Left-handed Redheads Beware...

[Rána Eressëa]

In psychology class today, we were discussing heredity when my teacher mentioned there was a reason for us having so few redheads---and left-handed people---today.

In the past (not sure what years - she didn't say), if you were born a redhead they considered you a Devil's child and killed you, leaving the redhead genes to just a small population.

The same was for left-handed children. If you were born left-handed they thought you were possessed by a demon, and so they would force you to write with your right hand, and those who couldn't were murdered.

This sort of scared me for a moment, realizing I had red hair (though dyed it is) and was holding my pencil in my left hand---my writing hand.

I was wondering if anyone has heard these things before, and if they could confirm or deny them. I'm curious as to which cultures did this, if it is true.