As gruesome and nightmarish as it may appear on-screen, the horrific reverse bear trap featured in Saw and its sequels was inspired by real life torture devices of the middle ages. Existing in various incarnations or upgrades throughout the franchise, the device was instantly iconic the moment it appeared in the first film. The reverse bear trap is to the Saw franchise what Hannibal Lecter's mask was to Silence of the Lambs. While the films are fiction, it begs the question -- could such an evil device exist in real life? The answer is, unfathomable as it may seem, is that's it's entirely possible.
Designed and built by Tobin Bell's John Kramer, a.k.a. "Jigsaw", the reverse bear trap is as deceptively simple as it is violent and gruesome. Essentially a repurposed traditional bear trap built to fit around a person's head, with the jaws of the trap wired to the victim's upper and lower jaw, and secured with a padlock. A timer is set and activated, and the wearer must find the key to unlock it before the timer winds down, triggering a release mechanism that would spring the trap, ripping their jaws apart.
The reverse bear trap is only one of the horrific devices used by Jigsaw and others who've been driven to darkness by their experiences with him. Though they were created for the movies, many have been inspired by real life.
Jigsaw's Devices Were Drawn From Medieval Times
When screenwriter Leigh Whannell began work on the films, one of the first things he did was google "medieval torture devices", and he was shocked by what he saw. According to Whannell, movies couldn't even touch the evil devices that human beings have created to hurt others throughout history. When it came to inventive ways of torture, nobody was more creative than torturers in the Medieval Ages, especially during the Spanish Inquisition.
One such device that is very similar in appearance to the reverse bear trap is the Iron Spider, which was used on women accused of witchcraft or adultery. It had four hinged claws that would be heated, white hot, and used to slowly rip apart a woman's breasts. A variation on the Iron Spider involved the device being attached to a wall while the victim was yanked backwards.
History is filled with even more elaborate and horrifying devices that humans have used on each other, such as The Heretics Fork, the Iron Maiden, and the Scold's Bride. These were often used as punishment for nothing more than disagreeing with the status quo of the time. The reverse bear trap of Saw fame relies on more contemporary engineering skills, but it requires very little imagination to picture its use in real life.
