'Witches' burnt to death in Kenya

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2008-05-22 12:21pm

'Witches' burnt to death in Kenya

Eleven elderly people accused of being witches have been burned to death by a mob in the west of Kenya, police say.

A security operation has been launched to hunt down villagers suspected of killing them in Kisii District.

The BBC's Muliro Telewa in the region says the gang had a list of the victims and picked them out individually.

The area has witnessed similar attacks in the past when people suspected of engaging in witchcraft have been killed or ostracised.

But our reporter says that this is a surprisingly large number of people to be attacked at the same time.

'Witches meeting'

Anthony Kibunguchy, the provincial police officer, told the BBC that the eight women and three men were all aged between 80 and 96 years old.

The mob dragged them out of their houses and burned them individually and then set their homes alight, our correspondent says.

Residents have been ambivalent about condemning the attacks because belief in witchcraft is widespread in the area, he says.

But local official Mwangi Ngunyi spoke out against the murders.

"People must not take the law into their own hands simply because they suspect someone," he told AFP news agency.

Villagers told reporters that they had evidence that the victims were witches.

They say they found an exercise book at a local primary school that contained the minutes of a "witches' meeting" which detailed who was going to be bewitched next.

The victim's families have gone into hiding, fearing for their lives.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2008-05-22 01:06pm

Can they produce this book, and what kind of witches cabal keeps fucking minutes?!

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2008-05-22 01:15pm

Alyrium Denryle wrote:Can they produce this book, and what kind of witches cabal keeps fucking minutes?!

Does it really matter if they can produce the book at all? The fact that they're burning people for witchcraft of all things just shows how backwards these screwheads are.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-05-22 01:18pm

They should be after the penis snatcher instead.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-05-22 01:21pm

I think witches and penis-snatchers are represented by the same local.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2008-05-22 05:36pm

Alyrium Denryle wrote:Can they produce this book, and what kind of witches cabal keeps fucking minutes?!

Well, the sort of "witchcraft" I've been involved in did require people to keep some written reference materials and documents, but then again, no one has been burned as a with in the US for a couple centuries now.

If ever I go to Kenya I'd just shut the fuck up about all that and not write anything down. Duh!

Of course, even if they do produce the book there's the question of whether or not it's a forgery.

Wyrm · Post by **Wyrm** » 2008-05-22 06:47pm

Pshaw, everyone knows that the penis-snatchers are a myth. In the truth, the penises all detached and flew up north to harass Gary Kasparov!

Kitsune · Post by **Kitsune** » 2008-05-22 06:53pm

These people are mostly Catholic, correct.....
Couldn't their clergy do something useful for a change and tell them that anyone who burns a witch with be excommunicated?

Mayabird · Post by **Mayabird** » 2008-05-22 10:25pm

Alyrium Denryle wrote:Can they produce this book

Aly and I think down similar pathways, so what he was asking was, can these primitive screwheads actually produce this evidence they claim to have, or was it spread around like the penis-snatchers? Seriously, if someone really was taking away their genitalia, all a few people would have to do to actually prove it would be to drop their trousers for a moment. It's seriously backwards thinking that drives us crazy, people murdering others on hearsay and rumor without ever once wondering if any of it is true or not.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2008-05-23 12:44am

Kitsune wrote:These people are mostly Catholic, correct.....
Couldn't their clergy do something useful for a change and tell them that anyone who burns a witch with be excommunicated?

What would that accomplish?

The church acknowledging these people would bring more news coverage. If the RCC stays silent, it'll be forgotten in a week or so.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2008-05-23 02:38am

Kitsune wrote:These people are mostly Catholic, correct.....
Couldn't their clergy do something useful for a change and tell them that anyone who burns a witch with be excommunicated?

I remember a slightly older article regarding the killing of children "witches" which became very popular since evangelical christians started to replace the catholics. That was in Nigeria though

Kitsune · Post by **Kitsune** » 2008-05-23 04:51am

I have had an evangelical yell "Suffer Not a Witch to Live" to me in the United States so that is believable.....

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-05-23 11:30am

Kitsune wrote:These people are mostly Catholic, correct.....
Couldn't their clergy do something useful for a change and tell them that anyone who burns a witch with be excommunicated?

