Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice

Go To

1%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1306362843052534200
2%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
3%%
4[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/MassEffect2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_1derelict_dragons_teeth_5262.jpg]]]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:[[BloodlessCarnage Where's the blood, you ask?]] [[BodyHorror Being replaced with cybernetic technology and machinery.]]]]
6%%
7->''"Tucker Foyle slides slowly forward onto his spar. He has a bullet wound in his back, at the shoulder. This itself would not be such a terrible thing, but the impact has driven him onto the wooden spike resting onto his chin. Tucker has been impaled. He is not dead. He will not die for several minutes, but die he will and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it."''
8-->-- ''Literature/TheGoneAwayWorld''
9
10This trope is for when someone gets stabbed in a [[ExaggeratedTrope really big way]].
11
12The defining element of this trope is the shock value of the impalement: mere death by a bladed weapon (knife, [[SwordFight sword]], {{l|aserBlade}}ightsaber, etc.) '''does not qualify''' unless the victim is stabbed, and in an extreme fashion -- usually, the blade goes all the way through the body so that the point emerges from the victim on the other side. Garden-variety stabbings or [[WoodenStake vampire stakings]] don't count -- extraordinary stakings ''do'' count. Imaginative impalements also qualify. This trope often appears with {{Anvilicious}} symbolism with a side dish of [[FreudWasRight Freudianism]]: after all, the character was just [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything run through]] with a [[PhallicWeapon really big rod]]... and [[BiggerIsBetterInBed bigger is better in]] [[FoeRomanticSubtext bad]].
13
14Thanks to its sheer shock value, this trope is sometimes used on one of the good guys as a way to really [[SacrificialLamb raise the stakes]] -- pun intended. Some go as far as using it on an ''[[SacrificialLion important]]'' character to [[GutPunch really mess with the emotions of the audience]].
15
16If it's a bad guy who's been impaled on a long, sharp thing in the hero's hand (such as a sword or spear), he'll sometimes [[PullYourselfDownTheSpear pull himself along the shaft]] towards the hero, either to get close enough to kill them, or just to [[RuleOfCreepy creep them out]].
17
18Dramatic impalement may be the result of a really successful attack (perhaps a FinishingMove) with a spear, or even by an especially strong JavelinThrower. This is also one result of the proper application of ForkliftFu. This can very often qualify as a CruelAndUnusualDeath. If the victim is impaled through their neck, it's an ImpromptuTracheotomy. If the victim is impaled multiple times, you have an example of HumanPincushion. If the target moves but the big rod doesn't, it's an InertialImpalement.
19
20Real-life impalement isn't always fatal, but fictional characters who suffer this fate are almost always killed (or at least assumed to be dead).
21
22'''Since this is a {{Death Trope|s}}, beware of unmarked spoilers.'''
23
24See also PinnedToTheWall, which this trope can overlap with.
25----
26!!Example Subpages:
27
28[[index]]
29* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice/AnimeAndManga
30* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice/ComicBooks
31* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice/FanWorks
32* [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
33* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice/{{Literature}}
34* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice/LiveActionTV
35* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice/VideoGames
36[[/index]]
37
38!!Other Examples:
39[[foldercontrol]]
40
41[[folder:Advertising]]
42* The anti-heroin PSA "Needle" from [[Advertising/PartnershipToEndAddiction The Partnership for a Drug Free America]] shows a man getting impaled via falling onto a giant needle as a metaphor for how heroin addicts who start off by snorting it will eventually use the drug via injecting it into themselves.
43[[/folder]]
44
45[[folder:Audio Plays]]
46* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'': ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho099SonOfTheDragon Son of the Dragon]]''. To be expected in a story dealing with UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler. At one stage the Doctor and Radu stumble in the 'Forest of the Dead' where Vlad impaled 20,000 of his countrymen on stakes.
47[[/folder]]
48
49[[folder:Comic Strips]]
50* ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' foe the Brow ended up impaled on a flagpole. Worse, he slid ''all'' the way down to the ground. Understandably, Chester Gould once cited it as the worst death any character in the comic ever suffered.
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
54* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/ArloTheAlligatorBoy'', when Furlecia gets comically non-fatally stabbed in her "love handles" by a rake during a wrestling match.
55* While it's not explicitly shown in the movie, WordOfGod says that Gaston in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' suffers this fate when he lands on a wrought iron fence after falling to his death.
56* In ''WesternAnimation/TheDeathOfSuperman'', Superman is gutted by one of Doomsday's spike protrusions and he punches his head so hard and so fast that it's [[NeckSnap wrenched a full 180 degrees]].
57* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'': PlayedForLaughs when Olaf bumbles into a jutting spar of ice. He's a snowman, of course, so it doesn't hurt one bit.
58-->''"Look at that. I've been impaled."''
59* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'': Multiple:
60** Ursula winds up [[RammingAlwaysWorks speared]] by the broken spar of a ship. In an original draft, she was actually going to be impaled by the Trident.
61** Similarly, in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', Ursula ends up meeting the fate given in the original storyboard where Prince Eric hurled it into her chest. Bonus points for him doing it [[ExactWords after she demanded that he give her the Trident]].
62* In ''WesternAnimation/ReignOfTheSupermen'', the real Superman stabs Cyborg Superman in the head with a crystal from the Fortress of Solitude. This allows the Eradicator to go in and erase Hank Henshaw's personality.
63* In ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Flora enchants Philip's Sword of Truth, and he throws it right into [[OneWingedAngel Dragon]] Maleficent's belly, killing her upon impact.
64-->'''Flora:''' [[PreMortemCatchphrase Now, Sword of Truth, fly swift and sure! Let evil die and good endure!]]
65* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', Saddam Hussein is thrown back into Hell by {{Satan}} and gets impaled through his chest on a precipice.
