Bald men in Mozambique appear to be the targets of ritual attacks, following the recent killing of three bald men for what is thought to be their body parts.
Two suspects have been arrested in the central district of Milange, where the killings occurred. Police have said that the risk continues. "The belief is that the head of a bald man contains gold," said a police commander in Mozambique's central Zambezia province.
Of course albino people have also been killed in Tanzania for what are believed to be ritual purposes and in 2006, China was reported to be using its extensive pool of Falun Gong political prisoners as a supply for body parts to be used in transplants ..... but in the main this is a current African practise.
There have also been reports of cases from Botswana, Uganda and South Africa, as well as Mozambique and Tanzania.
Perhaps the best known of which is the infamous Thames Torso case of 2001, when a little black boys headless and limbless body was found floating in the Thames. Detailed analysis of the substances in the boy’s stomach was identified as a ‘black magic’ potion. It included tiny clay pellets containing small particles of pure gold, an indication that the victim was the subject of a Muti ritual killing, in which it is believed that the body parts of children are sacred. Bodies are often disposed of in flowing water.
There is also a sub-trade in forced organ theft which has been reported from places as diverse as Columbia, China and Kosovo ..... this usually involves the killing of the victim and harvesting of multiple organs, but sometimes people will sell a spcific organ. e.g a kidney.
Of course famously during the nineteenth century, the were serial murders associated with Burke and Hare and the London Burkers for medical dissection body parts.
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| All Bald African Men At Risk ...... |
Two suspects have been arrested in the central district of Milange, where the killings occurred. Police have said that the risk continues. "The belief is that the head of a bald man contains gold," said a police commander in Mozambique's central Zambezia province.
Of course albino people have also been killed in Tanzania for what are believed to be ritual purposes and in 2006, China was reported to be using its extensive pool of Falun Gong political prisoners as a supply for body parts to be used in transplants ..... but in the main this is a current African practise.
There have also been reports of cases from Botswana, Uganda and South Africa, as well as Mozambique and Tanzania.
Perhaps the best known of which is the infamous Thames Torso case of 2001, when a little black boys headless and limbless body was found floating in the Thames. Detailed analysis of the substances in the boy’s stomach was identified as a ‘black magic’ potion. It included tiny clay pellets containing small particles of pure gold, an indication that the victim was the subject of a Muti ritual killing, in which it is believed that the body parts of children are sacred. Bodies are often disposed of in flowing water.
There is also a sub-trade in forced organ theft which has been reported from places as diverse as Columbia, China and Kosovo ..... this usually involves the killing of the victim and harvesting of multiple organs, but sometimes people will sell a spcific organ. e.g a kidney.
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| Burke And Hare Had Two Persona's ..... |
Of course famously during the nineteenth century, the were serial murders associated with Burke and Hare and the London Burkers for medical dissection body parts.
Bald men killings, Albino body parts, rhino horn and Daesh - all the result of belief without evidence.
ReplyDeleteWe need to pander less to the superstitious and tell them to get their heads in the real world.
Its amazing that so many cultures still believe in magic, from Saudi Arabia's/ belief in genies and black magic, the Chinese belief in sympathetic medicine e.g.rhino Horn makes you virile, Sub Saharan Africa's belief in everything, and those in the western societies who also believe in medical magic in the from of homoeopathy.
DeletePerhaps there is no hope for us as a species.
I think there is hope, things are going in right direction despite our propensity for believing rubbish. People know deep down that their longevity, cars, telephones and long weekends are thanks to rationality, science and the rejection of superstition but like addicts, some continue to indulge themselves with lazy wishful thinking because the truth requires a bit more effort and they might not like it when they find it.
DeleteHmm, you have more faith than I have in human nature ... ignorance is the easiest of human states (laziness taking no effort at all), and we show a great propensity to fall back into that state.
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