Witchcraft is as old as time itself. It has played a lot of roles in fighting wars and rebellions and protecting lives and properties. Over time, it has been used for evil purposes which led to the emergence of witch-hunting.
Also known as witch purge, it is a practice in search of people who have been labeled witches. These practices range from forcing them to drink poison to beheading them. It is carried out by a set of people known as witch hunters, who possess some kind of power to identify witches.
10 Insane Facts About Witch Hunting in Africa
1. Elderly Women are the Most Affected by Witch-Hunting
One might wonder why the term witch, describes a woman who is old and frail and struggling to survive. This is owed largely to the fact that witch-hunting targets the poor and most vulnerable in society.
At that stage of their lives, this set of people can barely defend themselves, the best they can get is family members who can defend them and plead their cause. But what happens when the family meant to protect and defend you is the one pointing the accusing finger? This is the case for many older women who have been labeled witches.
In Bangui, the capital city of the Central African Republic, Elderly people, especially women are increasingly accused of witchcraft and are killed for it. More often than not, these accusations come from family members of the accused.
Some of these accused people have not left their houses in years for fear of being killed, while others cannot go far because of the same fear. In general, people who have been victims of witch-hunting live in isolation and fear of the unknown.
2. People Accused of Witchcraft Flee to Places Called Witch Camps
These are camps where people accused of witchcraft flee for safety. They emerged in the early 20th century and accused witches go there after they have been expelled from their communities following an accusation.
Tragically, the accusation can come from anybody. Someone could die in the area and fingers would point at a certain person who would then be labeled a witch.
There are at least 6 witch camps in Ghana, they are located in Bonyasi, Gambaga, Gnani, Kpatinga, Kukuo, and Naabuli. These camps are deplorable without electricity, proper housing, or health facilities.
There are hundreds of women in witch camps. Most of them are old women who cannot work or fend for themselves. They end up dying from hunger and ailments such as malaria, tuberculosis, and typhoid.
However, there are other types of sanctuaries that are dominated by an earth priest. People who have been accused of witchcraft are kept and tortured until they confess.
They serve as sites for traditional exorcisms, that involve offering sacrifices to determine the innocence or guilt of a person. Subsequently, a concoction is given to cleanse the witchcraft from a person, as it is believed that the local earth has the power to neutralize witchcraft.
Other times, they voluntarily offer themselves to be taken to jail to avoid being lynched and killed. In Bimbo, a women’s prison in Bangui, many of the detainees are voluntarily due to the accusations leveled against them.
3. Witch Doctors Kill and Mutilate Albinos for More Powers
In Tanzania, witch doctors believe that the body parts of albinos are good ingredients for making magical potions. As a result, albinos in this east African country face widespread danger.
They have been killed and dismembered and the graves of those who died from other causes have been dug up and desecrated. According to superstition, their limbs, bones, skin, and internal organs can be used in creating charms, potions, amulets, and concoctions that are speculated to bring good fortune, wealth, and supernatural powers to their users.
Most of these attacks take place in rural areas because it is believed that albinos disappear, so it is usually assumed that they have disappeared and no one questions their whereabouts.
This might seem like a thing of the past before civilization came to the country, but it is not. As recently as 2021, the killing of four albinos was reported and some corpses of this endangered set of people were exhumed and mutilated.
4. Some People Accused of Witchcraft are Burned to Death
A 72-year-old woman was lynched and burned to death in Ghana in 2010. She was suspected to have been a witch and was said to have fallen from the sky after her witch-flying gas ran out. Medical experts claimed that the old woman might have been suffering from dementia and her behavior was mistaken for being a witch.
Similarly, 5 of 7 people accused of witchcraft were burned to death in Tanzania, in 2014, by villagers. The other 2 were hacked to death with machetes. Additionally, 8 women were also burned to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after being accused of witchcraft.
Other parts of Africa where people have been burned to death because of an accusation that might be considered baseless or sentimental include the Central African Republic, Nigeria, Kenya, and Sierra Leone.
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5. “Witches” Were Forced to Drink Magical Potions by The Government
Amnesty International reported that up to 1,000 Gambians were killed after being forced to drink a poisonous substance at gunpoint by the government of the day. The former president of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, ordered the arrest and detention of witches. He employed the services of witch doctors who carried out this exercise.
The victims were taken to secret detention centers, where they were stripped naked, beaten, and pressured into confessing to committing murders through witchcraft. They were then forced to drink a herbal concoction that had hallucinating capabilities. Some of the victims died from the torture and others from the concoction.
Others who managed to survive are living with the after-effects which include anxiety and depression caused by post-traumatic stress disorder.
6. Some Witches Were Tasked with National Security
While some presidents are executing alleged witches in their countries, some are making use of them and the power they possess for the good of their countries.
Cameroonian president, Paul Biya, called for the help of Cameroonian witches to join the fight against Boko Haram. Biya said he wanted to hear that Cameroonian villages wiped out or limited the sect’s influence through witchcraft.
This was born out of desperation, after the terrorist group continued to carry out attacks, killing the people of his country. As a result of his request, hundreds of militia fighters sought help from sorcerers, to obtain lucky charms and talismans for their protection in battle.
7. People Are Sometimes Accused of Witchcraft in Order to Avoid Paying Debts
In some parts of Africa, people are accused of witchcraft by their debtors to avoid paying what they owe. In 2012, a woman was accused of being a witch by her debtor. She was said to have made a family member sick. It was revealed that the sick girl saw her in a dream.
However, the accused revealed that the man owed her some amount of money which she has been asking him to repay but he has refused. She added that his accusation was only to get rid of her from the community and erase his debt alongside.
8. The Position of A Dying Chicken Reveals if the Accused is Guilty or Not
In Ghana, after a person is accused of being a witch, he/she is taken to a shrine for confirmation of whether or not the accusation is true. The person who does the ritual is called the Tindana.
Two chickens are provided for the ritual, one white, and the other, multicolored. It is believed that if the chicken dies facing the sky, the person is innocent but if it dies facing the ground a person is guilty.
After the confirmation of the innocence of a person, a cleansing ritual is carried out on the guilty. The Tindana would take the feathers of the slaughtered chickens, and their intestines and place them on stones that represent the shrine spirits. He then dips the knife he used in slaughtering the chicken and dips it in “shrine water”, from which the accused is made to drink.
This ritual signifies the cleansing of a person from witchcraft. But are they really free?
9. After Cleansing, Some Alleged Witches are not Allowed to Go Back to Their Communities
After the ritual is performed, it is expected that the accused would be allowed to go back to their families and be reintegrated into the community, but that is not usually the case.
These former witches are not allowed to go back to their families immediately after the ritual, sometimes it might take from weeks to months, and other times, they might never return to their homes. Instead, they go to live in the witch camps until they die.
10. People go into Witchcraft for Wealth Acquisition
In Nigeria, the rate of witchcraft is steadily on the increase as the youth of the country go into it for the purpose of getting rich quickly. These young people go to different lengths just to get rich. Money gotten from these occultic means is called blood money. In Igbo, it is called “Ego Obala”.
In 2021, 3 teenagers were arrested after they confessed to the killing, mutilation, and desecration of a young girl. Similarly, a mother confessed to killing her child as instructed by a witch doctor, in order to make money.
These are just but a few episodes as it has become a national problem. However, security operatives have been trying to fish out these people and they have identified hotspots where most of these activities take place.
