Blood of a Black Cock

Ahhhh, the superstition of making appeasement. According to Frank, nowhere is there such a deep rooted mix between Roman Catholicism and Pagan superstition as there is in the Highlands of Scotland. In the book, the vicar, Reginald Wakefield, explained to Frank that many in the Highlands believed that the war came to them because they had been leaving off making appeasements to the earth spirits, such as making sacrifices when new homes were built. Such as it were, immediately after the war, residents took to remedying such a situation. Now let's take a look see about the real superstition and what may or may not have happened in Inverness, Scotland.

Black cocks are ill-omened and often associated with sacrifice, according to Whimsy's Superstitions and Old Wives Tales page. So we've got that so far.

Then there is the tale of Saint Odhran who is said to have sacrificed himself to be buried under the foundation wall of a chapel. It is said that every morning the workers would come to see all of their work undone. A voice told Columba that the chapel would not be able to be finished until a living sacrifice was buried under the foundation. After Odhran sacrificed himself, the workers progress was no longer impeded. Sometimes, due to similarity in name and story, Odhran and Odran are mixed up. Odran is the first Irish Christian Martyr who also sacrificed himself to further the work of another Saint.

Now while there is evidence that humans were buried as foundation sacrifices, it long pre-dates any contact with Rome. Many of the stories of human sacrifice described by the Greeks and Romans may have been exaggerated out of disdain for the "Celtic barbarians." If you would like to read more about sites with human remains found at foundation walls, check out Archaeology magazine's article entitled "Celtic Sacrifice."

Apparently, in the early AD years, human sacrifice began to be frowned upon and was then replaced with animal sacrifice. Even that has become less and less favored as a combination of Christianity and simple lack of religious belief has spread.