The ''Blood Eagle''

By Crusader1307

This 4th Century Norse Age procedure for Torture and Execution is hotly debated by many Historians. Many feel that the few documents of the procedure are not properly translated and therefore, such a Practice could not have been. Whichever side one takes, IF The Blood Eagle was practiced, it would rank up with some of the most gruesome “ways to go” - ever known. Reserved for traitors or usurpers, the procedure involved securing the convicted between two poles (in a kneeling position). Then the subjects back was exposed. The Victims back was sliced opened in a pattern, very similar to a mortuary incision. This would expose the spine and rib cage. This was accomplished by a Seax. Next the ribs where snapped or broken outward – thus resembling the “wings” of an Eagle. Finally, the Convicted had His lungs pulled out from the back and laid out (again completing the ''winged'' appearance). Supposedly, the Victim remained alive for this procedure so he could slowly die from suffocation. In reality – the Victim most likely died from shock and blood loss.