''Drowning Pit''

By Crusader1307

The term ''Drowning Pit'' (sometimes called a ''Murder Pit'' or ''Hole'' -  despite the confusion with the Medieval field entrapment), was a Scottish Execution method. They were used to dispatch females for ''High Crimes'' (Witchcraft, Treason etc.) It was determined that Women regardless of their crime, need not ''suffer'' as convicted Men. Males were commonly Hung or Gibbeted. Pits worked very simply. Often dug near rivers or lakes – to a depth of 8-feet, they were fed by trenches. The Accused Female had her hands and feet tied and placed into The Pit. Water (dammed up), was quickly released, filling in The Pit. The Female Victim thus drowned. Most often than not, unmarked graves were dug close to Pits – so that they could quickly be ''tossed in''. Some of the earliest Drowning Pits (of which some still remain), date to the 11th Century AD. In 13th Century England, Drowning Pits were also created along The Thames River, but most were replaced by Execution Docks and Public Execution Stages (Pillories, Stocks and other methods). By the 15th Century, Burning at The Stake or simple beheading replaced Drowning Pits for convicted women.