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Congolese Penis-Snatching Sorcerers
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| Arbiter |
Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/newsO...0080422?sp=true
| quote: | Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital
By Joe Bavier
KINSHASA (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. |
I'm imagining the court transcript:
Judge: And you claim that the defendant stole your penis by "touching" you in the "communal taxi?"
Penis Snatchee: Yes, he's a witch. BURN HIM!
Judge: Well, what evidence do you have against him?
Penis Snatchee: *drops trousers* |
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| Darkarbiter |
| Jennypie! Clearly if you are straight your penis isn't safe anymore. |
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| Sandsider |
If they tried to snatch my penis, I'm quite sure it would have the opposite effect.......TAXI !!
ps surely deserves a wee prize for one of the most
random/unusual/wtf thread starters. Win. |
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| Arbiter |
| quote: | Originally posted by kadomony
M-M-MEGA REPOST |
Wrong forum noob. |
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| Darkarbiter |
| ! Where'd my 12 inch penis go? :nervous: |
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| gehzumteufel |
| haha I saw this on the BBC website the other day. I was laughing my ass off from it. |
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| Lebezniatnikov |
| Funnily enough, this came up in one of my classes last semester. The professor was talking about it, and then he trailed off and goes "for those of you that have worked in Africa, has anyone seen evidence of this?" Silence. "Well, I don't know about you, but I've seen all sorts of things in Africa..." and he trailed off. Awkward silence. |
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