'Human trafficking is a crime that affects millions of people worldwide... Traffickers use various methods to control their victims, including physical violence, psychological manipulation, and the threat of voodoo rituals... In some cases, traffickers from Nigeria and other West African countries use voodoo rituals to exert control over their victims. These rituals involve threats of death or serious harm if the victims do not comply with the traffickers' demands. This psychological manipulation is particularly effective in controlling victims and preventing them from seeking help from authorities... European traffickers have adopted these voodoo practices to control their Nigerian victims, recognizing their effectiveness. The rituals create a climate of fear that ensures the victims' compliance and silence, making it difficult for law enforcement to intervene and provide assistance... In the UK, several cases have been reported where Nigerian women were trafficked and forced into prostitution through the use of voodoo rituals. The traffickers, often European nationals, used these rituals to instill fear and ensure the victims' obedience. These women were often isolated and threatened with severe consequences if they attempted to escape or seek help.'

'Hundreds of children are believed to have been kidnapped in Africa and brought to Britain for brutal voodoo rituals, a UN watchdog said today, urging London to step up its fight against the scourge. 'We're concerned about reports that hundreds of children have been abducted from their families in Africa and trafficked to the UK, especially London, for religious rituals,' said Kristen Sandberg, head of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. 'They are used in so-called voodoo rituals, and are also raped and sexually abused. The number of convictions is extremely low,' said the former Norwegian supreme court judge... British police are reported to have recorded scores of cases over the past decade of children who have faced torture and abuse as part of witchcraft rituals... The British government launched a campaign against faith-based child abuse in 2012, saying there was a need to make a stand, working with African migrant associations.'

'Children are being trafficked into the UK from Africa and used for human sacrifices, a confidential report for the Metropolitan Police suggests... Police face a 'wall of silence' in investigations because of fear and mistrust among the groups involved... Contributors said boys were being trafficked into the UK for this purpose, but did not give details because they said they feared they would be 'dead meat' if they told any more... There were also claims that youngsters were being smuggled into the UK as domestic slaves and for men with HIV who believed if they had sex with a child they would be cleansed... The report called for the social services department to determine how many faith organisations exist and where they are situated... The recommendations in the report are being carefully considered at the highest levels in the MPS in conjunction with partner agencies and community groups.'

'The growing numbers of Africans in Europe has led to the proliferation of marabouts—traditional African priests—offering advice on how to obtain love and money or achieve success in business, get rid of the evil eye or heal diseases. Also, in some African communities children are being accused of practicing witchcraft and voodoo threats have become one of the characteristics of African sex trafficking networks... In 2000 an Ivorian girl was assassinated by her relatives who accused her of being possessed by an evil spirit; in 2005 an eight-year-old child was tortured by her guardians who feared she was a witch and, in 2010, an adolescent accused of practicing witchcraft was tortured and mutilated by his sister and her boyfriend. These are just a few examples; Scotland Yard has conducted 83 investigations of faith-based child abuse in the past decade. Cases have been also reported in France, the Netherlands and Belgium... The bulk of these crimes are committed by family members, guardians, aunts, uncles and step-parents but not by the parents themselves. Perpetrators of crimes against alleged child-witches have mostly been Congolese (DRC), Nigerian and Angolan. As mentioned, the majority of these crimes have taken place in the UK, and although the majority of concerned families are first or second-generation migrants, about half of the abused children were born in that country... Ritual oath eremonies include body parts from the person on whom the oath is being administered, as well as from one of her relatives, usually her mother or sister. The use of body parts such as fingernails, blood, sweat, teeth and/or pubic hairs 'give the voodoo priest possession of some part of the victim, creating a sense of fear and an unwillingness to speak out.' Other 'magical' items, such as animal blood, kola nuts, water, palm oil, earth taken from a graveyard, alcohol and herbs are also part of these ceremonies. Sometimes women are also asked to take baths and drink or eat 'magical' food... In September 2001 the torso of a five-year-old African boy was discovered floating in river Thames. Further investigation showed that the boy was brought expressly from West Africa to be sacrificed in a witchcraft ritual. The boy was poisoned before his body was mutilated and drained of blood by an expert marabout. According to a report by the Metropolitan Police, children are being trafficked into the UK from Africa and used for human sacrifices. Once in Britain, they are exposed 'to violent and degrading treatments, often involving the forced extraction of their blood to be used for clients demanding blood rituals.' Child testimonies reveal that marabouts usually 'take children hair and cut their arms, legs, heads and genitals and collect the blood.' We do not know the numbers of children that are victims of this type of abuse, which is linked to blood rituals; however, it does appear that belief in such rituals is increasing the demand for African children...'

Three people have been convicted over the torture of an eight-year-old girl they thought was a witch... The Old Bailey heard the orphan was beaten, cut and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes to 'beat the devil out of her', in Hackney, east London... The girl's aunt was found guilty of child cruelty charges while Sita Kisanga and her brother Sebastian Pinto were convicted of aiding and abetting... The cruelty started at the beginning of 2003 when a boy told his mother that the girl had been practising witchcraft. It was an accusation the woman believed... Jurors were told that the child was cut with a knife and beaten with a belt and shoe to 'beat the devil out of her' during her ordeal at a flat in Hackney, east London... During police interviews, the girl said Kisanga had cornered her in the kitchen and told her 'today you die'... The court also heard the girl, now 10, was put into a laundry bag and believed she would be 'thrown away' into a river... Patricia May, prosecuting, said: 'This child was treated as a scapegoat by family members, tormented, subjected to all sorts of assaults which must have caused her considerable pain, fear and distress.'

'Hundreds of African boys have disappeared from London schools, police investigating the murder of a boy whose torso was left in the Thames have said... Scotland Yard asked London education authorities how many black boys aged four to seven had vanished from school... Between July and September 2001, 300 had disappeared, and police fear thousands may go missing annually... Child welfare experts say the figures hint at the scale of child trafficking, sometimes for labour or benefit fraud... A previous BBC investigation found some African children were being held by their parents' creditors, so they could claim extra benefits... The boy found in the River Thames in September 2001 - called Adam by police - is thought to have been the victim of a ritual killing after being brought to London from Nigeria... Detective Chief Inspector Will O'Reilly said inquiries revealed 300 black boys of a similar age to Adam had not reported back to school in the three months before his death and were 'lost into the system'... Despite an international search, police were able to find only two of them, Mr. O'Reilly said. Most of those questioned said the children had returned to Africa.'

'In September 2001 a gruesome discovery was made in London's River Thames. The hideously mutilated torso of a small black boy was found floating through the city. The boy's arms, legs, and head had all been hacked off... So began a stranger-than-fiction detective story that led U.K. investigators into a macabre netherworld of witchcraft and child sacrifice... The autopsy report concluded that Adam's throat had been slit. His body was then deliberately drained of blood... Richard Hoskins, a U.K.-based expert on African religion and voodoo, says the Calabar bean, in combination with the other ingredients in Adam's gut, pointed to the West African country of Nigeria. There, witch doctors are known to use such potions for black magic... The [beans are] ground down and then burnt in a pot. Taken together, this is the final clinching point that proves as near as certain that this was a sacrifice... The special police unit that investigates muti killings in South Africa estimates that there may be as many as a hundred such murders in the country each year... Adam had been earmarked for human sacrifice. To find out why and by whom, murder squad detectives traveled to Nigeria and the city of Benin. They were beginning to close in on Adam's witchcraft killers, thanks to the clues revealed by forensic science.'

'It's the longest unsolved child murder case in the recent history of the Metropolitan Police. Twenty years ago, a young African boy was murdered in a brutal ritual, his head and limbs removed, and his torso dumped in the Thames... Experts agreed that—because Adam's body had been expertly butchered—it had been a ritualistic murder... Some thought it had been one of the rare so-called 'muti' killings found in southern Africa—when a victim's body parts are removed and used by witchdoctors as 'medicine' for a client who wants, for example, to win a business deal or secure good luck... Other experts believed it was more likely a human sacrifice with its origins in a twisted version of Yoruban belief systems from Nigeria. A perverted offering to the goddess Oshun—a deity typically associated with water and fertility... The special police unit that investigates muti killings in South Africa estimates that there may be as many as a hundred such murders in the country each year.'

