The Blood Eagle punishment by vikings

Well there are a lot of ways to kill someone but have you ever thought what is the most brutal way of killing someone?
What was the most brutal way of torturing in the history?
One might think it could be public hanging or beheading someone with a sword in front of public, or something like that.

Or it might be like that of putting a person alive in the grave or locking in a prison cell full of insects.
But, nah ! in this article I will tell you about the most brutal way of killing someone that has been used in the history by the Vikings as a way of torturing the people they captured.

Who were the vikings?

The vikings were the ruthless people who lived through the history from 793 to 1066 AD. They undertook large scale raiding, conquest and colonizing of different areas throughout the Europe until they reached North America.

The Blood Eagle

This method of execution is called blood eagle. In this method, the victim was placed in prone position ( the position in which the person lies faced down with his back facing up and his chest touching the ground).

In the next step, an Eagle with outstretched wings was cut out onto the back of the victim. After that the ribs would be cut off from the spine, one by one, with the help of an ax and the bones and skin would be stretched out to create a “pair of wings”.

The Internal organs of the victims were able to be seen from behind. The worst of all is that The victim was kept alive during all of this procedure, Then the vikings would throw salt on the wounds of the victim.

In the final Step, The torturer would pull out the lungs of the victim from his back and would make it appear like wings. So called, “ The Blood Eagle”

Is it true or just a rumor?

The vikings’ writers have written that this practice was performed in late 900s. The perfect example is that of a viking named Ivar the boneless, who inflicted this punishment on King Aella of Northumbria as Aella was reponsible for the death of his father, Ragnar Loathbroak.
The historic poets wrote every single detail of the blood eagle ritual. Surely, it was performed by the vikings so that every detail was perfectly written in the history books of vikings.

Why this ritual was performed?

There were two main reasons behind this ritual. Why this ritual was performed?, the vikings considered it to be a sacrifice to odin who they considered as the god of war.
The second reason behind this ritual was that this punishment was given to those who were considered as honorless. For instance, according to Orkneyinga saga of the Vikings, king Halfdan was killed by Earl Einar of vikings through Blood Eagle punishment.

Even if it is just an exaggeration of a punishment or if all of it is real, both ways, it is one of the most terrifying and the most brutal way of killing someone.
Well, there are also some other ways of killings that vikings adopted such as that of fatal walk but the blood eagle punishment was the most brutal of all.