'The Pit and the Pendulum', one of Poe's most well-renowned short stories, is centred around the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition.

The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the listener because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasising its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories, which are aided by the supernatural.