“Medicinal” cannibalism

I don’t know why (possibly a ghoulish streak in my personality), but I found this story about Europe’s “medicinal” cannibalism fascinating.  In a nutshell, in the years between the Romans and the modern era, Europeans were “scientifically” convinced that the life force of someone whose life was terminated early (usually executed prisoners) could be passed on to the person lucky enough to dine on the dead person’s body and blood.  Creepy, but interesting.