislocation, five for hips, seven risked complete dismemberment. Survivors—and there were some, as the rack was often used for interrogation rather than execution—never recovered full mobility. Stretched ligaments remained loose, joints unstable. Many required crutches for life.

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The Breaking Wheel: Systematic Skeleton Destruction

The breaking wheel transformed execution into public theater. The condemned would be tied spread-eagle to a St. Andrew’s cross laid flat on the scaffold. Wooden blocks were positioned under specific points—shins, thighs, forearms, and upper arms. These blocks ensured clean breaks when the executioner struck.

The wheel itself weighed approximately 200 pounds. Some executioners preferred iron-reinforced wheels, others used solid wooden wagon wheels. The weight mattered less than technique. Experienced executioners knew exactly where to strike and how much force to apply.

The first blow targeted the right shin. The executioner would raise the wheel overhead, then bring it down with calculated force. Both tibia and fibula would snap cleanly. The sound carried across the execution ground—witnesses consistently compared it to breaking green wood. Bone ends would pierce through muscle and skin, protruding as white splinters streaked with blood.

The victim’s scream would follow immediately. The body’s shock response would flood them with adrenaline, ensuring they remained conscious for what followed. The left shin came next, then both thighs. The femur, being the body’s strongest bone, required a precise strike at its center point. When it broke, the entire leg would bend at an impossible angle.

Moving to the arms, the executioner would break the forearms first—radius and ulna snapping under the wheel’s weight. The upper arms followed. Each break brought fresh agony as bone fragments ground against each other. Movement became impossible; the victim could only lie there as their skeleton was methodically destroyed.

With all major bones broken, the executioner would thread the victim’s shattered limbs through a wheel’s spokes. Arms and legs would bend in directions they were never meant to go. Compound fractures would worsen as broken bone ends tore through more tissue. The wheel would then be hoisted atop a pole, elevating the victim for public display.

Death took time. Some succumbed to shock within hours. Others lingered for days. Every heartbeat sent waves of pain through damaged tissue. Every breath shifted broken ribs. Dehydration and blood loss from numerous compound fractures eventually ended most suffering. Birds would begin pecking at exposed wounds while the victim still lived. Insects laid eggs in the torn flesh.

In 1581, a German murderer survived nine days on the wheel. His executioners kept him alive with wine and broth, prolonging his agony as an example to others.

The Spanish Donkey: Genital Destruction

The Spanish donkey consisted of a horizontal wooden beam, triangular in cross-section, mounted on legs about four feet high. The upper edge formed a sharp wedge—not knife-sharp, but narrow enough to concentrate the victim’s entire body weight on a strip of flesh perhaps an inch wide.

Victims were stripped naked and forced to straddle the device, one leg on each side. Their feet couldn’t reach the ground, leaving their full weight pressing down on their genitals and perineum. Guards would tie their hands behind their backs to prevent them from supporting themselves.

The initial sensation was intense discomfort. Within minutes, it transformed into searing pain. The narrow wooden edge compressed blood vessels and nerves in the genital region. Male victims experienced crushing pressure on the penis and testicles. The scrotum would be split by the wooden edge, forcing the testicles to opposite sides. Female victims suffered trauma as the wooden edge pressed into the labia and vaginal opening.

As minutes turned to hours, tissue began tearing. The wooden edge slowly split the perineum—the area between genitals and anus. Victims described feeling their body dividing from below. Blood would run down both sides of the device, pooling on the floor beneath.

Torturers often increased suffering by adding weights to the victim’s ankles. Iron shackles weighing 50 pounds or more would accelerate the splitting process. The added weight could cause the wooden edge to penetrate several inches into the body. The coccyx might fracture. In extreme cases, victims were dragged along the edge, the wood sawing through genital tissue.

The Jesuits documented using this device in 17th-century Canada. One February night in 1646, they placed a domestic servant on their chevalet until he was “ruptured”—their delicate phrasing for his groin splitting open from the pressure.

Survivors faced permanent consequences. Men often lost erectile function and the ability to father children. Women might develop fistulas—abnormal connections between the vagina and rectum. Nerve damage left many unable to control bladder or bowel functions. The characteristic shuffling gait of Spanish donkey survivors came from permanent damage to pelvic muscles and nerves.