66* In ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub [[TheMovie The Secret of the Lost Kingdom]]'', Mandragora is stabbed right through her body by Sky with Oritel's sword, though Bloom is the one who finishes her off right afterwards.
67[[/folder]]
68
69[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
70* ''Literature/TheBible'' examples:
71** In ''Literature/BookOfNumbers'' chapter 25, Phinehas son of Eleazar took a javelin and pierced through the bodies of Zimri son of Salu and Cozbi the Midianite woman as they were alone in his tent together, thus stopping the plague God sent upon the Israelites for their idolatry and sexual immorality by joining themselves with the Midianites at Baal-Peor.
72** In ''Literature/BookOfJudges'' 4, the enemy commander Sisera is fleeing a losing battle with the Israelites. Jael, wife of Heber, invites him into her tent, waits until he is asleep, and drives a tent peg straight through his temple.
73** In the ''Literature/BookOfEsther'', some translations have Haman plotting to impale Mordecai on a sharp pole. After his treachery is discovered by the king, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard he is impaled on the pole]]. Remember Haman ordering a gallows built 50 cubits high (or 22.86 '''METERS''')? That's Haman being impaled on a 22 meter high tree and hoisted up so he can slide......slowly......down.....
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Podcasts]]
77* How the ''Podcast/{{Sequinox}}'' girls defeat [[spoiler: Scorpius, and using the Gaea Spear too!]]
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:Roleplay]]
81* In ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', Daigo ends up impaled twice in quick succession; once by a bayonet that Rhys summons with his superpower, and then again by Harriet's spear after it's [[OneHitPolyKill already skewered itself through his friend Devin]]. Despite the brutality of both impalements, he's able to recover from them quite effectively thanks to his HealingFactor (Devin, not so much- he needs a bite from his vampire buddy [[ViralTransformation to get back on his feet]]).
82* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', the monstrous arachnid Khamul is impaled by a spike after a lengthy battle against the Alliance's strike team in Myridia.
83* Many characters in the versions of ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'' die by being impaled, but the one that fits this trope best (mostly in the "dispatching of a BigBad" way) occurs at the end of v1 where [[spoiler:Adam Dodd uses a katana to pin Cody Jenson to a tree, and then uses a knife to carve the word "Rapist" into his chest as he bleeds to death. Cody dies before Adam finishes carving, but he doesn't care.]]
84[[/folder]]
85
86[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
87* The [[CruelAndUnusualDeath cruel and unusual]] version of this is the most ignominious version of the death penalty in ''TableTopGame/EmpireOfThePetalThrone''.
88* Creator/GamesWorkshop games:
89** Some [[NumberTwo Exalted Deathbringers]] of the Bloodbound Warhords from ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' go into battle with an [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Impaling Spear]]. The Exalted Deathbringer uses this brutal polearm to impale his opponent and hoist them into the air so that their own weight drives them further along the weapon’s haft. In-game this is represented by the Brutal Impalement ability that has a 50% chance of inflicting extra damage against an opponent wounded but not killed by the spear.
90** Common enough in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', and not infrequently the victim is impaled on a ''chainsword''.
91* In ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'', Vlad Drakov is well-known for impaling [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating dissenters]], [[FantasticRacism nonhumans]], someone [[ForTheEvulz that just happened to annoy him on that day]], and even has someone impaled every evening as dinner entertainment. Granted, he's an exaggerated CaptainErsatz of Vlad Tepes.
92* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' the Cadaver Collector is a type of construct with long spikes sticking out of its back and shoulders (or old spears and swords). Unlike most constructs, it's sentient but is obsessed with skewering corpses on itself for unknown reasons. Unfortunately, it's also very hostile to living creatures and doesn't mind if its next corpse wasn't dead before being impaled.
93[[/folder]]
94
95[[folder:Theme Parks]]
96* ''Ride/GodzillaVsEvangelionTheReal4D'' at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Studios Japan]] sees Shinji impale [[spoiler:King Ghidorah]] in a wound Godzilla opened earlier in the fight.
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Visual Novels]]
100* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[spoiler: Junko Enoshima]] loses it after the first murder and kicks Monokuma, breaking one of the rules ("never attack the Headmaster"). As punishment, Monokuma uses the "Spears of Gungnir", in which he magically summons ''multiple spears out of friggin' nowhere'' and in front of everyone he impales [[spoiler:Junko]] through the torso. [[spoiler:Or better said, he impales ''Junko's twin sister Mukuro who's posing as her'' through the torso. But the players won't know it until much, much later.]] In [[TheAnimeOfTheGame the anime version]], [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8b/1b/39/8b1b39b2b2347b7465d2e65801f9072c.png this particular death]] goes straight into HumanPincushion levels.
101* In one of the endings of ''VisualNovel/FatalHearts'', the vampire meets his end when [[spoiler: the PC channels mystical strength to drive her hand through his chest and PUSH his heart out of his body.]] That's a romance that did not end well. For bonus points, [[spoiler: it's implied that he ripped the heart out of a woman in the past in order to become a vampire in the first place.]]
102* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': Several characters get this treatment.
103** [[spoiler:Gilgamesh]] has an attack that launches hundreds of swords at one target; he uses it most memorably on [[spoiler:Archer]] in the Unlimited Blade Works route, mirroring how that Servant's human life ended, and Caster in the Fate route.
104** In the anime, we see [[spoiler:Berserker]] impaled by dozens of swords after his fight with [[spoiler:Archer]] -- this was not an easy win.
105** In ''Heaven's Feel'', [[spoiler: Shirou, overusing projection using Archer's left arm (which earlier replaced his own), gets to spend the last few minutes of his life getting [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100730173230/typemoon/images/2/29/Blades.jpg skewered by swords]]. ''[[BodyHorror Swords slowly growing out from inside his body.]]'' In the Normal End, we see him losing bit by bit his identity, memories and cognitive functions until he dies in the process of Excaliiblasting Angra Mainyu. In the True End he is saved by Ilya at the last minute and put into a new body, at the cost of her life.]]
106* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'':
107** "Turnabout Samurai" had this happen to the victim. It turned out that [[spoiler:he was actually pushed onto a spiked fence. Plus, he himself killed someone that way five years before then]].
108** "Rise from the Ashes" has [[spoiler:Jake Marshall's brother Neil killed by Damon Gant on his suit of armour's sword.]] Trying to frame [[spoiler:Ema Skye]] was just mean.
109** In the final case of ''Trials and Tribulations'', the victim is found skewered on a large ceremonial sword held by a gold statue, and the scene puts extra emphasis on the shock value. In fact, later in the case, [[spoiler:it is revealed the scene is fake, and it is mentioned that Iris purposely made the fake crime scene so shocking so it would confuse the investigators]].
110* In ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', this happens to [[spoiler:Rosé]] in one of the Killer Peach Bad Ends - their body is posed such so that Akira and company can see the katana that's been stabbed right through their stomach and is protruding, blood and all, from their back.
111* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'':
112** On the third Episode, [[spoiler:Maria and Rosa]] die this way in the second twilight.
113** At the end of the fourth Episode's Tea Party, [[spoiler:Beatrice]] gets impaled by Battler's blue truth stakes after their duel.
114** At the fifth Episode, [[spoiler:Battler]] gets this from a red longsword. He gets back up on his feet later on, [[HesBack and boy does he come back spectacularly.]]
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Web Animation]]
118* In ''WebAnimation/DickFiguresTheMovie'', Lord Takagami uses his sword to do this to Col. Dingleberry. Neptune also uses his trident to do this to Trollzor.
119* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'':
120** Seth gets impaled on the horns of a Power Ram in the fight with Robo-Wolf.
121** This happens many times in the HarpoonGun game Cody and Lisa play in [='VRcade'=].
122** This happens to a BrainwashedAndCrazy Crystal Dragon with a ''hunk of a roller coaster'' in 'Carneelval'.
123* This has happened quite a few times in ''WebAnimation/{{Glitchtale}}'', and more often than not is usually fatal:
124** The first instances are in the first episode ''Megalomaniac'' courtesy of Sans to Frisk and Chara, Frisk's cases were quick while Chara's set them up to be [[NoBodyLeftBehind vaporised]] right after.
125** The second episode ''Yet Darker'' has this happen to Sans courtesy of Gaster, Frisk's soul fixes him up quickly though, and to Gaster at the end of the episode.
126** This happens quite a few times in Season 2 by it's DiscOneFinalBoss, Betty Noire, the first instance had her unintentionally impale Sans [[TakingTheBullet when he got in between her and Asriel]], allowing her to take the [[YourSoulIsMine skeleton's soul]], the second instance happened when Betty made Undyne accidentally skewer Alphys' soul with a spear, the third instance has Betty successfully impale Asriel, and the fourth is done to Betty herself during her RasputinianDeath by Gaster's hands.
127** In the first timeline this happened to both Chara and Gaster, the former by the blade of a [[BackFromTheDead HATE revived Asriel]] and the latter by a piece of rubble.
128* ''WebAnimation/MadnessCombat'': Happens very often to many {{Mooks}}, though Hank being impaled by [[KungFuJesus Jebus]] in ''Avenger'' is one of the more notable instances.
129* ''WebAnimation/MysterySkullsAnimated'': Lewis was killed while exploring a cave by being pushed from a cliff and being impaled through his chest by falling on a stalagmite. The suddenness and violence of this kind of death is often interpreted by the fandom as part of the reason he came back as [[OurGhostsAreDifferent a vengeful wraith]] out for revenge on his killer.
130* ''WebAnimation/OnTheEdge'':
131** [[https://youtu.be/wi4HaKE4p8A In this episode]], Shigeo impales a delinquent who ambushed the client and his fiancée and raped her, which drove her mad and committed suicide.
132** Darius is a Torture Sommelier descended from Transylvanian nobility who specializes in impalement. [[https://youtu.be/u4w8WmFphcg In this episode]], Shigeo receives his assistance when accepting a request to torture an oversea criminal named Brad, a fraudulent tour guide who raped and strangled a Japanese tourist, and his father, a congressman who covered up the crime. While Shigeo and Darius impaled the two, Darius also installed a heater in the pile that would burn the victims from the inside, which Shigeo compares to the Chinese torture, Shakuja.
133* In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue: Revelation'', [[spoiler:Agent Texas]] is stabbed through the face with a two-foot-long spike by [[TheJuggernaut the Meta]].
134* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
135** Happens to [[spoiler:Weiss]] at the end of ''"The More the Merrier"'', [[spoiler:out of Cinder throwing a spear through her back [[KickTheDog to set up a twisted repeat of Pyrrha's death for Jaune to watch]]. This traumatic situation reveals Jaune's Semblance for the first time, allowing Jaune to use his own considerable Aura to recharge and amplify Weiss', which heals her wound in a matter of minutes.]]
136** Happens to [[spoiler:Adam Taurus]] in "Seeing Red". [[spoiler:Having lost his sword, a panicking Adam races towards one of the shattered halves of Blake's Gambol Shroud. Yang grabs the other half as Blake proves faster and snags the weapon, both girls gutting Taurus.]]
137** Happens to [[spoiler:Clover]] at the end of "With Friends Like These", as [[spoiler:Qrow, Clover, and Tyrian all fight each other. Clover disarms Qrow, so Qrow leaves Harbinger where it lies and attacks Clover with his fists. After Clover's Aura breaks, he and Qrow stop fighting and argue about trust and duty — giving Tyrian the chance to grab Harbinger and drive it through Clover's back, much to Qrow's horror.]]
