2-995-645 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ancient instrument of torture called "The Virgin", found in the Castle of Feistritz, in Germany, 1860. 'Mr. Pearsall was lucky enough to hear in casual conversation that a specimen of this deadly apparatus was preserved in a collection of curiosities possessed by Baron Deidrich in the Castle of Feistritz, on the borders of Steirmark, and he took occasion to visit the Baron for the purpose of inspecting it. The Baron accounted for his possession of the Jungfer, or Virgin, by stating that he purchased it...during the French Revolution...The figure, as Mr. Pearsall saw it, was about seven feet in height, and made entirely of iron...it is evident that the front of the figure opened like folding-doors, the two halves of the front part being connected by hinges with the back part. On the inside of the right breast are thirteen quadrangular poniards; on the left breast there are eight of these weapons, and two more project from the inside of the head. These last were intended, it is supposed, to pierce the eyes of the victim, who, from this circumstance, is conjectured to have entered the machine backwards, and in this position to have been stabbed by the protruded stilettos'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.