Dyin' Maiden, Way to Die #874, is the second death featured in "Death Penalties", which aired on January 25, 2012.
Plot[]
During the French Revolution, a French spy for the revolution named Clara poses as a chambermaid to a wealthy magistrate named Pierre in order to loot valuable goods.
One day, Clara decides to kill Pierre in order to steal his valuables but is caught by his assistant, Gaston.
Clara is then sentenced to death inside an iron maiden (a torture device that impales a victim with spikes throughout the body, but because it does not puncture vital organs, it allows its' victims to die slowly and painfully).
Clara screams with pain because the spikes hurt her painfully, and she dies due to blood loss from the various wounds throughout her body thus sending the French spy straight to hell where she will not kill anyone for loot and valuable goods.
Transcript[]
Narrator: The French Revolution pitted the ruling class against the commoners. Heads rolled, blood flowed, and the Guillotine worked overtime.
(Cuts to Clara dusting Pierre's furniture)
Narrator: Clara was a chambermaid to the wealthy magistrate Pierre.
Pierre: Gaston.
Narrator: But she was really a spy for the revolution. She was placed here to steal whatever valuables she could get her hands on.
Toni Trenton: The French Revolution started when it became very apparent that the monarchy was totally bankrupt, to the point where a loaf of bread in Paris cost as much as rent. People were starving. There were very bad harvests. The aristocracy was attacked, but only those aristocrats that would not go along with the people.
Narrator: Clara was ready to slit Pierre's throat and take the loot, all for the revolution.
Clara:
Narrator: But just in time. Gaston returns.
Pierre:
Narrator: The surprise was a death sentence, but not by guillotine.
Clara:
Narrator: The executioner had a far more gruesome way to kill the revolutionary: The Iron Maiden.
Scott Ehredt: The Iron Maiden is a way to execute somebody...in a really drastic, painful, lingering fashion. It's about 7 feet tall, about 3 feet wide. It has a hinged front, often made of iron, sometimes of wood. The interior of the cabin itself was lined with blades, so once they were closed, the victim was impaled.
Clara: (Screams)
Scott Ehredt: The ingenious designer of the Iron Maiden would make the spikes longer in non-vital areas, so that they wouldn't pierce the heart or the lungs immediately. So you were left in there long enough to die a very long, slow, excruciating, painful death. Or you survived the whole thing and then died when they opened it, and you bled out.
Narrator: When the doors open...
(Sword Fight Death is playing)
Narrator: Clara is dead. For her, the revolution is over.
Pierre: C'est parfait. (It's perfect.)
Narrator: Au Revoir (Goodbye), Clara.
Cast and Interviewees[]
- Deborah Rombaut - Clara (lead: intended victim)
- Toni Trenton - French Historian
- Scott Ehredt - Torture Historian
- Henri C. Wittelsohn - Gaston (Also Portrayed Mr. Rivers In You've Got Dead Male)
Trivia[]
- The death segment is based on a sequence from Sleepy Hollow (1999), where Ichabod Crane (played by Johnny Depp) has childhood nightmares about his mother, who was caught by his father for desecrating on the floor, was sentenced to death by impalement with an iron maiden.
- This death was in the Death by Request for the Historic Death before it came out.
- Contrary to popular belief, there is no historic evidence of Iron Maidens ever being used for execution. They were pieced together in the 18th century from artifacts found in museums to create spectacular objects intended for production.
- This is the only torture death where the victim is a female, the last torture death, the final death occurred in France, and the oldest death in Season 5 since this took place in 1789.
Segment Nicknames[]
- Iron Maid (Spike TV)
- Iron Inquisition
- Maid of Spikes
Foreign Names[]
- Doncella Muerta (Dead Maiden) - Latin American Spanish dub
- La doncella moribunda (The Dying Maiden) - European Spanish dub
- Donzela de Morte (Maiden of Death) - Brazilian dub
Gallery[]
