The thunderous crack of a medieval trebuchet launching its projectile echoes across the field, drawing gasps of excitement from onlookers witnessing history come alive.

This isn't a Hollywood movie set or a museum display — it's Titan Forged Siegeworks in action, where ancient war machines built by hand still command the battlefield.

Trebuchets, onager catapults and Roman scorpio ballistas are only a sample of the incredible siege machines offered by the Utah-based company originally founded by a group of high school friends 28 years ago who desired to design and build historically accurate medieval war machines from scratch.

Before long, the crew would be invited to a Utah renaissance fair and the rest was history.

Drawing inspiration from ancient Rome, Greece and China, the company has built a classic ballista, trebuchet, centurion era scorpio and a catapult.

For the last 28 years Titan Forged Siegeworks has spent most of its time in Utah but over the last few years has expanded into Southeast Idaho with the hope to eventually expand into Montana and Nevada. In keeping with its general theme, the company has close ties to medieval reenactment groups and often details the siege weapon's historical ties during visits to area renaissance fairs and other events.

Over the summer, Titan Forged Siegeworks paid a visit to the Mystic Realms Fantasy Fair in Pocatello where it brought a medieval axe throwing display. Interested customers were able to learn the history behind traditional axe throwing while learning techniques and practicing on targets.

One of the primary factors for the company to attend an event is the legal precedence and optics of transporting many of these huge, handcrafted weapons of war. In the almost 30 years of the company’s existence it's never had a single injury or insurance claim and hope to continue that trend far into the future.

“We keep everything as safe as we can when people come around,” said Laci Martin, an outreach specialist and member of Titan Forged SiegeWorks. “If they want photos with the machines, we give them safe places to stand and things like that, just to show them how it works. Whenever we're in a live fire situation, we put members of our staff out there to blockade people from being in the area of fire. So even if we did fire a ballista shot or a trebuchet throw, or we were doing axe throwing or archery, we would make sure there was no one within the range of fire to be injured.”

Titan Forged Siegeworks also takes precautions surrounding the mechanisms of the machines themselves in situations where a ballista arm may shatter or an arrow implode on launch. The organization will often discontinue use of a machine until proper fixes can be applied.

Locally, Titan Forged has begun making connections with Idaho State University and its historical recreation groups, reaching out for potential interest in the school's archery program. In addition to the various fairs the company is a part of, Titan Forged Siegeworks provides educational opportunities for students K-12, giving insights into the history of these ancient war machines and the techniques used to make them.

“I think our primary goal in working with the community through Idaho State University is just the intent to open up into the Southeastern Idaho area to try and put our name out there,” Martin said. “We'd love to come and hang out and let everyone see our machines and show them off a little bit. The other thing is, they are a recreation society, and I think it would be really cool to get some real recreation opportunities, both just for the enjoyment of our members, but also the enjoyment of theirs, bringing that history to life in an even more accurate way.”

For those interested in melding past with present and becoming an integral part of Titan Forged Siegeworks, Martin said the company is looking to expand and happy to have new people on the team. The group is always looking for hard workers that are friendly, outgoing and willing to travel long distances for events.

In the coming weeks, Titan Forged Siegeworks will be rolling out its website in addition to the pages it already runs on Youtube, Instagram and TikTok. Martin said the group is always willing to answer questions, including technical inquiries on how it built its incredible siege machines.

“My personal favorite part of doing what we do is seeing people in excitement when we let them get out there and shoot the machines themselves and get involved with these pieces of history,” Martin said. “It really brings out that kind of joy, that excitement, that curiosity.”