5 Deadliest Booby Traps Ever Created

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booby traps are often vicious devices with the sole intention of killing or maiming their victim they are usually inexpensive simple to make and wreak havoc amongst enemy forces and Asajj have been widely used in wars and guerrilla campaigns all over the world the indiscriminate nature accompanied by the horrific injuries that they can inflict have demoralized and spread fear amongst everyone unfortunate enough to encounter them here are my choices for five of the deadliest booby traps ever created number five punji traps be be traps using punji sticks were a common tactic used by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War punji sticks were simply pieces of bamboo which were sharpened and hardened by fire the sticks would then be placed in traps that were located in areas likely to be passed through by enemy soldiers and then hidden my camouflage such as grass bush or crops the punji sticks were perfect for jungle warfare that were very easy to make and could be produced in huge quantities by women and children they were cheap bamboo was plentiful and they were extremely effective the traps which used these sticks could easily be concealed in the dense jungles and were very hard to detect one of the most commonly used of these traps was the punji stick pit a whole would be dug into the ground with punchy sticks protruding from the bottom and often from the sides as well the pit would then be covered with a stick frame and leaves which would quickly collapse when its victims stepped onto the thin frame top causing the foot and leg to become impaled on the sticks sometimes sticks on the side of these traps would be set to point at the downwards angle which would cause maximum damage when the soldier attempted to pull his leg out for the trap to make these traps even more brutal the Vietcong would often cope the tips of the sticks with poison and even excrement which was used to cause infections further debilitating the already wounded soldier these trout were not designed to kill but to wound and cause maximum disruption an enemy unit could be immobilized while the wounded soldier was dug out of the trap it would then often tape two or more soldiers to carry the wounded victim away from the combat zone and in this way a single trap could take two or more soldiers out of combat further enemy resources would then need to be spent treating the wounded soldier and in the jungles of Vietnam evacuation to a medical facility would also require the use of a helicopter these vicious traps were effective at damaging morale enemy soldiers would be constantly in fear of falling victim to these terrifying traps and were no doubt left traumatized by witnessing their friends wounded in such a horrific manner in addition to the pits there were several other types of traps that used the punji stick the spike board trap was a seesaw light contraption that would swing up and hit the chest or head when stepped on the whip trap consisted of a spike Laden frame attached to a drawn back tree branch when a tripwire was broken the branch would be released whipping forward at high speed and impaling anyone in its path on the spiked frame mace traps were also used and could take many forms but usually involved some kind of heavy ball drum or log which was covered in spikes and then suspended from a tree putting a tripwire would release the trap swinging the heavy spiked object into the path of those below number four the cemetery gun during the 18th and 19th centuries a grim trade in dead corpses had sprung up in Britain and the u.s. surgeons and medical students were only legally permitted to dissect the corpses of executed criminals all those who had voluntarily donated their bodies to science which at that time was not popular this problem combined with the lack of refrigeration at the time meant that a supply of fresh bodies was difficult to come by Body Snatchers known as resurrection men emerged to meet this new demand for dead bodies the men would dig up recently buried corpses loot whatever valuables the dead person had been buried with and then sell the corpse to whoever needed it the relatives of the dead whose bodies were snatched were of course not pleased with this emerging black market and the cemetery gun was developed to combat the growing number of thefts the cemetery gun was a set gun which is a gun they is set to fire upon any intruder that triggers the trap wire which sets it off and had already been in use for hundreds of years as an effective camp defense against intruding animals the concept of a set gun was adapted for use in cemeteries and the cemetery gun was born a loaded and primed firearm would be swivel mounted at a grave with up the three trip wires attached in an arc around the guns position the unlucky resurrection man attempting to snatch his latest corpse would trigger the trap wire in the dark which would cause the gun to fire in the direction of the intruder killing or maining him the cemetery gun would be load and set each night by the cemetery keeper and their presence became well known by mourners and grave robbers alike in an effort to combat this new defense resurrection men would dispatch female accomplices to the cemetery during the day posing as widows their job was to scout the location of the guns as well as any other defenses and then report back to the resurrection man in response to this cemetery keepers began waiting until after dark to move the location of his set guns to foil potential intruders who might have scouted ahead cemetery guns were not the only booby traps used to protect recently buried corpses however in 1878 coughing torpedoes were produced which consisted of a shotgun which would rest inside the coffin lid when the lid was opened the shotgun inside would fire directly at the face of whomever was attempting to gain access to the coffin another invention was dubbed the grave torpedo which consisted of an explosive device that was almost like a crude landmine the device would be attached on top of a coffin and would explode in the face of anyone unlucky enough to disturb the coffin occupants final rest number 3 world war ii anti officer bombs booby traps are often the weapon of choice for those who were losing ground not gaining it as world war ii progressed german forces began being pushed back on all fronts and they resorted to more and more desperate measures in their attempt to slow down the Allied advance use of booby traps became common and perhaps one of the most infamous examples of these traps is the