'Adam' was the name police gave to an unidentified male child whose torso was discovered in the River Thames in London, United Kingdom, on 21 September 2001. Investigators believe the child was likely from southwestern Nigeria, and that several days before his murder, he was trafficked to the United Kingdom for a muti ritual sacrifice... On 21 September 2001, the torso of a young boy was discovered in the River Thames, near Tower Bridge in central London. Dubbed 'Adam' by police officers, the unidentified remains belonged to a black male, around four to eight years old, who had been wearing orange girls' shorts. The post-mortem showed that Adam had been poisoned, his throat had been slit to drain the blood from his body, and his head and limbs had been expertly removed. Further forensic testing examined his stomach contents and trace minerals in his bones to establish that Adam had only been in the United Kingdom for a few days or weeks before he was murdered, and that he likely came from a region of southwestern Nigeria near Benin City known as the birthplace of voodoo. This evidence led investigators to suspect that Adam was trafficked to Britain specifically for a muti killing, a ritual sacrifice performed by a witch doctor that uses a child's body parts to make medicinal potions called 'muti'.

'Mrs Osiagede denied any involvement with the death of the young boy. Asked who killed him, she said a 'group of people'. She added: 'They used him for a ritual in the water.' Claiming the boy was six years old, she said: 'He was a lively boy. A very nice boy, he was also intelligent.' Detailed analysis of a substance in the boy's stomach was identified as a 'black magic' potion. It included tiny clay pellets containing small particles of pure gold, an indication that Adam was the victim of a Muti ritual killing in which it is believed that the body parts of children are sacred. Bodies are often disposed of in flowing water.'

'The use of voodoo in the trafficking of Nigerian women is a practice that has created a climate of fear and silence among victims. Voodoo rituals are employed to bind the women to their traffickers, compelling them to obey orders and discouraging them from seeking help from authorities... European traffickers have adopted these practices, recognizing their effectiveness in maintaining control over their victims. These rituals involve the use of personal items such as hair or blood, which are believed to give the traffickers control over the victims' spirits... In the UK, law enforcement agencies have documented cases where voodoo rituals were used to coerce Nigerian women into sex work. These women are often trafficked by European gangs who exploit their belief in voodoo to ensure compliance and silence. The psychological impact of these rituals is profound, creating a sense of hopelessness and helplessness among the women. Many victims believe that breaking the oath will lead to severe consequences, including death or madness. This belief system effectively traps them in a cycle of exploitation, making it extremely difficult for them to escape or seek help... Investigations have revealed that traffickers in Europe, including the UK, use these voodoo practices to maintain control over large networks of women, ensuring compliance and reducing the risk of exposure. The fear induced by these rituals is a powerful tool, making it unnecessary for traffickers to use physical violence or confinement to keep their victims in line... The prevalence of voodoo coercion in trafficking cases involving Nigerian women in Europe has significant implications for law enforcement and victim support services. Traditional approaches to combating trafficking may be ineffective unless they address the unique psychological and cultural dimensions of voodoo-induced control. There is a need for specialized training and resources to help European authorities understand and dismantle these coercive practices...'

'The Spanish Guardia Civil in collaboration with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) from Nigeria and the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), dismantled a Nigerian organised crime group in one of the largest operations against Trafficking in Human Beings in Europe... Victims were transferred from Nigeria to Europe via Libya and Italy. Once in Spain, the women were kept in squalid conditions in cave houses in Almeria, where they were exploited in prostitution to pay off the EUR 30,000 debt they owed to the criminal organisation... The highly active Nigerian criminal network was linked to the EIYE brotherhood, which is known for being one of the most influential confraternities in Nigeria. They operate in clandestine groups all over the world, funding the brotherhood in Nigeria through both licit and illicit activities, in some cases through organised crime and, in particular, trafficking human beings. One of the most important members of the organisation was a well-known DJ in Nigeria, who was arrested when he was returning from his country where he was recording a music video. His main role was to transfer the victims to Spain and organise sexual exploitation in several Spanish provinces... The crime ring transferred and laundered the money using the Hawala system. Police officers carried out 41 house searches in Alicante, Almeria, Barcelona, Cantabria, Madrid, Malaga, Murcia, Navarra, Seville, Toledo and Vizcaya in Spain and Manchester, UK. The bank accounts used by the organisation to launder more than EUR 300,000 from the illicit activity have been blocked. In total the operation resulted in 89 arrests and 39 victims were safeguarded...'

'Sixteen Nigerian women are safe after they were threatened with death and tricked to work as prostitutes in return for passage to Spain, the European Union's law enforcement agency said Thursday. Eleven people were arrested in Zaragoza, Spain, in connection with the trafficking plot, Europol said, adding that their criminal network operated mainly in Spain, Italy, Germany and Denmark... The women reflect a recent wave of Nigerians who have headed to Europe from Benin City, where poverty and traditional witchcraft suffocate opportunity. The journey can be fraught for women and girls, who face a particular risk of exploitation... Promised a better life in Spain, the 16 women were moved by land from Nigeria to Libya, then to Italy by sea, and from there into Spain, Europol said. Once on the Spanish territory they were handed over to a madam and forced into prostitution until they paid off their debt, the agency said... Voodoo threats leveled by traffickers: The women also were pressured under voodoo threats to pledge to pay for their transport and not to report their exploiters to police, Europol said. 'This method, used by criminal organizations with women from Western Africa, aims to control women under threat of death for them or their family members if they do not comply with that commitment,' the agency said. In some cases, traffickers can control their victims using phone contact alone, Europol said... The number of potential sex-trafficking victims arriving in Italy by sea has increased 600% since 2014, with the majority of victims arriving from Nigeria, a July report by the International Organization for Migration estimates. Eighty percent of all women and girls arriving from Nigeria to Europe are potential victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation, the group estimates, noting that exploitation of younger girls has been on the rise.'

'Human trafficking networks are comparable to drug trafficking rings in terms of their flexibility. When parts of trafficking rings are successfully removed through police intervention, the remaining network can often be adjusted in order to continue business... Voodoo or juju is a form of witchcraft in Nigeria existing alongside Christian or Islamic belief... Since the 1980s, there has been a resurgence of voodoo priests who seem to cater specifically to the needs of human traffickers. Before leaving Nigeria, traffickers lead recruited women to ancient shrines where voodoo priests perform rituals, which can include the eating of chicken hearts, superficial cutting of the body with razors, and the beheading of goats. Voodoo plays into fears and beliefs that are latently present in Nigerian culture, which are then abused and adjusted into rituals specifically for the advantage of human traffickers. Voodoo distinguishes the Nigerian modus operandi from other human trafficking streams. For example, in Eastern European rings, direct monitoring is often necessary: 'loverboys' bring women to Western Europe and exploit them under the threat of violence in case of defiance. In contrast, Nigerian networks can exercise remote control. Recruited women are made to go through elaborate voodoo rituals in Nigeria to enforce a contract, which dictates that they will repay their enormous debt. The terror-inducing rituals lead to a situation where the women will not run away when travelling on their own, out of fear for themselves or their family being hurt by voodoo. The number of Nigerian victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation is among the highest of any ethnicity in Western Europe, next to victims from Eastern Europe. Each year, hundreds of Nigerian women are being trafficked to Europe. Dire economic circumstances and images of a romanticized future in Europe play Nigerian women into the hands of human traffickers. When Nigerian women are intercepted in European asylum centres, questioning by the police is often complicated by a fear of occult voodoo contracts that prevents the women from talking.'

'For the past three years, the majority of people arriving in Italy by sea were Nigerian. Fifty-nine per cent of all victims of trafficking (VoT) assisted by IOM, the UN Migration Agency, in 2016 were Nigerians; the Organization estimates that a staggering 80 per cent of Nigerian women and girls arriving by sea that year were trafficked for sexual exploitation... In addition to paying large sums of money to their traffickers, Nigerian VoTs often submitted to a voodoo rite which bound them by 'contract' to their traffickers. The so-called contract, among other things, prohibits victims from revealing the names of their traffickers and other details that may lead to the identification of exploiters — victims are too scared to break it because they are made to fear that “bad things” will happen to them and their families if they do... As IOM Italy reported last year, this voodoo bond is an obstacle to the protection of VoTs. Some like Precious, a seventeen-year-old Nigerian girl who was assisted by IOM in Italy, often cannot sleep because they are afraid the voodoo rite will kill them. So powerful is the bond that Precious would often run away from the centre where she was sheltered by knotting sheets together to climb out the window.'

'Beninese officials reported that traffickers are increasingly using Voudoun curses as a means to control female Beninese trafficking victims... The government reported traffickers exploit children living in the lakeside areas of Benin—including the commune of So Ava in southeast Benin—in debt bondage. Criminal elements operate in urban areas under the guise of informal employment agents and recruit children for domestic work in private residences, where house managers and families exploit them in domestic servitude... Reports indicate criminal groups fraudulently recruit young Beninese women for domestic work in Lebanon, Algeria, and Persian Gulf countries and subsequently exploit them in forced labor or sex trafficking. The government increased law enforcement efforts. Authorities did not report identifying any foreign or adult trafficking victims. Additionally, the government did not have adequate protection services for adults... The government reported initiating investigations into 176 individuals, including 101 for sex trafficking, three for forced labor, and 72 for unspecified forms of trafficking; this compared with not reporting initiation of any investigations during the previous reporting period. The government also reported continuing investigations into 312 individuals, including 157 for sex trafficking, 51 for forced labor, and 104 for unspecified forms of trafficking... Benin has been the largest source country for trafficking victims in the Republic of the Congo, with the department of Oueme in southeast Benin historically an area traffickers used to recruit child victims... Reports indicate that traffickers fraudulently recruit young Beninese women for domestic work in Lebanon, Algeria, and Persian Gulf countries and subsequently exploit them in forced labor or sex trafficking.'

