1.
The victim, with his or her hands and feet locked into the appropriate holes and bracket irons, was set out in the square, where
the mob, in the mildest of cases, poked him, slapped him and soiled him with feces and urine. It was smeared into his (or
her)mouth, ears, nose, hair; but in many instances he, more often she, was beaten badly, stoned, burnt, cut and even severley
mutilated. constant tickling on the soles of the feet and in the flanks also soon became unbearable. Only the most inoffensive
criminal could hope to get away with no more than a few black-and-blue marks and a couple of bumps.

2.
The torture of this device may not seem all that bad, but at the time it was awful. Around the time periods it was used, peoples
lives balanced on reputation, if anything arose in their life that would humiliate them like a child who stole something, it is the
equivalent to be homicidal pedophile today. Stocks were only really used for the restraint of the ankles and sometimes other
limbs.
When your out in the stocks animals might eat you, people throw stuff at you, and your exposed to the weather. Not a very
horrific device but effective at the time