Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog

…the figures). Even the speed bumps in human history are surprisingly unimportant in the great scheme of things. Life expectancy falls in the Neolithic period as human beings settle for…

…bless his house. He got a black rooster and sacrificed it to the god Dongo. The sacrifice was botched and Dongo showed himself to be unhappy. Things began to unravel…

…who walked into the territory of the Itza (a forgotten kingdom previously celebrated on this blog) in 1696. Avendaño was brave. Many other missionaries had been taken, sacrificed and, by…

  There follows a particularly vivid description of an African execution/sacrifice of a witch. The witness, Paul B. Du Chaillu (obit 1903) was describing his travels in West Africa in…

…War. For the UK we’ve a doubtful case of altruistic human sacrifice from WW2 and even magical warfare against the Luftwaffe. The British neo-pagans had the enemy at arm’s length…

…race, and offer it up as a sacrifice at Parrot Island, to the God of the white man. This they do because the island is in view of the sea,…

Astarte was one of those bitter-bitter eastern Mediterranean dieties, all smiles and pubic triangles until she wanted your elder son as a human sacrifice… Her name is arguably Punic and…

***This post is dedicated to Jill*** This blog has long had an interest in witchcraft from western Europe and particularly bizarre late examples of witchcraft including alleged human sacrifice in…

…Probably puerile but for me the email of the month was Bob’s long list of sheep killers. So many… Last Human Sacrifice: Bruce on some Gothic connections… Last of the…

…Roope’ because of a pre-war accident.) Another question is whether the sacrifice of Glowworm was necessary. Roope should perhaps, it has been suggested, have decided that discretion was the better…

There is a long tradition of cats being either pampered by humans or being killed in various ghastly ways. As noted before on this blog – the cat throwing of…

…offers two possible explanations. One is that the cat is a form of blood sacrifice such as is sometimes found in the foundations of ancient and medieval buildings: enough to…

…what is it that explains Beachcombing’ obsession with Last Words and other dead things: after all, tags on this site include Capital Punishment, Human Sacrifice, Archaeological Horrors, Hanging and Decapitation……

…teaching experiences (and their economics)…. Greek Hot Air Balloon? Several emails (on bark, rockets and China)… Human Sacrifice and the Athenians: Philip with an African story… In Search of Doggerbank:…

…It came to his offering her a human sacrifice which she likewise rejected. Finally he offered her his seven-year-old son called Erlingr, and she accepted him. The earl delivered up…