It was a much more stern time in the history of Hyrule; a time when a younger form of the kingdom regarded offenders of the law as refuse to be cast aside. Not a century after the formation of Hyrule, the Shiekah - the guardians of the royal family - were to be given permissions in the realm of punishment and imprisonment. They would be granted authority to deal with criminals under the spoken (and highly open for speculation) constitution of Hylian law. In these Hyrulian dark ages, those who would violate the laws of the land were handled abruptly and harshly, as the Shiekah were, at the time, an entitled and highly powerful extension of the Royal family's sword.
In the shadows, in secretly built rooms of untold horror and agony, the convicted would be chained, bound, flogged, burned, dissolved, poisoned, starved, worked to the beat of a drum and in all other ways tormented and tortured for their offenses. Though the possibilities of excruciation were nigh endless, culturally, the favorite punishment implemented by the Shiekah executioners was the crucifix, whereupon the condemned beings would be chained by the wrists to have their hands sawed off by flame-bathed blade. The cauterization thus would prevent exsanguination and add a dimension of pain to the slow, torturous starvation that would follow. The multitude of hands that built up on such chambers would never be taken from the room, as sanitation then was dually unknown and not of concern.
These horrors would continue for centuries more before certain depths of enlightenment would rid Hyrule of its bloodthirst. As the abolition of torture shed light upon the land, the chamber beneath the well was sealed and the evil that took place there ultimately was forgotten; the souls left behind doomed to wander and contort in the misery of defeat, fearful and ferocious apparitions bound by hate, fear, and hunger.
No words of the misdeeds of the kingdom had been spoken. Whether the silence was warranted by the vows of the Shiekah or the mere waxing and waning of history, there was no way for the future residents of Hyrule to know of the stained past of their home, though those who would wander to the dark corners of the ruined relics of history would find, for themselves, the madness and terror that had left its mark.
In such holes under the blanket of history, foul entities hid and lurked; bloodied and maimed, wanting nothing more than to gorge on flesh and cause the agony they once felt, bearing no hands at the end of their wrists, having to call upon many – including their own – hewn body parts to immobilize their victims...just to administer a lethal bite.
Those ill prepared yet adventurous souls who would want to explore the crevasses under the scarred tapestries of Hyrule should strongly, and vehemently be discouraged from such actions.