From the "colorful ways we do unto each other" file, we have this WikiPedia entry on that ever popular method of execution, "Crushing by Elephant":

Most rajahs kept execution elephants for the purpose of death by crushing and the executions were often held in public to serve as a warning to any who might transgress. Toward that end many of the execution elephants were especially huge, often weighing in excess of 9 tons.

Insert "Excedrine Headache #6" commercial here...