For instance, here is a YouTube video from BuzzFeed titled “5 Of The Most Gruesome Medieval Torture Devices.” It lists the “scold’s bridle,” the “rack,” the “iron maiden,” the “pear of anguish,” and the “brazen bull.” Unfortunately for those who love reading about gruesome torture devices, most of the so-called “medieval torture devices” you hear about never existed at all during the Middle Ages.According to legend, the brazen bull was created by the inventor Perillos of Athens as a gift for Phalaris, the tyrant of Akragas, who ruled from c. 570 to c. 554 BC.ABOVE: Engraving by the French artist Pierre Woeiriot from before 1562 depicting Perillos of Athens being executed in the brazen bull he himself designed The “iron maiden” We have all heard of the notorious “iron maiden,” an iron cabinet large enough to fit a person in with spikes on the inside that kill anyone placed inside.The earliest known record of a supposed iron maiden comes from a guidebook to the city of Nuremberg written by the German philosopher Johann Philipp Siebenkees (lived 1759 – 1796), who claimed that the iron maiden had first been used in 1515 to execute a coin forger.Siebenkees’s account is now known to have been fraudulent, but, as early as 1802, a hoax iron maiden was displayed in the city of Nuremberg."