Facts : 1 Spanish boot Spanish gaiter The Spanish boot was an iron casing for the leg and footbr Facts : 2 Wood or iron wedges were hammered in between the casing and the victim s fleshbr Facts : 3 A similar device, commonly referred to as a shin crusher, squeezed the calf between two curved iron plates, studded with spikes, teeth, and knobs, to fracture the tibia and fibulabr Facts : 4 Primitive forerunners of the archetype can be found dating back as far as a thousand yearsbr Facts : 5 The first Scottish effort, also referred to as a buskin, made use of a vaguely boot-shaped rawhide garment that was soaked with water, drawn over the foot and lower leg, and bound in place with cordsbr Facts : 6 The contraption was slowly heated over a gentle fire, drastically contracting the rawhide and squeezing the foot until the bones were dislocated, though there would not have been sufficient pressure actually to crush the bones of the footbr Facts : 7 A more progressive variant, found in both the British Isles and France, consisted of a trio of upright wooden boards that splinted around and between the feet and were tied in place by cordsbr Facts : 8 Wedges were hammered between the boards and the feet to dislocate and crush the bonesbr Facts : 9 A prototype hailing from Autun, France, consisted of high boots of spongy, porous leather that were drawn over the feet and legsbr Facts : 10 Boiling water was poured over the boots, eventually soaking through the leather and eating the flesh away from the entrapped limbsbr Facts : 11 Lastly, oversized boots of iron or copper (often soldered in place on the floor) received the prisoner s bare feet as he lay helplessly bound and gagged in a chairbr Facts : 12 The boots were slowly filled with boiling water or oil, or even molten lead, to consume the feet and legs