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Dungeons were not just for criminals; they were designed to crush the spirits of the unwanted and the feared. Those confined within these chambers of torment were often not lawbreakers but political prisoners or even innocent individuals caught in the crossfire of power struggles.
Some dungeons gained notoriety for their infamous inmates, while others were infamous for their brutal methods of inflicting suffering. This raises the question: who were more malevolent—the prisoners or the creators of these nightmarish places?
10. Mamertine Prison
Mamertine Prison lies hidden beneath the serene 16th-century church of St. Joseph of the Carpenters. This underground chamber of terror was used to detain the Roman Empire’s most dreaded adversaries, many of whom were political prisoners.
Mamertine Prison once confined the Gaulish chieftain Vercingetorix and Simon Bar Gioras, the defender of Jerusalem. It is also widely believed that Saint Peter was held here before being executed upside down under Nero’s orders.
The most horrifying feature of Mamertine Prison was the Tullianum, the deepest level of the prison, integrated into Rome’s sewer network. Prisoners languished there until they perished from starvation or were strangled. Their remains were callously discarded through an iron gate that opened into the Cloaca Maxima, Rome’s main sewer system.
9. Dracula’s Dungeon
In northern Turkey, archaeologists discovered a hidden network of tunnels beneath Tokat Castle. This maze included a dungeon where Vlad the Impaler, the historical figure who inspired the Dracula myth, was imprisoned.
At the age of 12, Vlad III of Wallachia was captured by Sultan Murad II during a diplomatic encounter in 1442 and transported to this remote part of Anatolia. The exact terrors Vlad endured in the dungeon’s dark confines remain a mystery.
After his escape, Vlad adopted brutal methods. In 1462, he impaled 20,000 individuals outside Targoviste, using this gruesome tactic as psychological warfare to instill fear and deter Ottoman forces.
Did Vlad inherit these brutal methods from his father, who was nicknamed “Dracul” (“dragon”) for his fierce loyalty to the Order of the Dragon? Or did he adopt these ruthless strategies from his Ottoman captors during his imprisonment?
8. Habsburg Horrors
Spilberk Castle, built by King Premysl Otakar II in 1277, was home to the most dreaded dungeon in the Habsburg Empire. Situated in Brno, Czech Republic, the castle became infamous for its terrifying reputation.
In the late 18th century, under Joseph II’s rule, the castle’s casemates, initially designed for storage, were transformed into nightmarish cells dubbed the “dungeon of the nations.” Throughout the 19th century, these cells were filled with Habsburg political prisoners, who were shackled to the walls and subjected to brutal torture.
The dungeon continued to operate as a prison until 1961. Recently, adventurous visitors have been offered the chance to spend the night in this damp underground chamber of suffering. To ensure an authentic experience, the dungeon has no electricity, and alcohol and smoking are strictly forbidden.
7. Shakespeare’s Dungeon
Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire was once home to England’s most dreaded dungeon. Legend has it that the castle was constructed atop an Anglo-Saxon burial ground. Its extensive dungeon network has witnessed centuries of suffering and death, with prisoners’ names still etched into the walls of its dark, claustrophobic pits.
Among its most notable captives was Richard II. Shakespeare immortalized the castle in his play about the king, referring to it by its original name, “Pomfret.”
During the English Civil War, Pontefract Castle changed hands repeatedly between Royalists and Parliamentarians. After seizing control, Oliver Cromwell ordered its destruction, leaving the castle in the stunning ruins that remain today.
6. Palace of the Inquisition
In Cartagena, Colombia, the Palace of the Inquisition, a grand colonial mansion, was built as part of Spain’s campaign to eradicate heresy. Among its most chilling features was the denunciation window, where the accused faced their grim destiny.
Once through the window, the condemned were taken to the House of Dungeons, where they awaited trial and certain execution. The Palace housed an assortment of torture devices, not for punishment but to extract confessions from the accused.
In Cartagena, the Inquisition focused on persecuting witches. The reasons behind this wave of extreme misogyny remain unclear, though some theories link it to a period of rapid climate cooling, which caused crop failures and societal unrest.
The Inquisition persisted in Spain until 1834 and remained an official Vatican department until the mid-19th century, when it was renamed the “Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.”