Scaphism: The Boats of Decomposition

Persian executioners perfected scaphism as the ultimate combination of natural processes and human suffering. They would select two boats of equal size or construct a specially designed wooden trough. The victim would be stripped and placed in one boat, lying on their back. The second boat would be inverted over them, creating a wooden coffin with precisely cut holes for the head, hands, and feet.

The torture began with force-feeding. Executioners mixed milk and honey into a rich, cloying mixture. Using a funnel, they would pour this down the victim’s throat until their stomach distended. The dairy and sugar overload triggered violent gastrointestinal reactions. Within hours, explosive diarrhea would begin, filling the wooden enclosure.

The victim lay in their own liquid waste, unable to move or clean themselves. The mixture of feces and urine created an ammonia-rich environment that burned exposed skin. Chemical burns developed wherever waste contacted flesh. The skin would redden, blister, and eventually slough off in sheets.

Meanwhile, executioners would coat the exposed head, hands, and feet with honey. In the Persian heat, this immediately attracted insects. Flies swarmed the honey-covered skin, crawling into nostrils, ears, and mouths. Wasps and bees joined them, stinging repeatedly. The victim couldn’t brush them away with their immobilized hands.

Each morning, executioners would return to force-feed more milk and honey, ensuring the diarrhea continued and the victim remained alive. Fresh honey would be applied to maintain the insect attraction. The feeding prevented death from dehydration while guaranteeing continued waste production.

By the third day, fly eggs laid in the feces would hatch. Maggots emerged in the thousands, feeding initially on the waste material. But as the victim’s skin broke down from chemical burns and pressure sores, the maggots found new food sources. They would enter existing wounds and create new ones, burrowing into living flesh.

The victim’s lower body would develop severe pressure sores from lying in one position. These open wounds became colonized by maggots. The larvae would enter through the anus and genitals, eating their way into the intestines. They consumed dead tissue first, but eventually began feeding on living organs.

After a week, the victim’s lower body would be extensively colonized. Witnesses described seeing movement under the skin as maggots tunneled through tissue. The wooden enclosure would contain a seething mass of insects in various life stages. The smell—rotting flesh mixed with feces and the sweet stench of infection—could be detected hundreds of feet away.

Sepsis would develop as bacteria from the feces entered the bloodstream through countless wounds. The victim would spike fevers, then experience chills as their body fought massive infection. Delirium set in as toxins affected the brain. Some victims reportedly begged for death in moments of lucidity between hallucinations.

Death typically came after two to three weeks. When executioners finally separated the boats, the bottom vessel contained liquefied tissue, millions of maggots, and bones partially stripped of flesh. The Greek physician Ctesias reported that Mithridates, who killed the brother of Persian King Artaxerxes, survived seventeen days of this torture before finally dying.

Flaying: Living Anatomy

The Assyrians elevated flaying to an art form, developing techniques passed down through generations of executioners. The process required specialized tools—extremely sharp, thin-bladed knives similar to modern surgical scalpels. The victim would be secured to a frame or table, completely immobilized. Movement during flaying could cause premature death from severed arteries.

Executioners began at the extremities. Starting with fingers or toes allowed them to perfect their technique on smaller areas. The knife would slip between skin layers, separating the dermis from underlying tissue. The sensation was unlike any normal injury—victims felt their body’s largest organ being peeled away like removing tight clothing.

Every nerve ending in the exposed area would fire continuously. The slightest air movement across raw tissue caused agony. Even in still air, the exposed flesh would throb with each heartbeat as blood vessels pulsed beneath the surface. The psychological horror of seeing one’s own muscles and fat tissue was as traumatic as the physical pain.

Skilled flayers maintained consistent depth, avoiding major blood vessels while removing maximum skin. They would work in sections—hand, forearm, upper arm—preserving the skin in large pieces. Some executioners prided themselves on removing entire limb coverings intact, like peeling off a glove.

The torso presented the largest canvas. Starting at the chest or back, executioners would separate vast sheets of skin. The victim would feel cold air on tissues never meant to be exposed. Without skin’s protective barrier, the body couldn’t regulate temperature. Victims would shiver uncontrollably while simultaneously feeling as if they burned.

Shock typically set in quickly, but executioners knew techniques to maintain consciousness. They would pause periodically, allowing the victim to partially recover before resuming. Some would apply salt or vinegar to exposed tissue, causing fresh waves of agony while potentially preventing infection that might end suffering too quickly.

