In the Alps of present day Southern Austria, there are ruins of a convent. There are many such ruins in Europe, as time has eroded both buildings and communities, but these ruins are special. Apart from the ruined exterior, the convent is also hiding vast underground complex, dangerous to traverse, that's most untypical for nunneries. To better understand what this place was and what made it so unique, we need to go back in history, to chronicles of this convent once dedicated to Saint Pia of Syracuse and home to sister of faith following her.
The order of Saint Pia of Syracuse has it's origins in the legend of Saint Pia, woman allegedly living in Syracuse, present day Sicily, during the Roman persecution of Christianity. She was a daughter of wealthy merchant, and had secretly converted to Christianity by a household slave she was close with. Once authorities found out about the local underground sect of Christians, they had to escape. Most of them got away, including the slave girl, but Pia was captured and brought to a trial. The Romans demanded that she would tell where the others escaped to and convert back to traditional Roman religion, but she refused both, so she was tortured. She was tied on a wooden table, brine would be applied to her soles, and goats would lick it off. As a miracle, the rough tongues would not eventually hurt her soles as this torture was supposed to, and it merely tickled. And it tickled a lot, enough for her pagan torturers to use it as means of attempting to break her Christian spirit. Pia's laughter would echo in halls of prison for days, weeks, months as the Providence protected her from pain, but not the suffering of tickle torture. She was tied on wooden pole for armpit tickle torture, tickled all over her belly and legs, made laugh until she cried during long, excruciating torture sessions, but Pia would find strength in her faith and never betrayed her brothers and sisters in faith. There are many variations about her legend and most differ in details and especially the endings, as in some stories she's eventually tickled to death and in some stories she's rescued in the end and lived the rest of her days as discreet missionary in more tolerant parts of the empire. The things shared by all versions however are tickle torture she suffered and willpower she possessed to endure her atrocious ordeal.
As a saint, she would receive a relatively small but devoted following of women, and eventually a sisterhood of nuns was founded along with a convent for sister's to worship and do God's good work. It ended up being built quite far from Sicily, to the Alps, but this geographical position near the heart of European conflicts and troubles would later on have great influence on the sisterhood. The construction was finished in late 10th century.
What was peculiar about this convent was their way to honor Saint Pia's memory and fortitude. The nuns would have to take part in ritualized tickling sessions where they would repeat sufferings of Saint Pia, often locked in stocks or tied on tables as other nuns played to part of her torturers, tickling them to varying extents - the most pious of nuns would be tickled to their very physical limits to show their fate and zealous devotion. Tickling would also serve as an entryway to the order, as novices would have to divulge their most sensitive tickle spots that were feathered by older sisters for hours during their initiation ceremony. The ones who could not stand this were denied the entry into the sisterhood, but at the same time being actually ticklish was a requirement, so that the sisters could properly identify with sufferings of Saint Pia. The women admitted into the convent were all sensitive, well aware of their own ticklish vulnerabilities but also with knowledge of exploiting such weakness in others, as they would be required to regularly tickle their fellow sisters. As years passed, the nuns would eventually become masters of their craft, experts of tickling and especially it's torturous implements. And as one could expect, this talent did not go unnoticed.
The skills of these ticklers nuns would be first put into use by housing misbehaving noblewomen who were considered to be in the need of "disciplining" by their families. While initially reluctant to let outsiders within the convent walls, the nuns would be persuaded by large donations those aristocratic families would offer them. The convent would begin to accumulate wealth as reluctant ladies were taken in, to be reformed from their wayward ways through prayer, labor and daily tickling sessions. Even the most strayed noblewomen were brought to path of penance in no time, trapped in stocks and tables as the experienced fingers of nuns made them scream for mercy and beg for forgiveness, both of which were of course granted to them... Eventually. Before being returned to their families, the worldly women typically spent few months in the convent, but as for some more troublesome cases the stay could be prolonged for ticklish ordeal of a year. There are historical records of a girl from noble Dutch family with deathly ticklish armpits escaping the convent after two weeks of her penance intended to last for three months, and once she was returned to hands of the nuns, she was reportedly kept in "seclusion" for entire year, spending most of her time arms chained above her head as fingernails and feathers of the nuns dancing under her arms made her a better woman. Their dedication in guiding these ticklish, lost women to the right path was noticed in both church administration and among secular rulers, and it was just a matter of time before that dedication would be taken to serve other purposes too.