138* In the ''WebAnimation/{{Xombie}}'' flash series, the fight with the zombie velociraptor ended with it impaled on the ribcage of a fallen dinosaur skeleton. Being a zombie, it was little more than an inconvenience, but it was enough to keep it in place [[FaceHeelTurn long enough for its owner to arrive and befriend the heroes.]]
139* ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' likes this trope a lot.
140** In ''[[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]] vs. ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'', both fighters get hit with this. [[spoiler:Since Spawn can only be killed by decapitation, it doesn't really slow him down. Being impaled through the head proves fatal for Kratos, however.]]
141** In ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi]] vs. [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Tails]]'', [[spoiler: Tails offs Luigi this way, impaling him with the Magic Hand.]]
142** In ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'' vs. ''ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}'', both end up impaling each other partway through, though because of their healing factors, neither sticks.
143** In ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlue Ragna The Bloodedge]] vs. [[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Sol Badguy]], again, they both impale each other. [[spoiler: Ragna getting impaled causes him to turn into the Black Beast.]]
144** In ''[[Manga/{{Berserk}} Guts]] vs [[VideoGame/SoulCalibur Nightmare]]'', Nightmare impales Guts as part of a combo, but Guts survives this.
145** Happens to both fighters in ''[[VideoGame/MetalGear Raiden]] vs. ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}. Between Raiden's sheer durability and Wolverine's healing factor, it doesn't faze them much.
146** Also happens to both fighters in ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]] vs. VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}. [[spoiler: Only Dante has the healing factor to shrug it off- it proves fatal when the Umbra Witch gets hit.]]
147** ''[[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]] vs. [[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} Nathan Drake]]'' has [[spoiler:Nathan die via getting impaled by a helicopter blade as his luck runs out.]]
148** In ''[[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Optimus Prime]] vs [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Gundam]]'', [[spoiler: Optimus gets impaled by the Gundam's Beam Sabers twice. He survives both however.]]
149** In ''[[Franchise/PowerRangers Dragonzord]] vs. [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} Mechagodzilla]]'', [[spoiler: The Dragonzord's Battle Mode impales Mechagodzilla. This proves to be fatal... for the Dragonzord. Mechagodzilla [[PullYourselfDownTheSpear pulls itself down the lance]] to ensure its Absolute Zero Cannon hits.]]
150** In ''[[Manga/MyHeroAcademia All Might]] vs. [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Might Guy]], [[spoiler: Guy gets a hole punched in his stomach by All Might. He opens the Gate of Death in response.]]
151** In ''[[Manga/SoulEater Crona]] vs. ComicBook/{{Venom}}'', [[spoiler: Crona impales Venom before vaporizing him with a Scream Resonance.]]
152** In ''[[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Shadow]] vs. [[Anime/KillLaKill Ryuko]], [[spoiler: Ryuko gets impaled by Shadow's Chaos Spears. While this isn't fatal, it sets Ryuko up for Shadow's Chaos Blast, which is.]]
153** Happens twice to the same guy in ''ComicBook/LexLuthor'' vs. ''ComicBook/DoctorDoom''. [[spoiler:Specifically, Lex first ends up using the Ovoid Mind Swap to make Lex use his own Everyman Project-boosted strength against him, and then ends up having him impaled on rebar. This doesn't kill Lex, but like above, it sets up the finishing blow.]]
154** In ''[[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Blake]] vs. [[Manga/AttackOnTitan Mikasa]], [[spoiler:Mikasa ends up getting impaled by one of her own Thunder Spears. The initial impalement doesn't kill Mikasa, but then Blake [[StuffBlowingUp detonates it]], [[NoBodyLeftBehind which obliterates Mikasa on the spot.]]]]
155** ''[[Franchise/DragonBall Goku Black]] vs. [[Franchise/TheFlash Reverse-Flash]] ends with [[spoiler:Reverse-Flash impaling his arm through Goku Black's chest. Although it doesn't kill him, it sets him up to be [[WipeTheFloorWithYou turned into roadkill at super speed]] before being [[HurlItIntoTheSun flung into the sun]].]]
156[[/folder]]
157
158[[folder:Webcomics]]
159* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater''
160** [[spoiler:White Mage]] gets (accidentally) impaled by [[spoiler:a tendril of dark energy - caused by ''Black Mage'' whilst he's in 'full evil' mode]].
161** Finishing an [[RasputinianDeath Rasputinian death-attempt]], Vilbert von Vampire is impaled with the Armoire of Invincibility. It doesn't go through his heart, so he survives.
162* [[BigBad King Radical's]] entrance in the FinalBattle of ''WebComic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' is to appear [[ItMakesSenseInContext riding on a "birdosaurus"]] and impale the Doctor's ally [[spoiler: Old [=McNinja=]]] with a chainsaw through the stomach.
163* In ''Webcomic/CrimsonFlag'' the commodore of the Red's fleet walks calmly out of a crashed airship, smoothly decapitates an attacking wyvern, comes face to face with the big dragon that destroyed his ship, grins, and [[http://crimsonflagcomic.com/comic.php?comicID=289 is run through with one of its claws]].
164* ''Webcomic/DICETheCubeThatChangesEverything'': Realizing that [[spoiler:X intends to replace him as a "personal toy" with Che-Hyun, Mooyoung]] pierces the latter with his arm.
165* ''Webcomic/FafnirTheDragon'': [[spoiler: Vlad Tepes]] does this to some of his opponents. "Just like the good old days."
166* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
167** [[spoiler:Zeetha and Higgs]] each get run through during the same fight in the Castle. [[spoiler:Zeetha]] by ''her own sword''.
168** One panel of Count Beausoleil's DeathMontage shows one of his remote bodies in mid fall [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20170616 just about to be impaled through the eye by a spiked floor.]]
169** [[spoiler:Zeetha]]'s sword gets stolen and used by another character possessed by the Other to stab Oggie through the chest years later.
170* ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'': The sadistic Dellyn Goblinslayer [[spoiler:falls into a sharp, upsticking bit of broken pipe during his duel with Thaco the old goblin monk. Although the impalement doesn't kill him, he probably wishes it did shortly thereafter, as he finds he cannot pull himself free and is effectively stuck, and Thaco is advancing on him with sword in hand and murder in his eyes...]]
171** [[spoiler:and then horrifies him by...telling him he's NotWorthKilling, definitely not his nemesis, and then walking away.]]
172* This seems to be the preferred way of offing characters in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':
173** [[spoiler:[[TooCoolToLive Bro]], [[TheHeroDies John]] (twice), Dream Nepeta and the White Queen were killed by [[DiscOneFinalBoss Jack Noir]] in this fashion, though John recovers both times. Vriska kills [[KillTheCutie Tavros]] this way with his own lance, and Terezi does the same to her in turn using her cane.]]
174** In addition, many {{mooks}} in the kids' session, as well as the Prospitian and Dersite royalty (and [[KlingonPromotion by extension]], Jack Noir and [[spoiler: PM]]) and Davesprite, sheath swords through their chests by default as a result of Dave prototyping a crow accidentally skewered on a katana.
175** During or as a result of [S] Game Over, [[spoiler:Karkat, Jake, Jane, Dave, Rose, and Terezi]] all die this way, with [[spoiler:Karkat skewered multiple times with Terezi's sword by Gamzee, Jake and Jane impaled with Dirk's katana by Aranea, Dave run through with PM's and Jack Noir's swords, Terezi shanked with her own sword telekinetically by Aranea, and Rose stabbed with the Condesce's trident]], though [[spoiler:they are all brought back to life by John retconning the timeline]].
176** At the end of the FinalBattle, [[spoiler:Roxy finally kills the Condesce]] this way, using Dirk's katana to stab her InTheBack.
177* [[spoiler: Mijuu]] of ''Webcomic/{{Juathuur}}'' gets impaled on a ''flower''.
178* In ''Webcomic/MonsterLands'' this happens to one of Nixtos' partners when he had his back turned to an enemy.
179* In ''Webcomic/MSPaintMasterpieces'', one-shot villain Allegro is impaled with his own laser sword. Which wouldn't ordinarily count, except that said sword went through his ''face''.
180* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[spoiler: Tarquin]] stabs straight through [[spoiler:his own son, Elan]] to land a hit on Roy. "You'll live." For extra points, Roy had just recently been impaled by [[spoiler:a triceratops]].
181* In ''Webcomic/ParallelDementia'' Alexi sticks a pole from the base of a woman's skull so that it pokes through her mouth.
182* ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' makes fun of this in their strip about ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow''. Gabriel Belmont is leaping down upon a hapless werewolf, who cries out, "Don't stake me, bro!"
183* In ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'', [[spoiler: Mobster Kingpin suffers this fate by way of the Ham Needle after [[HumiliationConga being defeated and falling all the way down]].]]
184* Pretty early in ''Webcomic/ThePropertyOfHate'', both Hero and RGB get shanked by fears, leaving a schizm in her that later saves Hero's life when she falls off a tree onto an improbably sharp branch.
185* ''Webcomic/{{Sidekicks}}'':
186** Limpid gets a hand through her chest courtesy of [[BigBad Metheos]] and the latter receives his karmic retribution when [[DarkIsNotEvil Darkslug]] does the same to him.
187** Afrostar does this to a villain with a h-bar steel. [[GoodThingYouCanHeal Shame the villain could heal]].
188* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'':
189** During a flashback in Chapter 10, an emergency signal flare leads Mingxing to a breach in progress at the house of her friend and former teammate Mitsuki. The first thing she finds there is Mitsuki's mother [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-10-page-27 lying dead with a chunk of ice through her chest]], evidently having [[TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath just barely escaped from the house before the monster finished her off]].
190** In the climax of Chapter 19, the BigBad attacks [[BarrierMaiden Anemone]] while the latter is asleep by [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-19-page-30 shooting a massive needle through her bedroom window]], impaling her clean through the chest. [[spoiler:Anemone promptly [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-19-page-33 wakes up]] and [[LodgedBladeRemoval pulls the spike out]], seemingly unharmed and [[LetsGetDangerous definitely angry]].]]
191* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''
192** Vampires generally need to be staked through the heart to kill them, although it may not be enough, depending on the clan, Lysinda vampires needed to be decapitated and their mouths stuffed with garlic or incinerated by the sun, while the vampires in the Buffy parody arc crumbled to dust upon being stabbed with a toothpick. One of Sam's many temporary deaths involves being impaled on the spoke of a wooden chandelier.
193** In "Mohkadun", the Destroyer impales his "ally" [[spoiler: Symachus]] with one of his talons. Being a PhysicalGod, he doesn't die; the Destroyer merely needs some of his blood to seal a magical box, besides of wanting to make clear [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves he doesn't sympathise with his plans]]. Later, [[spoiler: King Farahn]] stabs [[spoiler: Kron]] clean through from behind, and since he made a DealWithTheDevil to get a god-killing sword, this time it works.
194* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''
195** Cassano gets impaled by a spear made out of electricity. Despite being felled, he doesn't appear to take much, if any, damage from the attack, despite it being called a [[InformedAbility one-hit kill]].
196** In the climax of the Hidden Floor, Hwang's human body gets impaled by a large [[CombatTentacles Combat Tentacle]] sent by King Jahad from the outside. He dies, all right.
197* ''Webcomic/Trevor2020'': [[spoiler: Trevor]] kills Private Shelley by stabbing him with a bone-spike from below and up through his helmet.
198* A flashback in ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'', shows a couple of examples from when trace went on a rampage in a wolf village.
199* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': While Duane's assasins were pinning him to the ground and beating him to death his daughter Mikaila tried using magic to blind them with light. One turned and stuck their sword straight through her chest and out her back in response.
