Tue Apr 22, 1:24 PM ETKINSHASA (Reuters) - 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.
Rumours 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/ )
Well.... what do you say to get an inward chuckle out of you guys after that story? Yep.
Wiseacres was lots of fun last night, it felt like almost every comic in our area was in there at some point last night. Generally does though, here's a question: "If you're not there on Wednesday, where the f*ck are you?" there's nowhere else to go. Have these comics joined a Fight Club? Eli, where were you? I missed you.... no homo.
I never realised how many truly (I am not referring to "Urban") funny black comedians we have in our area. Weems, Way, EJ, Tim Miller (he needs a nickname or something), Herbs, Seaton, Fowleezy, Mr. Terrance.... maybe I need switch it up and start sagging my pants. Apparently that's back in style. I saw a guy last Saturday content to hold his pants up, but he had to grip, literally, damn near his knees to hold them up. If that's what's cool, I think I'm good where I'm at.
I don't like children. That is all.
My supervisor explains things to me like I am a small child. Most times I don't mind but then there are sometime where all I can do is look off in a strange direction and think the things I dare not say. Well, yesterday she caught me in the gaze and called me on it. I don't really remember what happened or how I explained my way out of that, but I know that 2 minutes later I was volunteered to represent my section organizing a party for my floor. Could she have masterminded the whole thing, or did the gaze just happen to look into her window of opportunity. Either way I get to sit around doing nothing for an hour today.
If I ever find myself unable to blog, I'm going to steal one of Mike Way's blogs and copy and paste. He's doing enough work for almost that whole list of comedians(see above). What kind of man would I be to give a link, like you've never read his blogs before, he's more consistent than a clock. His name is Mike, and he's got way too much free time... those are his words. http://comelaughwithmike.blogspot.com/
1 comment:
HAHAHAHA! Greetings Mr. T, thanks for the blog shout-out man! I actually dabbled in penis shrinking my second year in college, would recommend it for anyone who's ever lived next door to an obnoxious frat boy. It's still kinda underground though, like skull and bones, so mums the word.
Mike
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