Blood Eagle

Blood Eagle

EDIT: Once again, some of you are popping in to say “this has never been proven.” Ummmmm, I KNOW. And you know WHY I know? Because it literally says in the text below that historians debate whether or not this even happened at all. READ THE ENTIRE POST BEFORE COMING IN LIKE A SUPER HERO TO GIVE US ALL A HISTORY LESSON. 🙄

❗️Warning: Graphic❗️

Blood Eagle

‘Viking sagas describe the ritual execution of blood eagle, in which victims were kept alive while their backs were sliced open so that their ribs, lungs, and intestines could be pulled out into the shape of bloody wings.

The Vikings didn’t come into towns walking on moonbeams and rainbows. If their sagas are to be believed, the Vikings cruelly tortured their enemies in the name of their god Odin as they conquered territory. If the suggestion of a blood eagle was even uttered, one left town and never looked back.

Viking sagas details blood eagle as one of the most painful and terrifying torture methods ever imagine. The story describes how:

“Earl Einar went to Halfdan and carved blood-eagle on his back in this wise, that he thrust a sword into his trunk by the backbone and cut all the ribs away, from the backbone down to the loins, and drew the lungs out there….”

The History Of Blood Eagle Executions

One of the earliest accounts of the use of the blood eagle is thought to have occurred in 867. It began a few years before, when Aella, king of Northumbria (present-day North Yorkshire, England), fell victim to a Viking attack. Aella killed Viking leader Ragnar Lothbrok by throwing him into a pit of live snakes.

In revenge, Lothbrok’s sons invaded England in 865. When the Danes captured York, one of Lothbrok’s sons, Ivar the Boneless, saw to it that Aella would be killed.

Of course, simply killing him wasn’t good enough. Ivar’s father Ragnar had — allegedly — met a gruesome fate by a pit of snakes.

Ivar the Boneless wanted to make an example out of Aella and to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.

Thus, he committed the damned king to the blood eagle.

Modern scholars debate how Vikings performed this ritual torture and whether they even performed the gruesome method at all. The process of the blood eagle is indeed so cruel and grisly that it would be difficult to believe that it could actually be carried out. Regardless of whether it is merely a work of literary fiction, there is no denying the fact that the ritual was stomach-churning.

The victim’s hands and legs were tied to prevent escape or sudden movements. Then, the person seeking vengeance stabbed the victim by his tailbone and up towards the rib cage. Each rib was then meticulously separated from the backbone with an ax, which left the victim’s internal organs on full display.

The victim is said to have remained alive throughout the entire procedure. What’s worse, the Vikings would then literally rub salt into the gaping wound in the form of a saline stimulant.

As if this wasn’t enough, after having all of the person’s ribs cut away and spread out like giant fingers, the torturer then pulled out the lungs of the victim to make it appear as if the person had a pair of wings spread out on his back.

Thus, the blood eagle was manifested in all its gory glory. The victim had become a slimy, bloody bird.’