Medieval reenactor dies after 7
A Virginia man who was playing a Medieval knight impaled and killed himself with his 7-foot-long lance during a reenactment performance.
Peter Barclay of Woodbridge, Va., who was a retired Army lieutenant colonel, died after he was impaled with his lance in a timed competition on Saturday in Williamstown, Ky. Barclay was a longtime and active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, according to the group’s president John Fulton.
Fulton said Barclay was competing in a equestrian game at the Kentucky event inside a large pavilion while spectators watched. In the game, riders had to pick up their lance from a hay bale and then ride, using it to pick up a paper plate.
Oh shit he's Terafan Greydragon. That explains the condolence posts I've been seeing from my friends on Facebook.
Also your news posts are always weirdly relevant to my life proboards but this is another level
'Tis but a scratch!
Friend of yours?
I don't really get how it happened, the description is awful. I guess it must have happened so quickly no one got a good look.
There's an excellent picture of him at an event here that I've seen a few of my friends share
Sobering reminder that even simulated combat is balancing on a knife's edge. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often, I've seen some pretty brutal jousts.
This accident happened because he wasn't in armour. The fact that these accidents don't happen while the user is in armour, is a testament to the effectiveness of the armours. They are designed specifically to prevent lances from injuring the wearer. They're better at protecting against lances than the best bullet-resistant armour protects against bullets.
I'm imagining this guy in the afterlife and he's sitting around with like some 13th century warriors. They're like "sucks dude how'd you die?" and he says "accidentally impaled myself with my lance" and they're like "Look at this 21st century scrub doesn't even know to wear armor while fucking with lances omg kids these days"
Barclay had been involved in Medieval events and reenactments for more
than 30 years and taught others how to ride horses and do the
activities, Fulton said. The group has more than 30,000 members,
including groups in the U.K., Austria, Australia and Denmark.
Well. If you've been reenacting in medieval events for 30 years. That probably seems to be the best way to die. Sorta of a "He went out with a bang" situations.
I read this as Medieval Reactor, thinking they'd found some nuclear power device made by the Romans or something equally awesome.
i'm trying to visualize how this happened and i can't make it work
Not entirely sure about the tip, but imagine running a pole along the ground out of a car window. If it hits a crack and that car is moving, it could easily push it up into you. The car and ground aren't going to give at all. A horse is a powerful creature.
As for the tip, maybe he was holding it upright to the side, lost grip on it for a moment and it hit something on the ground, pushing it up into him like I described above.
I can only imagine it as him being impaled by the handle somehow, I don't understand how he could have somehow twisted a 7 foot pole around and had the handle land in front of his moving horse with the tip pointed towards himself.
Fulton said the 52-year-old was competing in an equestrian game at the Kentucky event inside a large pavilion while spectators watched. In the game, riders had to pick up their lance from a hay bale and then ride, using it to pick up a paper plate.
Barclay, who performed under the name “Master Terafan Greydragon,” had the lance in hand, picked the paper plate off the ground and was finishing the course when the accident happened.
“Something happened with that spear,” Fulton said Wednesday, “and he lost control of it or it turned, hit the ground, and as his horse was moving, the tip of it went into him.” A lance weighs roughly two- to three-pounds and has a metal tip on the end.
jesus that's awful. I do WWI re-enacting, and we always try to be as safe as possible. But accidents are always possible and this is a sobering reminder of that. Rest in peace.
Oh god, I've met this guy I graduated HS in Woodbridge. This is horrible.
wow that's taking it to the extreme, no need to roleplay it that far
Massive shame that such an unlikely thing like this happened, hopefully this accident pushes reenactor groups to make at least chest armour and a helmet mandatory for all jousts, if he wasnt only wearing a doublet he might have likely lived.
So funny joke
HAHAHA A MAN DIED LOLZERS
From the way they described it in the article, I think he was holding it while the horse was moving, lost his grip or lost control of it and it hit a rock or a crack, did a quick 180 (or less, depending on how he was holding it) and impaled him in the abdomen. It seems like he was impaled by the metal tip on the end and he was holding the lance, so it would've had to have flipped around then get pushed into the ground and stopping when it hit him if I'm reading this right. I can't imagine the blunt end impaling someone fatally unless he was going incredibly fast.
That is an insanely unlucky series of events, I wouldn't even say more safety measures beyond wearing armor any time you're on a horse with a lance could stop it from happening.
He wasn't jousting at the time, it sounds like. I'm sure the armor standards are pretty damn high for jousting.
Oh uh I forgot to post in character
hmm
Edited:
If he had a gun he could have defended himself
Why are you blaming the horse? The guy caused his own death by not wearing armor, something that's a BIG no-no especially when he more than likely saw the fucking spear.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.