## lying about the risk of an ordeal to prove truthfulness to encourage compromise > [!quote] [People plunged their arms into cauldrons of boiling water to snatch up stones in the middle ages as a way of proving their innocence. Many historians report people coming away without severe burns.](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/wo9v1r/people_plunged_their_arms_into_cauldrons_of/) via [[rAskHistorians|AskHistorians]] by [[Steelcan909]] 2022-08-14 > > the goal of most ordeals, such as the third degree ordeal, was in fact a means to prevent conflicts from spiraling out by forcing feuding parties to come to an agreement, mediated by the church. Since neither party would want to put their limbs into boiling cauldrons, the ordeal instead of actually being used to determine guilt, was meant to expedite the finding of a compromise and solution between feuding parties that could spiral out of control. The ordeal then was more of a threat than an actual institution > [!quote] [People plunged their arms into cauldrons of boiling water to snatch up stones in the middle ages as a way of proving their innocence. Many historians report people coming away without severe burns.](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/wo9v1r/people_plunged_their_arms_into_cauldrons_of/) via [[rAskHistorians|AskHistorians]] by [[RedSword-12]] 2022-08-15 > > Professor Peter T. Leeson has argued that certain forms of the ordeal, e.g., the boiling water, could be used as a filter separating the innocent from the guilty, taking advantage of everyone being a believer. A guilty person would prefer to admit to the crime and pay the price that way, than boil his arm off. An innocent person would be convinced that the ordeal would prove his innocence, and would therefore be willing to undergo it. > > The churchman assigned to oversee the ordeal could manipulate the ordeal to make it bearable, e.g., ensuring that spectators would see it only at a distance, and then allowing the water (in the case of boiling water as the ordeal) to cool down enough to allow the person to take the item(s) from the bottom unscathed (Leeson notes the sprinkling of holy water into the cauldron of boiling water as a probable method employed to help cool it). He also points out that a very large number of people who underwent the ordeal were unscathed, suggesting that this kind of manipulation was indeed commonplace. ## lying about the efficacy of a medical treatment - [lots of medicine men in different cultures practiced sleight of hand to "heal" people](https://read.readwise.io/archive/read/01gajn423zne5mbnf4wffe1hew) according to [[William Buckner]] via [[Traditions of Conflict]] - the placebo effect, which [may](https://www.health.harvard.edu/mental-health/the-power-of-the-placebo-effect) or [may not](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/study-finds-placebo-effec/) be real depending on how you define things, but generally does make people subjectively think they're better.