A Virginia man who was playing a Medieval knight impaled and killed himself with his 2m-long lance during a reenactment performance.
Peter Barclay of Woodbridge, Virginia, who was a retired Army lieutenant-colonel, died after he was impaled with his lance in a timed competition in Williamstown, Kentucky. 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.
Barclay, who performs under the name "Master Terafan Greydragon," had the lance in hand and picked up the paper plate off the ground and was finishing the course when the incident happened.
"Something happened with that spear," Fulton said, "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."