Impaling was pretty much what it sounds like: having a huge spike run through your body when you're still alive. It's a terribly painful way to die, but you usually don't last very long when it happens, unless it's done very intentionally and skillfully to keep you alive for longer. In medieval Germany this was used as a punishment for women who murdered their children; while rapists of virgins or children would be impaled and buried alive. In Hungary and Eastern Europe impalement was used as a punishment against military deserters or those who were convicted of defecting to the enemy. Of course, the most famous impaler of all time was Vlad the Impaler, also known as Prince Vlad Tepes, also known as Dracula. He used impaling as a punishment against nobles in his kingdom who defied his authority, and then against the Turkish invaders that he despised. In one famous case, Vlad scored a major victory against a much larger Turkish army by attacking them in the night, and after his victory, he left a 'forest' of 20000 impaled bodies at the battle-site. The Turkish relief forces that encountered them were so terrified that they turned right around and fled.