The Assyrians sometimes kept flayed victims alive for days as public displays. The skinless areas would weep plasma continuously, requiring constant fluid replacement to prevent death from dehydration. Infection inevitably set in, but slowly. The exposed tissue would develop a grayish film as bacteria colonized the surface.

Death came from various causes—hypovolemic shock from fluid loss, hypothermia from inability to regulate temperature, overwhelming infection, or simply systemic failure as the body shut down from trauma. King Ashurnasirpal II boasted of flaying rebel leaders and draping their skins over corpse piles, spreading others within the pile, and erecting some on stakes around conquered cities.

Impalement: The Vertical Torture

Vlad III of Wallachia refined impalement into a precise science during the 15th century. His executioners used wooden stakes approximately 10 feet long, carefully prepared with rounded rather than pointed tips. This counterintuitive design served a specific purpose—a sharp point would cause too much internal damage too quickly, ending suffering prematurely.

The victim would be positioned on their back, legs spread. For anal impalement, the stake’s rounded tip would be pressed against the sphincter, then slowly forced into the body using the victim’s own weight or external pressure. The rounded tip would push aside organs rather than piercing them, following the path of least resistance through the body cavity.

The initial penetration caused the anal sphincter to tear in multiple places. The stake would then enter the rectum, its width forcing the tissue to expand beyond capacity. The victim would feel intense pressure and tearing sensations as the stake advanced. Controlling the angle was crucial—too steep and it would pierce the intestines, causing rapid death from peritonitis.

Skilled executioners angled the stake to slide along the spine’s curve. It would push through the abdominal cavity, displacing intestines and organs. The victim would feel their internal anatomy rearranging around the foreign object. Breathing became difficult as the diaphragm was compressed. The stake would continue through the chest cavity, finally emerging through the shoulder, neck, or even mouth.

With the stake fully inserted, it would be planted upright in the ground. The victim’s own weight would cause them to slide down gradually. Every breath, every heartbeat, every involuntary muscle twitch would cause the stake to shift internally. Organs would be compressed and displaced. The constant pressure on internal tissues created ongoing agony.

Victims might survive several days in this position. The stake would compress intestines, causing severe cramping and eventual necrosis. Pressure on blood vessels would cause some areas to lose circulation while others became engorged. The psychological torture of feeling one’s body weight driving them further onto the stake added to the physical agony.

Death usually came from sepsis as intestinal contents leaked into the body cavity, or from dehydration as the body lost fluids through various wounds. Some victims managed to shift position to hasten death by having the stake pierce vital organs. During his conflict with the Ottomans, Vlad reportedly created forests of impaled prisoners—20,000 according to some accounts—causing the Sultan’s army to retreat in horror.

Water Tortures: Drowning on Dry Land

Waterboarding exploited the body’s most primitive fear—drowning—while keeping victims alive to experience it repeatedly. Practitioners would secure prisoners to a board angled with feet elevated about 10-15 degrees above the head. This position naturally pooled fluids in the sinuses and back of the throat.

A cloth—typically cotton or linen—would be placed over the face, covering nose and mouth. The fabric needed specific qualities: porous enough to allow some air through, but dense enough to hold water. When water was poured over the cloth, it would saturate completely and conform to facial features.

As victims tried to breathe, they would instead inhale waterlogged fabric. The wet cloth would be drawn into nostrils and mouth with each attempted breath. Water would trickle through the fabric into the throat, triggering the gag reflex. The body interpreted this as drowning and reacted accordingly—heart rate spiking, stress hormones flooding the system.

The urge to breathe would become overwhelming within seconds. When victims finally inhaled forcefully, water would enter the trachea. This triggered violent coughing, but with the cloth in place and water still being poured, coughing only drew in more water. The sensation was described as lungs filling with concrete—heavy, suffocating, inescapable.

Sessions lasted 20-40 seconds before the cloth was removed. Victims would cough out water and gasp desperately for air. Mucus and saliva would pour from their nose and mouth. Just as breathing normalized, the cloth would be replaced and the process repeated. Some sessions involved dozens of applications over hours.

The psychological damage often exceeded the physical. Victims developed severe anxiety disorders. Rain, showers, even drinking water could trigger panic attacks. Many reported that anticipating the next application was worse than the actual experience. The complete loss of control over breathing—the most basic life function—shattered psychological defenses.

