Iada Sonne, 50, from Brikama, The Gambia, was arrested by law enforcement on charges of black magic. Several eyewitnesses testified against the woman. They claimed that Iada Sonne had promised her neighbor Masu Kamara, with whom she had a conflict, that she would die as soon as the sun went down. The sorceress advised her relatives to take care of Masu's grave.
Masu Kamare laughed at her neighbor's curses and began to swear with her with renewed vigor. Only after returning home, Kamare fainted. Relatives told the police that she fell and could not say a single word. She was urgently taken to the hospital, but they could not help the dying woman. The relatives of the deceased are sure that her death was the result of a curse. More than a hundred residents of the city spoke out in favor of Iada Sonne being tried for practicing black magic. Of course, there were also skeptics who argued that these were just coincidences.
However, if you study the Gambian press, you can see that such lawsuits are not uncommon in this West African country. This is one of the few countries where the majority of the population retains remnants of ancient pagan beliefs.
The belief in curses and black magic is as strong in Africa today as it was a thousand years ago. And although many educated Africans refuse to believe in the supernatural, there are a huge number of documented cases when perfectly healthy and young people suddenly fell ill and died for no apparent reason, moreover, there are those who simply fell dead.
Invisible surgery
Scientists believe that there is actually no magic. African healers possess techniques that can be used to influence a person in a special way. In this case, special tinctures are used.
Doctors say that after a magical effect, the victim's breathing increases significantly, the pulse increases. Blood tests taken from such dying people show a rapid thickening as a result of the release of the liquid part of the blood into the muscle tissue. This effect is somewhat similar to surgical intervention. Only this "surgeon" does not touch the victim, and as if cuts the person with an invisible scalpel. It is impossible to save people who have been exposed to such effects with the help of drugs. Only a sorcerer, who has let the damage, is able to bring a person back to life. In some cases, another sorcerer can do this.
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Under such influence, a person dies a painful death: a panic fear arises, so strong that the dying person screams a few hours before death and tries to close his eyes, as if he sees something terrible
Distance Murder
Such magical rituals are known in every African tribe. Each tribe calls this method of cursing differently, but the meaning is always the same - killing from a distance!
The American physician Harry Wright, in his memoir "Witness to Magic", cites his observations. So, an African witch named Lasung in one of the tribes of South Africa, looked at the guy who committed the crime and said: "Tomorrow you will die." Then she sprinkled some dark red powder around the hut where the guilty one stood, cringing with fear. “It was a death sentence,” writes Dr. Wright. - No one touched the guilty one with a finger. In the morning they found him dead."
Several decades ago, such cases were explained by suggestion, that is, suggestion in the waking state. This is not enough today. First, it has been proven that the possibilities of suggestion, even during hypnotic sleep, are limited. Secondly, the sorcerer does not need to communicate with the victim at all, although he should know about the "sentence".
The renowned scientist Lawrence Greene, who has lived in Africa for over twenty years, wrote in his study:
During one expedition inland, one of the Aboriginal guides suddenly threw off his load and sank under a tree. I asked him: "Are you sick?" He answered me, trembling at the same time: "Worse, I'm dying!" Half an hour later, he was dead. I asked the others about what had happened and found out that the guy had violated some kind of prohibition, sacred with the rules of the clan, for which the local sorcerer cursed him.
Another tragic incident occurred with Dutch entrepreneurs Klaus Dorn, who had a trading post in South Africa. Once he loudly declared that African magic is a trick of sorcerers and sorcerers. To prove this, Klaus found one of the sacred groves in the area and began to row there. The local sorcerer, who was in charge of guarding the grove, politely asked the entrepreneur to leave the sanctuary, warning that he would not take responsibility for Dorn's life. The Dutchman ridiculed him, and called him an old idiot, and in the end, took an iron pipe and smashed the statue of a deity, installed in the center of the grove. After that, the sorcerer sat all night in his hut, bending over the fire, whispering spells. And the next morning the Dutchman was found dead. His eyes were wide and painful, and his body was twisted unnaturally.
The doctor who examined Klaus's body told the County Commissioner the following: “Dorn was completely healthy. No traces of poisoning were found, no wounds. The man died of fear. And the commissioner said that there was nothing surprising in the death of a Dutchman, if a person had insulted a sorcerer and defiled God, then this was to be expected.
How they become sorcerers in Africa
One of the chiefs says that people become sorcerers in Africa in different ways. Sorcerers can be both hereditary and self-taught. Moreover, there are those who have mastered black magic by accident. Often, sorcerers themselves choose who to transfer their skills to. An interesting incident occurred in western Zimbabwe. The twelve-year-old girl suddenly amazed all the villagers with her magical abilities. She said that she was walking home from a source of clean water, and met an old woman who handed her a snake, two amulets and a cup of human blood. After some time, the girl realized that she had witchcraft abilities.
Many researchers say that African magic is powerful for the reason that the inhabitants of this continent do not forget about their ancient traditions, knowledge and rituals. The same cannot be said about us Europeans. How many times have traditions changed on our continent, and how many religions have we had?