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By CHUCK DARROW
Courier-Post Staff
Jean Lewis was on the verge of tears as she stood inside the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City.
She wasn't having a run of bad luck at the slot machines. Instead, the 44-year-old nurse from Morehead City, N.C., was trying to process what she had just viewed, an exhibit called Torture Through the Ages: A History of Intolerance.
"It's just ... I can't believe human beings can do that to one another," said Lewis as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. "It's incomprehensible! Whew!"
That is what those behind the display, which opened an indefinite run at the Tropicana's Grand Exhibition Center last weekend, hope to get from what is inarguably the most provocative, compelling and unusual exhibition staged by an Atlantic City gaming hall.
"It's all about the fact that torture happens because people let it happen," said Joe Maude, the exhibit's executive producer.
"People don't want to talk about it. Torture has been happening for hundreds of years in basements and behind closed doors. When you open up those doors and bring it upstairs, it's really gripping."
The items in Torture through the Ages come from a collection that originated in Florence, Italy, in 1983. Since then, it has been on tour throughout Europe. Atlantic City is the second U.S. stop, following a run in San Diego, Calif. According to Massimo Seracini, an Italian businessman who represents the collection's owners, the items were amassed through public auctions and from private collections.
The exhibit covers more than 2,000 years of the institutionalized infliction of pain on subjects for reasons ranging from their religious and political convictions to sexual identities: The exhibit teaches that one of the most horrific forms of torture during the Middle Ages - too horrible to describe here - was used on homosexuals.
Authentic paintings, sketches and woodcarvings are included among the more than 100 artifacts, but the focus of the program is the astonishing collection of genuine instruments of torture, many centuries old.
While familiar implements such as the Guillotine; the Iron Maiden, a metal chamber with iron spikes protruding inward; and the rack are included, they are hardly the most awful. Compared to those with names such as "The Saw" and " The Judas Cradle," the former seem downright humane.
On the other hand, visitors also learn not all torture devices were designed to mutilate and kill. There are also a variety of metal masks, most specifically intended for women who had the temerity to speak to men or who were gossipy, whose purpose was simply to subject victims to public ridicule.
Torture through the Ages is divided into a number of sections. Each form of torture is given its own display containing a specific device, an explanation of the instrument and a visual - usually a painting or woodcarving - depicting its use.
While some of the displays might be difficult for more sensitive visitors, there are no overly graphic or gory photographs; that the pictures tend to be centuries old makes them easier to view than if they showed contemporary victims.
Most of the exhibition centers on the past, including a large display about the Inquisition. But the final portion of Torture through the Ages is dedicated to the still all- too-common practice of torture around the world.
In conjunction with the global human rights organization Amnesty International, the producers have brought to light how widespread torture remains. Large photographs of victims from various continents are included, but these, while bound to evoke strong emotions, aren't particularly explicit.
This part of Torture through the Ages includes a large poster illustrating that the United States is the world's leading manufacturer and exporter of torture devices, including thumbcuffs and electronic stun weapons.
According to Maude, he and his people did draw a line when it came to choosing what would be included in the exhibit. "At a certain point, you have to put a limit on it and say, `This is enough,'" he reasoned. "Some of it is pretty numbing."
Added Seracini, "We want to educate people, not scare them."
Admission to Torture through the Ages is prohibited for children under 13 not accompanied by an adult. Yvette Veideman, a 41-year-old real estate agent from Cherry Hill, found that caveat to be unnecessary.
"I was hesitant to bring" sons Stephen, 13, and Brian, 10, she said after the three toured the exhibit. "But I think it's good for kids. It's very educational."
Stephen, a seventh-grader at Beck Middle School, said he was "shocked" at all the different types of torture, but, more important, he "felt bad for all the people killed for reasons that nowadays you don't get in trouble for."
Brian said seeing Torture through the Ages made him "sad because you don't know if one of your ancestors could have been tortured like that. It was real sad, but kind of interesting."
If you're going
Torture through the Ages: A History of
Intolerance is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the
Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City. Admission is $13.95, $11.95 for senior citizens and $6.95 for children
younger than age 12. For tickets, call (609) 340-4029 or go
to www.tropicana.net.