In "The Pit and the Pendulum," which is the more striking death, the pit or the pendulum?

Well, it is clear that neither are to be recommended if
you had a choice! Obviously, the response to this question is going to be very
subjective, as both are clearly presented in terms that demonstrate their terror and
horror, but for me, the pendulum is a far worse method of death than the pit. The pit,
of course, was a hidden danger - it was only by accident that the narrator tripped and
discovered it. Yet the pendulum is a torture-device beyond compare because the victim is
aware of its every movement as it descends bit by bit with the aim of slicing its victim
into two. Consider how the narrator describes the terror he feels when he has worked out
the situation that he is in:

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What boots it to tell of the long, long hours of
horror more than mortal, during which I counted the rushing vibrations of the steel!
Inch by inch - line by line - with a descent only appreciable at intervals that seemed
ages - down and still down it came! Days passed - it might have been that many days
passed - ere it swept so closely over me as to fan me with its acrid breath. The odour
of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils. I prayed - I wearied heaven with my
prayer for its more speedy
descent.

Clearly, this method
of death is so much more horrendous than the pit because of the madness that it causes
in its victim as they are forced to watch the blade descend ever lower, every moment
thinking that they are closer to being cut in twain.