Instead of just housing noblewomen guilty of sins like premarital affairs or disobedience, the convent started to receive different kind of involuntary denizens. Heretics and suspected witches. They would be held prisoners within the convent, not tickled for enforced spiritual guidance, but for sheer torture. Great construction works were done to build vast dungeons and torture chambers in cellars beneath the convent, and some brawny women were permitted to work within the convent walls as guards, whose work consisted of watching the prisoners, dragging them to torture chambers and restraining them for tickling sessions at mercy of the nuns, who would work tirelessly to extract confessions and wows of conversion from them. The nuns were feared by religious dissidents across all Europe, as their skills were known to be unmatched in making even most stubborn heretics recant and most denying witches confess all their sins. The nuns of Saint Pia also were very effective in uncovering networks of heretics and covens of witches, as numerous confessions extracted from laughing women stretched taut on torture racks, locked in stocks with toeties or chained tightly against the walls were related to their accomplishes, lots of them would betray their fellow "wicked" women, even close friends and family members in order to make tickle torture end. For many of the, confession meant end of the torture, but for others, fortune would not be so merciful. Numerous women were convicted to be tortured in the convent, with no mercy or respite in sight. They would be taken from their cells every morning only to be tortured from dawn until dusk, no matter how much they would beg and plead from midst of their tortured, hysterical laughter. This punishment was reserved for women implicated in leading witch covens, being head figures in heretical societies and participating in treason, and the nuns were happy to deal with punishing them in exchange for gold for the convent. As if fate of these poor women condemned to bear often indefinite time of tickle torture wasn't ill enough, there are records of completely innocent women being imprisoned in the dark torture dungeons of Saint Pia's. Mistresses framed for heresy or treason by jealous wives, unpopular women wrongly accused by their fellow villagers of being powerful witches and even strange pious women whose personal devotions were mistaken for blasphemies. The nuns themselves didn't care about guilt of those delivered to them, and would dish out "sacraments of Saint Pia" as they were called upon anyone ending up in their hands.
The fervor nuns had in torturing - real or perceived - religious enemies was further exploited during the crusades. Catholic church waged war against Muslims of the holy land and pagans of the north, and sisters of Saint Pia would accompany the sacred warriors in their missions. Lots of heathens - both Arab and Baltic women - would find themselves under their feathers and fingers in tickle torture sessions aimed both to forced conversions and extracting information about resisting armies their men were fighting in. Even women of the so called "New World" were not safe from these religiously sanctioned tickle torturers. Nuns of Saint Pia were with missionaries sent to South America, and native women would learn to dread their mission as place of horror and suffering. Rumors of golden cities hidden in the depths of jungles were widely believed, and many unfortunate native women had to suffer for them, kept imprisoned in the mission under most ruthless of tickle tortures as the conquistadors commissioned nuns to acquire "reliable information" about such cities and finding them. As expeditions operating based on the information would turn out failures again and again, the poor women would just suffer more ticklish torments as foolhardy explorers were persistently chasing myths.
As the order spent more and more time tickling women outside it, it's nature changed. It was no longer a convent of dedicated women enduring tickle torture as a proof of their faith and dedication. It was transforming into a convent of sadists, where novices were chose by not only fortitude when being tickled, but also by their ferocity when tickling others. In mentality and traditions of the sisterhood, honoring Saint Pia's suffering got a companion in using tickle torture as instrument of wrathful divine punishments.
