Religion

In addition to the Biblical writers, there are a few secular writers who mentioned Jesus' crucifixion. The Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus was one of them. The Jewish historian Josephus was another. Josephus is a bit more controversial one of the two, since it seems that there was a later addition to his text by a scribe. However, I think it's the majority view among scholars of ancient history that the original text of Josephus did contain a mention of Jesus' crucifixion. The passage in Tacitus is not questioned in a similar way, so there we have a pretty good external confirmation to what's already clearly written by several authors of the New Testament.

The story writers were telling what they witnessed. And it is said that anybody crucified is nailed to the cross. And the nail would pierce through the wrists which would be very painful. But that's the way criminals were crucified in the Roman world then.