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There were towels hung over two long objects protruding from the wall, and the owner whipped the towels off them to show that these were actually leg-bones

Well I guess a leg was being pulled, I suspect it was yours.
 
"London Bridge" is about human sacrifice. The girl in the song was buried alive in the foundation of the bridge to make it stronger. For related folktales, see http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html.

More about foundation sacrifices:

From http://www.users.cyberone.com.au/myers/maccoby.html:
Human sacrifices are attested all over the world not only for the foundation of cities, but for the building of bridges, houses, palaces, temples and fortresses ('foundation sacrifices').

[...]

Many legends and folk-ballads point to the former existence of the rite (e.g. the Balkan ballad of the Bridge of Arta), recounting the immolation of the builder's wife or a child to keep the bridge from falling down (such legends are found in Germany, Eastern Europe, India, Western Asia, North Africa, Celtic parts of British Isles; see Encycloyaedia of Relion and Ethics ii p.850). Old houses pulled down in England and on the Continent are frequently found to have the body of a cat walled up in them. Christian legends tell of monks buried alive under monasteries (e.g. Oran, a companion of Columba, in Iona). Sometimes statues were substituted for live sacrifices. Sometimes the foundation stone was laid on a person's shadow, and it was believed that the person would die within a year. In Oldenburg, it is reported that children were buried alive as late as the seventeenth century to make the dikes secure (L. Strackenjan, 1908, i, pp.l27ff.).

In the Near East, archaeologists have frequently found the bodies of children buried under floors in such a way as to make the hypothesis of foundation sacrifice highly probable, though recently attempts have been made to explain these as burials of stillborn infants...

From http://www.widdershins.org/vol1iss2/10.htm:
A young girl is buried as a foundation sacrifice at Woodhenge. The purpose? Her spirit will become the guardian of the site. At Stonehenge, a man is found as another foundation sacrifice, killed with arrows, his body is lashed to a pillar in a burial shaft, a common method of ritual murder among the Druids. (Foundation sacrifices would continue into the Gothic age, with bones of saints sometimes buried in the cornerstones of cathedrals. Their souls stood guard, even though they were not glorified through ritual murder.)

There are two biblical examples at http://www.usbible.com/Sacrifice/sacrifice_israel.htm.
 
Mummified animals

Greets

A mouse's nightmare: 300-year-old Woburn cat rises from the grave
By Terri Judd

10 February 2005

After three centuries buried in an airtight brick container, the Duke of Bedford's beloved cat is to take centre stage at an exhibition of mummified animals next week.

While he is undoubtedly showing his age, experts believe the cat, discovered in the foundations of Woburn Abbey, is by far the best preserved example they have seen.

Tradition once decreed that good rat catchers were buried in foundations to protect the house after their death and across the capital similar mummies remain interred beneath houses.

"It is very likely that the cat was one of the estate mousers, and was probably a very good one. It was buried in the foundations to protect the building against rodents and infestation," explained Richard Sabin, curator of mammals at the Natural History Museum.

The museum found one cat under its own entrance and another was discovered during renovations on a Georgian house in Knightsbridge. "The owner was pretty shocked when he was told about it, and brought the mummy in to us," Mr Sabin said.

But, true to aristocratic form, the duke's moggy was so well preserved in an airtight brick container beneath the Bedfordshire abbey - free from humidity, predators and bacteria - that even his whiskers are still intact. "It's by far the best preserved cat we have ever found in Britain," the curator said. Originally discovered in 1915 by workers demolishing an outhouse, the duke's cat will go on show for the first time next week in an exhibition at the National History Museum's Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire.

It is one of many mummified creatures including a baboon, a crocodile and birds of prey which will go on display from Monday. A tawny owl which was found behind a panelled wall at Hampton Court and a grey squirrel discovered in a cottage loft are two other examples of animals mummified in the United Kingdom which will be on show.

The museum will also display an array of Egyptian mummified animals and explore the reasons why the ancient civilisation practised such an art.

Cats, monkeys and even gazelles have been found buried alongside their owners and pet cats sometimes received their own elaborate burials, complete with cat-shaped coffins.

Mr Sabin added: "We've discovered some bizarre things about ancient Egyptian culture. Through X-ray examination of some of our wrapped cat mummies we've discovered that many appear to have had their necks deliberately broken.

"This suggests that cats may have been killed to meet the demand for them as high-status ritual tomb deposits."

Through studying animal mummies, scientists and archaeologists have been able to learn more about their role in ancient Egyptian society and their identification with particular gods, as well as the process of domestication, primarily in cats and cattle.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=609523

mal
 
About the burial of cats in buildings... (I have previusly posted this in another thread, I think)....

