Scolds bridle & Mask of Shame

The slut (or 'mouth whore') was pulled like a dog on a sturdy leather leash that was fastened to a collar around her neck, or the metal bar locked around her neck. It goes without saying that her arms also got locked in the bar. It could be concluded from old texts that sometimes ankle cuffs with a short chain between them were put on so that the ‘mouth whore’ could only move forwards in small steps. So the tour in and around the town would take hours, the unfortunate being mocked and booed by her fellow villagers. To draw more attention to the degrading tour, a bell, or a colorful feather, was often placed on top of the bridle. Attentive features that would only increase the joy of the spectators.

The last recorded use of this punitive degradation was in Victorian times. In 1824 a 21 year old maid and her 47 year old mistress were paraded shackled together through the town as punishment for running a 'bad house', so suggesting that the town’s magistrates even had two or more bridles at hand.

Those who delved further into the old books could even find a reference to the use of a 'mask of shame' around 1780. From the description it could be concluded that it concerned a metal mask that was closed around the head and thus completely covered the face. The mask had a large tongue that protruded from the mouth. It is said that this mask had once been used to punish a foreigner, said to be from Prussia or Holland, who had made insulting statements about English culture and customs. The description of the mask suggested that it was modeled on a comparable punitive instrument on the continent: the 'Schandmaske'. Unfortunately, no trace of the mask could be found and no images had been preserved, so that the question could be asked whether the history of the application in the town of T was based on reality or had sprung from the imagination of the writer.

Modern laws abolished the use of it but the metal gag was preserved as a museum piece. While the general opinion was that such a humiliating public punishment could no longer be applied in the 21st century, many residents of T still secretly cherish the desire that a specific person should be subjected to such a degrading punishment, for example someone who was rumored to have spoken boldly about another, or just being an arrogant neighbor, or for just another reason.

This story is about one of them… Dragging her sister and her daughter deep into it…