Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Nightmare Doom

Do Crushing Ceiling/Wall traps exist in Reality?

Recommended Posts

I been seeing alot of films and computer/video games (especially in Doom) that depict falling ceilings and crushing wall traps but the question remains that does these types of diabolical traps actually exist in our own world especially in any old European/Middle Eastren/Asian dungeons, castles, mansions (*cough*Resident Evil 1*cough*), etc?

Share this post


Link to post

I saw this house recently:



I think that if you walked inside that building, the ceiling probably would fall on top of you, and the walls and floor might do you some damage too.

So I'll say "yes" to this one.

Share this post


Link to post
Nightmare Doom said:

(*cough*Resident Evil 1*cough*)


heh, jill sandwich.

I have never heard anything about cruching ceilings or walls or any other kind of tomb booby traps. I think those are just inventions to make fictional stories more exciting. just think of what it would take to build and operate a trap like that, especially in the ancient world. as far as crushing goes, I think you would find them more as torture devices, ie: getting a guy to confess being a heretic by pressing him, than traps.

Share this post


Link to post

Cool question to ponder.

To the best of my knowledge, the closest thing to a crushing wall/ceiling, in real life, would be a "deadfall" trap. One of those dealies where rocks, trees, etc. come down on you when you trip a wire/string (for example, Native Americans, in my region of the country, used to make log deadfalls to trap and kill bears).

As Vileslay said, a lot of time and effort would have to go into making a crushing ceiling/wall trap, although I'm sure it could be done, even in the ancient world, if someone really wanted one. My vote would probably go to the Egyptians, rather than Europeans, on that one though.

Share this post


Link to post

Not yet, but my dream house will. It's also going to have other security features specially designed by me, such as The Wrongest Doorbell and the Autorape Room.

Share this post


Link to post

Paper and pencil games like D&D occasionally had (or have) some crushing ceiling traps, and they are more or less predictable in 2D or 2.5D video games, but this site about medieval castles doesn't say anything about any such traps, and Straight Dope couldn't find any conclusive evidence of booby traps in ancient constructions.

Share this post


Link to post

There are plenty of crushing wall/ceiling traps in today's world though. Mainly in the form of trash compactors. And many a bum has been crushed to death in a search for ancient treasure (moldy sandwiches).

Share this post


Link to post
MmM said:

My vote would probably go to the Egyptians


actually no, believe it or not. the most you find in egyptian tombs in the way of traps is maze-like corridors and poisoning from guano or other toxic air (the alledged curse of the pharaohs). normal tombs were pretty much nothing. in fact many times they were recycled, with the old bodies being moved out and new ones put in. the pharaohs tombs were more elaborate, many of them built during their own lifetime, and were made to be almost inpenetrable resting places. many of the smaller ones were also either recycled or defiled by other rulers.

akhenaten, the father of tutankhamun, destroyed images of the old gods during his reign in order to establish his one god, the sun god aten, and many of the images he destroyed were in tombs. he defaced many of the heiroglyphs on tomb walls depicting gods, as well as statuary of past pharaohs depicted as gods.

also, if you look at other records of the exploration of egyptian tombs, you can see that most of them were raided centuries before they were uncovered in the modern age. thats what made tut's tomb so remarkable. he was pretty much a footnote until they found his resting place and all the gold still there. you also find no mention of any kind of active traps, only accidental cave-ins, loose floors, or other accidents.


just a side note, I was in philadelphia last week and saw the tutankhamun and the golden age pharaohs exhibit at the fraklin institute. fantastic stuff.