'Parents, desperate to fulfill voodoo's demands, sometimes resort to sending their children away to work in order to afford these expensive rituals. The effects of voodoo on children are especially poignant, with many being trafficked or forced into labor to pay for ceremonies or falling prey to voodoo convents where secrecy and possession are commonplace... Stories of children sold into slavery, like Christine who endured years of abuse, paint a harrowing picture of the intersection between voodoo, poverty, and exploitation in Benin... The cycle of poverty perpetuated by voodoo ceremonies leads many families to make difficult choices, sacrificing their children's education and well-being in the process... Gin is poured to appease the voodoo spirits. A series of blessings and offerings to the spirits as we enter the area. Here, children are taught voodoo's secrets. We've been invited in to meet the chief trainer and the chief priest, and a stream of these young children just walked in, and some of them look to me to be possibly two, even one years old... In Benin, 40,000 children are sold into what amounts to little more than slavery every year, many to pay for voodoo.'

'In Benin, when children fall sick, their parents often turn to voodoo. The West African nation is, after all, its spiritual home. Officially a state religion since 1996, Voodooism is practiced by 17% of the population, with many outside of the religion professing a cultural link to some of its rituals. But what happens inside the hundreds of facilities dotting the country is a mystery to most outsiders. Now advocates are raising the alarm saying the facilities may harm the children they aim to help... 'Those who practice Voodooism believe that illness is caused by evil spirits. If children fall sick, their parents seek treatment through Voodoo gods. The children allegedly possessed by spirits can be sent or even 'sold' to be healed in Voodoo convents,' notes Hadrien Bonnaud, a communication specialist for UNICEF based in Benin. The ceremonies that are meant to heal these children are expensive: about $1800 (a princely sum for a population that lives on less than $1 per day). In order to afford treatment, UNICEF says some parents sell their children to work in the convents until the debt is paid off (a practice that can take months or even years). 'If they are unable to pay their debts, the children are forcibly taken from them,' explains Bonnaud. UNICEF is one of several NGOs that have become concerned in recent years with the practices carried out inside Benin's traditional Voodoo convents. The exact number of convents in the country is unknown, but as of 2014, UNICEF has identified 432 in five out of Benin's 77 municipalities... In some cases a voodoo god will be assigned to a child, and symbolic scars will be carved into the skin. Madeline, 10, another child that Plan International interviewed, recalls the scarification she received as part of her treatment. 'It was very painful and there was so much blood... it was everywhere.' According to the charity, children as young as two years old can be kept in these convents—where access to education and healthcare is minimal. These children have to give up their names, learn a new language (that of voodoo) and begin an entirely new life. In some instances, when the initiated are finally released (sometimes up to a decade after they arrived), they no longer have families to return to... Both Plan International and UNICEF have been holding talks with community leaders to limit the confinement period spent inside these convents and provide the children inside with greater access to education. In 2015, both organizations met with voodoo chiefs, local authorities and political figures to raise awareness about child rights within the convents.'

'Research revealed that witchcraft and customary practices had been used by human trafficking networks in certain regions, namely through witchcraft accusations and juju oaths, to lure women into trafficking networks. These practices create a psychological hold on victims, preventing them from escaping or reporting their traffickers... HPAWR [Harmful Practices related to Accusations of Witchcraft and Ritual Attacks] manifest themselves in various forms, including violent attacks or ritual killings to procure body parts for ritual purposes. A third category manifests through juju rituals that are used to coerce a person into trafficking, ensuring their obedience and preventing them from seeking help. These practices are exacerbated by conflict, humanitarian crises, and displacement... Witchcraft-related harmful practices involve the breach of international human rights obligations, notably regarding human trafficking, violence against women, and the duty of due diligence. Various forms of violence and human rights violations can be associated with HPAWR, including killings, mutilation, coercion in trafficking of persons, torture, and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.'

'The use of cultural superstitions and occult rituals is a powerful means to control a human trafficking victim and reaches to the depths of one's psychological vulnerability. Combined with other conditions that render a person vulnerable to being trafficked—such as poverty, lack of opportunity, and violent conflict—an individual can become so frightened by the omnipotent powers of the spirit world as to be rendered entirely incapable of resisting criminal acts and human rights violations... Invoking witchcraft to assert control and coercion is so insidious in many cultures that even once victims have been identified and removed from a trafficking situation by state authorities, there is no guarantee that this will provide sufficient protection for victims to cooperate... Serious domestic and international human trafficking originates from Nigeria where women and children are trafficked into prostitution rings throughout Europe. In many cases, witchcraft and cult practices are used as a means to coerce, trick, terrorize, exploit, and control Nigerian trafficking victims... In voodoo rites, traffickers commit to pay all costs of the journey, while the women promise to repay the money, be respectful to the traffickers, and agree not to denounce the traffickers to the police. The relationship element makes the imposition of belief systems/voodoo oaths easy, believable, and even readily accepted, particularly if the agents of trafficking present themselves as successful and have been accepted as such within the communities that place a premium value on wealth and emigration to a better place regardless of means.'

'A recent United Nations (UN) resolution, The Elimination of Harmful Practices related to Accusations of Witchcraft and Ritual Attacks, was passed at the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council (June 21 to July 13, 2021). The resolution states that 'harmful practices related to witchcraft accusations and ritual attacks globally have resulted in various forms of violence, including killings, mutilation, burning, coercion in trafficking of persons, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and stigmatization... By focusing on harmful practices, the resolution sidesteps, to some extent, the loaded construct of the term, witchcraft, and the associated challenges of academic and policy responses. Disciplinary scholarship (including anthropology, literature, legal studies, and health studies) diversely defines witchcraft, but there is a shared understanding that tends toward the belief in and use of supernatural or magical powers to achieve good or bad outcomes... With its foregrounding of harmful practices, the resolution achieves a balance between the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion on the one hand, and the limits to manifestations of these freedoms in order to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of others on the other hand... In relation to health, witchcraft and witchcraft accusations have been associated with conditions such as epilepsy, dementia, and psychosis, as exemplars of where cultural beliefs and practices carry profound impact. Persons with albinism, especially in some areas of Africa, have faced atrocious violations of their human rights, with abandonment, threats, mutilations and murder, purportedly for ritual practices and economic gain.'

'Elements within African traditional religion, popularly and often wrongfully termed 'Juju,' proffer a method of control often used by certain traffickers to keep their victims in perpetual bondage. The data used in this article was derived from extensive fieldwork in Nigeria and the United Kingdom (UK) where forty-six (46) anti-trafficking stakeholders, including victims, were interviewed. The data indicates that this control mechanism was present in several cases of human trafficking from Nigeria, serving to impede effective investigations and the prosecution of traffickers... This form of control hinders the protection, prosecution, and prevention of trafficking due to the limited knowledge of law enforcement authorities and relevant anti-trafficking practitioners in dealing with the peculiarities of cases within this particular context... In a recent case occurring in the United Kingdom in 2012, a Nigerian, Osezua Osalase, was convicted in the Canterbury Crown Court in the UK for inter alia trafficking of two young Nigerian orphan girls for sexual exploitation. The victims were raped, sexually abused, and subjected to an oath-taking ritual to control them as victims of trafficking. It was reported that Osalase told the teenage girls that they would die or never bear children if they tried to escape or reveal what had happened to them.'

'Most of those contacted in the course of this investigation were unanimous that human trafficking has continued to thrive in Nigeria because of collusion among security, immigration, embassy and airline officials and traffickers. These officials often take bribes in exchange for facilitating smooth passage across the borders for traffickers and their victims. Another major factor oiling the wheel of trafficking in the country is voodoo. Insiders in the trafficking business say once arrangements for victims' trips abroad are completed, traffickers seal the deal by taking the victims to shrines of voodoo priests for oath taking. There, victims are made to swear that they would never reveal the identities of their traffickers to anyone if arrested whether in the course of the journey or in the destination countries...'

