There are a couple of well-known cases in Germany. The small village of Vestenberg, 2 1/2 hours from Ansbach, is so picturesque with its hills and forests, yet remnants of Middle Ages remain. Surrounded by a deep moat, traces of the ancient towers of Vestenberg Castle are still visible. The castle, once owned by the Vestenbergs, one of the wealthiest families of Franconia, was magnificent, and built to withstand the fiercest attack.

It's said however, that Vestenberg Castle harbors a dark history. The mason who built the castle added a seat in the wall, and a child was placed on the seat to be sealed inside for all eternity. It's said that the child cried hideously as the mason completed his work. To pacify this young victim, he gave it a beautiful red apple.

The child was supposedly the illegitimate son of an unmarried woman. She had given the child up for a large sum of money. After the mason had finished his grim work, it's said that he slapped the woman hard in the face, saying: "It would have been better if you had begged your way throughout the country with your child."

Vestenberg isn't the only place where this tradition occurred, however. When the people wanted to build a church in Vilmnitz, shortly after Christianity was introduced to the area, they had a difficult time raising the walls.

The builders swore that they could not complete their job, because whatever work they did during the day was destroyed during the night—-by the Devil no less.

They decided to purchase a child to entomb in the building in order to end their problems. After they found a suitable victim, they put a bread-roll in one of the child's hands, a light in the other, and set the unfortunate child in a cavity in the foundation, which they quickly mortared shut, certain that the Devil could no longer disrupt the building's progress.

It's also said that a child was entombed in the church at Bergen under similar circumstances.

Unfortunately, there have doubtlessly many such cases throughout history.