200[[/folder]]
201
202[[folder:Web Original]]
203* In ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'' this is the end of [[spoiler:Uriel (in the spire of a cathedral, no less, after being [[EnergyWeapon lasered by several YAL-1s]])]]
204* Some stories in Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos have said titular, [[TheBlank faceless]] HumanoidAbomination doing this to its victims, with tree branches.
205* ''Website/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-299 SCP-299 ("Infectious Tree")]]. The tree uses its CombatTentacles to grab prey and impale them on its sharp lower branches in order to assimilate them.
206* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'':
207** A student with the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast revealing codename]] 'Bloodwolf' decides to pick on the wrong little girl and ends up nailed to a tree by multiple railroad spikes. [[spoiler:He lives -- regeneration is your friend --, but he hasn't tried ''that'' again since.]]
208** The same little girl gets stabbed through the heart with an ''athame'' much later and also [[spoiler:survives through regeneration.]] Karmic retribution?
209[[/folder]]
210
211[[folder:Web Videos]]
212* [[spoiler:Penny, the designated love interest,]] is impaled and killed by a shard of the [[spoiler:exploded Deathray gun]] near the end of ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog''.
213* ''WebVideo/HeroHouse'' has this happen to [[spoiler:Batman]] in episode six.
214* Faust receives this fate in ''WebVideo/VaguelyRecallingJoJo'' because Empress somehow managed to get a hold of his scalpel. He manages to survive and the scalpel is still in his head when he rescues the injured Kakyoin.
215* [[spoiler: Mollymauk]] from ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' is killed in this manner when [[spoiler: Lorenzo drives his glaive through his chest while he's is unconscious on the ground.]]
216** [[spoiler: Yasha]] does this to [[spoiler: Beau]] with [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Skingorger]] while the former is mind controlled by Obann. Luckily, [[spoiler: Beau]] survives, but [[DungeonMaster Matt]] is quick to point out the parallels to [[spoiler: Molly's]] death.
217--> '''Matt''': [[MeaningfulEcho It evokes imagery you've seen once before.]]
218** This happens again to [[spoiler: Fjord]] when a deep scion drives the Sword of Fathoms through [[spoiler: his]] chest in an attempt to [[spoiler: cut the Cloven Crystal out of him. Fortunately, he is revived shortly afterwards.]]
219[[/folder]]
220
221[[folder:Western Animation]]
222* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
223** In "Merlot Down Dirty Shame", after Hayley and Klaus lead Steve to believe that he's having a lucid dream, he invites his classmate Amy to fly out the window of their science class together, only for the two of them to fall and get badly hurt, with Amy, in particular, being impaled on a chainlink fence post. Though she apparently lived, Steve is rightfully pissed at Hayley and Klaus because Amy's family might prosecute him for attempted murder.
224** At the end of "For Black Eyes Only", Roger, as Bond villain parody Tearjerker, falls out of a helicopter and is impaled on a swordfish.
225** In "Russian Doll", a maniac has been going around murdering the members of the 12-man {{supergroup}} that Steve and his friends were briefly in during the episode "Can I Be Frank with You?". He's later revealed to be [[spoiler:one of the other members of said supergroup]] and meets his end when he's about to kill Steve late at night, only for the sound of Stan coming home to cause him to slip on a skateboard, fall out the window, and land on a trampoline outside that flings him onto the Smith house's flagpole.
226* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'':
227** At the very end of [[Recap/AmphibiaS2E36TrueColors the second season finale]], [[spoiler:[[BadassBookworm Marcy]]]] is suddenly run through by a [[{{BFS}} Big Frickin']] LaserBlade courtesy of [[spoiler:[[LargeAndInCharge King]] [[BitchInSheepsClothing Andrias]]]] for defying against his conquest to help Anne and the Plantars escape to earth, in a shocking enough moment to necessitate a last-minute ReleaseDateChange and {{Content Warning|s}}.
228--->'''[[spoiler: Andrias]]:''' [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou Now look what you've made me do.]]
229** In "Froggy Little Christmas", this is how Anne defeats the Santa float modified by one of Andrias' drones. She loads the tree of her family's parade float into a giant firework which Sprig activates, launching the tree which blasts right through the Santa's belly and pierces into the drone, destroying them both.
230* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': Vi suffers a nasty wound to her stomach when Sevika uses her arm's claws to stab her, nearly dying due to it.
231* Rampage from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', a seemingly-unkillable Predacon mutant meets his end when Depth Charge runs a spike of pure energon through his [[OurSoulsAreDifferent spark]]. Depth Charge is killed in the resulting explosion.
232* In ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'', [[spoiler:NOS-4-A2]] eventually suffers this fate - the only major villain to be KilledOffForReal.
233* The second season premiere for ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'' has [[EvilOverlord Lord]] [[HateSink Commander]] meeting his untimely end when Nightfall impales him.
234* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
235** The episode "Anthology of Interest I" (with a section called "Terror at 500 Feet") has a 500 ft-tall Bender impaled on the Empire State Building.
236** Fry was impaled twice: once by a pipe shot from an exploding boiler, and once by a giant space bee. Amusingly, [[spoiler: neither injury was treated as serious, though in the latter case, we don't find that out until the end of the episode.]]
237* In the ''WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois'' episode "The Quattrocento", two enemies fight each other with swords until [[MutualKill they run each other through]].
238* Episode 184 of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'' reveals that Mr. Cat murdered a guy called Jean-René by impaling him on the bowsprit of a ship. It's never explained how or why he did this, but he did it skillfully enough that somehow Jean-René didn't even notice.
239* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' episode "Pixie King" at one point has Ren impaled on a giant bee stinger.
240* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
241** Creator/MelGibson impales a member of Congress on a flagpole, complete with waving Stars and Stripes.
