Actually, I am not sure about the mouth necessarily screaming. IIRC, Amy Hesketh said after she produced and starred in Malifecarum, in which she was stretched out on a rack, that, when she was stretched out fully on the rack, she had problems breathing enough to make a sound.The muscles tighten, the face is distorted! The body suffers from sweat drops! The mouth is screaming!
During the time of Queen Maria Theresa, the Constitutio Criminalis Theresiana 1768 presents an interesting version of the torture!
The pictures are real curiosities!
An interesting aspect being that at the time of the Theresiana that book of rules about torture was a key element in its abolition. With Teutonic thoroughness everything was specified, the number of weights and their size for strappado, the degree of stretching on the ladder which is shown in the sequence, the number of wax candles and their length to used on sensitive parts of the body, etc. Maria Theresa as empress of the Austrian Empire to all appearances was opposed to the use of torture in criminal trials. Particularly noteworthy was her involvement in a case of witchcraft in Croatia in 1758. A woman named Magda Herucina Logomer had been accused and undergone torture. The Empress took a personal interest in the case and ordered Logomer to be brought to Vienna, were Maria Theresa' personal physician treated her injuries that were inflicted during the examination. Soon afterwards the government of Austria imposed restrictions on local courts which brought to an end the trials, especially in their limitations on torture.Very clever, a sort of controlled strappado.
How about "riding the donkey" ?
Hmmm, what may come next ?
And wearing gloves, of course
Austrian ladder torture: The racks described so far have been either horizontal, in the form of a bench, or vertical, such as the wheel mounted on an axle. However, one differently angled device existed, the Austrian ladder, its use being authorised by Empress Maria Theresa in 1768.
It consisted of a wide ladder leaning at an angle of 45°, its lower end fixed to the ground, its upper end secured to the wall, and between the feet of the ladder was a short axle, similar in operation to that of the windlass on a conventional rack. The victim was then forced to mount the first few steps of the ladder and to turn around so that he faced outwards.
His arms, tied behind his back, were then secured to one of he rungs, his ankles being tied to a rope, the other end of which was connected to the axle.
The executioner then rotated the axle, drawing the victim down the ladder by his ankles and thereby twisting his arms up behind, so that he was forced to lean forward in a vain attempt to alleviate the agonising strain that was being imposed on his shoulder-blades and arm muscles. And should he be recalcitrant, the executioner’s assistants would hold lighted candles under his armpits as extra persuasion. In extreme cases, where the victim was left in this position for some time, death could bring merciful relief.
Particularly, the 48 is astonishing! Nikolai Bessonov's work!