Stocks #midnighthaiku

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Sue Vincent

The stocks were used in many countries as a method of corporal punishment. While it may look innocuous, like the stock market, the stocks were an uncertain and indeterminate affair… anything could happen.

The offenders feet would be immobilised, usually bare, between the boards and they would be taunted and abused by passers-by. The stocks were often set up in the village square or market. As the offenders were left out in all weathers by day and night, many died from this form of punishment and there is nothing amusing about the way they were used.

However… if a pair of feet were locked into the stocks…and two prisoners could be exposed side by side to the punishment…. why do these stocks have five holes?

About Sue Vincent

Sue Vincent was a Yorkshire born writer, esoteric teacher and a Director of The Silent Eye. She was immersed in the Mysteries all her life. Sue maintained a popular blog and is co-author of The Mystical Hexagram with Dr G.M.Vasey. Sue lived in Buckinghamshire, having been stranded there due to an accident with a blindfold, a pin and a map. She had a lasting love-affair with the landscape of Albion, the hidden country of the heart. Sue  passed into spirit at the end of March 2021.
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14 Responses to Stocks #midnighthaiku

  1. scskillman says:
    June 15, 2017 at 00:31

    I dread to think, Sue, how those five holes would be used, but it may be the prisoner was contorted into a position whereby the feet were held as well. It is terrible to dwell on medieval punishments but we cannot help but be fascinated by extremes of human behaviour – and perhaps it feels safer to focus on those in the past rather than those in the present (as our love for Horrible Histories testifies). Personally, though I live near Warwick Castle which I have visited many times, I have only ever been to the dungeon once, and have no appetite any more to view the instruments of torture!

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  3. robbiesinspiration says:
    June 15, 2017 at 05:25

    Very enlightening post, Sue. I don’t even want to think about your question [hands over ears and eyes].

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  4. Ritu says:
    June 15, 2017 at 06:46

    Er, my first thought was middle hole head, then hands and the furthest holes to hold the feet.. a true contortionist would be needed to achieve that…!

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  5. Denis1950 says:
    June 15, 2017 at 07:16

    Fascinating image, story and haiku offering a solution for badly behaved politicians. In answers to your question re 5 holes. Rolf Harris would know!!

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  7. Widdershins says:
    June 16, 2017 at 03:06

    Yeah, I wondered that too. 🙂

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  8. patriciaruthsusan says:
    June 17, 2017 at 13:21

    I’d rather not think about it, Sue. 😦 — Suzanne

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