Skip to content

The Viking therapy club where men fight their demons

It looks like the set of Game of Thrones. Wolin in Poland hosts one of the world's largest gatherings of Viking enthusiasts each year.

Hundreds come to recreate Viking culture - and take part in fierce, competitive battles. Many are drawn by a passion for history. But, for a significant number, it's a way of escaping their past - a past scarred by violence.

A film by Dougal Shaw and Charlotte Pritchard for BBC World Hacks. Like, Share, Engage.

You can learn more about the modern Vikings in our radio programme and this article.

11 October 2017

Explore More

With some travel disruption, children and dogs have been enjoying the cold weather

Watch: Scotland under a blanket of snow from Storm Bert

Science & Environment

BBC Middle East correspondent Hugo Bachega at scene of destroyed building in Beirut, Lebanon

Beirut strike 'so powerful it was felt across the city'

BBC Scotland's Judith Ralston says snow will extend into northern Scotland over the next few hours.

The latest weather forecast for Scotland as Storm Bert hits

BBC News

One-minute World News

90s boy band Damage in a black and white promotional photo

Watch: Boy band Damage on their journey to stardom

Phone footage of a skate surfacing out of grey waves to a rigid inflatable boat.ttack the side of a inflatable

Watch the moment a skate attacks a fisherman's boat off Shetland

NE, Orkney & Shetland

People in high-vis jackets walk next to a car submerged in floods on the left of a split screen with a snowy road on the right

Atmospheric river dumps snow and record rain on California

Science & Environment

Smoke billows from house fire.

Video shows flames and thick smoke at house fire

A view from an EasyJet plane window as it flies above and to the side of an erupting volcano

Plane passengers film Iceland volcano lava from above

BBC News

East of England weather forecast

Composite image of Sir Keir Starmer and BBC Radio WM presenter Kath Stanczyszyn, who is pictured wearing headphones and speaking into a purple microphone

Will there be a Birmingham pub bombings inquiry?

Birmingham & Black Country

A huge Christmas tree on a flatbed lorry in font of the US Capitol building

US Capitol Christmas tree arrives in DC

Blurred still image from video clips shows people being taken out of a car

Migrants asked to rate trip in smuggler review videos

John Darvall sat on the left of a composite image, in a purple studio with a microphone in front of him. On the right is Keir Starmer with grey hair and brown glasses.

PM challenged on West's councils facing bankruptcy

BBC Newsline

BBC Newsline signed summary

BBC Scotland weather presenter Christopher Blanchett in front of a weather map of Scotland showing snow warnings.

Watch the Storm Bert weather forecast for Scotland

Mural of The Smiths bassist Andy Rourke unveiled

Parts of West Burton A power station being demolished

Power station demolition captured by drone

Man clinging to a cliff being rescued

Moment person clinging to cliff is rescued by helicopter

A woman in a hospital gown grins on the left and a monitor lit up with lungs is on the right of a split screen.

Woman gets first double lung transplant done by robot

Person holds sign against Dan Quayle

From the BBC vault: Dan Quayle's image troubles

The BBC's Charles Wheeler profiles US vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle's image problems as he campaigned.

Sharan Burrow

Helping coal miners to save the planet

Sharan Burrow wants to find alternative livelihoods for coal miners and therefore help protect our climate.

Michael Bloomberg

Bloomberg to BBC: 'I'd like to make a difference'

Michael Bloomberg spoke to the BBC's Katty Kay in September 2018 on whether he would run for president.

Jim Elliot

Killed for Christ in the Amazon

In 1956, five US Christian missionaries flew into the Amazon hoping to convert the remote Huaorani tribesmen to Christianity. Days later they were murdered in a brutal attack.

Solar powered cooker

Can a cooker help save the rainforest?

The solar-powered cooker that uses an alternative to charcoal.

This video has been removed for rights reasons

The musician who taught three-year-olds to master the violin

This video has been removed for rights reasons.

Romy McCloskey's mother

How my mother's death inspired a love of butterflies

When Romy McCloskey's mother died from cancer, she left her with a love of butterflies.

Photo of Frank and Hannah

'My heart could have killed me'

Frank has a heart condition that means a sudden rush of adrenaline could kill him.

Global weather pattern

Thirty years helping the Met Office from my garden

For decades the UK's amateur weather watchers have played a pivotal part in accurate forecasting.

Calvin Payne, convicted campaigner, standing in front of trees

Prepared to go to prison to save the trees

The man prepared to go to prison to save Sheffield's trees

Ingo Hasselbach

How to deradicalise a Nazi

A former Nazi leader in Germany has developed a system to fight extremism.

BBC News.

Dog foster carers helping abuse victims keep their pets

Gemma was trapped in a violent relationship and feared her partner would kill her beloved dog Dusty if she left.

Alice Ferguson

One woman's simple recipe for a happy street

How one woman championed a way to bring community spirit back to city streets and keep children fit.

Jill Millard Shapiro

Sixties Soho's dancing nudes

In an era of censorship, the Windmill Theatre was one of the only places where UK audiences could watch naked women on stage.

BBC News

Starting a new life in a foreign country at 13

Israa lives in Germany where she has rebuilt her life after fleeing her home in Syria.

Close up on world map with one country deleted and question mark in its place.

The country that keeps getting left off maps

It's tiny and is usually on the edge of the screen - but that's no excuse to cut out the country.

Malawi Red Cross volunteers point on a hand-drawn map with a pen

The volunteers putting forgotten villages on the map

Poor communities are often missing from maps. When disaster hits, it's hard to get them help.

Laika the dog

The dog that orbited the Earth

The first living creature to be sent into orbit around the Earth was a Soviet stray dog called Laika. She was a pioneer of the space race.

Alex the homeless poet of Edinburgh

‘Poetry touched the still alive part of me’

Alex helps overcome his past by putting his experiences with homelessness into poetry.

Tripoli International Fair

Oscar Niemeyer's forgotten masterpiece

Construction began on Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer's architectural project in Lebanon in 1967.