“Ida Sanne, 60, of Brikama, Gambia, was arrested by police on charges of witchcraft. Eyewitnesses testified against the woman. According to them, Sanna promised her neighbor Musa Kamara, with whom she was at knives, that she would die on the same day before sunset."
The sorceress advised the relatives of the woman who was unpleasant to her to take care of the grave for Musu.
Invisible surgeons
“Kamare laughed at her neighbor's prophecy and began to sort things out with her with renewed vigor. But after returning home after a violent quarrel with the witch, Kamare suddenly fell into unconsciousness. Relatives said that she could not utter a word. She was urgently taken to the hospital, but the doctors could do nothing to help the dying woman."
The relatives are sure that her death was the result of damage caused by the witch.
“Many residents of the city spoke out in favor of bringing Sanne to justice for practicing black magic. However, some local skeptics opposed, saying that this is just a coincidence, and should not be attributed to the effects of witchcraft."
At the same time, the Gambian media note that such trials are not uncommon in this West African country, in which remnants of ancient pagan beliefs are preserved among the majority of the population.
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The belief in curses and slander is as strong in Africa today as it was a hundred and two hundred years ago. And although most educated Africans refuse to believe in such "fairy tales", there are many documented cases when perfectly healthy people suddenly fell ill and died for no apparent reason.
According to scientists, African healers have a certain set of techniques with the help of which various methods of magical influence on a person are possible. In this case, various plants, powders and special tinctures can be used.
Doctors who examined people who died from witchcraft rituals came to the conclusion that they were dying completely healthy, they did not have any poisons or harmful microorganisms in their blood, and there was no damage on their bodies.
Numerous witnesses note that after a magical effect, the victim's breathing quickens, the heart begins to beat stronger and faster. Blood tests taken from people dying from black magic show its rapid thickening as a result of the release of the liquid part of the blood into muscle tissue. Symptoms resemble surgery. Only the invisible surgeon is at a distance and cuts the person with an invisible knife.
It is almost impossible to save people who die from the effects of black magic. Only a sorcerer who has let the damage go can "recall" it back. Or another sorcerer with the same power.
As a rule, the victim dies a painful death: a strong fear arises, so strong that the dying person starts screaming a few hours before death and covers his eyes with his hand, as if he sees something terrible in front of him.
Distance Murder
This cruel witchcraft ritual is called and performed differently in each African tribe, but its essence nevertheless always boils down to one thing - murder from a distance!
American physician Harry Wright, in his book "Witness to Witchcraft", cites several similar observations. So, the sorceress Lusung in one of the tribes of South Africa, looking at a teenager who committed a crime, said: "In three days you will die." Then she took a pumpkin bottle, sprinkled it with water and sprinkled it with some kind of red powder around the hut, where the guilty one stood, cringing with fear. After that, she repeated the spell to the villagers.
“It was a verdict,” Wright writes. - No one touched the guilty one with a finger. He was dead three days later."
Previously, such cases were explained by suggestion, that is, suggestion in the waking state. However, today this is not enough. First, even at the end of the 19th century, it was convincingly proven that the possibilities of suggestion - even during hypnotic sleep - are very limited. And, secondly, the sorcerer does not need to communicate with the criminal, although he must learn about the "sentence" one way or another.
The famous scientist Lawrence Green, who spent more than 20 years in Africa, wrote in his research: “During the next expedition into the interior of the mainland, one of the aboriginal people accompanying me suddenly threw off his load and sank under a tree.
I asked him: "Are you sick?" He answered me, trembling at the same time: "No sick, I'm dying!" In less than 60 minutes, he was already dead.
I asked the others about what had happened and learned that Mgave had violated the "taboo", the sacred rules of the clan, for which the local sorcerer cursed him. I know that many of my compatriots, with whom I spoke on this topic, have not heard anything about it. About "ju-ju". I knew that "ju-ju" with its fetishism, witchcraft and its terrible, often cruel and bloody customs, can touch both indigenous people and Europeans. The African sorcerer knows many things about which the European has no idea and will never know."
The ability to witchcraft lives in each of us
For example, what a tragic story happened to the Dutchman Doorne, who had a trading post in South Africa. Once he loudly declared that the magic of "ju-ju" is the biggest trick of the healers and sorcerers-priests. To prove this, Doorn 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 merchant to leave the sanctuary, promising that otherwise he would not take responsibility for Doorn's life.
The Dutchman made fun of him, called him an old idiot, and in the end spat with contempt on the statue of the god, installed in the center of the grove. After that, the sorcerer sat all night in his hut, bending over the fire and muttering the words of spells. And the next morning, Doorn was found dead. His eyes were wide and painful, his body horribly twisted and twisted.
The physician examining the body told the County Commissioner the following: “Doorn was completely healthy. No traces of poisoning or weapons were found that caused any injuries. Most likely, he died of fear!"
"There is nothing surprising in this," the commissioner said later, "if a person has insulted a sorcerer and defiled his god, then it is simply impossible to expect anything else."
“One becomes a sorcerer or a witch in Africa in different ways,” says Chief Ebohon, one of the recognized experts on traditional religions in western Nigeria today. - There are “hereditary” ones among us who received this gift from our parents. Many have learned from their elders over the years of assisting.
The ability to witchcraft lives in each of us. Therefore, you can become a sorcerer by accident. This is when the sorcerer needs an assistant or conductor of his enchantments, and he will choose for this … you."
In western Zimbabwe, a 9-year-old girl from the village of Chitanga, who confessed to witchcraft and eating corpses from the graves, recently became one of such involuntary "conductors of magic spells". The girl amazed many by telling with rare meticulousness how an old woman had turned her into a witch.
According to the girl, she was walking home from the spring with a bottle of water when she met an old woman who handed her a snake, two amulets, a donkey and a cup of human blood. After a while, with the help of these witchcraft devices, the girl devoured 21 corpses, having previously dug them out of the graves.
In Zimbabwe, where witchcraft and other manifestations of the supernatural are the subject of constant national debate, the young witch's stories were taken seriously. She was officially assigned the most eminent exorcist - the chairman of the national association of traditional healers in Zimbabwe. After examining the child, he stated that her case is clear confirmation that witchcraft actually exists.
The specialist not only examined, but also, according to him, successfully expelled evil spirits from the young witch. However, it took him three whole weeks …
Gennady NIKOLAEV