Our collection shows countries in which people still believe that ritual killing can help get rid of sickness or drought.
At the moment, human sacrifices are banned all over the world and are considered a criminal offense, but there are still places on our planet where superstitions are stronger than fear of punishment ...
Uganda
Despite the fact that about 80% of the country's population are adherents of Christianity, local people continue to respect the traditional African cults with great respect.
Now, when the worst drought hit Uganda, cases of ritual murders increased. The sorcerers believe that only human sacrifices can save the country from impending hunger.
However, even before the drought sorcerers did not disdain to use people in their monstrous rituals. For example, one boy was killed only because a wealthy entrepreneur started construction and decided to propitiate spirits before starting work. This case is not unique: local businessmen often turn to sorcerers to help them achieve success in new projects. As a rule, customers are aware that for such purposes a human sacrifice will be required.
In Uganda, there is a special police unit that is created to combat ritual murders. However, it does not work very well: the police themselves are afraid of sorcerers and often turn a blind eye to their activities.
Liberia
Although Liberians formally are Christians, most of them actually profess the traditional African religions associated with the cult of voodoo. Despite the criminal prosecution, child sacrifices are common in the country. The Liberian families below the poverty line are not able to feed a large number of offspring, so parents often view their children as a commodity. Any sorcerer can easily buy a child for a bloody action for a song. In this case, the goals of such rituals can be completely trivial. There are cases when children were sacrificed only to get rid of toothache.
Tanzania
In Tanzania, as in some other African countries, there is a real hunt for albinos. It is believed that their hair, flesh and organs have magical powers, and sorcerers use them to make potions. Special demand is for dried genitalia: it is believed that they can save from AIDS.
The cost of individual organs of albinos comes to thousands of dollars. For Africans, this is a huge amount of money, and among the illiterate Tanzanian population there are many who want to get rich in such a monstrous way, so unfortunate albinos are forced to hide. According to statistics, in Tanzania, few of them survive to 30 years ...
The albino children are lodged in special guarded boarding schools, but there are cases when the guards themselves took part in kidnappings for money themselves. It also happens that the unfortunate are attacked by their own relatives. So, in 2015, several people attacked a six-year-old child and cut off his hand. The father of the boy was also in the group of attackers.
Since recently, the death penalty has been imposed for the murder of albinos. To avoid severe punishment, hunters do not kill their victims now, but attack them and cut off their limbs.
Nepal
Every five years, the Gadhimai festival is held in Nepal, during which more than 400,000 pets are sacrificed to the goddess Gadhimai. Human sacrifices in the country, of course, are officially banned, but still practiced.
In 2015, a boy was sacrificed in a small Nepalese village on the border with India. One of the local residents got seriously ill son, and he turned to the sorcerer for help. The shaman said that only a human sacrifice can save a child. He lured a 10-year-old boy to the temple on the outskirts of the village, committed a ritual over him and killed him. Subsequently, the customer and the perpetrator of the crime were arrested.
India
Human sacrifices are not uncommon in the remote provinces of India. So, in the state of Jharkhand there is a sect called "mudkatva", whose adherents are representatives of agricultural castes. Members of the sect kidnap people, decapitate them and bury their heads in the fields to increase yields. Ritual murders are fixed in the state almost every year.
Monstrous and ridiculous crimes occur in other states of India. In 2013, in Uttar Pradesh, a man killed his 8-month-old son to sacrifice him to the goddess Kali. Allegedly the goddess herself ordered him to take away his own child's life.
In March 2017 in Karnataka, relatives of a seriously ill person turned to the sorcerer for help. To heal the sick, the sorcerer kidnapped and sacrificed a 10-year-old girl.
Pakistan
Many rural residents of Pakistan practice black magic. Its follower was former president Asif Ali Zardari. Almost every day in his residence, a black goat was killed to save the first face of the state from the evil eye.
Unfortunately, human sacrifices in Pakistan also happen. For example, in 2015 a man who studies black magic killed five of his children.
Haiti
Most of the population of the Caribbean country of Haiti adhere to the Voodoo religion, which practices human sacrifices. Previously, there was an eerie custom: each family had to give its newborn first-born as a sacrifice to sharks to propitious predators. The baby was brought to the sorcerer, who was washing the child with the broths of special herbs and made cuts on his body. Then the bloody kid was placed in a small raft of palm branches and released into the sea, to certain death.
This custom was banned in the early 19 th century, but even now in remote villages still practice a spooky ritual ...
Nigeria
In African Nigeria, sacrifices occur quite often. In the south of the country, the sale of organs that are used in a variety of magical rituals is common. In the city of Lagos are often found disfigured human corpses with a torn out liver or carved eyes. Most children are at risk of becoming victims of sorcerers, as well as albinos.