'Spiritual rituals have potential for misuse as a form of control in human trafficking. A lack of understanding of this process can lead to challenges in supporting trafficking survivors... The fear arising after oath-taking can limit victims’ ability to disclose information about their traffickers, causing challenges for authorities responsible for investigating and preventing trafficking crimes... The use of juju rituals in a trafficking context is not accepted in Edo State, Nigeria. This is demonstrated by the revocation in 2018 of all juju oaths by the Oba of Benin... The trafficking process involves professional and established networks. There are professional/business-like structures and transactions linking the traffickers and those administering rituals, such as traffickers purposefully requesting collaboration with juju administrators due to awareness of their power and control... Victims might not leave trafficking due to having sworn an oath not to do so, having ongoing indebtedness and perceiving risk to themselves. Professionals have repeatedly observed that trafficking survivors returned to exploitation after escaping... Practitioners may struggle to understand or to maintain an open mind about the power that taking an oath might have over someone in terms of their actual ability to extricate themselves from a situation... 'A case study of a trafficking survivor stated: she remembers the juju ritual and the contract. She remembers it as if it were yesterday because she is terrified of it. She says that it works, that it is real. ‘Juju will kill you if you don’t obey. It has many ways to kill, it enters your body, makes you sick and you die.’ She says white people can’t understand it, but she has seen the things that juju can do and she would never break the contract.'

'A practice found in Nigeria (and more specifically in Benin City, Edo State), yet not reported in the other studies, is the use of ju-ju or voodoo practices to bind victims to their traffickers, thus preventing the victims from cooperating with the police. An older woman, or 'madam' who facilitates the contact between the girls and the organization preparing the migration may recruit girls and women. The women enter into a contract to repay the costs of their trip. This contract varies from US$35,000 to US$55,000. 'When traffickers draw up a contract, they often call on a traditional priest to give approval. This is usually done at a traditional 'shrine'. The priest takes something deeply personal from the girl. It might be hair from her head, some pubic hair, a nail clipping, or some underwear. This trophy is wrapped up with a flourish, and the priest leaves no doubt that it will be used to control the victim from a distance. This use of voodoo is a way of keeping the girl in bondage because it plays on her deepest superstitions'.'

'Loveth is among thousands of Nigerian girls vulnerable to human trafficking and sexual exploitation around Mali's artisanal gold mining areas. First-hand accounts from IOM staff who met them reveal that many of them are underage and were deceived into travelling to Mali either through false promises of a regular job, or the conviction that they were heading to Europe. Bondage is a common method used by traffickers to coerce their victims and exercise control over them. As in Loveth's case it can be debt bondage, but it can also be the confiscation of travel documents or voodoo cursing or in this case, victims of trafficking are coerced into signing a moral contract with the traffickers who finance their journey. The contract is sealed by a spiritual priest or 'native doctor' to whom they promise never to denounce their traffickers to the police, to obey their 'madam' and to fully pay their debt. The victims thus live in constant fear of reprisals, including their death or that of their family, if they fail. For those arriving in Italy, their debt can reach EUR 50,000.'

'Voodoo is the major factor that makes human trafficking to thrive in Nigeria. Voodoo is regularly used by traffickers in human trafficking to exert pressure over the victims. The use of voodoo is a form of mental coercion aim at reducing the need to use physical violence. The adverse power exerted over the trafficked victims is so enormous that they dare not disobey the trafficker. In this manner, the Nigerian networks can control their victim from a distance and no additional person is required to supervise them. This paper concludes that the use of voodoo by traffickers impedes effective administration of justice. Voodoo does not allow victims of human trafficking to reveal the identities of the trafficker so that the law enforcement agencies would not arrest and prosecute them.'

'Trafficking in persons involves a forceful and deceitful acquisition, sale and resale of persons especially women and young girls. The focus of this paper is on voodoo and human trafficking of women and young girls for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation from Nigeria to outside world. The work finds voodoo is a major oiling wheel of trafficking in women and girls in Nigeria for sexual exploitation. The work further found that various reasons ranging from flimsy to serious ones contribute to the trafficking in women and young girls for sexual exploitation. Another disclosure is that in the process of the victims' desperateness to migrate, the traffickers dragged them to voodoo shrines where voodoo rituals are used to coerce them into working for their sponsors. They are then transported on an often fatal journey through a number of West African countries until they reach their departure where they are sold to their 'madams'. It is a fact also that belief in voodoo is very strong in some parts of Nigeria, and the women are often forced to make an oath by one of the voodoo priests, in which they swear obedience to their traffickers. The paper recommends among others that there must be mass anti-voodoo education in order to effectively disabuse peoples' minds about the myths of voodoo. The paper concludes among others that trafficking in persons is a global problem for both sending and receiving countries and it is evil, inhuman and against the law and investigators handling cases involving voodoo oaths should try new methods to get victims' cooperation for them to speak out. In spite of the fact that trafficking in persons is a crime, it has become a global business that affects almost every country and reaps enormous profits for traffickers and their criminal intermediaries. It has become a burden on various governments in Nigeria that has defied all legislations... [Musikilu] Mojeed, a journalist for the Nigerian online newspaper 234Next.com who has written about voodoo and human trafficking, said voodoo, known in Nigeria as juju, was a fairly common tool of intimidation used by traffickers. The victims are very scared of the power of voodoo, so traffickers tell them that if they do anything funny they will invoke voodoo. They fear death, illness, any misfortune the priest tells them. Therefore, if the voodoo priest tells the victims that they will get smallpox, then they will believe they will catch smallpox.'

'Another worrisome dimension in human trafficking in Africa is the use of fetish/witchcraft called 'juju' in Nigeria for instance, by the traffickers on their victims... It is aimed at putting maximum fear and control on the victim ... For the traffickers, it is aimed at putting maximum fear and control on the victim, this are made possible through the taking of oath of faithfulness and allegiance to the trafficker(s) who are mostly referred to as 'master/madam'... On the other hand, victims undergo the ritual with the believe of gaining a spiritual protection against any harm and danger in a strange land... In Nigeria, the issue became so embarrassing for the government and the Edo tribe, where the practice is known to be more notorious such that the king of Edo people, Oba Ewuare II, on the 18th of March 2018 cursed anyone under his kingdom, who administer any oath or witchcraft on any one, to facilitate human trafficking... The role of African Traditional Religion and 'juju' in human trafficking: Implications for anti-trafficking... The practice is deeply rooted in fear and control mechanisms... Critics argue that the use of 'juju' rituals serves as a psychological tool to ensure obedience and submission of the victims, often leading to severe mental and emotional trauma... Victims often believe that the ritual provides them with protection, but in reality, it binds them to their traffickers through fear... These rituals are reported to have long-lasting psychological effects, causing victims to feel trapped and powerless, unable to escape from their traffickers'.

'Through ritual 'oaths of protection', witchcraft provides a convenient way to traffic and mentally dominate victims.... disobedience will be punished by the spiritual world... The strong belief in the spirits makes this an easy tool for modern slave traders... One 14-year-old Nigerian victim... was taken to a Juju priest to undergo a ritual... Once in the UK, it became clear she was to be a sex slave... The deeply-held spiritual beliefs, which facilitate the Juju oath, cause huge problems for law enforcement officials who want victims to testify.'

'The indicators of Africa's plight are staggering: Life expectancy is below sixty years in twenty-eight countries, below fifty years in eighteen countries, and in Sierra Leone, just thirty-seven years. About half of the more than 600 million people south of the Sahara live in poverty. Half or more of the adult populations of at least thirteen countries are illiterate, and half or more of women are illiterate in at least eighteen countries. Children under five die at rates in excess of 100 per 1,000 in at least twenty-eight countries. In Sierra Leone, the rate is 335 per 1,000. The population growth rate is 2.7 percent annually, almost four times the rate in high-income countries. Among countries supplying such data to the World Bank, some of the most inequitable income distribution patterns are found in Africa, with the most affluent 10 percent accounting for about 47 percent of income in Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, and about 43 percent in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. Democratic institutions are commonly weak or nonexistent throughout Africa... We can no longer reasonably blame the colonial powers for our condition. Several decades have passed during which we have been in substantial control of our own destiny. Yet today Africa is more dependent than ever on rich countries, more vulnerable than any other continent to maneuvers aimed at giving with one hand and taking back with the other. The World Bank, usually a great source of funds and advice, is itself short of ideas. Other than structural adjustment programs (whose efficiency has not yet been proven), there is silence. The need to question our culture, the African culture, is evident... The African, returning to the roots of religion, believes that only God can modify the logic of a world created for eternity. The world and our behavior are an immutable given, bequeathed in a mythical past to our founding ancestors, whose wisdom continues to illuminate our life principles. The African remains enslaved by his environment. Nature is his master and sets his destiny... African culture is not easily grasped. It refuses to be packaged and resists attempts at systemization. A society in which magic and witchcraft flourish today is a sick society ruled by tension, fear, and moral disorder. Sorcery is a costly mechanism for managing conflict and preserving the status quo, which is, importantly, what African culture is about. Therefore, is not witchcraft a mirror reflecting the state of our societies? Witchcraft is both an instrument of social coercion (it helps maintain and perhaps even increase the loyalty of individuals toward the clan) and a very convenient political instrument to eliminate any opposition that might appear. Witchcraft is for us a psychological refuge in which all our ignorance finds its answers and our wildest fantasies become realities... In the final analysis, if Africans immerse themselves in the present and demonstrate a lack of concern for tomorrow, it is less because of the safety of community social structures that envelop them than because of their submission to a ubiquitous and implacable divine will. Africans have always had their own time, and they have often been criticized for it. In traditional African society, which exalts the glorious past of ancestors through tales and fables, nothing is done to prepare for the future. The African, anchored in his ancestral culture, is so convinced that the past can only repeat itself that he worries only superficially about the future. However, without a dynamic perception of the future, there is no planning, no foresight, no scenario building; in other words, no policy to affect the course of events. There can be no singing of tomorrows so long as our culture does not teach us to question the future, to repeat it mentally, and to bend it to our will.'