CIA interrogators refined techniques during the early 2000s. They specified water temperature (cold enough to cause discomfort but not hypothermia), pouring patterns (steady stream versus intermittent), and session duration. Medical personnel monitored vital signs to prevent actual drowning while maximizing psychological impact.

The Iron Maiden: Penetration Chamber

The Iron Maiden stood approximately seven feet tall, shaped like an upright sarcophagus with vaguely human proportions. The front split into two doors that opened outward on hinges. The interior dimensions barely accommodated an adult standing upright—victims couldn’t sit or significantly change position once enclosed.

The defining feature was the arrangement of iron spikes protruding from the back panel and both doors. These varied in length from two to eight inches, positioned with deliberate precision. Shorter spikes targeted non-vital areas—shoulders, arms, thighs, buttocks. Medium spikes aimed for the abdomen and chest, calculated to penetrate muscle tissue without immediately reaching vital organs. Two longer spikes aligned with eye level.

When forced inside, victims would initially try to position themselves to avoid the spikes. This was impossible—the spacing ensured contact regardless of stance. As the doors began closing, victims would feel the first spike points pressing against their skin through clothing. The gradual closure allowed them to fully comprehend what was about to happen.

The final closing drove all spikes simultaneously into the body. Dozens of puncture wounds were created in an instant. The two eye-level spikes would enter the ocular cavities, destroying vision immediately and causing excruciating pain as they pressed against orbital bones. The careful spike placement meant victims remained alive despite multiple penetrations.

Inside the iron maiden, complete darkness engulfed victims. They couldn’t see the blood running from their wounds, but they could feel it—warm streams flowing down their body, pooling in their shoes. Any movement drove spikes deeper into flesh. Even breathing caused enough motion to grind metal against tissue.

The spikes prevented major hemorrhaging while ensuring steady blood loss. Victims would gradually weaken as blood pressure dropped. The psychological torture of enclosed darkness, unable to move without increasing pain, often broke minds before bodies failed. Death typically came after 8-12 hours from blood loss and shock.

When opened, the iron maiden would reveal a corpse perforated with precisely placed holes, standing in a pool of congealed blood. The Nuremberg example, discovered in the 1800s, showed wear patterns suggesting repeated use, though some historians debate whether these devices saw actual service or were later constructions based on medieval descriptions.

Crushing Tortures: Weight of Death

Peine forte et dure—pressing under weights—turned the basic need for breath into prolonged agony. The condemned would be stripped and laid on their back on the floor. A sharp stone was often placed under the spine at the lumbar curve, ensuring additional discomfort and potentially cracking vertebrae.

A heavy wooden board would be laid across the chest, spanning from just below the throat to the bottom of the ribcage. The first stone might weigh 50-100 pounds. This initial weight made breathing laborious but possible. Victims had to consciously expand their chest against the pressure, turning each breath into deliberate effort.

Additional stones would be added at calculated intervals—sometimes hourly, sometimes daily, depending on the desired duration of suffering. At 200 pounds total weight, breathing became a desperate struggle. The ribcage would compress with each exhalation, requiring tremendous effort to expand again. Victims described feeling as if an elephant sat on their chest.

At 300 pounds, ribs began cracking. The sounds were audible to observers—sharp snaps as bone gave way under pressure. The sternum would be pressed toward the spine, compressing the heart and reducing its ability to pump effectively. Blood pressure would spike as the cardiovascular system struggled against the compression.

The torture often extended over days. Victims received minimal bread and water—just enough to maintain consciousness. Sleep became impossible as every moment required concentrated effort to breathe. The constant struggle exhausted victims, but relaxing meant suffocation.

At 400 pounds or more, the ribcage would begin collapsing entirely. Multiple ribs would fracture, their broken ends potentially puncturing lungs. Victims would cough up blood as lung tissue was damaged. The heart would be squeezed between the sternum and spine, its rhythm becoming irregular.

Margaret Clitheroe’s execution in 1586 demonstrated the horror vividly. Pregnant when sentenced, she was laid on the sharp stone with her own front door placed on top. Witnesses reported hearing her ribs break sequentially over fifteen minutes. Her last coherent words were prayers for her children before the weight crushed her ability to speak.

Some victims endured over 700 pounds before dying. The human body’s resilience meant that even with a partially collapsed chest cavity, the heart might continue beating for hours. Death came from various causes—suffocation as the lungs could no longer expand, heart failure from compression, or internal bleeding from organ damage.

