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The Water Torture (Torture)
We'll cover the most popular variants of torture with water in this article.
Dunking
 Dunking is a form of punishment that was mainly reserved for supposed witches. The victim was tied to a chair which was elevated or lowered by the torturer. If he noticed that the victim was going to pass out, he elevated the chair. When he needed information and the victim was unwilling to cooperate, he lowered it. This method was widely used during the Spanish Inquisition and in England and France. The victim was usually intermittently submerged for many hours until he or she revealed information or death occurred.
While witches were commonly tortured using this method, thieves and murderers could be subject to it in order to extract a confession. This was more common when other more sophisticated torture devices were not present.
Drops of Water
A very painful method of torture consisted of fixing a victim's head under a small tube that constantly filtered drops of water. These fell on the same spot of the victim's head leading to, in prolonged periods of time, perforation and eventually death.
The Cauldron
The unlucky victim was placed inside an empty cauldron attached to chains. The cauldron was filled with cold water and beneath it, a fire was set. Eventually the water began to boil cooking the victim alive. This was more frequently a way to execute a prisoner rather than to extract a confession.
Freezing with water
In the winter, the naked victim was forced to stand outside in full view of everyone. Slowly, the torturer poured water on his head which eventually became frozen making the victim die slowly and painfully. Sometimes the body was left for the whole winter to terrify the population and dissuade any further crimes, as punishment was imminent.
Force Drinking
This torture was mostly used in more recent times, but some historians believe that its origins date to the Middle Ages. The effect is this: the victim is forced to drink much water until his confession or death.
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