Missing Genitals Hysteria Sweeps Nigeria
Sometimes superstitions and pseudo-scientific beliefs can be deadly, especially if they become coupled with mass hysteria. This has been an ongoing problem in Nigeria where at least 12 people were recently killed by lynch mobs for a bizarre reason — the murdered individuals were accused of making people’s genitals disappear.
In the Nigerian town of Ilesa, for example, members of a religious sect were having their annual convention when somebody claimed that sect members had caused his penis to disappear. According to the BBC, an angry mob then descended on the visitors, burning eight of them to death. This the latest in a series of “disappearing organs” hysterias that has swept Nigeria in recent weeks. Six people were burned to death in Nigeria’s Oyo state last month based on similar allegations, and police in neighboring Osun state arrived just in time to rescue six people from a mob.
Source:
‘Missing’ penis sparks mob lynching. Mannir Dan-Ali, The BBC, April 12, 2001.
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