This tradition once held sway in Sweden too, but here the animals was buried alive. It was usually a church being given this "protection" and the supernatural creature one thought was created from the dead cat was more into protecting from thieves and so on. It can't have been considered too nice since it's name "skräcken" translates into "the fear" or "the fright".
 
cats in the walls

I was talking to a guy on the bus the other day who said that apparantly, the victorians while building houses would bury cats in between the walls for protection/warding off evil spirits....truth or just an UL?
 
Re: cats in the walls

gavajones said:
I was talking to a guy on the bus the other day who said that apparantly, the victorians while building houses would bury cats in between the walls for protection/warding off evil spirits....truth or just an UL?
I think it tended to be earlier than Victorians and if you got to certain cultures there were cases were peopel were sacrificied when new building were being made and their blood was mixed in with whatever the current equivalent of mortar was.

I've just retunred from Dublin and Christ Church Cathedral has on display a mummified cat and rat. Not found in the walls mind you but in the organ pipes!

Gordon
 
ritual deposits

Here in the UK most* builders can usually recall one job (when working on old properties) of discovering a cat/rat/shoe or such like encased in a wall/chimney.


Mr P


* Massive generalisation based entirely on my own conversations over the years.
 
This thread has been quiet for a long time....

Cat found buried in wall of house

Builders working at a house in a Devon village have found the remains of a cat, possibly centuries old, hidden in a wall.

The remains of the creature were found in one of the bathrooms at the house in Ugborough on Monday.

Dr Marion Gibson, a witchcraft and folklore expert from Exeter University, said hundreds of years ago cats were put into walls to ward-off "bad luck".

The owner of the house said the cat would be put back where it was found.

Richard Parson said: "The builders were just stripping one of the bathrooms upstairs and this little fellow come to light.

"We had an inkling that there was a cat here, there's been a local myth, a legend, that there's been one buried in the house but of course we had no idea where that was.

"My first thoughts were that we didn't need it in the house but actually it adds a bit of colour to the village so we're going to put it back."

Dr Gibson said: "Cats were often put into walls as some kind of good luck charm.

"They seem to be designed to keep away witches, the evil eye, bad luck, vermin, anything that can be seen as a threat to the house."

"It does seem to have been quite a widespread practice across the European continent.

Builder Kevin Read added: "It's not something you come across every day.

"I don't think it was too pleased to be in there to be honest."

Mr Parson said he did not know how long the cat had been in the house but locals in the village claimed it was about 400 years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8011361.stm
 
Mummified cat in a Lincoln cottage

A chap from Lincoln by the name of Sean Mcneaney forwarded me a couple of photos of a mummified cat he found in his own home. Apparently it is now in a glass case in a prominent position in his living room (bleccch!) I shouldn't think he'd mind if I passed on his address (he doesn't seem to have email). Drop me an email and I'll pass it on. Incidentally, just in case it should have passed you by, 'The Folklore of London' by Antony Clayton (Historical Publications, 2008) has an entire chapter on the subject of mummified cats etc.
 
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Nice read - if you're up for that sort of thing...

Immurement: A History Of Walled In Terror And Cruelty
The history of immurement is without question, a black spot on the timeline of humanity and dates back centuries with examples of the practice being found on almost every continent.
Immurement was typically used as a form of capital punishment, in which the accused was found guilty of some crime and a slow death was the justice handed down. The second use of immurement, while just as horrid and cruel yet perhaps even more disturbing, was in human sacrifice, usually to bring good fortune to those doing the sacrificing.

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/immurement-history
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/immurement-history
 
Interesting titbit from the Wikipedia article on Pachamama, a pre-columbian goddess still worshipped in the Andes. Her cult involves sacrifice of Llamas and Guinea pigs, but also, according to Wiki:

There have been many circulating stories of homeless people being lured to building sites, given alcohol until unconscious, and buried alive into the foundations as a sacrifice.

[citation needed]! An interesting UL if nothing else.

EDIT: Another source

Bigger projects demand more than just a fetus, with larger buildings requiring a fully grown alpaca at the very least. Disturbingly, however, the tallest skyscrapers and grandest mines are rumored to entail live human sacrifices. Victims are said to be homeless alcoholics who have been lured away from one of the city’s elephant cemeteries, clandestine hotels where the desperate and destitute go to drink themselves to death.

3388714108_31c69718dc_b-1.jpg

Dried llama fetuses | © Revolution_Ferg / Flickr

But is this for real or just a bunch of old wives’ tales? While there haven’t been any confirmed cases in the media, rumor is rife throughout the city of La Paz. Culture Trip spoke with a contact in the construction industry who affirmed the grizzly practice does indeed take place, though details were sketchy due to the obvious illegal nature of the activity. There have also been reports of human remains being discovered upon the excavation of tall buildings, a clear indication of the custom’s existence beyond the boundaries of urban legend alone.
 
We visited the Isle of Portland a couple of years back - it’s a VERY odd place - and they had a selection of immured cats in the museum.

