The belief in the magical powers of muti (muthi) is not a recent phenomenon as demonstrated in a study on muti ritual murders in Natal covering the 1900 -1930 period. A testimony described in the article links muti to murder. (Source: Muti Ritual Murder in Natal: From Chiefs to Commoners (1900-1930), Rob Turrell, University of Cape Town, in: South African Historical Journal 44 (May 2001), 21-39).
“A muti murder is the killing of a person in order to use their body parts for muti, i.e. African medicine. The parts will often be taken from the victim alive. Genitals are often taken for fertility spells. Internal organs are often taken, as are breasts, hands and feet.
Often the sangoma will tell the client what parts are necessary for the spell, but will leave the deed up to the client. Money often changes hands, and a complete stranger is seldom targeted. A family member or acquaintance is preferred.
Estimates of the number of muti murders range from one per month to one per day in South Africa alone. The Torso in the Thames case (2001) is thought to be the first muti murder in England.”
Source: click here
Below more information is provided for the interested reader: two articles and two documentaries. This page is being developed, hence it is recommended to return to it on a regular basis for additional articles and documentaries and more news.
Warning: the following contains graphic details of horrific crimes and ritualistic activities.
Chilling horror of muthi or muti
Warning: Some readers may find this story disturbing (webmaster FVDK)
Chilling horror of muthi
What are human body parts used for in mouth practices?…
Author: Jonathan Erasmus
Date: July 19, 2014
The unsolved case of the torso in the Thames
The unsolved case of the torso in the Thames
(March 18, 2019; updated March 21, 2019)
Warning: Some readers may find this story disturbing (webmaster FVDK)
Muti Child Sacrifice Found in the Thames: True Crime Documentary
Muti murder – The dark side of occult belief systems in Africa
51 minutes YouTube video – 14 June 2022
‘Muti murders – ritual killings’, a documentary (2009)
In 2009 German filmmaker Oliver G. Becker’s documentary ‘Muti murders – ritual killings’ was shown at IDFA. The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam is one of the world’s leading documentary events.
From the announcement:
“London, 21 September 2001. In the murky waters of the Thames, a passer-by discovers the lifeless body of a 5-year old African child. Its arms, legs and head have been removed. For Scotland Yard, this discovery sparked the most intensive and most unusual murder investigation ever conducted. Information from a unique police unit, specialising in occult crimes, lead investigators to deduce that the boy had been sacrificed in a ritual murder of a type which, up to this, had been practised predominantly in southern Africa. These mysterious “muti” murders are an extreme form of occult belief: the body parts or blood of a killed person are ingested as a “muti medicine”, in order to grant another person health, power, wealth or strength. We follow Scotland Yard’s investigation and investigate the links between the historical, religious and criminological backgrounds to ritual murder.”
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