'These horrific crimes are at times trivialized or falsely portrayed as myth, rumors, or misinformation—but they are very real... Crimes of ritual abuse and sacrifice involve mutilating, and usually murdering, victims to remove certain body parts, bodily fluids, or organs for use in sadistic rituals... Much of this abuse happens while the victim is still alive—and without anesthesia—and many die afterwards from shock, pain, or blood loss... In Sub-Saharan Africa, we know that these crimes are especially prevalent around election seasons, when many children and adults go missing never to be found—or to be found dead with body parts missing... This is because, to this day, some politicians use such rituals to gain power... Tragically, children and women are especially vulnerable to this abuse and are particularly sought after by perpetrators... Albino people—particularly albino children—are at very high risk for being kidnapped, trafficked, and abused for the sake of certain rituals... In Africa, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of children each year are victims of ritual attacks in some form... It is absolutely unacceptable that these crimes continue to occur, affecting so many vulnerable children and robbing them of their futures... And it is deeply disturbing that cases continue to be underreported and inadequately addressed by law enforcement... Furthermore, ritual abuse and sacrifice is an especially pernicious form of human trafficking that often involves trafficking of organs... Organ trafficking for use in rituals is a worldwide phenomenon—traffickers even go so far as to set up warehouses to sell human flesh... We must do more in our anti-trafficking efforts to specifically address these heinous crimes.'

Western Vodou apologists often like to cite the tradition's role in the Touissant L'Ouverture-led 1791 Haitian Revolution. They conveniently leave out that Vodou has also been used as a tool of brutal paramilitary repression in post-revolt Haiti—and not at the hands of Western powers, but by local strongmen, particularly the infamous 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, who styled himself as Baron Samedi to terrorize his citizens, and employed a Vodou-themed secret police force to do so. 'The Tonton Macoute (Haitian Creole: Tonton Makout) or simply the Macoute, was a Haitian paramilitary and secret police force created in 1959 by dictator François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier. Haitians named this force after the Haitian mythological bogeyman, Tonton Macoute ('Uncle Gunnysack'), who kidnaps and punishes unruly children by snaring them in a gunny sack (macoute) before carrying them off to be consumed for breakfast. The Macoute were known for their brutality, state terrorism, and assassinations... Duvalier authorized the Tontons Macoutes to commit systematic violence, terrorism, and human rights abuses to suppress political opposition. They were responsible for unknown numbers of murders and rapes in Haiti. Political opponents often disappeared overnight, or were sometimes attacked in broad daylight. Tontons Macoutes stoned and burned people alive. Many times they put the corpses of their victims on display, often hung in trees for everyone to see and take as warnings against opposition. Family members who tried to remove the bodies for proper burial often disappeared. Anyone who challenged the VSN risked assassination. Their unrestrained state terrorism was accompanied by corruption, extortion, and personal aggrandizement among the leadership. The victims of Tontons Macoutes could range from a woman in the poorest of neighborhoods who had previously supported an opposing politician to a businessman who refused to comply with extortion threats (ostensibly taken as donations for public works, but which were in fact the source of profit for corrupt officials and even President Duvalier). The Tontons Macoutes murdered between 30,000 and 60,000 Haitians... When François Duvalier came to power in 1957, Vodou was becoming celebrated as authentic Haitian culture by intellectuals and the griots, after it had been dropped for years by those with education. The Tonton Macoute were strongly influenced by Vodou tradition and adopted denim uniforms resembling clothing like that of Azaka Medeh, the patron of farmers. They carried and used machetes in symbolic reference to Ogun, a great general in Vodou tradition. Some of the most important members of the Tontons Macoute were Vodou leaders. This religious affiliation gave the Tontons Macoute a kind of unearthly authority in the eyes of the public. From their methods to their choice of clothes, Vodou always played an important role in the paramilitary's actions. The Tonton Macoutes wore straw hats, blue denim shirts and dark glasses, and were armed with machetes and guns. Both their allusions to the supernatural and their physical presentations were used to instill fear and respect among the common people, including any opposition actors. Their title of Tonton Macoute was embedded in Haitian lore of a bogeyman who took children away in his sack, or Makoute.'

'Although voodoo practitioners have won some credit for supporting demonstrations against the dictatorship, voodoo is also under attack for its connections with the Duvalier family, particularly the ousted president's father, the late President Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier. Vigilante campaigns against Duvalier officials and associates have spilled over into assaults on voodoo priests who in one way or another were linked to the regime... Reasons for the attacks vary. Occasionally, ties to the Duvalier government are clear, for some priests doubled as members of the Tontons Macoutes, Duvalier's feared network of armed enforcers and spies. In other cases, the motivation was personal vengeance, often based on belief in the occult power of voodoo to do harm. A northern farmer complained that a sorcerer brought a relative back from the dead and turned him into a zombie doomed to eternal bondage under the priest... Voodoo came to be linked with the repression that characterized [Duvalier's] regime. The first chief of his private militia was a sorcerer from Gonaives. Duvalier once ordered the head of a rival cut off and shipped to the palace, where Duvalier is said to have 'chatted' with the victim's spirit.'

Zombies have long been associated with Haitian Vodou, and have become a near-constant fixture of popular culture. This is one case in which the reality is far worse than the myth. The Canadian ethnobotanist Wade Davis became internationally famous in the 1980s for his research into the zombi phenomenon, as described in his 1985 bestseller The Serpent and the Rainbow. Davis' research into zombis revealed one of the cruelest treatments of a human being imaginable, rivalling even accounts of Nazi medical experimentation: A living individual is given a mixture of pufferfish toxin (which puts them in a state of suspended animation that can easily be mistaken for death) and potentially Datura (among the most nightmarish psychotropics known to man) and then buried alive. Once exhumed, the individual is restored to partial consciousness, having sustained brain damage that removes their free will and turns them into a slave to be used for manual labor. This unfathomably brutal practice is then used as a threat to keep other individuals terrified and compliant. Notably, Davis traced the lineage of the Haitian secret societies that practice this inhuman form of biological slavery to the same secret societies that organized the slave revolt that overthrew French rule. The toxicology of the zombi powder is summarized by Davis in this study. 'For many years students of Haitian society have suggested that there is an ethnopharmacological basis for the notorious zombies, the living dead of peasant folklore. The recent surfacing of three zombies, one of whom may represent the first potentially verifiable case, has focused scientific attention on the reported zombi drug. The formula of the poison was obtained at four widely separated localities in Haiti. The consistent ingredients include one or more species of puffer fish (Diodon hystrix, Diodon holacanthus or Sphoeroides testudineus) which contain tetrodotoxins, potent neurotoxins fully capable of pharmacologically inducing the zombi state. The ingredients, preparation and method of application are presented. The symptomology of tetrodotoxication as described in the biomedical literature is compared with the constellations of symptoms recorded from the zombies in Haiti. The cosmological rationale of zombies within the context of Voudou theology is described. Preliminary laboratory tests are summarized.'

