The Pit and the Pendulum is set during the Spanish Inquisition when Jews,Protestants, and non-believers were either sent to jail or sentenced to death. In this story a man is sent to a dungeon.When he wakes, he faces complete darkness. He then finds a pit and nearly falls into it. Then he falls asleep and wakes up to water and bread. After drinking he immediately falls asleep and imagines the water has been drugged. When he wakes up he discovers that he is now bound to a wooden board and a pendulum is swinging back and forth above him. He quickly escapes using some meat and the help of a few rats. When he gets up the walls begin to close forcing him into the pit. At the last second a french general and his army have successfully taken over