242** Also spoofed, when in a scene from one of Wolfcastle's movies (where he is playing a nerd character in a high school setting) he impales a bully with...another bully.
243** In "[[HalloweenEpisode Treehouse of Horror]] XI", Groundskeeper Willie is cleaning a window when a dolphin jumps through it... and through him.
244** In "Bart Gets Famous", there's a cutaway of a potential future for Bart and Lisa: the latter is highly successful and the former shines her many awards. It ends with Lisa [[TrophyViolence kicking Bart onto her Nobel Peace Prize and impaling him]], then her {{lampshad|eHanging}}ing the {{irony}} of him being killed by an award with "peace" in its name.
245* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
246** Saddam Hussein dies(?) this way in TheMovie ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut''.
247** In the episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS1E2WeightGain4000 Weight Gain 4000]]", Kenny dies by getting impaled on a flagpole, then sliding to the bottom of it.
248* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' absolutely loves this trope, doing it mostly to villains (though the impalers are usually other villains) with an alarming frequency and disturbingly graphic portrayals for a kids' show. While the above Qui-Gon example had a GoryDiscretionShot, the show does no such thing, playing up the killings in all their {{family unfriendly|Death}} [[{{Pun}} g(l)ory]].
249* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
250** [[spoiler: Pearl]] is on the receiving end of this when [[spoiler:she loses focus in a sword fight right through the gut.]] Thankfully, [[ResurrectiveImmortality her "death"]] isn't permanent.
251** [[spoiler:Steven is forced to run [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Bismuth]] through with Rose's sword in self-defense when she tries to kill him in a rage for disagreeing with [[FinalSolution her intentions in regard to the Homeworld Gems]].]]
252** After [[spoiler:Jasper]] is [[spoiler:corrupted]], she charges at Steven, Amethyst and [[spoiler:Peridot]], who narrowly saves all three of them by impaling [[spoiler:Jasper's corrupted form]] through the chest with [[spoiler:a loosened cage bar]].
253* Happens quite a bit on ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''
254** The Titan defeats the monster in Episode 6 by impaling it on a gigantic spear.
255** Lance does it again with a trident in Episode 13.
256** [[spoiler: Octus]] is killed by the monster of episode 18 this way.
257* The Season 3 finale of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' has the Shredder impale [[spoiler:Splinter right through the back, breaking an EnemyMine. They were supposed to destroy a black hole generator, and the satisfied Shredder allows it to activate and destroy the Earth; the Turtles are saved by Honeycutt and taken back in time to destroy the generator ahead of time, and saved Spinter from his fate. He did, however, get impaled by Shredder a second time in "Requiem" near the end of the fourth season, thrown off the roof of a building for good measure, [[KilledOffForReal killing him for real]].]]
258* Done to several Zack-bots by Martin in his Blue Heron mode on ''WesternAnimation/WildKratts''.
259* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': In the climax of the movie ''The Secret of the Lost Kingdom'', Mandragora is stabbed in the chest by Oritel's sword armed by Sky; Bloom then zaps her with her Dragon Flame, destroying both her and Obsidian, saving Domino.
260[[/folder]]
261
262[[folder:Real Life]]
263* Ancient Egyptians used this as punishment for grave robbing a royal tomb, which was considered to be the ultimate crime.
264* Best way to use the rapier; granted, it's capable of shallow cuts, but the sword's design makes it such that it's more effective at stabbing opponents.
265** The estoc was the {{BFS}} answer to this, having duller edges than a normal longsword, but a sharper tip. Makes sense, considering it was intended for going under armor.
266** Half-swording provides a new moveset to the swordsman for fighting armored opponents. While half-swording, you could use one hand on your blade to guide your thrust into chinks in the armor. Alternatively, if you like it simpler, just put both hands on the blade to turn the sword into an improvised hammer, and attack him with the infamous mordhau.
267** While still a viable slashing implement, the Roman gladius is mostly used to stab victims from behind a large shield.
268* A [[SchmuckBait bit of casual searching]] will turn up a verified instance where a man fleeing narcotics police either jumped or fell from the side of a major interstate highway and landed on an iron fence. He was impaled somewhere through the back of the head in the fall. [[OffWithHisHead The rest of him]] [[{{Squick}} landed in the parking lot]] [[CruelAndUnusualDeath eight feet further beneath the fence.]]
269** [[http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-impaled-east-hollywood-drinking-20150318-story.html A similar incident]] happened in Los Angeles in early 2015.
270* A boy in England once fell onto a fence, impaling him at the jaw. The spike passed through his mouth and out the top of his skull. Miraculously, he survived without major brain damage and wrote an autobiography on his experience.
271* In Britain a few years ago a man was impaled by a telegraph pole in a car accident. He got better though and apparently kept that section of the telegraph pole as a souvenir
272* David Haubenstock, the son of the German actress Romy Schneider, [[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19810707&id=kaZOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NPsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3751,2423442&hl=es died at age 14 while attempting to climb the spiked fence at his stepfather's parents' home.]] The poor kid slipped, fell on the sharp points of the grill, and as a result had both his intestines and his femoral artery pierced, dying the same day.
273* There exist a number of tall buildings with flagpoles in front of them in RealLife. Invariably, urban legends (sometimes true) spring up of suicide jumpers missing the ground and hitting the pole instead, resulting in this trope. A Google search will confirm that an incident like this occurred in the 1970s at the [[http://www.city-data.com/forum/attachments/new-york/12661d1199674683-main-street-down-town-buffalo-ny-downtown8.jpg Buffalo, NY City Hall.]]
274* Gather round and hear the story of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage Phineas Gage]]. While working on a railroad crew laying track in 1848, a dynamite mishap projected a metal rod 1.25 inches wide through his cheek and jaw, then behind his left eyeball, finally exiting through ''the top of his skull'' and landing 80 feet away. Despite both of his frontal lobes being damaged, Gage was sitting up and speaking within a few minutes. His skull is on display at [[https://www.countway.harvard.edu/lenya/countway/live/menuNavigation/historicalResources/warrenAnatomicalMuseum.html#Photos the Countway Library of Medicine.]]