Share this post


Link to post

I don't think crushing walls or ceilings would be very practical, and I can't think of any examples where they've been used. Making stone move like that, as far as crushing walls or floors would require hydraulics and computer activation to really achieve. Crushing ceilings would require them to make something so unstable that it would cave in if say a wire were crossed, or you walked on a certain area, and I just think that due to natural decay or shifting of the materials used it would collapse far earlier than expected and wouldn't be a reliable trap. Most hunting traps, using stones or logs to crush things are set up relatively soon before the prey is forced in to them, they would decay over time, thus being innefective as a long term deterrent. The same with deadfalls really, or pungee pits or anything, any covering over the pit itself would rot with age, thus making the trap useless. I also don't see how pressure plates used to trigger doors closing would work. Actually tying the plate to an object would be extremely hard without computers and air pressure or engines, and moving a wall of bricks smoothely along where it's grating against other bricks would be extremely hard to do, especially fast enough to trap someone in side. It can be done now with computer equipment, electronics, steel doors, etc... but I don't think it's ever been implemented in the past really as far long term detterents against grave robbers in ancient tombs and whatnot. Deadfalls could work though, or just rooms in a temple/tomb/pyramid that you could get into, but there was really no way to get out on your own since the drop into was so far that you couldn't climb out, but I've never really heard of it.

Share this post


Link to post
VileSlay said:

stuff aboiut egypt


I was in egypt this summer and pretty much everything you said is right. The other defacing mainly came from Catholics during their explorations. In a lot of tombs where the Gods have been scraped off the walls, there are Coptic Crosses, and even paintings of monks or the Last supper in some places.


As for the ceiling crushers, not really, as far as anyone really knows. Unless, you know, you disturbed a pillar holding up a loose ceiling in said tomb. Them you'd be pretty fucked.

Share this post


Link to post

If you take car crashes into account, yes. Ten thousands of people were killed by crashing into a wall, worldwide. Though it's mix of crushing metal/stone. I recall an accident early this year where a truck crashed into the pillars of a bridge and the bridge collapsed.

Share this post


Link to post

No, it's at Laegerneset, Recherchefjorden, Bellsund, Spitsbergen - in the deep south (77.513 N, 14.753 E).

It was a house built in 1918-9 on the basis that "the iron deposits beside Recherchefjorden are without parallel in the world and practically inexhaustible". A year later it was determined that in fact they were of hardly any commercial value.

My favourite island doesn't have much in the way of man-made structures. There is an automatic weather station and a memorial to Andrée's balloon expedition (I just about got a picture of that, but from a great distance and in a howling katabatic wind), but that's about it.

Share this post


Link to post

I was thinking of putting some in my house "for protection", but I think I'll settle for some planks of wood with rusty nails, Charles Bronson style.

Share this post


Link to post
Quasar said:

I like how in Doom 3 getting anywhere near anything that moves turns you into a gib pile :P


every game seems to have this. Hexen did, Quake did, Quake II did, Duke Nukem 3D did, although only on gears.

Share this post


Link to post
Csonicgo said:

every game seems to have this. Hexen did, Quake did, Quake II did, Duke Nukem 3D did, although only on gears.

I remember when Ling reviewed RTCW when it first came out, one of his complains was being killed by stuff like suits of armor falling on him. Heh.

Share this post


Link to post
Csonicgo said:

every game seems to have this. Hexen did, Quake did, Quake II did, Duke Nukem 3D did, although only on gears.


In Duke walking into some static walls turned you into gibs.

Maes's signature said:

"It's better to be young, rich, handsome and healthy, than being old, poor, ugly and sick." -Mao Zedong


You know women actually considered it a badge of honor to get a VD from him.

Share this post


Link to post
Gokuma said:

You know women actually considered it a badge of honor to get a VD from him(Mao Zedong).


That's because "It's better to get a VD from Chairman Mao than getting it from a random Chinese proletar" - Mao Zedong.

My sig is actually a mockery of Mao Zedong's blatantly obvious statements contained in the little red book, some of which are worthy of Captain Obvious e.g. "You can see farther by standing up" or "The revolution is not a picnic" etc. etc.

Share this post


Link to post
Maes said:

"You can see farther by standing up"

Typical right-wing conspiracy theory.

Share this post


Link to post

This park buy my house used to have a lot of dirt bikers that would ride trails in the woods. Well, people got sick of hearing them all day and dug pits in the trail, then covered them with branches and leaves. A few of the bikers really f*@ked them selves up. So I would say lots of different traps exist in reality... Even though it is kinda off subject and not a ceiling or a wall. It was crazy!

Share this post


Link to post

Heh, elephant traps for bikers? Perhaps with sharp, dung-covered stakes :-D Which brings us to the question, are there real lava/nukage traps in the real world?

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×