Humanity has known at all times that the most ominous torture is the one that prolongs suffering for the longest possible time. Impaling was invented before our era. But one person managed to bring this type of execution to perfection.
Vlad Tepes's bloodlust was so high that the myth of Count Dracula later arose. Nevertheless, Count Tepes was a much more terrible and cruel person than a fictional character. The Lord of Wallachia, impaled in the most terrible way: vertically, through the rectum. The stake pierced the victim's body and exited through the mouth. However, the worst thing was that the person died for a long, very long time. This torture, he invented himself.
In medieval texts, it is written that the victims died on a stake for several days. For a long time, scholars considered these texts to be fiction. Indeed, passing through the body, the stake pierces vital organs, as a result of which, a person dies within a few minutes or even seconds.
However, the researchers found that a person pierced with a stake in a special way could live in full consciousness for more than two days.
For execution, 2-2.5 meter pine stakes were used. A whole army, called Amlas, was engaged in collecting suitable straight pines from the forests.
Trauma surgeon Mike Edwards conducted his research using 3D graphics software. “The stake goes through the pelvis and abdomen, then enters the chest. These areas contain many blood vessels and arteries, nerves and organs. The chances of vital organs being damaged are very high,”says Edwards.
Mike Edwards decided to impale a virtual computer-made body to see if the victim could die on the stake for a long time. Can a stake pass from the rectum to the mouth without touching vital organs?
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By passing the stake at a certain angle, Tepes was able to ensure that the stake did not touch the vital organs and arteries. The only thing he pierced was the intestines, which led to hellish pain and infection of the body. Then the stake passed behind the heart and lungs, which made breathing difficult, but again - this did not kill the victim.
In 1462 Romania was at war with the Turks. The Romanian army was several times smaller and much weaker. According to the chronicles, on a huge field where the attack of the Turkish army was planned, Vlad Tepes impaled 20 thousand people. Seeing such a terrifying picture, the Turks were confused. The Turkish generals were shocked, they ordered the army to turn around and gallop back. The shock effect worked.