The Shultz Analysis of a Gruesome, but fascinating and effective Viking Torture Method
Dedicated to my peers and professor, for their entertainment and freaky fact libraries. As my audience, I expect you to be looking for something new and interesting to you.
Samund ^Bristol, 1797), pp. xxxiv-xxxv.
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The Blood-Eagle, or rista blóthrn, has long been recognized as one of, if not the most gruesome forms of torture the Vikings were known to partake in. In this report, you will learn how the Blood-Eagle was so effective at causing excruciating pain. Enjoy.
The blood-eagle ritual, usually invoked due to the extreme rage of an offended party, would begin with the victim being bent over a stone, or tied around a tree, with his or her back exposed. Next, the honorary executioner would forcefully divide the ribs from the victim’s spine with a blade and then proceed to reach into the victim’s back and fold the split ribs out from the center to give the appearance of wings. The only rational thing to do at this point apparently was for the executioner to then reach inside a second time and pull out the victim’s lungs, and flip them to each side, lest they fall back into the chest cavity. Then, for taste, or perhaps just pain, salt would be thrown into the wounds and the victim would be left in agony.
This method obviously causes death, but not for the reason you would guess. The victim does not bleed out, or even die of sheer pain. The victim dies due to respiratory failure. The respiratory system relies heavily on the chest cavity, rib cage and diaphragm. This method of torture removes the ribs, thus taking out one wall of the chest cavity and then removes the lungs from what is left of the chest cavity.
Assuming that the lungs were still in the cavity, the system would work as follows. As the victim attempts to breath in, the diaphragm would normally move down to make room for the expanding lungs, and the rib muscles would lift the ribs back and out of the way. However, now when the diaphragm moves, it would only cause the salt to be dispersed more fully throughout the wound, causing more agony and since the ribs have been torn from the muscles, they can’t move, but at least they are out of the way. Next, when the victim attempts to breathe out, the diaphragm would expand and move up, helping the body force air out of the lungs, and the rib muscles would relax and allow the ribs to move back in, to create a smaller space for the lungs, again helping force the air out. However the diaphragm moving up in this scenario would only force more blood out of the body, and the rib muscles relaxing would allow the back half of the victim to begin to crush the bottom half.
After this excruciating spin of events, the teller of the story would often laugh at the fascinated, yet horrified faces of her audience, as they struggle to hold on to their most recent meal. She would then go on to explain that while the blood-eagle would be a terribly interesting method of vanquishing one’s enemies, it was likely never done. As a way of building fear in one’s foes, or perhaps just impressing the foreigners, you can imagine how effective this delightfully intricate form torture would be, but to the dismay of devout, blood-lusting Viking fans, even the mighty Vikings were not so deranged.
However, as a reward for your iron stomach and insatiable curiosity, my friends, you now you are fully informed on how effective the Blood-Eagle ritual is at disturbing the victim of your choice. Enjoy!
Works Cited
Nemours. “Your Lungs and Respiratory System.” KidsHealth. Nemours, n.d. Web. <http://kidshealth.org/PageManager.jsp?dn=KidsHealth&lic=1&ps=307&cat_id=20607&article_set=54039>
“History Horrors, Carving the Bloody Eagle.” Freethunk. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <http://www.freethunk.net/articles/history-horrors/history-horrors-carving-the-bloody-eagle-2-997>.
“Viking Atrocity and Skaldic Verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle.” Oxford Journals. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/content/XCIX/CCCXCI/332.full.pdf>.
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