As the centuries passed, the convent changed with the times. With peak of renaissance the corruption and decadence of the church also crept into Saint Pia's sisterhood, and the sisters dabbled into forbidden aspects of tickling, not using it merely as a method of torture, but also of pleasure. The celibate nuns would introduce sexual tickle torture in their worship routines, edging and eventual release bringing them to sinful heavens. This would also affect the prisoners held in convent's dungeons against their will, as forced orgasms and their denial became commonplace in the torture sessions, making the stay of those poor ticklish victims even more torturous. For some depraved minds, the tortures of the convent didn't appear as such at all, and it is known that many decadent noblewomen especially from Italy would pay to surrender themselves in hands of the nuns, to enjoy their ticklish touch as a carnal desire. One torture chamber could host a Czech Hussite girl being cruelly tickled out of her mind on a torture rack, as the neighboring chamber had full blown tickle orgy where more lustful sisters were bringing a lecherous noblewoman from Venice to repeated ticklish orgasms with their fluffy feathers.
As the sisterhood wasn't safe from tides of history, it was also inevitably touched by religious reformation movement sweeping through Europe. The convent of Saint Pia's is perhaps most known for a popular publication "Sins of Sisters of Laughter", spread by Jutta Göttegart, former member of the sisterhood who left it join several other former nuns in protestant reformation. The publication was took full advantage of new printing press invention, and included wide descriptions and even illustrations on both carnal lust and horrible atrocities going on within the walls of the convent. It was called "nothing but a brothel and hellish pit of torture", capturing imagination of the public and causing the abbess to change things. Chastity was returned to the convent, enforced even, most decadent sisters were forced to wear chastity belts lined with feathers to keep them from sexual pleasure while keeping them frustrated to remind them of their sins. The convent also did it's best to combat the protestant reformation, increasing their efforts so much that it became known as a feared prison for prominent protestant women where they were tickle tortured for information, confessions and forced reconversations. As religious tensions escalated into full scale military conflict during the 30 years war, the activities of convent as a bizarre "torture center" for women at wrong side of the faith peaked. Among the victims that would suffer under torture during this era were captured female relatives of protestant generals and political leaders, women who were suspected of disloyalty to church and Holy Roman emperor an former nuns who had abandoned their positions and broken their wows. The latter ones were the favored victims of Saint Pia's sisters, typically forced to wear feathery chastity belts during their torture little mercy given even after they eventually began to express regret and forced will of reconciling. The sisters would also walk with armies, proceeding with field interrogations of protestant women whenever it was necessary, and they developed a reputation as sinister and devilish women that made even good Catholic girls shiver.
From this era we also have one of the most peculiar stories of Saint Pia's sisters, about young daughter of a North German baron, known to history only as sister Sara. She was captured during the sack of her home castle, and handed over to the nuns along with her mother and sisters in order to find out where the baron, prominent protestant figure in the small region, was hiding. All of them talked in no time, records of interrogations tell us that each of them was "unbelievably ticklish" on their belly buttons, that were feathered by the nuns mercilessly as the poor women were held imprisoned in torture chamber of their own castle. All talked, except Sara. Irritated by her resilience, the nuns took her with them to the convent as they left the area, where her tortures continued for months, at mercy of the sisterhood's most skillful navel ticklers. Eventually she promised to repent and reconvert on one condition. She's allowed to join the order. The abbess granted her wish. Propaganda victories such as converted nobles were always welcome, and one joining a holy order was almost too good to be true. Saint Pia must have truly touched her soul. The truth is likely to be much more worldly, as journal left behind by her reveals deep seated tickle masochism and reveling in ticklish suffering of both herself and others. It is unknown if she was like this before being captured, or if the inhuman tickle torture did it to her, but what is known is that she would live to become future abbess of the convent.
