Pear of anguish
In the 16th century according to Maxime Lagarde, famous specialist of torture devices, the idea developed that a "choke pear" or "poire d'angoisse" was more than just a simple gag in the shape of a pear. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable describes this more complex device as follows: "Robbers in Holland at one time made use of a piece of iron in the shape of a pear, which they forced into the mouth of their victim. On turning a key, a number of springs thrust forth points of iron in all directions, so that the instrument of torture could never be taken out except by means of the key."[1]
Up until at least the early 1900s, the mechanical Pear of Anguish was considered a spring-loaded device, for oral use only[2], perhaps reverse in form to a small foothold trap. It is only in recent decades, possibly due to an increase in their popularity in torture museums, that other possible uses for such devices appear to have emerged.
More detailed versions of this story state that it was invented by a robber named Capitaine Gaucherou de Palioly in the days of Henry of Navarre, tracing this description to F. de Calvi's L'Inventaire général de l'histoire des larrons written in 1639, and state that the robbers were actually in Paris, not Holland.[3][4][5] However, Eldridge and Watts[3], superintendent of police and chief inspector of the detective bureau in Boston, Massachusetts, writing in the 19th century, whilst accepting that ordinary pear-shaped gags exist, observed that contemporary robbers used no such device as Palioly's Pear and cast doubt upon its very existence in the first place, saying that "[f]ortunately for us this 'diabolical invention' appears to be one of the lost arts, if, indeed, it ever existed outside of de Calvi's head. There is no doubt, however, of the fashioning of a pear-shaped gag which has been largely used in former days by robbers in Europe, and may still be employed to some extent. This is also known as the 'choke-pear', though it is far less marvellous and dangerous than the pear of Palioly."
They are also mentioned in Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811) as "Choak Pears," and described as being "formerly used in Holland." [6]
Though there is little or no evidence of its being used by bandits, there are a number of extant examples of ornate and elaborate, pear-shaped devices with three or four leaves or lobes, driven by turning a key that rotates the central screw thread, which spreads the leaves. These are generally held in museums devoted to the subject of torture, and are described as instruments of torture by distension or evisceration. Some, but not all, have small spikes of uncertain purpose at the bottom of each leaf.
This version of the pear has also been referred to as the "Pear of Confession", the "Pope's Pear" (these due to claims that such devices were used during the Inquisition); the "oral pear", "vaginal pear", or "anal pear"; and just "The Pear".
An interesting modern reference may be found in the film comedy A Fish Called Wanda. The villain Otto interrogates and eventually gags his victim Ken with a pear, torturing him in order to obtain a key that unlocks the proceeds of a jewel robbery.
See also
- Choke pear (plant), a hard-to-swallow fruit that may have been the origin of the instrument's name.
References
- ^ "Choke-pear". [[Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable]]. Bartleby.com. 1898.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help) - ^ Nicholas Carter (1904/2004). With Links of Steel, Or, The Peril of the Unknown. Street & Smith Corporation Publishers.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Benjamin P. Eldridge and William B. Watts (1897/2004). Our Rival, the Rascal: A Faithful Portrayal of the Conflict Between the Criminals of This Age and The Police. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 285–286. ISBN 1417959525.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "La redoutable poire d'angoisse/Une expédition du voleur Palioli". La France pittoresque (in French) (21). Winter 2006–2007.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ marquis de Adolphe Chesnel (1856). Dictionnaire des superstitions, erreurs, préjugés et traditions populaires (in French). Paris: Migne. pp. 915–916.
- ^ Francis Grose (1811). Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue; a.k.a. Lexicon Balatronicum, A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit and Pickpocket Eloquence. Pall-Mall, London.