'The night he was buried, he told Angelina, a voodoo priest raised him from the grave. He was beaten with a sisal whip and carried off to a sugar plantation in northern Haiti where, with other zombies, he was forced to work as a slave... Davis believes the secret societies are responsible for policing their communities, and the threat of zombification is one way they maintain order. Says Davis, 'Zombification has a material basis, but it also has a societal logic.' To the uninitiated, the practice may appear a random criminal activity, but in rural vodoun society, it is exactly the opposite—a sanction imposed by recognized authorities, a form of capital punishment. For rural Haitians, zombification is an even more severe punishment than death, because it deprives the subject of his most valued possessions: his free will and independence... The poison is rubbed into the victim's skin. Within hours he begins to feel nauseated and has difficulty breathing. A pins-and-needles sensation afflicts his arms and legs, then progresses to the whole body. The subject becomes paralyzed; his lips turn blue for lack of oxygen. Quickly—sometimes within six hours—his metabolism is lowered to a level almost indistinguishable from death... The victim was buried, dug up within a few hours, and somehow reawakened. Sometimes the victim suffocates in the coffin before he can be resurrected. But clearly the potion works well enough often enough to make zombies more than a figment of Haitian imagination... Davis thinks it possible that the psychological trauma of zombification may be augmented by Datura or some other drug; he thinks zombies may be fed a Datura paste that accentuates their disorientation... During the French occupation of the late eighteenth century, 370,000 African-born slaves were imported to Haiti between 1780 and 1790. In 1791, the black population launched one of the few successful slave revolts in history, forming secret societies and overcoming first the French plantation owners and then a detachment of troops from Napoleon's army, sent to quell the revolt... Davis's investigations uncovered the importance of the secret societies. These groups trace their origins to the bands of escaped slaves that organized the revolt against the French in the late eighteenth century. Open to both men and women, the societies control specific territories of the country... In rural areas, secret vodoun societies, much like those found on the west coast of Africa, are as much or more in control of everyday life as the Haitian government... Davis believes the secret societies are responsible for policing their communities, and the threat of zombification is one way they maintain order. Says Davis, 'Zombification has a material basis, but it also has a societal logic.'

While Vodou can be a source of spiritual refuge from gang violence for many Haitians, it is just as integral to the country's ongoing gang violence. One account follows, which also describes the interweaving of Vodou and gang violence with Haitian 'essentialism and racism': 'In a video statement released on Oct. 21, Wilson Joseph, the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang—dressed up as Bawon Samdi, Vodou's fearsome spirit of death—threatened to kill members of the Haitian government as well as 17 foreign hostages, including five children, in Haiti on a Christian mission trip. They remain his captives. Why did Joseph adopt Bawon's traits—beard, purple and black clothing, top hat, and silver cross—to make these threats? The answer reveals how Vodou and Christianity remain perpetually entangled with Haiti's power struggles and politics... In his emotional statement, given in Creole, Joseph first noted that Prime Minister Ariel Henry, former Prime Minister Claude Joseph, and former police chief Léon Charles had not yet 'paid their debts.' He invoked a spell in the name of Bawon and explained that he had wept over his five 'soldiers' who were killed and whose open coffins he stood behind. Now the politicians will 'cry blood', he said, and vowed that he'd shoot 'those Americans' (referring to the missionaries, one of whom is Canadian) if his demands, including a $17 million ransom, were unmet. Joseph blamed the killings of his 'soldiers' on the Haitian police and state, but he also seemed to view his killing of the missionaries as part and parcel of his revenge... More cynical are the words and deeds of the G9 militia leader Jimmy 'Barbecue' Chérizier. His participation in a Vodou ritual to bring justice to Moïse while threatening the 'stinking bourgeoisie' and the 'Siriyanolibanè' (Syrian and Lebanese descendants) puts on raw display Haitian essentialism and racism in that the ritual ties so-called authentic power, the power Chérizier envisions for himself, to the traditions of Haiti's Black majority.' Wilson Joseph, aka Lanmo Sanjou, currently remains on the FBI Most Wanted list with a posted reward of $1 million dollars. According to the FBI: 'Lanmo Sanjou, as leader of the gang 400 Mawozo, allegedly participated in the October 2021, kidnapping of 17 Christian Missionaries in Haiti, including five children, one as young as 8 months old. The hostages were allegedly held at gunpoint and most remained captive for 61 days. The gang demanded ransom payment for each of the victims. Lanmo Sanjou was charged with Conspiracy to Commit Hostage Taking and Hostage Taking by an indictment filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia'.'

'Haiti... is one of the poorest [countries] in the world. It is a theory based on culture, not race; on belief, not ability. It puts the blame for Haiti's plight squarely with the Voodoo spirits that still hold dominant influence over the lives of [the Haitians]... The basic difference is that the Judeo-Christian tradition makes man responsible for his destiny... In contrast, the Haitian externalizes his guilt. He attributes everything, the good as well as the bad, to the spirits. Since this limits his responsibility... it also limits his potential... At its simplest, it means that if a Haitian steals a jug of milk from Dr. Hodge's hospital, he has no shame because he believes he was given the opportunity by the spirits. On a more complex level, it means that there is a limit to... how organized the society can become, how advanced its agriculture can be... Voodoo is not a religion that concerns itself with ethical issues: '... the notions of sin and a moral law... are alien to Vodun.' Its followers' destinies are believed to be controlled by hundreds of spirits, the loa, very human and capricious, who must be propitiated through ceremonies if one is to realize one's desires. Voodoo is a species of the sorcery that Cameroonian economist Daniel Etounga-Manguelle identifies in Culture Matters as one of the principal obstacles to progress in Africa. 'A society in which magic and witchcraft flourish today is a sick society ruled by tension, fear, and moral disorder. Sorcery is a costly mechanism for managing conflict and preserving the status quo, which is, importantly, what African society is about.' Voodoo discourages initiative, rationality, achievement, education, and a number of other factors that are discussed in the following chapter... What can explain Haiti's predicament is a set of cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes, rooted in African culture and the slavery experience, that resist progress.'

'Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo (November 1, 1962—May 6, 1989) was a Cuban-American serial killer, drug dealer and cult leader who led an infamous drug-trafficking and occult gang in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, that was dubbed the Narcosatanists (Spanish: Los Narcosatánicos) by the media... The cult was involved in multiple ritualistic killings in Matamoros, including the murder of Mark Kilroy, an American student abducted, tortured and killed in the area in 1989... Adolfo Constanzo was born in Miami, Florida, to Delia Aurora González, a Cuban immigrant in 1962... Constanzo was baptized Catholic and served as an altar boy, but also accompanied his mother on trips to Haiti to learn about Vodou... As a teenager, he became apprenticed to a local sorcerer and began to practice a religion called Palo Mayombe, which involves animal sacrifice... As an adult, Constanzo moved to Mexico City and met the men who were to become his followers... They began to run a profitable business casting spells to bring good luck, which involved expensive ritual sacrifices of chickens, goats, snakes, zebras and even lion cubs. Many of his clients were rich drug dealers and hitmen who enjoyed the violence of Constanzo's 'magical' displays... Constanzo started to raid graveyards for human bones to put in his nganga, or cauldron. Before long, his cult decided that the spirits of the dead that resided in the nganga would be stronger (providing the cult more powerful protection) with live human sacrifices instead of old bones. The resulting killings soon totalled more than twenty victims, whose mutilated bodies were found in and around Mexico City. This process escalated until Constanzo eventually decided that the gang needed the power of a brain from an American student, culminating with the 1989 murder of Mark Kilroy... Constanzo began to believe that his magic, much of which he took from Palo Mayombe, was responsible for the success of the cartels and demanded to become a full business partner with one of the most powerful families he knew, the Calzadas. When his demand was rejected, seven family members disappeared. Their bodies turned up later with fingers, toes, ears, brains and even (in one case) the spine missing... On March 13, 1989, Constanzo's henchmen abducted a pre-med student, Mark Kilroy, from outside a Mexican bar and took him back to the ranch. Kilroy was a US citizen who had been in Mexico on spring break. When Kilroy was brought to the ranch, Constanzo murdered him... Police quickly discovered the cult and that Constanzo had been responsible for Kilroy's death; he sought a 'good/superior brain' for one of his ritual spells. Officers raided the ranch and discovered Constanzo's cauldron, which contained various items such as a dead black cat and a human brain. Fifteen mutilated corpses were dug up at the ranch, one of them Kilroy's. Officials said Kilroy was killed by Constanzo with a machete chop to the back of the neck when Kilroy tried to escape about 12 hours after being taken to the ranch.'

