#Blood eagle skin

“Cut with an eagle?” Well, that’s sort of vague, isn’t it? There’s nothing about severing the ribs from the spine or pulling the lungs over the exposed ribs-those details would be piled on, one-by-one, over the coming years. However, the first literary reference to this practice didn’t emerge until sometime between 10 AD in this simple passage from the Viking saga The Tale of Ragnar’s Sons, which describes Ivarr’s murder of King Ella: It is alleged that the practice was invented by Ivarr the Boneless, a Viking military leader in occupied England who lived in the 800s and disappeared from the historical record by 870 AD. Historians are divided as to whether the Blood Eagle was a real practice or simply a myth that originated from misinterpretation of ancient Nordic sagas. The victim was offered up as a ritual sacrifice to Odin, the Nordic god of war.Īncient literary references to the Blood Eagle first appeared hundreds of years after it was allegedly performed, and the descriptions grew more elaborate and horrifying with each passing century. It was allegedly performed throughout all of Scandinavia and also in conquered Viking lands that now comprise modern England and Ireland. This horrific murder method was allegedly practiced not only on conquered soldiers, but on Viking men who’d performed evil deeds and had thus lost all honor in the eyes of the community. After that, his exposed lungs would be pulled out of his body and spread over his “wings,” offering witnesses the sight of a final bird-like “fluttering” as he died. The victim, it is said, would still be alive at this point to experience the agony of…“saline stimulant”-having salt rubbed, quite literally, into his vast wound.

#Blood eagle skin

After that, his ribs would be hacked from his spine with an ax, one by one, and the bones and skin on both sides pulled outward to create a pair of “wings” from the man’s back. The Oxford English Dictionary provides a very brief description of the method:Ī Viking method of killing someone, usually the slayer of a man’s father, by cutting out the ribs in the shape of an eagle.Ĭiting accounts from books published in 17, Smithsonian Magazine provides a much more elaborate (and nauseating) definition of the “Blood Eagle” torture method:įirst the intended victim would be restrained, face down next, the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings would be cut into his back. What exactly was the “Blood Eagle,” and did the historical Vikings actually practice this insanely barbaric torture method? Two separate episodes of the hit History Channel show Vikings depict an unimaginably grisly and horrific torture method that is known as the “Blood Eagle.” In the first, the villain Karl Borg is murdered through the extremely cruel and brutal method in the second, the corrupt King Ella is tortured to death using the “Blood Eagle” method. By Jerome London Updated November 19, 2021