Penis Theft: A Growing Concern

According to a recent Reuters report, police in the Congo have taken action to protect local “sorcerers” from being lynch over allegations that they are using black magic to steal or drastically reduce the size of men’s penises.

13 suspected sorcerers and 14 purported victims were temporarily rounded up by the authorities in an effort to put an end to this silliness. Rumors circulating around the capital city of Kinsasha say that a sorcerer can make a man’s member shrivel up and/or disappear completely simply by touching him.

Even in a sprawling modern city of 8 million people, belief in ancient superstitions and witchcraft are still pretty commonplace. It would almost be a laughing matter save for the fact that ten years ago a dozen suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death during the outbreak of a similar hysteria.

Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, the Kinshasa chief of police, has this to say on the matter:

I’m tempted to say it’s one huge joke, but when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it’s become tiny or that they’ve become impotent. To that I tell them, “How do you know if you haven’t gone home and tried it?”