The most dreaded torture in history: 'blood eagle' torture was horrific.
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The most dreaded torture in history: 'blood eagle' torture was horrific. A brutal, ritualized method of torture and execution that was allegedly practiced by Nordic people during the Viking Age was so gruesome that some scholars questioned whether it was even possible to perform on a human body. However, researchers recently found that the act known as blóðǫrn, or "blood eagle," was in fact anatomically possible and could have been performed with known Viking weapons. According to descriptions of the blood eagle in poems and prose dating from the 11th century to the 13th century, victims were typically captured in battle. Captors would cut and open large flaps of skin and muscle from their living victim's back and then sever the ribs from the spine, opening the ribs out to the sides to form "wings." The torturer would then complete the ritual by pulling out the victim's intact lungs and laying them over the extended ribs (by this