What is "blood eagle"

n. A method of Viking ritual execution, in which the ribs are opened, and the lungs pulled out and arranged to resemble wings.

The blood eagle is a ritualized method of execution, detailed in late skaldic poetry. According to the two instances mentioned in the Sagas, the victim (always a member of a royal family) was placed prone, the ribs severed from the vertebral column with a sharp implement and the lungs pulled through the opening to create a pair of “wings”. There is a continuing debate about whether the ritual was a literary invention, a mistranslation of the original texts or an actual historical practice.

Blood Eagle is a novel by Craig Russell. First published in 2005, it is the first in a series of crime novels set in Hamburg, Germany, and featuring Kriminalhauptkommissar Jan Fabel. Blood Eagle, as well the follow-up novels in the series, are characterized by their use of history, mythology and legend. In Blood Eagle, Fabel hunts a serial-killer who uses an ancient Viking ritual of human sacrifice, the Blood Eagle, to kill his victims.