I never claimed to be sane - I think this needs to be pointed out right at the start of this article
I have recently stood in a field while people slung rocks and lead glandes at me (safety equipment ? what kind of wimp do you think I am lol). At one point a lead glande thrown by larry bray landed about 5 feet directly in front of me (just behind the 250 yard marker - he'd indicated it was going somewhere else and I just happend to move into it's path lol).
Now one of the things that is not immediately obvious to the sling user is the noise an incoming missile makes.
It's quite loud and can be heard for 2-3 seconds before the missile impacts. At no point can the victim see an incoming sling missile. You just hear it.
It's a sort of angry whirring sound.
Now if you were to multiply that sound by several hundred - as would be the case with a massed slinging attack - the noise of incoming 'invisible' missiles would be very loud indeed.
You would not have been able to dodge - like you might have done with an arrow that would have been visible - you would just have to stand there and wait for the impact.
Pretty darn nerve wracking I think you'll agree.
The same effect could be multiplied for horses.
So slinging in battle would have had a dramatic effect on both the mental attitude of those being slung at and on their discipline. That above and beyond the sheer damage the physical impacts would also do.
The other thing that stood out for me while being slung at - is the spin of the missile. Every single stone or glande that larry bray threw spun so fast that on impact with the ground they immediately buried themselves and could not be found - even the ones I had spotted the exact landing position of (even the ones that landed less than 10 feet away) had buried themselves too deep to be found. I suspect that the penetration ability of a slung glande has been strongly underestimated on this website as a consequence of not taking the spin and orientation into account.
On reflection I suppose it should have been quite scary and indeed everyone else took cover behind the four wheeler after the throws - but I was just having too much fun to really care
(hence my opening statement)
In short I suspect that being shot at with arrows was probably preferable to being shot at by slingers.
Like so many things related to slings we seem to have lost the experiences our ancestors probably took for granted. Having experienced quite a few now first hand - I have a much greater respect for the sling's impact as a psychological as well as a physical weapon in warfare.
Arrows, or arrow fletching, make a distinct high pitched whispering noise in flight. In olden days when the Grey Goose flock went up it must have been harrowing to be on the receiving end.
There is an undocumented piece about slingers from Rhodes cutting spiral grooves in the glandes to produce a distinct buzzing sound. It served as a psy-war tool and also to let the slingers know their own glandes when they took the disputed ground.
Also, I don't think an arrow coming directly at you is particularly visble. Particularly if launched from a true long bow with 80 to 110 pounds draw.
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Psychological Impact Of Slinging On Targets (Read 10813 times)
