thumbnail|upright=1.1|Detail from [[Stora Hammars stones#Stora Hammars I|Stora Hammars I, Sweden shows a figure lying on his belly with another man using a weapon on his back. Note the triangular valknut symbol above, which is theorized to represent an ecstatic state.]]
The blood eagle was a method of ritual execution as detailed in late skaldic poetry. According to the two instances mentioned in the Christian sagas, the victims (in both cases members of royal families) were placed in a prone position, their ribs severed from the spine with a sharp tool, and their lungs pulled through the opening to create a pair of "wings". There has been continuing debate about whether the rite was a literary invention of the original texts, a mistranslation of the texts themselves, or an authentic historical practice.
Accounts
The blood-eagle ritual-killing rite appears in just two instances in Norse literature, plus oblique references some have interpreted as referring to the same practice. The primary versions share certain commonalities: the victims are both noblemen (Halfdan Haaleg or "Long-leg" was a prince; Ælla of Northumbria a king), and both of the executions were in retaliation for the murder of a father.
Regin and Lyngvi
There is an oblique reference to the "bloody eagle" ritual being conducted on or his brother, who were in the process of being avenged by Sigurðr the Völsung, for they (the sons of Hunding) were responsible for the death of his father, Sigmundr.
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There they found Hálfdan Hálegg, and Einarr had an eagle carved on his back with a sword, and cut all the ribs from the spine and pulled out a lung, and he gave it to Odin for his victory.
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Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla contains an account of the same event described in Orkneyinga saga, with Einarr actually performing the deed himself:
Ragnar Lodbrok's sons and King Ælla of Northumbria
In Þáttr af Ragnars sonum (the "Tale of Ragnar's sons"), Ivar the Boneless has captured king Ælla of Northumbria, who had killed Ivar's father Ragnar Loðbrók. The killing of Ælla, after a battle for control of York, is described thus: