Death by boiling

Death by boiling is a method of execution in which a person is killed by being immersed in a boiling liquid such as oil or water. While not as common as other methods of execution, boiling to death has been used in many parts of Europe and Asia.

Executions of this type were often carried out using a large vessel such as a cauldron or a sealed kettle that was filled with a liquid such as water, oil, tar, or tallow, and a hook and pulley system.

Death in these cases was by severe scalding caused by the hot liquids (water or oil). Immersion burns would form on the arms, torso and legs. Prolonged scalding would result in anything up to fourth-degree burns of the skin (and in the fourth degree case, underlying tissue). The epidermis and the dermis are destroyed, leading to the complete breakdown of subcutaneous fat.

In England, statute 22, passed in 1532 by Henry VIII, made boiling a legal form of capital punishment. It began to be used for murderers who used poisons after the Bishop of Rochester's cook, Richard Roose, gave several people poisoned porridge, resulting in two deaths in February 1531. He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to be boiled to death without benefit of clergy. A contemporary chronicle reports the following:

"He roared mighty loud, and divers women who were big with child did feel sick at the sight of what they saw, and were carried away half dead; and other men and women did not seem frightened by the boiling alive, but would prefer to see the headsman at his work."

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