Trapdoor

A trap door is a door embedded in a horizontal plane, for example a ceiling or floor , which serves as access to a corridor or a room . Trap doors are often used as space-saving access to cellars or attics , whereby a mechanism can trigger the integrated staircase in the form of a ladder in the case of doors embedded in the ceiling . Trap doors can also serve as secret doors.

During executions on the gallows , the executioner operated a lever which opened a trapdoor via a mechanism. The delinquent was led through the trapdoor floor in free fall (long drop) until the noose fatally injured the cervical spine, causing a quick death. Wrong execution (too short a rope led to a shortened fall) instead of the quick break of the neck a painful suffocation took place.
The door that falls vertically down in an animal cage is also referred to as a trap door . It is either triggered involuntarily by the animal when it is to be caught ( animal trap ), or by a person by releasing a locking device (transport cage).
Doors are also referred to as trap doors in the sense of a trap , which suddenly open downwards by means of a folding mechanism when entering them carelessly, causing the person entering to fall . Especially in the Middle Ages, castle owners tried to protect certain rooms from unwelcome visitors and thieves with trap doors of this type.
In vehicles, especially on ships, trap doors are called hatches .
A trapdoor on a theater stage is called sinking in technical terms .
During the Vietnam War , the Viet Cong built numerous tunnel systems that could be entered and exited through camouflaged trap doors. These are now a tourist attraction (see pictures).