Lynchings In Congo As Penis Theft Panic Hits Capital

[Miranda]

By Joe BavierTue Apr 22, 2008

Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )

(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Mary Gabriel)

2008 Reuters Limited

[Msterbeau]

I really hate it when sorcerers steal my my penis. It's a bitch to get it back and then they want to charge me impound fees.

[ttogreh]

Wow. It would appear a large chunk of Congolese men are insecure in their masculinity. Of course, in a country where people make two dollars a day and literacy is... less than what could be desired, one has to accept that these sorts of panics are likely...

[Homicidalheathen]

Oh my gawd thats as silly as a witch trial.

hm......shrink his penis........hm........

[Onyx]

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

So the man is pulling down his pants and showing everyone how tiny he is now? "I swear, it used to be 10 inches!"

I should feel guilty for laughing I guess, but it's so ludicrous I just can't!

[Rev.Reverence]

Just because you don't believe in "VooDoo" dose not mean IT does not believe in you...

[hunhee]

Are they joking?

Scene:

COP: Sir, can you identify your penis in a lineup?

Castrated man: Of course, I have a very "intimate" knowledge of it, but my GF may recognize it more from more angles.. I'll bring her along.

(COP turns the light on for the lineup)

COP: So, what do you think?

Castrated man: Hmm..that one over there.. (points out one of the now shrunken penis) sorta looks familiar.. but I SWEAR it was WAY bigger like 12 inches before they stole and shrunk it to what it is now.. (gives a guilty look)

GF: (runs around to get the penis) INCHIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[freydis]

Are they joking?

Scene:

COP: Sir, can you identify your penis in a lineup?

Castrated man: Of course, I have a very "intimate" knowledge of it, but my GF may recognize it more from more angles.. I'll bring her along.

(COP turns the light on for the lineup)

COP: So, what do you think?

Castrated man: Hmm..that one over there.. (points out one of the now shrunken penis) sorta looks familiar.. but I SWEAR it was WAY bigger like 12 inches before they stole and shrunk it to what it is now.. (gives a guilty look)

GF: (runs around to get the penis) INCHIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hunhee]

It's good to know that I'm not just funny in my own head.. hehehehehe

[ZhukovCodeslinger]

the sad thing is that this sort of thing happens there every year or so. I find myself having trouble caring if they kill each other over this sort of thing

[Hellion]

Bobbet,must be running around the area

[TygerLili]

Ummm...ok...Well, a sorcerer stole a million dollars out of my bank account. I swear it was there before!

[Oh_My_Goth]

[n0Mad]

Back when I worked night shift our night pharmacist was from Nigeria. He was telling me about their town's voodoo priest and how to prove his power he'd put a live chicken in a box, do a ritual dance, then open the box and the chicken had vanished. The priest would then close the box, dance around it again, and when he opened the box the chicken had returned.

I'm thinking, "Please, I learned that magic trick in 5th grade. With what I know now I could rule the world."

Later in the evening the pharmacist purchased some snackage and when he pulled out his wad of cash I noticed a $100 bill. After a few minutes I went back to the pharmacy to chat with him and I asked if I could see his $100. So, he handed it to me and I slowly and deliberately started folding it in half, in half again, in half again, and in half again holding it at my fingertips the entire time keeping it visible. Then I slowly unfolded it one fold at a time and after a few folds he could tell it looked different. When I finished unfolding it, it was a $1 bill and my hands were completely empty.

He stared shocked for a second, then jumped up and down yelling, "Do it again, do it again, do it again!"

I said, "Okay, give me another $100."

He said, "No, no, no, no, no ... you change this back."

"I can't do that. I can only turn hundreds into ones. If I could go the other direction, I sure wouldn't be working here."

He insisted, "No, you turn it back."

So, I slowly folded up the one and when I unfolded it, it was back into a $100. He said, "You are much better than my village's priest. You know real voodoo. You are amazing."

Now, here's a guy with multiple advanced degrees in science who's been a licensed pharmacist for years and I'm waiting for him to bow down to me and swear allegiance to my power. It's scary, it is really scary what even the smartest people believe in. All I did was a simple magic trick. All John Edwards does on "Crossing Over" is simple magic tricks.

If I wasn't so honest, I could start a cult.

Come to think of it, anybody want to join my cult?

[Stymie]

People just seem to be. Little freak out to truly think for themself.

Questioning what is really and what isn't.

Cheese exp. is the band Kiss....

I think Kiss sucks!

That is just me.

But the fact that they said,

They are the greatest!

For so long,

And to alot of people that needed something.

Sooo many people think that.

Or...

If enough people lie.

It can become the truth.