Berserker invulnerability secret revealed

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The berserkers were described as "mad as dogs" and "strong as bears." They say they gnawed shields, swallowed coals, walked on fire and could kill the enemy with one blow, they did not feel at all in pain. Scientists have long been trying to figure out what gave them such superpowers, and recently a new theory has emerged.

Viking warriors who went berserk rage probably gorged on henbane, scientists say. Norwegian experts find this theory dubious.

The expression "berserker rage" comes from the concept with which the bloodthirsty ancient Norse warriors were described. They rushed into battle in such anger that they beat both friends and enemies indiscriminately.

These warriors were called berserkers, and they were described as "mad as dogs" and "strong as bears or bulls." They could kill the enemy with one blow. They gnawed shields, swallowed coals and walked on fire, according to the Big Norwegian Dictionary.

Previously, scientists thought that such warriors could be intoxicated, but now researcher Karsten Fatur has another explanation, according to ARS Technica, which was the first to mention the new theory.

Most likely, these are not mushrooms

Fatur is an ethnobotanist at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. This means that he is studying the interaction of humans with plants. He recently published a study in which he proves that the Norse warriors intoxicated themselves with the plant Hyoscyamus niger, that is, bleached black.

Black henbane

The researcher's assumption is based on various descriptions of berserkers in ancient Norwegian sources. The process began with chills and tremors, and then the warrior's face swelled and reddened. Then he fell into a rage.

When the effect wore off, the warrior fell ill and experienced physical and emotional exhaustion.

These symptoms, along with vomiting, sweating, confusion and seizures, are similar to those experienced by a person eating red fly agaric.

But, according to Fatur, it is more plausible that the warriors were in a state of intoxication bleached.

The flower known in history

Belena was indeed used during the Viking Age, says Anneleen Kool. She works at the Oslo Museum of Natural History and studies exactly how plants were used during the Viking Age.

“It is often found during excavations of Viking burials, for example, it was found in many places in Denmark, York, Dublin and in the Russian Old Ladoga,” she wrote in an email to Forskning.

Archaeologists also found traces of a plant in the grave of a witch in Denmark, she said.

At different times, the plant was used as a sleeping pill, sedative, and also caused hallucinations with its help. The plant is deadly poisonous and has not been safe to use, according to Kool.

Belena contains substances such as hyoscyamine and scopolamine, both of which are highly narcotic for the nervous system, according to a Natural History Museum article. If its seeds are heated, they begin to secrete these substances, which have an anesthetic and deafening effect. Probably the oracle in Delphi inhaled the smoke from such seeds.

Appropriate symptoms

Both henbane and fly agarics can cause symptoms similar to those experienced by the Vikings, but according to Carsten Fatur, aggression is not inherent in those who have eaten the fly agaric. On the other hand, he mentions cases where plants related to henbane and containing the same substances have invoked aggressive behavior.

The anesthetic effect of henbane probably helped the warriors to endure pain better. This gave the impression of being invincible on the battlefield.

Since the day after the battle, the warriors began to have headaches and vision problems, Fatur believes that it was henbane that they consumed, and not fly agarics, which have almost no delayed side effects.

Only assumptions

Anneleen Kool of the Natural History Museum thinks there are too many assumptions in the study.

"But that often happens when you try to unearth things like this."

She is not sure if the Vikings used the plant for this very purpose.

“It would be difficult for Vikings to achieve such military success if they were under the influence of drugs,” says Kool.

Karsten Fatur himself stresses that this is, of course, only an assumption based on information from sources available to him. So far, his theory has not been proven by any archaeological finds.

Perhaps the so-called berserker rage was caused by something else. Maybe it was injected through rituals, or it was associated with epilepsy, mental illness, or alcohol.

The complex concept of "berserk"

One of the main problems in this area is the lack of an unambiguous definition of the word "berserk". Taken literally, the Old Norse word berserkr consisted of bear + shirt (bear shirt, bearskin), and probably indicated the protective equipment the warrior wore in battle. Karoline Kjesrud, researcher at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, talks about this.

“This word was often used to describe a person with good military qualities, often it was associated with size and other characteristics. "Berserk" could be synonymous with a strong person, a giant, "she explained in an email.

This word has also been used in other contexts. In some cases, it was used as a synonym for a warrior in general or a warlike alien from distant countries. In the literature of the Middle Ages, berserkers were endowed with supernatural powers:

“For example, they can change their appearance during combat, which makes them very difficult to defeat,” says Hjesrud.

As far as Hjesrud knows, there is no evidence of berserkers taking anything special before a fight. Only their strength and size were emphasized.

She doubts that the warriors used any particular plant to daze themselves and rush into battle.

“Belena is mentioned in several medical descriptions from the late 15th century, but only as a medicine, not as an intoxicant. For example, it was used as a diuretic. If this plant were known as a common intoxicant used in war, perhaps we would find more evidence in medieval sources?"