In Sierra Leone there has been some mighty fine witchery going on. It all seems to have started when a local evangelist named "Mama Paris" as a witch and Lamin, a local herbalist was called in to deal with the problem. The headline pretty much guarantees you are in for a wild ride: "Over 5,000 witches disempowered as Herbalist says 'Misbehaving corpse was underworld Queen'" and the story doesn't disappoint, in fact it may be the best witchcraft story of recent years, it is certainly up there with the Thai tampon story (both of which recall The Boxer's Omen, more on that below the fold):

Lamin aka Otogu said “I told her that there are demons in their house, one is at the door; the other is at the entrance gate.” He went on “I told her if you want to prove it let them get me a pick-axe to dig up and remove it.” He said he used the pick axe and cracked open the cement on the ground by the gate and there was a pipe there. When they removed the pipe the first demon which came out had 38 teeth. It had hands and feet and a tail and can also talk. The one near the door looked like a ball and it had horns and all kinds of cowrie shells (jegae) fastened on it.

The attention turned to Mama Paris' daughter:

“I told her that if we are able to remove the witch pot then we are going to be able to get rid of the witch. Seven of us then left for where her daughter is staying at Steward Street including the mother, the younger brother and his wife.”

He went on “inside the house we started hearing the sound of a cat. It was as if it was running inside the ceiling. When I slap the wall the cat will scream in the other direction. The daughter then asked whether it is a cat that is screaming and where is it screaming from. I said don’t ask me you know you are the cat, and if you refuse to give it up to me you are going to go die with it. I told the delegation let’s return. We then returned to Campbell Street the resident of Mrs Paris I told her to get some items for me to perform a rite so that I can get easy access to the pot. I told Madam Paris that after the rite the person who is the witch will become sick and is going to confess and die.”

He went on “Mama Paris disclosed to me that her daughter often sends food for her, and I instructed her not to eat the food that she was sending. The old woman called me on my mobile to tell me that the daughter had sent salad for her and I told her to throw it away and not eat it. This apparently angered the younger brother who said he wanted to know why I was telling their mother not to eat the food that their sister prepared for her. I told them that they should follow my instructions and wait and see. Three days after performing the ceremony the old woman called to say that her daughter is sick and she was being taken to the hospital and I told them not to go there and not to visit her. After three days,” he went on “I was called again that she had started confessing at Connaught hospital and she was saying ‘I come in oh yes oh go tell mama say yes oh’ and she was begging for me to remove the pot. I told them the only way to remove the pot is after her death, they asked if she is going to die. I said yes; in the next two days, and indeed two days later she died.”

Blimey. However, this is only the start, because we all know death is not going to stop the more troublesome elements:

He explained “I told the family that after death her corpse is going to be trouble. I instructed them not to see or touch the corpse. On the day she was being buried I told them now we can go and remove the pot.”

Questioned what happened at the Columbia Davies, Lamin said though they failed to expose the secret to the public “when the corpse started performing they went to the relatives and asked them to collect their corpse earlier than the arranged time. They complained that the body was causing problem.” He questioned “if the Columbia Davies people are telling the truth why did they go to the old woman to tell them to go and collect their corpse? He said that it was not true that she was smoking but she definitely got up. He said they laid her with her head resting on one side but when they came the face was turned straight up and the eyes were open. All of that was happening because the pot was still in the house” he said.

Yep, not all the witchery has been rooted out yet and the solution isn't something you'd see in The Exorcist (although it has a feel of Father Ted about it):

So on the day of the funeral he said he told Mama Paris to get police officers to accompany him to remove the pot at Steward Street. He said 7 police officers from Adelaide street Police station accompanied him to the residence together with Mama Paris. “Before we entered the house I removed all my clothes and stood naked and I told them to take note that I was not holding anything and i did not have any charms on me -then I went in with the Police. I asked them if they saw anything and they said no. So I performed a ceremony and removed the (witchcraft) darkness that was hiding the pot. Then they saw the pot swinging violently on the chain.” Laughing, Lamin said the police officers broke down the door in their fight to run out of the house after seeing the pot. He said the pot was tied with chains similar to those used on dogs and inside the pot there was a cat with its face turned downwards and the tail hanging out. This he explained signified the underworld.

There were people’s heart, arms and legs inside. These he said were people who had been captured and enslaved through witchcraft.

This enslavement seems to have been widespread:

This was when Lamin revealed that as a teacher the deceased had initiated a good number of students in her school into witchcraft, and after he destroyed the pot these kids will seem as if they are waking up to discover their true selves again.

He said the deceased lady was the Queen of the underworld and over five thousand witches were looking up to her and had got their powers to witch through her. “That is why you people saw such a large crowd they were now all people there were a lot of witches among the crowd who knew what was happening and had come to see. Lamin said it was a serious fight to remove that pot and the deceased had been able to maintain her position by drinking human blood, washing with blood and swimming in it. Lamin said she controlled thousands of witches and her demise was like the falling down of a big cotton tree. He said that was why witchcraft activity in the country had experienced a lull since he destroyed the pot.

If you are having similar problems he can be hired (although I suspect not for children's parties or bar mitzvahs):

Lamin Kalokoh said he was one of 124 people in the world who had been certified to do this kind of work and he had been doing it since he was 11 years old. He said those who wanted his services should go to no. 6 King Williams street Krootown road that is where he attends to people.

Source

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