I have actually encapsulated two of my children's placentas for their mother to ingest. It was an involved process of steaming, dehydrating, pulverizing, and then putting the powder into pills. Supposedly there are a lot of healthy hormones and nutrients in it that can be helpful to lactation and relieving postpartum depression. Can't say how true that is but she seemed to think it helped.
I will agree though that there is a lot of superstition out there. The oddest one to me is the "lotus birth" where the placenta is left attached to the baby until it rots off. I'm not sure I ever found a clear reason why people do it but I can only imagine the smell....
RE: Probably Just Placental Infarctions