SUP KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKS! This here's my "Halloween-ish" episode! It's all about the history of ritual murder! More specifically, it's about for the purposes of diving the future. But what if it's something so deeply ingrained in the human psyche, that in unconsciously drives modern day ritualistic murders? ALSO! Learn the origins of the phrase, "I gotta see a man about a horse!" HINT: IT'S ABOUT HORSE FUCKING! And the bogeyman is lurking in the background of the whole bloody affair, so watch yer back! PLEASE TO ENJOY!

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SOURCES:

• Mesopotamia: Cuneiform omen texts and liver divination compendia (such as the Barûtu series), alongside archaeological finds of clay model sheep livers (such as those recovered from ancient Babylon and Mari).

• Etruria & Rome:

  • Disciplina Etrusca (attributed mythically to Tages).

  • The Bronze Liver of Piacenza (discovered in 1877).

  • Writings of Julius Caesar (Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Book VI, regarding Gallic customs and wicker figures).

  • Writings of Lucan (Pharsalia, describing sacred groves and extispicy).

  • Writings of Tacitus (Germania, regarding Germanic lot-casting and sacred horses).

  • Accounts from Herodotus (The Histories, Book IV, detailing Scythian burial practices, divination with linden/willow sticks, and skull cups).

• Greece: Homeric accounts of heroic sacrifice (e.g., Achilles at Patroclus's pyre in the Iliad); descriptions of the pharmakos and Greek sacrificial terminology (sphagia, splanchna, bothros).

• The Hebrews: The sacrificial codes outlined in the biblical book of Leviticus (chapters 1 through 7); Leviticus 17:11 ("for the life of the flesh is in the blood"); accounts of Yom Kippur and the eglah arufah (Deuteronomy 21).

• India: The Rig Veda (specifically the Puruṣa-sūkta) and the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa detailing Vedic sacrificial architecture and ritual logic.

• West Africa: Accounts of the Dahomey Annual Customs, notably recorded and counted by Victorian explorer Richard Burton (A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome, 1864).

• Mesoamerica: Primary and secondary source frameworks regarding Mexica cosmology, the Veintena calendar cycle, Tlacaxipehualiztli (the Flaying of Men), and ixiptla (god-impersonation rituals).

• The Andes: Archaeological findings regarding the capacocha ritual and high-altitude mummification, including the discoveries on Mount Ampato (1995) and Llullaillaco (1999).

• General Anthropology / Sociology:

  • The conceptual study of sacrifice, ritual structures, and substitution.

  • Research on global folk traditions, bog bodies of Northern Europe (e.g., Tollund Man), and head-hunting/trophy traditions (e.g., Dayak ngayau).

    • Joseph Vacher ("The French Ripper"): The 1890s French vagabond and serial killer studied by forensic pioneer Alexandre Lacassagne.

    • Eusebius Pieydagnelle: The 1870s French killer whose case was famously analyzed and popularized in Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s foundational psychiatric text Psychopathia Sexualis (1886).

    • Juan Díaz de Garayo ("El Sacamantecas"): The 19th-century Spanish serial killer active in Álava.

    • Edward Leonski: The US Army soldier executed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1942 for serial strangulations.

    • John George Haigh ("The Acid Bath Murderer"): The English serial killer executed in 1949, whose crimes were investigated by Home Office pathologist Keith Simpson.

    • Vaughn Greenwood ("The Skid Row Slasher"): The Southern California serial killer active between 1964 and 1975.

    • Nikolai Dzhumagaliev ("Metal Fang"): The Soviet-Kazakh serial killer active in the late 1970s and 1980s.

    • Tomás Maldonado Cera ("El Satánico"): Convicted for murders committed in Barranquilla, Colombia.

    • The Lokesh Case (Alwar, Rajasthan): The July 2025 ritual murder case from Sarai Kalan village, investigated by Rajasthan police.

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