From my friend who knew I used to yammer on how I was scarred having seen a moonstomp:
“This is one that makes that seem like a noogie.
The Viking Igor liked the ‘Bloody Eagle’
Cut the victims chest open and crack their ribs open, then rip the lungs out and splay them as wings. Preferably without filling them. At least immediately.”
From Wiki:
The Blood Eagle was a method of torture and execution that is sometimes mentioned in Norse saga literature. It was performed by cutting the ribs of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out. Salt was sprinkled in the wounds. Victims of the method of execution, as mentioned in skaldic poetry and the Norse sagas, are believed to have included King Ælla (Ella) of Northumbria, Halfdan son of King Haraldr Hárfagri of Norway, King Edmund, King Maelgualai of Munster, and possibly Archbishop Ælfheah.
The historicity of the practice is disputed. Some take it as historical evidence of atrocities fueled by “pagan hatred for Christianity”[citation needed], while others take it for fiction inspired by heroic Icelandic sagas, skaldic poetry and inaccurate translation. Alfred Smyth (1977) is a particularly enthusiastic supporter, taking the blood-eagle rite as a historical practice of human sacrifice to the Norse god Odin.[1]
Great Odin’s Ghost! I thought Lethal Injection was inhumane.