Not From China

Around 1480, Hippolytus de Marsiliis (1451-1506) Italian lawyer observed how drops of water falling one by one on a stone gradually wore away a hollow, so he applied this method to the human body and named it Chinese water torture.  Victims were strapped down so that they could not move, and cold water was then dripped slowly onto a person’s forehead because of its sensitivity.  Initially this torture would induce boredom that would eventually develop into a lot of frustration.  The fact that the prisoners could see each drop coming would gradually drive them frantic by invoking physical discomfort, feelings of intense claustrophobia, and ultimately put them in an altered state of reality which would allegedly drive the victim insane.  The stress of water constantly dripping on the subjects forehead for a very long time, causes insanity to set in because the human brain will lose all other thoughts and concentrate on making a pattern of the drops and timing them, perceiving a hollow being created in the center of their forehead.  It must be awful to be restrained and subjected to repetitive drops of water landing on your forehead, drip, drip, drip.