Disturbing Viking ritual could have really happened, say researchers

[Judi Lynn]

DECEMBER 21, 2021
by Keele University

For decades, historians have debated whether an infamously violent Viking torture ritual ever really happened, or if it was a misunderstood or embellished story passed down through poetry over the centuries.

The blood eagle ritual has been highlighted throughout history as an example of Viking brutality and ruthlessness, both in the epic poems and sagas passed down from the Middle Ages, and more recently in popular culture focusing on the stories of the early-Medieval north, where it appears in the TV show "Vikings" and the recent Assassin's Creed: Valhalla video game.

The ritual is said to have involved separating a victim's ribs from their spine to symbolize an eagle's wings and hanging their lungs out through the wounds while they are still alive, but scholars have debated the authenticity of this savage story for decades, and whether it ever really happened.

Now, a team of researchers including anatomy experts from Keele University, have published new research in the journal Speculum, that investigated whether it was even possible for the ritual to be carried out as described, which could support any discussions as to whether it is likely to have taken place.

More:
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-disturbing-viking-ritual.html

[COL Mustard]

1. Well, I'm Not Going Back To Sleep Now

That’s for damn sure. Yikes!

[hlthe2b]

2. I find it hard to believe the traumatic shock would not trigger a massive MI--not to mention

the inability to inhale without the counter-pressures of a closed thorax. Anatomists are not the ones to answer this-- I never thought it to be anatomically impossible, especially on a dead corpse-- as would have occurred pretty early on in my own professional medical opinion and a pretty thorough understanding of physiology.

That said, I don't deny it might have been done--just that it is highly unlikely completed on a living being.

Still, I remember the scene from "VIKINGS"... Grizzly

[Judi Lynn]

3. Brutal Viking Ritual Called 'Blood Eagle' Was Anatomically Possible, Study Shows

LUKE JOHN MURPHY, HEIDI FULLER & MONTE GATES, THE CONVERSATION 20 DECEMBER 2021

Famed for their swift longboats and bloody incursions, Vikings have long been associated with brutal, over-the-top violence. Between the eighth and 11th centuries, these groups left their Nordic homelands to make their fortunes by trading and raiding across Europe.

Particularly infamous is the so-called "blood eagle", a gory ritual these warriors are said to have performed on their most hated enemies. The ritual allegedly involved carving the victim's back open and cutting their ribs away from their spine, before the lungs were pulled out through the resulting wounds.

The final fluttering of the lungs splayed out on the outspread ribs would supposedly resemble the movement of a bird's wings – hence the eagle in the name.

Depictions of the ritual have recently featured in the TV series Vikings and the video game Assassins Creed: Valhalla, as well as the 2019 Swedish horror film Midsommar.

. . .

However, our new study, takes an entirely new approach on the matter. Our team, made up of medical scientists and a historian, bypassed the long-standing question of "did the blood eagle ever really happen?", asking instead: "Could it have been done?" Our answer is a clear yes.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/brutal-viking-torture-method-anatomically-possible-concludes-new-research

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. Never underestimate how cruel humans can be to each other.

Or how inventive they can be with torture.