Some of my favorite news stories come out of sub-Saharan Africa. When looking at African newspapers (or news sites in our modern digital world) it isn’t uncommon to see a story on the development of environmentally friendly technology solutions like solar powered laptops and cooking stoves that run on recycled paper pellets sharing space with reports of monsters, witches, and hexes.

Recently I saw this report of a mysterious beast tormenting the goats of Namibians living in Onheleiwa and Oikango villages. While reminiscent of the chupacabras in their preferred choice of prey, whatever is attacking the Namibian kraals has a taste for more than blood. While some animals have been found with only the soft, internal organs eaten, in other cases all that remained of the goats were hooves, heads, and horns. While following up on this story at the Namibian New Era Newspaper website I decided to trying searching for the word “witch” just to see what I could find. I’ve recently been reading various 19th century travel diaries and articles on the spiritual beliefs and superstitions of south African tribal people, and was curious to see if tales of witchcraft would still be as common as belief in night-stalking monsters. The results were interesting, to say the least.  Here now, in chronological order, are four random headlines chosen from that search for your Thursday reading pleasure.

Villager Punished for Violating Grave — December 2008

Relates the story of a villager fined $400 (Namibian dollars) and six-head of cattle by the Masubia chief for employing the services of a Zambian witchdoctor for personal gain. According to wtinesses and the confessions of the accused, Jackson Timothy Siyeta, the events that unfolded near Caprivi, Namibia included a cow giving birth to a humanoid baby that Siyeta buried over the grave of his recently deceased son. While Siyeta initially claimed he was performing a ritual to protect his family, under questioning before the tribal khuta he admitted that the ritual was meant to multiply the size of his cattle herd.

Hundreds Kidnapped in Gambian Witch Hunts — March 2009

Gambians Reveal Horrors of “Witchcraft” Purge — March 2009

In these two related stories Gambian victims of government sanctioned witch hunts tell of being rounded up and fed hallucinogens before being raped and victimized by supporters of Gambian president Yahya Jemmah, who blames witchcraft for the death of a beloved aunt earlier this year. Despite cries by organizations such as Amnesty International condemning the actions, this case of superstition fueled torture on a grand scale somehow flew under the news radar in nations obsessing over Susan Boyle and Wall Street bail-outs.

Witchcraft Claim in Farm Eviciton — July 2009

Finally we have an example of Namibians reacting much in the way Americans would if more of us believed in witchcraft; by protesting and casting allegations of racism at a white landlord accused of using witchcraft to unfairly evict a tenant.

So, there you go; a nice cross section of witch stories coming out of one country over the past year. Do you have any others you’d like to share? What’s your favorite Fortean news story from Africa? Comment here, or visit the Anomaly Forums, and let us know.

Reuters is reporting that Russian authorities have assumed custody of a five year old girl who has spent the majority of her life locked in an unheated flat in the Siberian city of Chita with a group of dogs and cats. The child, who authorities assume to be around five years old despite stunted growth that makes her appear to be around two years of age, is non-vocal and exhibits dog-like behavior, such as barking and jumping at doors whenever care takers leave the room. (More at Reuters.com)

The girl, who is being called “Natasha”, is far from the first documented feral child. While the mythic founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus (who legend claims were suckled by a she wolf after being saved from death by having their basket set in the Tiber River and washing ashore Moses style) are among the most famous of the feral children and Rudyard Kipling’s fictional Mowgli, from the Jungle Book, lends his name to the syndrome for children who adopt the characteristics of animals they grow up with; there are several documented cases of actual feral children. These cases include:

Peter, the Wild Boy of Hamelin

The Wild Girl of Champagne

Oxana Malaya, the dog girl of Ukraine

Traian Caldarar, the wild boy of Romania

There are also a number of children who, while not technically “feral” in the sense of being raised by animals, have been abandoned due to mental incapacity and then had the feral child myth constructed around them (such as the famous Indian “wolf girls” Amala and Kamala) or otherwise held in isolation by their parents or care-givers. In addition there are a number of unsubstantiated or poorly documented stories out of African nations , especially those savaged by years of war such as Sierra Leone and Uganda, of children raised by apes or monkeys after losing their parents.

There are also the outright hoaxes, usually of the carnival side-show variety where a physical or mental deficiency was exploited for monetary gain, however there are enough verifiable accounts to make the phenomenon an intriguing study.

In addition to the various folk tales and fairy stories they collected in their publications, Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm also collected supposedly true stories of tragedy, such as the infamous Children Play at Hog Killing, from the first edition of their book and dropped from later editions as too grisly. In these types of stories a group of children, usually after witnessing a butcher slaughtering a hog, play a game to reenact the spectacle with the end result being the tragic death of the child playing the role of the pig.

The butcher boy story may or may not be an exaggerated tale based in actual occurrences, as analogs are found in other regions and cultures. But regardless of the butcher boy’s veracity, there are real life tragedies, ones we can read about in our hometown newspapers, that occur often enough to reinforce the importance of these folk stories as cautionary tales. They may even give us some clues to the origins of some of the various prototypical fairy tales that have maintained perennial popularity and invited repeated revisitation and reinterpretation.

The recently reported story of a teenage boy, held captive with chains about his ankles in a perfectly kept suburban home in one of the safest communities in Northern California, tells us as much about the nature of our species and our society as any folk tale. Hollywood couldn’t concoct a more chilling tale. Here is your stereotypical “they looked like a normal happy family” from the schlocky Saturday matinee horror feature, in the flesh. Here is your warning about the dangers that can lurk behind a pretty facade. Here is your wolf in sheep’s clothing, Snow White’s beautiful but poisoned apple, your fallen morning star tempting you with pretty sin. Here is your gingerbread house, with white collar witches inside, waiting to gobble you up and strip away innocence like marrow sucked from a bone.