Will, strange and eerie things like that used to happen all the time.
Back in the pagan days, every new building was consecrated by burying a live animal under the foundation (or rather, under the posts since there usually was no foundation). In some cases where the building was REALLY important, the animal would be substituted with a (supposedly) willing virgin (yikes!). This practice survived in some forms after Christianization (although 'officially' labeled as heresy, the Church really had little power over such matters during most of the Middle Ages) The ox's eyes may be a holdover from such a tradition (the tradition I speak of is Germanic, perhaps celtic cultures had something similar?). I have read before that the tradition survived in some cases in certain areas of Europe into the 19th century, including the burial of a virgin. Guess modernization isn't ALL bad...