275** Of course, he spent the rest of his life NotHimself. The only upside is that biologists learned more about what frontal lobe damage does to a person.
276** Gage was essentially the first example of a frontal lobotomy -- contrary to myth, however, his case did not inspire the medical procedure (his symptoms weren't anything people would want to ''replicate'').
277** A rarely told epilogue of the story was that Gage eventually ''[[HesBack recovered]]'' enough to return to his family, and live with them for the rest of his life (although his brain damage temporarily turned his psych from that of a kind and thoughtful gentleman to an impulsive and abusive drunkard, his mental ability and personality was restored after a few years spent attempting to reintegrate into society.). He died, probably of epilepsy caused by his injury, 12 years after the accident, aged 37.
278* A handrail impaled Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in a bus accident. Which was probably the least painful of her injuries.
279* Happened to [[UsefulNotes/FormulaOne Robert Kubica]] [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/15853406 during a rally in Italy]], where not only he and his partner crashed their vehicle but he got hit like this by a crash barrier.
280* Indigenous peoples of Northeastern America would impale captives, then burn them alive.
281* IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe was nearly killed in 2015 when his front right suspension failed while he practiced for the Indy 500 and a piece of it went ''through'' his legs after he hit the outside wall, barely missing his femoral artery. However, he did make a full recovery.
282* Legend has it that Edward II died this way, involving a red hot poker up a very sensitive place.
283* In line with the many examples of the "baddie pulls himself up the spear to fight" subtrope, [[{{Determinator}} boar]]-hunting spears are forged with large crossguards to prevent this sort of thing from happening.
284** {{Bear|sAreBadNews}}-hunting spears as well, obviously, bears being [[{{Determinator}} even more hardy]] than boars.
285* Newbie insect-collectors sometimes fail to use a killing jar properly and pin their specimens while they are unconscious rather than dead. A pin through the thorax is fatal, albeit not instantaneously.
286* In the 1400s, a certain Wallachian Voivode named [[UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler Vlad III]], whose surname would later be used for [[{{Dracula}} the lord of all vampires]], used this punishment to put the fear of God into his numerically superior enemies. And just anyone he hated. Or was annoyed by.[[note]]A lot of those stories were thought to be made up by his enemies to discredit Vlad. Indeed, there are multiple sources which indicate that the people of Transylvania actually liked him. He was seen as a strict, but very fair ruler, and there are no indications that he was more violent than his enemies.[[/note]] Then there's the fact that the nickname his Turkish enemies gave him translates to "The Impaler Lord" and that according to history — the infamous "Forest of the Dead" he had created made a pursuing Turkish (then a superpower known for their own barbarity — in fact Vlad learned impaling from ''them'') army commander ''vomit'' and then retreat in fear.
287** Women under Vlad's rule who committed sexual crimes (adultery, prostitution, premarital sex) would be [[GroinAttack impaled through their vaginas as punishment]].
288* Several cases over the course of the 20th Century involved Construction Workers and rebar invoking this trope, and it's for this reason that exposed ends of rebar are fitted with big orange plastic caps, in case anybody falls on one. Amazingly, one such incident in the Nineties had the victim survive despite having had at least three go through him, making him far luckier than the last case, who had taken a pair straight through the heart...
289* UsefulNotes/ShakaZulu is said to have condemned several people from his birth village to this, as punishment for having abused him and his mother when he was young.
290* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrike Shrikes]], [[KillerRabbit those adorable lil']] [[FeatheredFiend birdies]], are known for their habit of impaling insects and small vertebrates on thorns. This helps them to tear the flesh into smaller, bite-sized fragments, and also allows them to store uneaten portions for later. Hey, they don't call 'em [[MeaningfulName butcher birds]] for nothing!
291** Many wading birds hunt fish by impaling them on the tips of their pointed beaks.
292* Some lethal mole traps work by sending spring-loaded spikes through the animal.
293* In the US Army's SL-1 nuclear accident, one of the operators, Navy Electrician's Mate Richard Legg, was impaled on the ceiling by a shield plug when the main control rod was pulled out too far.
294** Note that this control rod ''by itself'' could cause the reactor to go critical. It had been disconnected from the control servo when the reactor was shut down over the Christmas holiday, and was to be manually withdrawn four inches to reconnect it. However, the rod would sometimes get stuck in its channel, and this apparently happened here; apparently Specialist John Byrnes was yanking on the rod, managed to unstick it, but indavertantly pulled it out ''twenty inches'', King Arthur-style. The reactor immediately went prompt-critical (increasing its power output almost 7000-fold in 0.004 seconds), flashing the cooling water into steam and created a water hammer effect which caused the entire reactor case to jump up and hit the ceiling. The pressure also caused the shield plugs to blow out, one of which hit Legg, who was standing above the reactor vessel at the time.
295** Search and rescue personel initially only found the bodies of Byrnes and Specialist Richard [=McKinley=] (who was still alive, but died two hours later from blunt trauma), and assumed Legg must have evacuated before the accident. [[NoPeripheralVision Until one of the crew looked up at the ceiling.]] Getting him down while no one could be in the room for more than a minute due to the deadly radiation was a difficult task. The three men were so thoroughly saturated with radiation that their bodies had to be buried in lead-lined coffins and thick concrete.
296* This is how Mapuche [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caupolic%C3%A1n chieftain Caupolican]] was executed by the Spanish ''conquistadores'', according to his legend.
297* [[http://nypost.com/2016/02/01/dont-mess-with-this-elephant This cape buffalo]] learns the hard way why one shouldn't mess with an elephant.
298[[/folder]]

Top