'Authorities said today they are completely baffled in their search for the crazed killer who fatally shot a 41-year-old Montz housewife and brutally mutilated the sex organs of her lifeless body... Leo Montz, 47, found his wife dead in their river-level home yesterday evening at 4:45 after working at a paint plant all day. He said he last saw his wife at 6:00 a.m. Montz found her body face down in a pool of blood, pillowed by her folded arms. The shotgun lay next to the body with the muzzle near her head... According to the lawman, the slayer killed Mrs. Montz with a 12-gauge shotgun she used to kill rats. He said, 'It looks like she was on the floor, on her knees, begging for her life when he fired.' Fifteen minutes later, the sheriff said, her attacker fired a second blast into her groin... Dr. Clayton said the killer placed the shotgun muzzle above Mrs. Montz's left shoulder and fired downward. The shot penetrated the heart and ripped the abdomen, killing her instantly... The suspect, Guidry revealed, is a Creole witch doctor. According to the deputy, among other clues not reported about the crime scene, a voodoo curse had been set up in the Montz home, laid out as a flask attached to a crude doll and suspended from the ceiling. The doll's head pointed downward, revealing a name scrawled on its back... That afternoon, the Associated Press confirmed Guidry's voodoo claim: 'Authorities now believe the murderer of Blanche Montz was a madman into Voodoo. Voodoo, the witchcraft of slaves brought over from Africa, is known to be practiced in the Montz area, Coroner Earl Clayton now admits, reporting local Creole peoples make themselves up as Voodoo doctors. Creoles are white descendants of early French and Spanish settlers. Mrs. Montz, a 41-year-old childless housewife, was not a Creole. However, Montz is a perfect setting for the weird rites of Voodoo... Dr. Clayton said Mrs. Montz did not believe in Voodoo-ism. However, he said, it is possible someone believed she was under a spell, or that she had put a spell on them. A neighbor may have killed her to free her from the spell or to free himself or herself, he said.'

'Similarly to Voodoo and Santeria practitioners, Paleros claim that they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs and stigmatized for their ritual practices. However, there is a significant difference; regardless of whether the Palero's intent is to heal or harm, Palo Mayombe ritually requires the use of human bones, hence this practice always entails the theft of human remains. Additionally, the types of animals sacrificed for Palo include domesticated pets such as dogs and other larger animals. The nganga is routinely fed with blood, so sacrifice occurs much more frequently then in Santeria rituals. Finally the religion of Palo Mayombe appeals to drug traffickers who believe that it has the power to protect them, and Paleros are hired to conduct special protection rituals. There are more crimes attributed to Palo Mayombe than any of the other syncretic traditions; they frequently include grave robbing, extortion, and animal and human sacrifice... In communities with large populations of Santeria and Voodoo practitioners it is not unusual to find headless chickens on the doorways and steps of courthouses and government buildings where practitioners discard the sacrificed bird as part of a spell that will protect them from being found guilty... Animal sacrifice in the worship of Palo Mayombe surpasses basic problems for health departments and humane societies and has been associated with more serious crimes such as grave robbing, drug trafficking, and murder. Not only is the intention of the worshiper characteristically to cause harm but the items required for particular spells can only be obtained illegally. Additionally Palo Mayombe animal sacrifice is much more disturbing because it entails the use of domesticated pets such as dogs. Since Palo Mayombe focuses its rituals on the spirits of the dead instead of the Palo gods, rituals require human remains, specifically the human skull and other body parts. The central theology of Palo is that the spirit of the person whose bones are placed in the nganga, the sacred cauldron, carries out the owner's wishes. Animal sacrifice occurs because the nganga must be initiated and continually 'fed' blood... Although penalties for animal abuse and grave desecration vary from state to state, the more serious ritualistic crime is generally the theft of human remains... In Newark, New Jersey, several arrests were made in connection to Palo Mayombe rituals. In October 2002 a father and son were arrested after a search of their home uncovered both animal and human remains. Dean Maglione, Essex County Assistant Prosecutor, stated, 'They take the head and they put in a cauldron. And after they put it in a cauldron, they put some other ingredients in there and they sell services, they sell ceremonies. People pay to sit in a room with a cauldron.' In one news article the reporter specifically recognized the crime scene as a temple: 'A raid on the basement temple of a religious sect uncovered human body parts allegedly stolen from cemeteries and the remains of several animals that may have been sacrificed by worshipers. The human remains, including three skulls, were found Monday in cauldrons set up on altars in a building owned by Eddie Figueroa, 56, who authorities believe is a high priest in the Palo Mayombe sect. It was the second time in two months that Newark authorities have recovered stolen body parts from worshipers of the sect, whose priests use human remains in their rituals. The raid grew out of an investigation that began in July, when some remains were stolen from a crypt at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Newark.' In March 2003 another arrest was made; 60-year-old Miriam Mirabel was charged with leading the Palo cult and ordering her followers to steal bodies from local cemeteries.'

'Godoy, 37, became the department's specialist in ritualistic crimes in 1988. Born in Cuba, her family moved to Spain shortly after Fidel Castro took power. They migrated to the United States when she was 8... Three years ago, Godoy went undercover for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. At the Miami home of Jose Torraguitart, she discovered numerous rare animals, some dead and others ready to be sacrificed in the name of Palo Mayombe. 'We confiscated ... human skulls. He had a femur he could not account for,' Godoy said. 'He had four baby owls in captivity and all kinds of birds frozen—blue jays and cardinals—and the worst part was a baby panther, which he had frozen in the refrigerator.' Torraguitart, a high priest or palero, was taken into custody for violating the Migratory Bird and Endangered Species acts and is currently under house arrest... 'Grave desecration is big-time criminal activity, not to mention immoral,' Godoy said. A group of people nailed the tongue to the tree and sacrificed animals and left them there. All this was so they could ask permission to take the head.' Under the religion's tenets, a dead person must give permission for a palero to use his skull for magic. An elaborate ceremony is performed to ask the dead for the ultimate sacrifice. Once the head is procured, it goes into a caldron with other materials such as knives, guns and animal bones, and the palero asks the spirit to do a deed for the living. It could intercede in a romantic triangle, or perhaps ensure that a curse works.'

'The violence and drug trafficking spread by Latin American drug cartels and criminal street gangs is spreading. Narco-terrorist acts involving ritualistic murder and targeted assassinations are growing throughout the U.S. and Mexico. Many of these groups are utilizing various religious ideologies and customs to seek protection from rival organizations and police... Mexican drug cartels such as La Famlia Michoacána and Los Caballeros Templarios commit acts of drug smuggling, assaults and murder in the name of religion. Similar patterns are developing among international human smuggling and trafficking rings where West African Voodoo is being used to exercise control over victims and members of these organizations.'

The author and Vodou practitioner Michael Bertiaux (who is white) has long been considered the pre-eminent writer on Vodou in the occult community—particularly after his work was promoted by other, more prominent authors, like Kenneth Grant and Grant Morrison. While practitioners of Vodou occasionally claim that Bertiaux's eccentric writing on Vodou does not represent the living tradition, he was indeed initiated into Haitian Vodou, in Haiti, in 1964. Furthermore, Bertiaux was employed as a social worker in the Chicago Haitian community for four decades, where he may well have had easy access to children and other vulnerable people. Here, one of his prior students recounts Bertiaux's pattern of severely sexually abusing his 'pupils': 'I will satisfy the curiosity of my readers and briefly relate it. As an object lesson, it says everything that anyone needs to know about Michael Bertiaux. I found him to be cruel, manipulative, ruthless, and completely without any human compassion whatsoever. This is not the kind of person that you could trust, believe in, nor would you place yourself into his hands for any reason. I would rather offer my head to the gaping jaws of a crocodile than give myself into the hands of this man... At first, only two members of our extended coven periodically went down to Chicago to work with Michael. Those two members were Christopher and a senior member named John, yet after the first trip, only Christopher went down to see Bertiaux. It seemed that John's first experience was too traumatic to be repeated. I thought this strange, but John regaled us with his frightful experiences with Bertiaux. It would seem that Michael used a form of sexual terrorism to get his students into the right frame of mind for his various occult and magickal operations. He would select an approach that was guaranteed to frighten and unbalance his subject, acting as either a homosexual or a heterosexual lover, as it suited him. His unwanted advances would be rationalized as being the only manner that such occult knowledge and initiatory mysteries could be communicated. It was an excuse to sexually abuse and exploit individuals who came seeking knowledge and special teachings, and Bertiaux had no problem obliging those foolish enough to accede to his desires... My initiation consisted of first being completely naked, presented to the various spirits and lwa of the dead, then being forced to drink a third of a bottle of Wild Turkey, and finally, being sexually accosted by this man. I remember distinctly lying naked on the floor of his temple, with this rather flabby furry man laying on top of me, pinning me down while attempting to french kiss me (as I gritted my teeth) and thereby arouse me... Poor souls [were attracted] to Michael, all of them somehow hoping to gain some of this knowledge. He took from them whatever he could get, mostly in the way of sexual favors, psychic access and various forms of vicious manipulation.'