After treaty of Westphalia ended the war of religion in Europe, the sisters of Saint Pia returned to the oldest activities. Disciplining misbehaving women of upper classes, and dishing out punishment on sinners sentenced to their hands. The eventual decline of the sisterhood was inevitable however, as the enlightenment washed over Europe, striking at the "cruel and barbaric" practices of sisters too. The flow of new victims in their torture dungeon dwindled, reducing their prisoners to secular criminals and enemies of state of Austria, and while those few prisoners would still fill their dungeons with hysterical, cackling laughter, the order felt like it's traditions are decaying, eventually causing it to turn inwards when their practice of tickle torture were outlawed. The sisters would tickle only each other like they originally used to, which was not enough to sate the will of some sisters yearning for the glorious past of merciless tickle torture. In early 20th century a scandal shocked the region as it was discovered that a small group of nuns had been kidnapping local women and secretly smuggling them to desolate sections of vacant torture dungeons to be tickled as "old ways" demanded, and while several of the victims ended up in asylums following their terrible ordeals, the few who retained their sanity were able to testify against the nuns. They had kept their kidnapped victims in a section where their screams would not be heard in the convent itself. The ones to suffer the worst were two sisters who had been collecting berries in the woods when lured to trap and taken by the nuns, they were kept chained against a wall as their bare breasts were viciously feathered by the evil nuns, driving the poor girls out of their minds. This led to total reorganization of the order, including a total denouncement of tickle torture and abandoning tickling of all sorts. This finally made the sisterhood fade away, lots of nuns abandoning the now "joyless" convent, and many of the new novices were not even fully aware of place's horrifying and erotic past.
During the world war II convent was evacuated, and used as a ammo depot that exploded in an accident. Maybe it finally was some sort of karmic justice for it's victims along the centuries. After the war, remaining few nuns scattered to either begin new lives or join other convents. Despite the diminishing of the order, it's rumored that many of it's early 1900s members that left after the ban of tickling found use for their skills elsewhere, in armies and secret services around the world. The sisterhood had accumulated experience of tickle torture of hundreds of years, the old books sisters wrote on the subject sadly mostly lost to popular history, and they were well practiced in the art. Lots of interrogation methods used in breaking ticklish female subjects by various clandestine or government organizations are said to have their roots in art perfected by the sisterhood, and lots of women at mercy of CIA or KGB would experience what being a heretic in 15th century felt like during the cold war. The heritage of sisterhood is both quirky and horrifying, a strange yet persisting phase in church history with forbidden pleasures and vile desires, and a living reminder to us all of evils that can be committed in the name of fanaticism.
May we all learn from history.
The order of Saint Pia of Syracuse has it's origins in the legend of Saint Pia, woman allegedly living in Syracuse, present day Sicily, during the Roman persecution of Christianity. She was a daughter of wealthy merchant, and had secretly converted to Christianity by a household slave she was close with. Once authorities found out about the local underground sect of Christians, they had to escape. Most of them got away, including the slave girl, but Pia was captured and brought to a trial. The Romans demanded that she would tell where the others escaped to and convert back to traditional Roman religion, but she refused both, so she was tortured. She was tied on a wooden table, brine would be applied to her soles, and goats would lick it off. As a miracle, the rough tongues would not eventually hurt her soles as this torture was supposed to, and it merely tickled. And it tickled a lot, enough for her pagan torturers to use it as means of attempting to break her Christian spirit. Pia's laughter would echo in halls of prison for days, weeks, months as the Providence protected her from pain, but not the suffering of tickle torture. She was tied on wooden pole for armpit tickle torture, tickled all over her belly and legs, made laugh until she cried during long, excruciating torture sessions, but Pia would find strength in her faith and never betrayed her brothers and sisters in faith. There are many variations about her legend and most differ in details and especially the endings, as in some stories she's eventually tickled to death and in some stories she's rescued in the end and lived the rest of her days as discreet missionary in more tolerant parts of the empire. The things shared by all versions however are tickle torture she suffered and willpower she possessed to endure her atrocious ordeal.
As a saint, she would receive a relatively small but devoted following of women, and eventually a sisterhood of nuns was founded along with a convent for sister's to worship and do God's good work. It ended up being built quite far from Sicily, to the Alps, but this geographical position near the heart of European conflicts and troubles would later on have great influence on the sisterhood. The construction was finished in late 10th century.