Closer to home (the Brecon Beacons) friends of my dads were renovating their farmhouse some years ago and discovered a horses skull under a flagstone in their kitchen. Oddly (one for the coincidences thread?) I found a photo of it while sorting through a box of old photos yesterday. I’ll scan and upload if anyone is interested?
The family in question left it in situ...
 
We visited the Isle of Portland a couple of years back - it’s a VERY odd place - and they had a selection of immured cats in the museum.

Closer to home (the Brecon Beacons) friends of my dads were renovating their farmhouse some years ago and discovered a horses skull under a flagstone in their kitchen. Oddly (one for the coincidences thread?) I found a photo of it while sorting through a box of old photos yesterday. I’ll scan and upload if anyone is interested?
The family in question left it in situ...

Good show on leaving the skull in place. There must be a story behind it. We'd LOVE to see that photo, please!
 
Good show on leaving the skull in place. There must be a story behind it. We'd LOVE to see that photo, please!
I’ll dig it out again later (still in bed ATM - I have a week off, Mr Migs has walked the dogs, and Baby It’s Cold Outside), and post it. Despite being very local, it’s the only one of its kind I’m aware of, but talking about it now, I’m reminded of the Mari Llwyd tradition...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Lwyd
(Goes off to google some more!)
 
I’ll dig it out again later (still in bed ATM - I have a week off, Mr Migs has walked the dogs, and Baby It’s Cold Outside), and post it. Despite being very local, it’s the only one of its kind I’m aware of, but talking about it now, I’m reminded of the Mari Llwyd tradition...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Lwyd
(Goes off to google some more!)
I second the request to see your photo ! .. fascinating link btw ..
 
...Closer to home (the Brecon Beacons) friends of my dads were renovating their farmhouse some years ago and discovered a horses skull under a flagstone in their kitchen. Oddly (one for the coincidences thread?) I found a photo of it while sorting through a box of old photos yesterday. I’ll scan and upload if anyone is interested?
The family in question left it in situ...

Similar incidences mentioned on the Irish Archaeology website, here.
 
Here’s the pic - the skull doesn’t look in the best of condition, I’m afraid. Knowing the farm it’s on I would say the farmhouse is probably at least 400 years old, in parts, but the skull could have been put in place at any time.
77D145E6-4A05-48F7-8393-D3AEBBEBDF52.jpeg
 
Curzon St station in Birmingham has a mummified cat. Found in renovations I think in the 80s, as I remember going there and being told about it not long after.

Curzon St used to be the terminus at the Bham end of the line to Euston.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/curzon-street-cat-rise-up-4703773

Although according to this article, something I wasn't told when we went there years ago - that it was immured alive.:wtf:

There's a photo of it in the piece linked to, and I recall seeing this really shortly after it had been found, in the 80s.

ETA: Maybe immured is the wrong word - it was found under the floorboards.
 
I have an interesting story to tell you all!
I had the sudden urge to go for a long walk today, out of nowhere. I left the house and started walking. I arrived 2 3rds the way through my walk, and felt compelled to turn in a direction, i wouldn't usually head in.

Than, i turned again, 5 blocks earlier than normal! In my minds eye, appeared the image, of a cat mummy! I saw a giant dumpster, three blocks ahead! I love renewable woods, and old building materials. I put the cat out of my mind(that wouldn't last long! As i approached the gutted out 100 yr old shack, there it is was, a cat mummy, like i had imagined! Gaunt, mouth agape, in an upright position! The men working on the building, said, "the cat was sealed behind the wall. My next question was if i could have her. They called the foreman, when he came, i asked for the cat, and he said yes!
 
I have an interesting story to tell you all!
I had the sudden urge to go for a long walk today, out of nowhere. I left the house and started walking. I arrived 2 3rds the way through my walk, and felt compelled to turn in a direction, i wouldn't usually head in.

Than, i turned again, 5 blocks earlier than normal! In my minds eye, appeared the image, of a cat mummy! I saw a giant dumpster, three blocks ahead! I love renewable woods, and old building materials. I put the cat out of my mind(that wouldn't last long! As i approached the gutted out 100 yr old shack, there it is was, a cat mummy, like i had imagined! Gaunt, mouth agape, in an upright position! The men working on the building, said, "the cat was sealed behind the wall. My next question was if i could have her. They called the foreman, when he came, i asked for the cat, and he said yes!
Cool .. can you post a picture of it please ? .. where was it found ?
 
My grey cat succomed to severe mold poisoning, that almost took my life as well!
He never left me. I couldn't bear the thought of burying him!
 
It's difficult when you lose a cat. Even more so when the cause almost finishes you off as well!
Yeah. I felt really sick for 2 years!

On aside note. Going back to have another look around thebuilding where standing kitty camefrom.
 
Moreartifactswere interred withthe cat. A womens, mens, andchildrens shoes, several glass bottles, and tins! The cat wasalive when interred in the wall! I was allowed pictures of the items, butnotallowed to take any.
20180913_155540.jpg
20180913_155552.jpg
 
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