Michael Bertiaux himself includes in his Voudon Gnostic Workbook a long passage in which the reader is meant to imagine themselves going to Bertiaux's apartment to be raped and murdered: 'While you were bathing, I decided to join you, and, making another drink for each of us, came to the bathroom. It was there that I noticed the particular suitability of your body for the deeper aspects of my research. As I slowly began to mesmerize you in an erotic sense, I realized that you were more suitable for another and more profound type of consciousness. You seemed to be so full of a basic energy, and I wanted to bring out that energy more and more. As I held you very close, I slowly began to test your skin for where I might be invited to make entry. My lips and tongue began to explore, seeking that secret space where my teeth might make the first magickal mark. It was obvious that this was a type of erotic exercise to you, but to me it went beyond eros; it was approaching more the question of your sacrificial death. Your total surrender to this ideal was necessary. Not that I was any kind of vampire, for my lineage is more hot-blooded, more violent, more destructive and chaotic. I really wanted to strangle you. I really wanted to squeeze the breath of life from you. I wanted to grab your throat and press it inwardly to its limits. I had you on the floor and you seemed to be aware of what was happening. You seemed to realize that there was something more than just sexuality at work. Your instinct could read my mind, and you realized that I was trying to harm you. Your nakedness beneath the hairs of my body began a vain struggle. I really wanted you to struggle. I wanted to show you that there wasn't any escape from what was to happen. From what must happen. I wanted you to try and fight back, and perhaps you wanted to also, but you did not appear to be able to.' As seen above, this is far more than a fantasy for Bertiaux, now nearly 90, who is still widely revered by the 'occult community'.

Kenaz Filan is the pen name of another of the most prominent authors on Vodou in America. He very publicly became a Neo-Nazi in 2016: 'Why would an initiate in Haitian Vodou support folkish Heathens? Why would an author on African Diaspora traditions associate with racists and anti-Semites?... Not long after Annamaria's birth I realized I had no Vodou books on the back burner and little desire to write more on the topic. There were plenty of Haitians out there ready and willing to take on non-Haitian students. Aspiring Vodouisants needed me like the 1950s needed Pat Boone... Parenthood also left me wondering about my own ancestral traditions... Many of the Alternative Right's foot soldiers get their cues from 4chan's Politically Incorrect board: Kek and Shlomo 'Happy Merchant' Shekelberg got their start where Pepe took his first redpill. Much Alternative Right discussion is loudly, even gleefully, racist and anti-Semitic. The Daily Stormer describes itself as 'the World's #1 Alternative Right and Pro-Genocide Website'... By 2023 the majority of American babies will be non-White: by 2042 there will be more non-White than White Americans. We must now redefine ourselves as part of a multicultural mosaic. But any effort to identify as White and to promote White interests is immediately dismissed as 'racism.'... And so I found my political views drifting toward the Alternative Right.'

On a final note (which I have saved for the end as it enters the realm of the purely subjective), in 2007 I was accused of being 'racist' and 'mentally ill' for mis-characterized statements about the lwa being insectile. This description comes not from me but directly from Michael Bertiaux, one of the most popular writers on Voudon in the world—a detail that my critics were absolutely well aware of. As mentioned above, spurious claims that Bertiaux somehow represents a break from the Vodou tradition are contraindicated by his actual initiations in Haiti and his ongoing connections to Haitian Vodou. Here are just some of many examples from his Voudon Gnostic Workbook, which infamously dwells on insectile and arachnid analogies: 'For example, there is a particular point of contact named after the Loas of the Guedhe family, which are the spider-Loa... this is done by means of the magickal powers of the spiders and death-Loa... the positive vampires of time and spaceconsciousness travel who assist the magician to move into other regions and who, manifested as were-spiders and zombi-Loa, both guard the temple of sciences as well as provide certain esoteric energies... You now become a truly magickal spider, a were-spider, who will appear to sit in the midst of your web... So now you are a spider-magian, spider-sorceror, or spider-magician... Baron Zariguin, as Head Loa of the Spider-research spirit group and the were-spider, and especially were-tarantula priesthood... The third point of the rite opens in the temple of Ghuedhe-Zariguinou, Baron of the spider-sorcerors, who instructs the Zombi in how to become living men again, by use of the magickal venom, which he generates. They receive this venom and become living men who can at will become Zombi and thus immune from all mortal dangers... this rite reaches magick, divination, the use of the 16 types of magickal venoms (seminal fluid of the spider-sorcerors), methods of immortality possessed by the undead, as well as the first points of the esoteric temple of the spiders (Secret-des-Peristyie-Zariguines)... Aiwaz and Amalantrah were diffused over the face of this globe to prepare for the coming of Spider-Magick... The shaman may be possessed by both anthropomorphic and theriomorphic spirits, appearing as men, animals, insects, or other fantastic beings... It is believed simply that voudoo priests may gain powers by entering into their animal level subconscious and subconscious minds and that this atavistic process will help them as oracles and as magickal creators and problem solvers. However, since many of the priests of the Ghuedhe family use lycanthropy as a method, the transvection family work almost entirely with insect-forms or low animals... To the south, we will assign a very special deity, known as the spirit who greets those who come to serve the dead, 'Thousand-Little-Footsteps,' or 'Ti-Pied-Mille-Fois.' This spirit is the were-insect Loa-Mystere, a transvection of Limbi and kliphotic king of the larvae of the dead. By using him in the south, we have established a magickal link with the were-insect deities... The destructive Loa are those as follows: Marassas Nibbho, Mystere Baron Lundi, Mystere Araignee, Baron La Croix, and Mystere-des-Blattes [Mystery of Cockroaches]... The spider family is quite small and likes black colors, sometimes red is used very discreetly. This family is closely allied to 6, the transvection family, except that the spider family is also the divinatory family of the negative type... These magickal beings are to be imagined as exotic insects or animals which will carry out any command given by the magician... At a certain level, it was observed that as the humanoid level of static archetypes faded from the instruments, another and more lethal stratification emerged, which was crawling with the insectlike mutants of the fob a tic merger of oracles and lattices... There exists in a remote part of the magickal universe a place from which emanates the magickal web-work of the transcendental id. This realm is entirely within the body of the Mother Spider, and hence is derived from the internal interactions of the katas of her own magickal anatomy. Within this sphere of magick, as there are so many magickal forms of monadic and auric eggs... The very strange saucerian and ufo inhabitants often resemble insects and some types of animals. They have undergone another type of evolution and have not given up the 'were'-animal appearances with their climb into superior intelligence... As certain insects provide a specific form of energy-matter from the substance of their bodies, so the humanoids of the world of Oerg-8 are expected to produce orgone energy in its most useful form [note that Bertiaux is also fixated on the work of Wilhelm Reich, as described above]... The endless womb of nature radiated forth an almost ineluctable stream of sensations and tantalized the mind-fields of observers with insect-like myriads of strangely contorted obsessions and perversions of ordinary 'consciousness'... This other aspect also suggests a row of magickally charged words of elemental power, for it is the evocation of the biting, tingling sensations of an almost electrical stimulation, from the insect—like elemental domain of the Plutonian essence, as in the following row of magickal atoms of elemental power: The sensations of insect bites and an almost never-ending sequence of poisonous stings were overwhelming. The buzzing in my ear was deafening as the fluttering of wings came and went in endless convoy. Minute armies and airborne forces were preparing for an attack upon me, or were thusly engaged in some remote part of my occult unconscious. I felt the interior pain as I began to cough and then vomit up a bloody and brackishly sodden mucus...'

As seen above, the 'lwa as insects' metaphor is not mine, but that of Michael Bertiaux; indeed, his prominent student David Beth (who is white) has continued to publish books perpetuating the image. Though he is of German descent, Beth was born in Angola and raised in Nigeria, from which his interest in Vodou stems—an interest he continued to pursue by undertaking Vodou research and initiation throughout Benin, Togo, Kenya, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Congo and throughout Africa before becoming a devoted student of Bertiaux. The usual 'no true Scotsman' claims made by Vodou apologists that Bertiaux's system therefore does not represent 'the real Vodou' are therefore deeply undercut by Beth's work—and this in addition to Bertiaux's own Haitian initiations. (Indeed, as seen above, it seems that the abuses and violations of even Bertiaux's system pale in comparison with the 'real Vodou' practiced by trafficking networks in West Africa and beyond.) Here, he continues the insect metaphor: 'Loa, the positive vampires of space/time travel, in our work—as they automatically scare off the undesired negative entities. So caution is very important here in distinguishing the negative from the positive beings who manifest in our work as were-spiders and zombie Loa... He is the link to the remaining were-insect spirits... Teachers of spider magic (as the sexual Voudon of the GG is called) are those who derive their power and initiations directly from the Zothyrian time-system... Once you feel that the necessary quantity of sexual energy is circulating in your body, enter your mental Temple Des Houdeaux. When you feel that you have comfortably established the temple, begin to visualize yourself as a were-spider with eight legs sitting in your temple net...' In conclusion, if repeating such imagery in order to critique it is 'racist', then the individuals claiming 'racism' should raise their greivances with their own (white) leaders, as they are the ones who created it.