What was peculiar about this convent was their way to honor Saint Pia's memory and fortitude. The nuns would have to take part in ritualized tickling sessions where they would repeat sufferings of Saint Pia, often locked in stocks or tied on tables as other nuns played to part of her torturers, tickling them to varying extents - the most pious of nuns would be tickled to their very physical limits to show their fate and zealous devotion. Tickling would also serve as an entryway to the order, as novices would have to divulge their most sensitive tickle spots that were feathered by older sisters for hours during their initiation ceremony. The ones who could not stand this were denied the entry into the sisterhood, but at the same time being actually ticklish was a requirement, so that the sisters could properly identify with sufferings of Saint Pia. The women admitted into the convent were all sensitive, well aware of their own ticklish vulnerabilities but also with knowledge of exploiting such weakness in others, as they would be required to regularly tickle their fellow sisters. As years passed, the nuns would eventually become masters of their craft, experts of tickling and especially it's torturous implements. And as one could expect, this talent did not go unnoticed.
The skills of these ticklers nuns would be first put into use by housing misbehaving noblewomen who were considered to be in the need of "disciplining" by their families. While initially reluctant to let outsiders within the convent walls, the nuns would be persuaded by large donations those aristocratic families would offer them. The convent would begin to accumulate wealth as reluctant ladies were taken in, to be reformed from their wayward ways through prayer, labor and daily tickling sessions. Even the most strayed noblewomen were brought to path of penance in no time, trapped in stocks and tables as the experienced fingers of nuns made them scream for mercy and beg for forgiveness, both of which were of course granted to them... Eventually. Before being returned to their families, the worldly women typically spent few months in the convent, but as for some more troublesome cases the stay could be prolonged for ticklish ordeal of a year. There are historical records of a girl from noble Dutch family with deathly ticklish armpits escaping the convent after two weeks of her penance intended to last for three months, and once she was returned to hands of the nuns, she was reportedly kept in "seclusion" for entire year, spending most of her time arms chained above her head as fingernails and feathers of the nuns dancing under her arms made her a better woman. Their dedication in guiding these ticklish, lost women to the right path was noticed in both church administration and among secular rulers, and it was just a matter of time before that dedication would be taken to serve other purposes too.
Instead of just housing noblewomen guilty of sins like premarital affairs or disobedience, the convent started to receive different kind of involuntary denizens. Heretics and suspected witches. They would be held prisoners within the convent, not tickled for enforced spiritual guidance, but for sheer torture. Great construction works were done to build vast dungeons and torture chambers in cellars beneath the convent, and some brawny women were permitted to work within the convent walls as guards, whose work consisted of watching the prisoners, dragging them to torture chambers and restraining them for tickling sessions at mercy of the nuns, who would work tirelessly to extract confessions and wows of conversion from them. The nuns were feared by religious dissidents across all Europe, as their skills were known to be unmatched in making even most stubborn heretics recant and most denying witches confess all their sins. The nuns of Saint Pia also were very effective in uncovering networks of heretics and covens of witches, as numerous confessions extracted from laughing women stretched taut on torture racks, locked in stocks with toeties or chained tightly against the walls were related to their accomplishes, lots of them would betray their fellow "wicked" women, even close friends and family members in order to make tickle torture end. For many of the, confession meant end of the torture, but for others, fortune would not be so merciful. Numerous women were convicted to be tortured in the convent, with no mercy or respite in sight. They would be taken from their cells every morning only to be tortured from dawn until dusk, no matter how much they would beg and plead from midst of their tortured, hysterical laughter. This punishment was reserved for women implicated in leading witch covens, being head figures in heretical societies and participating in treason, and the nuns were happy to deal with punishing them in exchange for gold for the convent. As if fate of these poor women condemned to bear often indefinite time of tickle torture wasn't ill enough, there are records of completely innocent women being imprisoned in the dark torture dungeons of Saint Pia's. Mistresses framed for heresy or treason by jealous wives, unpopular women wrongly accused by their fellow villagers of being powerful witches and even strange pious women whose personal devotions were mistaken for blasphemies. The nuns themselves didn't care about guilt of those delivered to them, and would dish out "sacraments of Saint Pia" as they were called upon anyone ending up in their hands.