Not when senior Catholic clergy is running about telling their congregants that condoms cause AIDS.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2008-05-23 11:49am

Alyrium Denryle wrote:Can they produce this book, and what kind of witches cabal keeps fucking minutes?!

Yeah, between the penis snatching scares and witchcraft hysteria, I somehow doubt that trying to reason with this bunch of primitives is going to accomplish very much...

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-05-23 12:29pm

You know, you can only snatch so many penises before you have to keep written records to track inventory.

WesFox13 · Post by **WesFox13** » 2008-05-23 01:05pm

*facepalms* What the crap!? I thought we moved on from this ridiculous notion of "Witches". Of course that's not stopping the Catholic Church and "Good Ol'" Pope Bendeict from supporting this view, it gets them more followers.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2008-05-24 05:52am

WesFox13 wrote:*facepalms* What the crap!? I thought we moved on from this ridiculous notion of "Witches".

Why did you think that the Harry Potter books get a lot of flak from the American Christian Right?

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2008-05-24 05:58am

Kanastrous wrote:You know, you can only snatch so many penises before you have to keep written records to track inventory.

Good point... Unless your inventory is a magical inventory.

Kitsune · Post by **Kitsune** » 2008-05-24 07:27am

Love to ask of of those who claim penises are stolen what they actually do with them? After all, wouldn't a wooden dildo be better?

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-05-24 05:34pm

Ground up for aphrodisiacs, probably.

sketerpot · Post by **sketerpot** » 2008-05-25 01:44am

Kitsune wrote:Love to ask of of those who claim penises are stolen what they actually do with them? After all, wouldn't a wooden dildo be better?

The answer I've usually heard is that the witches hold the penises for ransom. But apparently they keep very close tabs on the original owner of the penis in question, so that they can magically restore the penis to its proper place right before anybody goes to check if it's actually missing.

The witches are insidious about how well they hide any evidence of their existance.

Kitsune · Post by **Kitsune** » 2008-05-25 07:31am

Holding the Penises of dirt poor farmers for ransom.....
What do they expect to get, a chicken?

sketerpot · Post by **sketerpot** » 2008-05-25 10:36am

Some variations on this penis theft thing I could see working as a scam. See, one claim that sometimes gets made is that the witch made your penis smaller instead of stealing it -- a nicely unfalsifiable placebo thing that could get distorted into full penis-theft in the retelling. Picture this covert conversation:

Witch: Lo! With this magical touch I did shrink your penis. Pay me enough money to get my next drug fix or your woman will laugh at you.

Victim: I've heard about people who can do that! Oh no! I can feel it getting smaller! Give me back Mister Studly Cucumber, you bastard!

Witch: You'll have to pay me. Or your wife will leave you. And you'll lose the Wang Championship next Tuesday.

Victim: HELP! A WITCH STOLE MY JUNK! LYNCH HIM OR HER!

Crowd: YARR KILL THE WITCH!!! GRR!

Witch: Ouch! Stop killing and/or maiming me!

You can see how a petty scam could go from simply taking advantage of someone's excessive credulity to full-blown lynching, given a violent and superstitious public.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2008-05-25 12:34pm

Kitsune wrote:I have had an evangelical yell "Suffer Not a Witch to Live" to me in the United States so that is believable.....

You should have approached him, given the sign of the aquila, and shouted "FOR THE EMPEROR!"

Post by **Broomstick** » 2008-05-25 01:19pm

Kitsune wrote:Holding the Penises of dirt poor farmers for ransom.....
What do they expect to get, a chicken?

Given the vital role chickens play in some African religions (I am not joking about that) that is not an unreasonable objective. In a religion like Ife (just as one example) virtually every rite opens with at least one chicken sacrifice, and that's just for starters.

sketerpot wrote:Some variations on this penis theft thing I could see working as a scam. See, one claim that sometimes gets made is that the witch made your penis smaller instead of stealing it -- a nicely unfalsifiable placebo thing that could get distorted into full penis-theft in the retelling. Picture this covert conversation:

Witch: Lo! With this magical touch I did shrink your penis. Pay me enough money to get my next drug fix or your woman will laugh at you.

A "real" witch would most likely be in it strictly for profit - "magic-workers" in traditional/tribal societies are usually the ones making the drugs, not buying them.

Although I suspect most of the "penis-snatching" accused aren't, in fact, witch-doctors, shamans, or what have you but rather marginal, easily victimized societal discards.