posted
A coworker of mine, upon seeing my small pot of good luck bamboo, shared with me a story that her friend from Nepal had told her about bamboo. Apparently, he said that they would torture people by tying someone down over a piece of bamboo, and letting the bamboo grow through them. Apparently bamboo grows so fast in tropical climates, that it would actually grow through people, breaking their spine, etc.
Seems doubtful to me, but what do I know about Nepalese bamboo torture? A google search on bamboo and torture dredged up links on bamboo under the fingernails, and impaling people on spikes made of bamboo, but nothing that specifically referenced the bamboo growing through people.
-------------------- "That would be really dangerous, you know. Indiscriminately extricating someone from the petrified corpse of a supernatural creature." - My Husband Posts: 4308 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
There's a lot of bamboo growing where I work. If I had a decent-sized animal (a pig would work quite well here), I could test the method and see if it worked.
- Pseudo_Croat
-------------------- "At all events, people who deny the influence of smaller nations should remember that the Croats have the rest of us by the throats." - Norman Davies, Europe: A History
God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts. Posts: 4578 | From: Sunrise, FL | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Well, I can't use human subjects to test whether certain rumored torture methods really worked (that would be murder, assault, or battery), so I'd be forced to use animal subjects.
Or how would you test to see which torture methods worked or not?
- Pseudo_Croat
-------------------- "At all events, people who deny the influence of smaller nations should remember that the Croats have the rest of us by the throats." - Norman Davies, Europe: A History
God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts. Posts: 4578 | From: Sunrise, FL | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
How about if you googled for how fast bamboo can grow first?
If it takes days/weeks/months, then it isn't a form of torture. The person would die of starvation or dehydration first. Furthermore, most plants choose the path of least resistance. It would be more likely that the bamboo would grow around the person rather than through it. Really, to break a person's spine, you'd have to make a bamboo spear.
ETA: You can determine the effectiveness of torture methods by empirical evidence. There's tons of it. No need to do it yourself.
-------------------- There is no interpersonal problem so big that it can't be solved with a suitably large amount of high explosives. ~ Bufungla Posts: 3562 | From: South Texas | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Pseudo_Croat: Well, I can't use human subjects to test whether certain rumored torture methods really worked (that would be murder, assault, or battery), so I'd be forced to use animal subjects.
Or how would you test to see which torture methods worked or not?
posted
Anyhoo, I've heard that under good conditions, bamboo can grow about 3 feet a day. I have no idea whether that would be enough to break a person's spine. OTOH, I shudder to think of what it would do if it was stuck up a person's bum.
Can I just forget about the animal and just use a mannequin (sp?) covered with ballistics gel instead?
- Pseudo_Croat
-------------------- "At all events, people who deny the influence of smaller nations should remember that the Croats have the rest of us by the throats." - Norman Davies, Europe: A History
God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts. Posts: 4578 | From: Sunrise, FL | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I have a feeling you might get some strange glances at your work Pseudo-Croat if you're reenacting possible torture scenarios with a mannequin covered with ballistics gel. But whatever floats your boat I guess.
The bamboo growing around the person rather than through them was the first thing that I thought of Mama Duck. I haven't the foggiest idea how to find out if this was a genuine torture method that was used though.
-------------------- "That would be really dangerous, you know. Indiscriminately extricating someone from the petrified corpse of a supernatural creature." - My Husband Posts: 4308 | From: Massachusetts | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
I have a black stemmed bamboo in my small Oxfordshire garden which, tho' walled, could hardly be considered tropical. It had five four feet tall stems when I planted it four years ago. It now has countless stems and tops the eaves of the house next door. I'm absolutely fascinated each spring watching the cigar like shoots appear and grow at a rate of three inches per day....and believe me they shoot up through anything. I'm getting a bit worried about my neighbours house.
I can quite believe that if they can push their way through part of an old garden wall they would have no trouble piercing the skin and growing through a person. Terrible thought. << shudder>>
Posts: 589 | From: Oxfordshire, UK | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
I am not sure about how fast bamboo grows, but when I was in South America, we could hear it growing. We would walk past a patch and hear the creaking. Definitely a weird sound. The locals told me you could sometimes see it grow, but I have no personal experience with that.
-------------------- "May you make the Yuletide pay!" Posts: 811 | From: Arcadia, CA | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Pseudo_Croat: Anyhoo, I've heard that under good conditions, bamboo can grow about 3 feet a day. I have no idea whether that would be enough to break a person's spine. OTOH, I shudder to think of what it would do if it was stuck up a person's bum.
Can I just forget about the animal and just use a mannequin (sp?) covered with ballistics gel instead?
- Pseudo_Croat
You can use a dead pig.
Posts: 24 | From: Coahuila, México | Registered: Aug 2005
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A google search on bamboo and torture dredged up links on bamboo under the fingernails, and impaling people on spikes made of bamboo, but nothing that specifically referenced the bamboo growing through people.
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