5. Edward the Longshanks’s Hellhole
Chillingham Castle, strategically situated in Northumberland, England, played a crucial role during the brutal Border Wars. Edward the Longshanks used it as a base to launch campaigns against the Scottish rebel William Wallace.
The castle was infamous for its dungeon and torture chambers, which housed gruesome devices like boiling pots, eye gougers, spiked barrels, and cages filled with ravenous rats that devoured their victims.
The dungeon walls bear the desperate scratch marks of victims who faced their demise by being thrown 6 meters (20 ft) into the oubliette. There are even accounts of prisoners resorting to cannibalism, consuming the flesh of the dead in this nightmarish pit.
Due to its brutal past, Chillingham Castle is regarded as one of England’s most haunted locations. Many visitors report sightings of John Sage’s ghost, Edward the Longshanks’ torturer, who was executed when funds ran dry.
Others claim to hear the cries of the blue boy, who was sealed alive within the walls. Some say his fingers were worn down from his futile attempts to claw his way to freedom.
4. Palazzo Ducale
Venice, once the ruler of half the Mediterranean, governed from the Palazzo Ducale. While its architecture was stunning, its dungeons were equally horrifying. The palace featured a torture chamber where victims were hung from the ceiling, causing dislocated arms and broken ribs.
Beyond the torture chamber lay seven piombi (“prison cells”), where inmates awaited their fates while enduring the screams of others. Giacomo Casanova was famously imprisoned here in 1755.
Venice’s immense political influence made it a center of intrigue. Citizens were encouraged to anonymously accuse their neighbors by dropping notes into special letterboxes scattered across the city. The palace also housed a secret archive, containing details ranging from military strategies to the private lives of Venetians.
3. Geoffrey Portway’s Den of Horrors
Dungeons are not confined to history. In 2012, Geoffrey Portway, a man from the Boston area, was arrested for planning to abduct, torture, and consume children. While his fantasies were abhorrent, the dungeon he created was even more terrifying.
Police uncovered a nightmarish chamber beneath Portway’s home, complete with a metal cage, a restraint table, bondage gear, and a child-sized coffin. Photos revealed butchering tools, ropes, gags, castration instruments, and a red onesie.
There is no proof that Portway used the soundproof dungeon for anything beyond his fantasies. However, a search of his home revealed thousands of child pornography images, some of which appeared to depict deceased children.
Ronald Brown, a puppeteer from Florida and one of Portway’s correspondents, received a 20-year prison sentence for child pornography and conspiring to abduct a child. His website, Puppets Plus, advertised “grins and giggles” while he secretly planned horrific crimes against children.
2. Romantic Dungeon
Chillon Castle in Switzerland, perched on a rocky outcrop along Lake Geneva near the Bernese Alps, is renowned not for its scenic beauty but for its infamous dungeon.
Built in the 13th century on the site of an earlier fortress, Chillon Castle became the inspiration for Lord Byron’s epic poem The Prisoner of Chillon. The poem tells the story of Francois Bonivard, a monk imprisoned there from 1532 to 1536.
The dungeon was hewn directly from the rock beneath Chillon Castle. The fortress required a prison to safeguard its financial interests, as it controlled a strategic trade route through the Great St. Bernard Pass into Italy. Evidence suggests the Romans once used this site as a military outpost.
Chillon has long been an ideal spot for collecting taxes. The castle’s dark history captivates visitors, making its dungeon Switzerland’s most popular tourist attraction.
1. Warwick’s Revenge
Constructed by William the Conqueror in 1068, Warwick Castle boasts a gruesome history. Its dungeon, dating back to 1345 during the plague-ridden era of England, is a seven-chamber complex steeped in tales of torture, bloodshed, and lingering darkness.
Until the 18th century, England’s penal system was among the most brutal in the world, with even minor crimes punishable by death. In the 1640s, the castle became a Parliamentary stronghold where Royalists were imprisoned and subjected to torture.
Today, Warwick’s dungeons are a major tourist attraction. Featuring fake blood and lifelike models of victims, the experience is chilling. Guides enthusiastically recreate some of the most gruesome tortures from Warwick’s history—such as tongue extraction. Within the first month of the dungeon tours in 2009, 15 visitors fainted, and four suffered from fear-induced vomiting.
