Fairgrounds becomes Middle Ages battlefield

WAPAKONETA - Sebastian de Granada stood on the hot battlefield covered in body armor wiping sweat from his brow after a battle which he was pummeled with wooden swords.

All in a day's work for an armored knight from the Middle Ages.

"I got winded kind of quick. I'm a little out of shape. I'm going to go out and have fun and make other people fight hard," he said.

Sebastian de Granada's real name is Scott Hargrose and he's a 42-year-old computer programmer at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus during the week and a knight on the weekends participating in the Society for Creative Anachronism which adopts life in the Middle Ages.

This was Hargrose's first battle in a year. A reoccurring back problem has kept him out of action, he said.

But no sign of the problem Saturday as he and a several dozen grabbed their shields and wooden swords to lock in battle trying to bash each other and deliver fatal blows. Knights group together, strength in numbers, Hargrose said, to attack other knights.

In this sport, there's no holding back. Knights swing swords as hard as they can bashing other knights with whom they will share laughs and swap war stories later in the day.

"Everybody here is your best friend you never met yet," Hargrose said.

The society is the biggest living historical organization of its type with 35,000 members and more than 100,000 participants around the globe. The event at the Auglaize County Fairgrounds was held there after the Miami County Fairgrounds, where the local event normally is held, was unavailable.

Women were dressed up in the trappings of damsels while many of the men put on body armor and heavy metal helmets to prepare for battle. Although there were several women participating in battle.

Hargrose and the other men dress in historical costumes matching garb worn between 600 and 1600 A.D. Fighting with swords and other weapons is a form of western martial arts, said Stephanie Drummonds, a spokeswoman for the society.

"This is what developed in Europe in the Middle Ages," she said.

All participants are trained and certified to ensure safety. Other safety precautions such as 12-gauge steel for helmets and swords made out of rattan, wood that does not splinter, are used, she said.

How bad someone is hurt in combat is on the honor system. A knight who receives a blow to his arm is not supposed to use that arm the rest of the way. A hard hit to the head is considered a fatal blow and the knight is supposed to fall to the ground as if he or she was killed.

Hargrose got into the society after a friend at work asked what he planned to do with his vacation time when he first started his job. He didn't have plans so the friend took him to the "Superbowl" of events for the society which was held in Pennsylvania. That was 18 years ago and he's been hooked ever since.