The fervor nuns had in torturing - real or perceived - religious enemies was further exploited during the crusades. Catholic church waged war against Muslims of the holy land and pagans of the north, and sisters of Saint Pia would accompany the sacred warriors in their missions. Lots of heathens - both Arab and Baltic women - would find themselves under their feathers and fingers in tickle torture sessions aimed both to forced conversions and extracting information about resisting armies their men were fighting in. Even women of the so called "New World" were not safe from these religiously sanctioned tickle torturers. Nuns of Saint Pia were with missionaries sent to South America, and native women would learn to dread their mission as place of horror and suffering. Rumors of golden cities hidden in the depths of jungles were widely believed, and many unfortunate native women had to suffer for them, kept imprisoned in the mission under most ruthless of tickle tortures as the conquistadors commissioned nuns to acquire "reliable information" about such cities and finding them. As expeditions operating based on the information would turn out failures again and again, the poor women would just suffer more ticklish torments as foolhardy explorers were persistently chasing myths.
As the order spent more and more time tickling women outside it, it's nature changed. It was no longer a convent of dedicated women enduring tickle torture as a proof of their faith and dedication. It was transforming into a convent of sadists, where novices were chose by not only fortitude when being tickled, but also by their ferocity when tickling others. In mentality and traditions of the sisterhood, honoring Saint Pia's suffering got a companion in using tickle torture as instrument of wrathful divine punishments.
As the centuries passed, the convent changed with the times. With peak of renaissance the corruption and decadence of the church also crept into Saint Pia's sisterhood, and the sisters dabbled into forbidden aspects of tickling, not using it merely as a method of torture, but also of pleasure. The celibate nuns would introduce sexual tickle torture in their worship routines, edging and eventual release bringing them to sinful heavens. This would also affect the prisoners held in convent's dungeons against their will, as forced orgasms and their denial became commonplace in the torture sessions, making the stay of those poor ticklish victims even more torturous. For some depraved minds, the tortures of the convent didn't appear as such at all, and it is known that many decadent noblewomen especially from Italy would pay to surrender themselves in hands of the nuns, to enjoy their ticklish touch as a carnal desire. One torture chamber could host a Czech Hussite girl being cruelly tickled out of her mind on a torture rack, as the neighboring chamber had full blown tickle orgy where more lustful sisters were bringing a lecherous noblewoman from Venice to repeated ticklish orgasms with their fluffy feathers.
As the sisterhood wasn't safe from tides of history, it was also inevitably touched by religious reformation movement sweeping through Europe. The convent of Saint Pia's is perhaps most known for a popular publication "Sins of Sisters of Laughter", spread by Jutta Göttegart, former member of the sisterhood who left it join several other former nuns in protestant reformation. The publication was took full advantage of new printing press invention, and included wide descriptions and even illustrations on both carnal lust and horrible atrocities going on within the walls of the convent. It was called "nothing but a brothel and hellish pit of torture", capturing imagination of the public and causing the abbess to change things. Chastity was returned to the convent, enforced even, most decadent sisters were forced to wear chastity belts lined with feathers to keep them from sexual pleasure while keeping them frustrated to remind them of their sins. The convent also did it's best to combat the protestant reformation, increasing their efforts so much that it became known as a feared prison for prominent protestant women where they were tickle tortured for information, confessions and forced reconversations. As religious tensions escalated into full scale military conflict during the 30 years war, the activities of convent as a bizarre "torture center" for women at wrong side of the faith peaked. Among the victims that would suffer under torture during this era were captured female relatives of protestant generals and political leaders, women who were suspected of disloyalty to church and Holy Roman emperor an former nuns who had abandoned their positions and broken their wows. The latter ones were the favored victims of Saint Pia's sisters, typically forced to wear feathery chastity belts during their torture little mercy given even after they eventually began to express regret and forced will of reconciling. The sisters would also walk with armies, proceeding with field interrogations of protestant women whenever it was necessary, and they developed a reputation as sinister and devilish women that made even good Catholic girls shiver.
