As summer wanes and the nights grow long, we turn to tales of witches, curses, and the old ways that never truly died. For centuries, harvest time has carried its own magic: charms for fields, blessings for homes, and darker stories of those who bent nature to their will.

A rumour of “anamapopa” (blood-suckers) swept southern Malawi in 2017, spiralling into night patrols, roadblocks, and lethal mob justice. We trace how fear, witchcraft beliefs, poverty, and politics fed the hysteria, why aid workers fled, how authorities responded, and why the panic keeps returning.

The BOOK

BY US A COFFEE

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Research:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/09/un-moves-malawi-staff-vampire-scare

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/19/malawi-mobs-kill-two-more-people-accused-of-being-vampires

https://africanarguments.org/2017/11/a-symbolic-representation-of-life-behind-malawis-blood-sucking-beliefs/

https://www.equaltimes.org/when-rumours-of-blood-suckers-and

https://www.voanews.com/a/malawi-president-crack-down-vampires-witchcraft-after-lynchings/4069571.html

https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-colonialism-fueled-deadly-anti-vampire-hysteria-in-malawi

Thanks so much for listening, and we'll catch up with you again tomorrow!

Sarah and Tobie xx

"Spacial Winds" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

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