“While other Roman writers of the time , such as Cicero, Suetonius, Lucan, Tacitus and Pliny the Elder, described human sacrifice among the Celts, only Caesar mentions the wicker man as one of many ways the Druids of Gaul performed sacrifices.[3] Not having witnessed the ritual himself, Caesar reports that some of the Gauls built the effigies out of sticks and placed living men inside, then set them on fire to pay tribute to the gods. Caesar writes that though the Druids generally used thieves and criminals, as they pleased the gods more, they sometimes used innocent men when no delinquents could be found.
While some modern authors like Barry Cunliffe, author of The Ancient Celts are convinced that the Druids practiced human sacrifice[4], others dispute Caesar’s accounts as repeating a sensationalistic rumor as propaganda to encourage his supporters back home. By the first century AD, human sacrifice “was a thing of the past” among the Celts.[5]
One medieval commentary, the 10th century Commenta Bernensia, states that men were burned in a wooden manikin in sacrifice to Taranis.”
From Wikipedia.
I read a book about druids that also had information on the Wicker Man.
See “The Wicker Man” (1973) starring Edward Woodward!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070917/
Don’t see the recent remake with Nick Cage.
Caesar of course being one of the all time great respectors of human life.