From this era we also have one of the most peculiar stories of Saint Pia's sisters, about young daughter of a North German baron, known to history only as sister Sara. She was captured during the sack of her home castle, and handed over to the nuns along with her mother and sisters in order to find out where the baron, prominent protestant figure in the small region, was hiding. All of them talked in no time, records of interrogations tell us that each of them was "unbelievably ticklish" on their belly buttons, that were feathered by the nuns mercilessly as the poor women were held imprisoned in torture chamber of their own castle. All talked, except Sara. Irritated by her resilience, the nuns took her with them to the convent as they left the area, where her tortures continued for months, at mercy of the sisterhood's most skillful navel ticklers. Eventually she promised to repent and reconvert on one condition. She's allowed to join the order. The abbess granted her wish. Propaganda victories such as converted nobles were always welcome, and one joining a holy order was almost too good to be true. Saint Pia must have truly touched her soul. The truth is likely to be much more worldly, as journal left behind by her reveals deep seated tickle masochism and reveling in ticklish suffering of both herself and others. It is unknown if she was like this before being captured, or if the inhuman tickle torture did it to her, but what is known is that she would live to become future abbess of the convent.
After treaty of Westphalia ended the war of religion in Europe, the sisters of Saint Pia returned to the oldest activities. Disciplining misbehaving women of upper classes, and dishing out punishment on sinners sentenced to their hands. The eventual decline of the sisterhood was inevitable however, as the enlightenment washed over Europe, striking at the "cruel and barbaric" practices of sisters too. The flow of new victims in their torture dungeon dwindled, reducing their prisoners to secular criminals and enemies of state of Austria, and while those few prisoners would still fill their dungeons with hysterical, cackling laughter, the order felt like it's traditions are decaying, eventually causing it to turn inwards when their practice of tickle torture were outlawed. The sisters would tickle only each other like they originally used to, which was not enough to sate the will of some sisters yearning for the glorious past of merciless tickle torture. In early 20th century a scandal shocked the region as it was discovered that a small group of nuns had been kidnapping local women and secretly smuggling them to desolate sections of vacant torture dungeons to be tickled as "old ways" demanded, and while several of the victims ended up in asylums following their terrible ordeals, the few who retained their sanity were able to testify against the nuns. They had kept their kidnapped victims in a section where their screams would not be heard in the convent itself. The ones to suffer the worst were two sisters who had been collecting berries in the woods when lured to trap and taken by the nuns, they were kept chained against a wall as their bare breasts were viciously feathered by the evil nuns, driving the poor girls out of their minds. This led to total reorganization of the order, including a total denouncement of tickle torture and abandoning tickling of all sorts. This finally made the sisterhood fade away, lots of nuns abandoning the now "joyless" convent, and many of the new novices were not even fully aware of place's horrifying and erotic past.
During the world war II convent was evacuated, and used as a ammo depot that exploded in an accident. Maybe it finally was some sort of karmic justice for it's victims along the centuries. After the war, remaining few nuns scattered to either begin new lives or join other convents. Despite the diminishing of the order, it's rumored that many of it's early 1900s members that left after the ban of tickling found use for their skills elsewhere, in armies and secret services around the world. The sisterhood had accumulated experience of tickle torture of hundreds of years, the old books sisters wrote on the subject sadly mostly lost to popular history, and they were well practiced in the art. Lots of interrogation methods used in breaking ticklish female subjects by various clandestine or government organizations are said to have their roots in art perfected by the sisterhood, and lots of women at mercy of CIA or KGB would experience what being a heretic in 15th century felt like during the cold war. The heritage of sisterhood is both quirky and horrifying, a strange yet persisting phase in church history with forbidden pleasures and vile desires, and a living reminder to us all of evils that can be committed in the name of fanaticism.
May we all learn from history.
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