The Oubliette: Disappearing Alive

THIS ROOM WAS BUILT TO MAKE PEOPLE CONFESS. And it worked. In medieval Europe, prisoners were locked

inside a chamber called the oubliette. No windows. No light. Just a hole in the

ceiling. Food wasn’t brought daily. Sometimes it wasn’t brought at all.

People didn’t scream. They waited. Days passed. Then weeks. Rats arrived before

guards did. Some prisoners survived long enough to forget their own names. Others went silent

forever. When bodies were finally pulled out, they weren’t executed. They were erased.

The oubliette wasn’t meant to kill quickly. It was designed to make you disappear while still alive.