Death by Fire: Ultimate Purification

Burning at the stake began with careful preparation. The stake itself—a tall wooden post—would be erected in a public square. The condemned would be led to it, sometimes after being tortured with hot iron plates on their tongues to prevent final speeches. They would be positioned with their back against the stake, arms pulled behind and secured with chains or rope.

Executioners would stack bundles of dry wood called faggots around the victim’s feet. The arrangement required skill—too much wood and smoke inhalation might cause quick unconsciousness, too little and the burning would be unnecessarily prolonged. The ideal configuration created steady flames that would rise gradually up the body.

When ignited, the fire would spread through the kindling. Victims would first feel intense heat on their legs and feet. The skin would redden as blood vessels dilated in a futile attempt to cool the tissue. Within minutes, blistering would begin. Large fluid-filled blisters would form, then burst, exposing the dermis underneath.

As flames reached bare skin, the outer layers would char and split. The epidermis would blacken and peel away in sheets. Subcutaneous fat would begin to melt and render, actually feeding the flames—human bodies contain enough fat to sustain combustion. The smell of burning flesh would fill the air, a sweet, pork-like odor that witnesses never forgot.

Clothing would ignite, adding to the conflagration. Hair would burn away instantly in a flash of acrid smoke. Victims would instinctively try to pull away from the heat, but the bonds held them against the stake. They could only writhe within their restraints as flames climbed higher.

When fire reached the torso, the pain became unbearable. Nerve endings would fire frantically before being destroyed by heat. The victim would be screaming continuously, their cries becoming increasingly hoarse as hot smoke seared their throat and lungs. The crowd would hear these screams change in pitch as vocal cords were damaged.

Blood in surface vessels would literally boil, creating steam under the skin. The skin would split from the pressure, revealing cooking muscle tissue beneath. Fat would drip from the body, sizzling as it hit the flames below. Witnesses described seeing victims’ abdomens burst open as internal gases expanded from the heat.

Death came through various mechanisms. Smoke inhalation might cause unconsciousness before the worst burning. Carbon monoxide poisoning was possible if the victim could breathe smoke rather than flames. Otherwise, death resulted from shock as the body’s systems failed from massive trauma, blood loss from splitting skin, or eventual organ failure as internal temperature rose beyond survivable levels.

The entire process typically took 30 minutes to an hour. Wind conditions significantly affected duration—strong winds might blow flames away from the victim, prolonging agony, while still air allowed smoke to rise directly up, potentially hastening unconsciousness. Executioners sometimes showed mercy by adding green wood to create more smoke, or secretly attaching bags of gunpowder to hasten death.

The Science of Suffering

These devices reveal more than just cruelty—they demonstrate systematic study of human anatomy and pain responses. Torturers understood precisely how much the body could endure. They knew which methods killed quickly and which could be sustained for weeks. They recognized the psychological impact of anticipation, the additional trauma of being unable to escape gradually increasing agony.

Each instrument represented generations of refinement. Executioners passed down specific techniques—the exact angle for impalement to avoid vital organs, the precise weight increments for pressing, the optimal wood arrangement for burning. They developed methods to revive victims who lost consciousness, ensuring maximum suffering.

The environments mattered too. Public executions served as entertainment and warning. The sounds, smells, and sights were intended to impress upon observers the consequences of defying authority. Private torture chambers were designed to isolate victims, making them feel abandoned by the world as they suffered.

Modern torture has evolved but not disappeared. Techniques have shifted toward psychological methods that leave minimal physical evidence—sensory deprivation, stress positions, temperature extremes. The goal remains the same: causing maximum suffering while maintaining enough control to prolong the experience.

These historical devices stand as evidence of humanity’s capacity to transform intelligence into instruments of agony. They remind us that the potential for such cruelty remains part of our species’ nature, awaiting only the circumstances that allow it to manifest. The technology changes, but the human capacity to inflict suffering endures.

SOURCES: All That’s Interesting, Ranker: Weird History, How Stuff Works, The Infographics Show, History.com, History Extra, History Hit, Britannica

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NOTE: Some of this content may have been created with assistance from AI tools, but it has been reviewed, edited, narrated, produced, and approved by Darren Marlar, creator and host of Weird Darkness — who, despite popular conspiracy theories, is not an AI voice.