Elementos de tortura de la época de la Inquisición. A la derecha, the iron maiden. Wikipedia.org
El año pasado les presenté el último libro de Bram Stoker llamado Dracula´s Guest que contiene varios de sus cuentos publicados en periódicos norteamericanos e ingleses; el primero, llamado como el libro, Dracula´s Guest, se dice fue el primer capítulo no publicado en Dracula, sin embargo, hay serias dudas al respecto.
No he terminado el libro aún, como es de cuentos, lo voy leyendo alternando con otras lecturas; hasta ahora, el que más me impresionó es The Squaw, nombre que hace referencia a un nativo de EEUU.
Sin embargo, el relato trata específicamente sobre la visita de unos turistas al Castillo de Nüremberg, donde se halla una famosa cámara de torturas de la Inquisición.
Stoker y su esposa son dos de los protagonistas en viaje de luna de miel y se les une un turista que intenta ser simpático. Stoker hace notar la diferencia entre su intelectualidad y las ¨pocas luces¨ del acompañante, quien, en un acto tonto, arroja una piedra y mata un pequeño gatito; la gata madre, se enfurece y finalmente toma venganza, mediante un horrible elemento de tortura, muy famoso por cierto: la virgen de hierro de Nüremberg o más conocida como ¨The iron maiden¨.
Esta construcción, tiene forma de sarcófago antropomórfico, y su cara está tallada como la de una madonna. La víctima era atada adentro, y la puerta que contenía unas espadillas o clavos enormes, al cerrarse, penetraba en el cuerpo del torturado, sin matarlo porque no tocaba sus órganos vitales, con lo cual, la muerte podría producirse al cabo de unos días.
Espantoso, de sólo imaginarlo.... Así lo describe Bram Stoker:
The iron maiden of Nüremberg. Google images
But the central object in the whole of this chamber of horrors was the engine known as the Iron Virgin, which stood near the centre of the room. It was a rudely-shaped figure of a woman, something of the bell order, or, to make a closer comparison, of the figure of Mrs. Noah in the children's Ark, but without that slimness of waist and perfect rondeur of hip which marks the aesthetic type of the Noah family. One would hardly have recognised it as intended for a human figure at all had not the founder shaped on the forehead a rude semblance of a woman's face. This machine was coated with rust without, and covered with dust; a rope was fastened to a ring in the front of the figure, about where the waist should have been, and was drawn through a pulley, fastened on the wooden pillar which sustained the flooring above. The custodian pulling this rope showed that a section of the front was hinged like a door at one side; we then saw that the engine was of considerable thickness, leaving just room enough inside for a man to be placed. The door was of equal thickness and of great weight, for it took the custodian all his strength, aided though he was by the contrivance of the pulley, to open it. This weight was partly due to the fact that the door was of manifest purpose hung so as to throw its weight downwards, so that it might shut of its own accord when the strain was released. The inside was honeycombed with rust—nay more, the rust alone that comes through time would hardly have eaten so deep into the iron walls; the rust of the cruel stains was deep indeed! It was only, however, when we came to look at the inside of the door that the diabolical intention was manifest to the full. Here were several long spikes, square and massive, broad at the base and sharp at the points, placed in such a position that when the door should close the upper ones would pierce the eyes of the victim, and the lower ones his heart and vitals. The sight was too much for poor Amelia, and this time she fainted dead off, and I had to carry her down the stairs, and place her on a bench outside till she recovered. That she felt it to the quick was afterwards shown by the fact that my eldest son bears to this day a rude birthmark on his breast, which has, by family consent, been accepted as representing the Nurnberg Virgin.
Castillo de Nüremberg. Google images
Nótese, que la máquina deja tan impresionada a su esposa, que su hijo, llevará una marca de nacimiento en el pecho, que ellos acuerdan representa la Virgen de Nüremberg.
Aquí, el link para que lean el cuento o el libro completo:
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