so called anti officer bomb rather than using their traps to target soldiers who could be easily replaced the Germans began thinking up ways in which they could target officers and in doing so cause maximum chaos in an enemy unit part of the strategy involved booby trapping the least damaged buildings in each town they retreated from they theorized that this would be the most likely location for occupying Allied forces to establish a command post the house would be packed with explosives and the Tramp would be set with the hope that the incoming officers would set off the trap and kill or maim themselves the downside with this strategy was that the trap would usually be triggered or found during initial reconnaissance of the building by infantryman and as such its success was limited it was from this idea that the crooked or tilted picture bomb emerged a wall inside the chosen building would have a hole hollowed out which would then be packed with explosives a picture would then be hung on the wall concealing the hole and the explosives however the cunning part of this plan was that the picture would be hung at a crooked angle and set to trigger the bomb inside the wall once moved the idea behind this devious trap was that only a gentleman officer would be bothered enough by the sight of a crooked hanging picture to actually correct it the bomb would thus ignore ordinary infantryman performing the initial reconnaissance of a building and only be triggered once the high-ranking officers moved in ultimately such devious tactics were not enough to change the course of the war however this is one booby trap that will send a shiver down the spine of anyone with OCD tendencies number two project eldest son project eldest son was a series of covert operations carried out by US forces during the Vietnam War that primarily focused on planting faulty exploding ammunition into supplies which would be used by enemy forces in an effort to SAP confidence in their Chinese manufactured weapon supplies when enemy ammunition was captured a small number of rounds would be tampered with the Gunpowder would be removed and replaced with a high-explosive so that when the round was fired it would generate five times as much pressure the bolt of the gun would be blown backwards into the skull of the soldier who fired the weapon killing him and leaving his comrades in extreme shock and distress water shells were also tampered with so that they would detonate once they were fired killing the mortar crew and destroying any nearby ammunition only a very small amount of rounds in each batch would be tampered with so that when the 40 bullet was fired and wreaked its havoc there would be no evidence of tampering left behind green berries would carry the trapped ammo with them and whenever they discovered an enemy ammunition store they would drop a few of the lethal bullets in they would also insert them into rifles found on dead enemy soldiers in the hopes that their comrades would find them and use them to deadly effect the aim of this cunning operation was not to cure large numbers of enemy soldiers but to damage morale and destroy their faith in the Chinese manufactured weaponry that they were using the ruse was made even more elaborate as rumors were spread that Chinese factories were producing faulty ammo which was knowingly being distributed to Vietnam by the Chinese government the US Armed Forces Radio Network was also in on the plot intentionally broadcasting warnings to US soldiers not to use captured weapons due to the risk of defective Chinese made bullets although there is not much data on how successful this campaign was an estimated 12,000 bullets and mm mortar shells are thought to have been tampered with and planted behind enemy lines the operation was abandoned in 1969 after leaks to the US media however it has been reported that similar tactics have been used by government forces in Syria during their current Civil War number one exploding toys improvised explosive devices have been used in combat situations all over the world however have perhaps been put to use most infamously in Iraq in the second Iraq war they accounted for over 60% of coalition deaths although commonly used as a roadside bomb to target passing military vehicles these explosive traps have been used in a variety of ways in an effort to spread terror amongst both civilians and enemy soldiers possibly the most disturbing example of these booby traps occurred recently when Iraqi forces discovered 18 booby trap dolls just outside Baghdad the plot was thought to be targeting a Shia pilgrimage which was due to take place along the road between Baghdad and Karbala and would have seen millions of people walk along the road Isis agents plan to scatter the dolls along the roadside in the hope that young children would pick them up the dolls were hollowed out and stuffed with explosives and would be set to trigger when the doll was moved killing or maiming the child unfortunate enough to have found it booby traps are commonly used by Isis and crops bathtubs doors and beds have all been trapped with explosive devices however this is the first time that the trap seems to have been targeted specifically at children unfortunately such targeting of children is not without precedent butterfly mines were deployed during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and whether intended or not have been criticized as targeting children the small mines are usually colorful to give them camouflage and have a unique winged shape which makes them more aerodynamic as they would be deployed from helicopters the unfortunate side effect of this design is that it gives the mines an unknown resemblance to toys and as such they tended to be picked up by children who found them so those are my choices for five of the deadliest booby traps ever created let me know what you would have included in the list in the comments below and I'll see you again on the next video

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Channel: Unknown5

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Keywords: booby trap, top 5, top 10, top 20, documentary, booby traps, traps, Punji Traps, Cemetery Gun, WW2 Anti Officer Bombs, Project Eldest Son, IED, improvised explosive device, vietnam war, facts, history, war, scary, creepy, top5s, US army, united states, bombs, iraq war, deadly booby traps, unknown 5, unknown5, mysterious photos, mystery

Id: PYkbBGmzNas

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Length: 11min 13sec (673 seconds)

Published: Tue May 31 2016

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