13. Longitudinal impalement was favored for longer torments
A miscreant sentenced to longitudinal impalement was placed face down on a slab, and the executioners opened a gash in his body near the anus, which was immediately covered with a greasy paste to staunch the flow of blood and assist in the next step. The pale was then inserted in the wound and driven towards the head, with executioners holding the body in place as the pale was driven home through the blows of a heavy mallet. The executioners usually stopped the insertion before the tip of the stake reached the heart. The stake was in diameter described as being as big as the arm of a man. Despite the agony of the insertion, the true pain of impalement was yet to begin.
The pale was then raised upright, and precautions were taken to ensure that the victim’s weight did not force the stake deeper into the body, killing him too soon. Stays were used to hold the victim in the right position and to support the stake, which was sometimes placed in a gibbet similar to those used in hangings. The presence of the stays prevented the victim from struggling too much against his pain, and the use of the grease ensured that not much blood was lost. If the victim did not die quickly, occasionally a magistrate would have mercy, and order his position shifted so that the tip of the pale emerged through the chest, allowing the victim to die quickly. Others merely left them to eventually die.
