Death by Thought

There is a belief among primitive (and not so primitive) societies that death can be produced in an enemy by means of a curse, hex or some other magical ritual method. Although such a concept might seem nonsense to our modern western way of thinking, the undeniable fact is that the victims of such curses often do die prematurely as predicted by their curse casters.

If we discount the possibility of magic as an agent in the deaths of these unfortunate victims, what then, could be the cause of their demise? Western psychology suggests that is the unshakable belief that the victims have about the power of such curses to do what they say they can do that brings about their death. In other words, in the same way that a placebo medicine (such as a sugar pill) can cure a condition simply because the patient believes it can, a curse can kill it's victim simply because the victim believes it can – They literally think themselves to death.

African Witch Doctor

Source: Hans Hillewaert Wikimedia commons

Time Delay Death.

Here is a strange case, reported in the American Anthropologist in 1942, showing how it is belief, not circumstance that produces the “Magic”of curses and hexes. Father Jerome Meroola da Sorrento, an Italian missionary in the Congo in 1682 told a story which demonstrated the fatal power of belief. A young man from the Congo had stayed over at a friends house one night. The following morning, the friend had cooked a wild hen for breakfast. According to the young man's tribal custom, it was forbidden for young men to consume wild hen – doing so would attract fatal consequences. The young man was worried about the breakfast and asked his friend if it was wild hen – The friend (lying) assured him that it was not, and so the young man ate the breakfast with thanks.

The two friends met again some years later, and the young man's friend teased him by asking if he would be willing to eat a wild hen. The young man replied that he could never do so as he had been warned of the consequences of such an act by his witch-doctor. The friend then laughed and said that the young man appeared to have had no problem eating a wild hen the last time they were together. The moment the young man realised that he had consumed the taboo food, he immediately began to tremble and shake violently, and was dead within 24 hours.

Here is a more modern example from the pages of the Science Digest,August 1976. A Georgia Midwife was called to deliver three babies around the same area of the Okefenokee swamp. The date, appropriately enough, was Friday 13th. For some undisclosed reason the midwife placed a curse on all three of the babies that she had delivered, declaring that one would die before she was 16 years old, the second would be dead before she reached 21 years old and the third was predicted to die before her 23rdbirthday. The first two predictions were disturbingly accurate, as the first child was killed in a car accident when she was 15 years old. The second child was fatally wounded by gunfire in a nightclub brawl on the eve of her 21st birthday. Some two years later in 1969, the third child presented herself as a Baltimore hospital, quite hysterical and claiming that she was doomed to die in three days time – her 23rd birthday. Physically, there appeared to be nothing amiss but because of her overwrought emotional state, it was decided to admit her for observation. The next morning, only two days before her 23rd birthday, the girl was found dead in her bed. A victim of her own belief.

Dr. S.M.Lambert of the Rockerfeller Foundation Humanitarian Program

Saved by a Change of Belief.

Although it would seem that belief in the power of curses is a one-way ticket to death, the physical and mental effect of being hexed can cease immediately if the victim can be made to believe that he has been released from it. Here is an incident which occurred in Australia in 1919 and was reported by Dr. S.M. Lambert during his work there with the International Health division of the Rockerfeller Foundation.

“At a mission at Mona Mona in North Queensland were many native converts, but on the outskirts of the Mission was a group of non-converts including one Nebo, a famous witch doctor. The chief helper of the missionary was Rob, a native who had been converted. When Dr. Lambert arrived at the Mission he learned that Rob was in distress and that the missionary wanted him examined. Dr. Lambert made the examination, and found no fever, no complaint of pain, no symptoms or signs of disease. He was impressed, however, by the obvious indications that Rob was seriously ill and extremely weak.. From the missionary he learned that Rob had had a bone pointed at him by Nebo and was convinced that in consequence he must die. Thereupon Dr. Lambert and the missionary went for Nebo, threatened him sharply that his supply of food would be shut off if anything happened to Rob and that he and his people would be driven away from the Mission. At once Nebo agreed to go with them to see Rob. He leaned over Rob's bed and told the sick man that it was all a mistake, a mere joke – indeed, that he had not pointed a bone at him at all. The relief, Dr. Lambert testifies was almost instantaneous [sic]; that evening Rob was back at work, quite happy again, and in full possession of his physical strength”


It is evident from this account that Nebo the witch doctor was quite well aware that his power came from psychology rather than magic. He felt no need to conduct rituals, use sacraments or utter secret chants. He knew that just convincing Rob that it was all a joke – that the curse was never really issued, was all that was required for it's deathly power to evaporate like the morning mist.

The Power of Belief

Belief is a tremendously powerful thing. It can kill us, or it can cure us. Truth is not an issue where belief is concerned and throughout the ages those in the know have used it's secret to manipulate and control others. The bewildering array of cults, religions and superstitions are testament to this fact. We must take care in what we believe, for there are those who are only too happy to use those beliefs for their own ends and to our detriment.