Human Sacrifice in the U.K.?

My previous article was on the disturbing subject of animal sacrifice in the U.K. Today, however, I am focusing on the even more controversial issue of human sacrifice in the U.K. Could it be true? Well, let's take a look at some of the available data. February 14, 1945 was the date of a still-unresolved murder in rural England. It was a killing which bore all the hallmarks of death at the hands of a clandestine group of occultists. Some suggested a band of witches were the culprits. Others suspected a secret sect of druids. The victim was a farm-worker, 74-year-old Charles Walton. He was found dead with nothing less than a pitchfork sticking out of his chest. He was a resident of a small, picturesque village in Warwickshire, England called Lower Quinton. Walton had lived in the village all his life, in a pleasant old cottage that stood across from the local church. It was a scene not unlike what one might expect to see on Downton Abbey or in the pages of a Jane Austen novel. Until, that is, murder, mayhem, and, maybe, a secret cult came to Lower Quinton. None other than a Scotland Yard detective got on the case: Detective Inspector Robert Fabian. Despite an extensive investigation, the matter was never resolved to the satisfaction of the police and the mystery remained precisely that: a mystery. Moving on...

Mike Hallowell is someone who has uncovered evidence of a secret cult in the area that extends back centuries and which engages in controversial and dangerous activities. It all began with the Viking invasion of the UK in the 9^th century and their beliefs in a violent, marauding sea monster known as the Shoney. Since the Shoney’s hunting ground ranged from the coast of England to the waters of Scandinavia, and the monster had a reputation for ferociousness, the Vikings did all they could to placate it. That, primarily, meant providing the beast with certain offerings. We’re talking, specifically, about human offerings. The process of deciding who would be the creature’s victim was a grim one: the crews of the Viking ships would draw straws and he who drew the shortest straw would be doomed to a terrible fate. He would first be bound by hand and foot. Then, unable to move, he would have his throat violently slashed. After which, the body of the unfortunate soul would be tossed into the churning waters, with the hope that the Shoney would be satisfied and would not attack the Vikings’ long-ships, as they were known. Sometimes, the bodies were never seen again. On other occasions they washed up on the shore of Marsden, hideously mutilated and savagely torn to pieces. Not only that: Mike Hallowell was able to determine that belief in the Shoney never actually died out. As a result, the last such sacrifice was rumored to have occurred as late as 1928.

In September 2001, an investigation began into one of the U.K.’s most mysterious – and still unresolved - murders. It all revolved around the shocking killing of a young boy who was suspected of being the victim of a mysterious and deadly cult. The date was September 21 when the body of a child was found in London’s River Thames, near to where, today, the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater can be found. To say that the child’s "body"” was found would, however, be something of an exaggeration. All that was recovered was the poor child’s torso: his arms, legs and head were missing. On top of that, his body was drained of blood. The police wasted no time in trying to get to the bottom of the mystery, which caught the attention of practically the entire U.K. population and the media.

It quickly became clear to the police that this was not just a case of murder as such. It was, some said, also a disturbing example of full-blown sacrifice. All of the child’s limbs had been removed with what was obviously surgical expertise, and his stomach contents included the calabar bean, which is native to Africa. Notably, if ingested, the calabar bean can provoke seizures, respiratory failure, and even death. Very oddly, the boy’s stomach also contained clay particles that were peppered with gold dust. The shocking story was widely reported by the U.K.’s press, amid rumors that perhaps an African secret society had killed the young boy – who the police dubbed "Adam."

Finally: It was in June 1969, while walking around a centuries-old cemetery that stands close to where Loch Ness' Boleskine House stands, that a group of American students came across a strangely decorated piece of cloth; a tapestry, one might say. It was roughly four-feet by five-feet and was wrapped a large sea-snail shell. It was covered in artwork of snakes and words that were soon shown to have been written in Turkish. Of the several other people who had the opportunity to see and examine the tapestry in June 1969 – in fact, only mere hours after it was found - one was a near-full-time Nessie-seeker named Frederick "Ted" Holiday. He couldn’t fail to make a connection between the Loch Ness Monster and the dragon- and serpent-based imagery. On top of that, the matter of the lotus flowers led Holiday to conclude that all of this was evidence of some kind of clandestine "dragon cult" operating in the area. That Holiday knew all too well that Aleister Crowley was linked to all manner of secret societies was yet another reason that led Holiday to suspect the presence of a dragon cult in the area. As he began to dig even further into the story, Holiday uncovered rumors of alleged human sacrifice in the wooded areas surrounding Loch Ness, as well as attempts by the secret group to try and "invoke"” supernatural serpents from the dark waters of the loch. No proof was ever found to support the rumors of human sacrifice at Loch Ness. It should be noted, though, that Ted Holiday was deeply disturbed by such a possibility.