Viking torture consisting of opening the rib cage in the back, separating the ribs from the spine and extracting the lungs of the victim supposed to be still alive...
The victim's breathing was supposed to cause these to swell on the victim's back giving the impression of outstretched wings (although it is highly doubtful that anyone could survive the first part of the "treatment"). /P>
it would seem that this torture has no historical reality. The first in Europe to talk about it are the monks, who were the main victims of the first Viking raids, a kind of propaganda intended to demonize the raiders from the north.
Scandinavian sources also speak of the blood eagle but researchers wonder if it is not in fact a mistranslation of certain text or a figure of speech describing the death of an enemy.
The sons of Ragnar lothbrok thus executed King Aelle of Northumbria to avenge the death of their father according to legend.
In modern literature, Robert E Howard, the father of Conan the Barbarian, liked this torture very much.