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Beware The Popobawa Of Tanzania (AKA Popo Bawa)

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ogopogo3

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1446000/1446733.stm

Sex-mad 'ghost' scares Zanzibaris
Fear now runs through Zanzibar's narrow stone streets

By Ally Saleh in Zanzibar

Fear has struck residents of the Zanzibar Islands after rumours of the re-emergence of a sexually voracious ghost that attacks people while they sleep in their beds at night.

Many Zanzibaris are now refusing to sleep in their houses as they believe it only preys on people in the comfort of their own beds.

The ghost or genie goes by the name of Popo Bawa and people believe that it sodomises its victims, most of whom are men.

In recent years the residents on the semi-autonomous Tanzanian islands claimed that Popo Bawa only visited the islanders during voting, such as in the contentious general elections in 1995 and 2000.

But to the surprise of many this current ghost has reappeared when there is no polling of any kind.

In the latest panic, he is said to be striking in the north of Zanzibar island as well as in central Pemba.

People claim his presence in a house is revealed by an acrid smell and a puff of smoke.

Victims then speak of being in a trance or dreamlike state as they are molested.

And, so the story goes, if they do not reveal what has happened then Popo Bawa will strike the next night.

A previous ghost, known for attacking children, was reported to have terrorised the islands for six months.
 
i heard this story in a documentry about the night hag about a week ago or so. the pople of the village are so scared of the ghost, they have people who stay up all night praying and doing chants to keep the ghosts away. it was a good documentry BTW.
 
The ghost or genie goes by the name of Popo Bawa

Strikingly similar to your sig name, have you been having out of body experiences?
 
How come sex crazed ghosts only ever appear in Africa? You also don't often hear about the penis shrinking curses and such outside of Africa.

Here in Holland they seem to have a strange version of "f*ck off", they say sodomize instead. So if something goes wrong they go "Oh, sodomize that!" :)
 
Xanatic said:
How come sex crazed ghosts only ever appear in Africa? You also don't often hear about the penis shrinking curses and such outside of Africa.

Here in Holland they seem to have a strange version of "f*ck off", they say sodomize instead. So if something goes wrong they go "Oh, sodomize that!" :)
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We just say, sod it.
 
or bugger it
on topic, tho, could this be a sort of UL reflective of the AIDs pandemic in africa and present as a kind of explanation, like the red-hankerchief ladies in the plague.
 
Found this in a 1996 back issue.
Embedded link is dead. The MIA FT article can be tracked down at the Wayback Machine.
See later post for the text of the MIA article.
 
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Bit more here:

Plus, keep a look out for Popo Bawa! Of all the ghosts and demons who inhabit the tangled, centuries- old alleyways, none has caused so much dread as Popo Bawa. Popo Bawa (Swahili for Bat’s Wing) is a bat-man, along the lines of Dracula, but with even more base habits: He sodomizes his victims, be they man, woman, child or dog. He began his reign of terror in 1995. When darkness fell he would fly into houses and rape the inhabitants. There was no use shutting doors or sealing windows, Popo Bawa always found a way in. His victims told the tabloid Uhuru of a bad smell that preceded him, then of slipping into a coma-like state. Only when morning came did they wake and realise what had happened. Many victims said they began to smell themselves, and no washing or soap would relieve the odor.
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http://www.theculturedtraveler.com/Archives/Dec2002/Zanzibar_1.htm
 
Ogopogo said:
The ghost or genie goes by the name of Popo Bawa and people believe that it sodomises its victims, most of whom are men.
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No, no, someone stop me please. Arrrgghhhhh. Oh, no - too late...

Is this where the phrase giving you the willies comes from.

No thanks - I didn't bother taking it off - where's the door?
 
A fortitous bump as this is the beast I asked about elsewhere:

mrchopper said:
i heard this story in a documentry about the night hag about a week ago or so. the pople of the village are so scared of the ghost, they have people who stay up all night praying and doing chants to keep the ghosts away. it was a good documentry BTW.
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Its an interesting one as it sounds like a Night Hag attack except it attacks a number of people and has aspects of mass hysteria. However, once you relaise that SP (and related attacks) can be induced it starts to look like it could be both - the belief in the entity helps induce and shape the actual experience.

If so it might have interesting implications for the similarity of abduction scenarios as consistency is one of the much touted reasons it must be due to an external agent.
 
It's like the Mad Gasser of Mattoon all over again. Only in Africa. And with buggery.
 
Mr. R.I.N.G. said:
Andy said:
graylien said:
It's like the Mad Gasser of Mattoon all over again. Only in Africa. And with buggery.
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The Mad Asser of Zanzibar. :shock:
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:lol: :shock: :lol: 8)
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Priceless :)

Mr. R.I.N.G. said:
One thing though - I thought there was a resonable doubt about there being a real cause to the Mad Gasser case...

http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11514&highlight=mad+gasser
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There is real (an in my opinion well founded) doubt about the mass hysteria explanation:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 618#458618

A conclusion that the CFZ certainly back as Jon Downes revealed at UnCon 2004 - he was emphasising the importance of fieldwork as often the local people know the truth but most researchers come to conlusions from second or their hand accounts. He visited Mattoon and every was quick sure who it was - findings which back up the conclusions of that book - which is free for everyone to read online.

An important lesson to us all.
 
Andy said:
graylien said:
It's like the Mad Gasser of Mattoon all over again. Only in Africa. And with buggery.
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The Mad Asser of Zanzibar. :shock:
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Reading that comment + drinking tea at the same time = empiric proof that nostrils and pharynx are connected
:splat:
 
Belief in sex-mad demon test nerves in Zanzibar

Mon May 16, 2005 2:16 AM BST

By William Maclean

CHAKE CHAKE, Tanzania (Reuters) - Mohammed Juma starts to sweat and fidget as he recalls his rape by Popo Bawa, the most feared spirit-monster of the Zanzibar spice islands.

"We believe reading the Koran is our only defence, nothing else," says the 41-year-old driver and father of four. "But Popo Bawa is real, and well prepared."

Holidaymakers on the Indian Ocean islands tend to smile dismissively at accounts in guidebooks of the bat-like ogre said to prey on men, women and children. But for superstitious Zanzibaris a visit from the sodomising gremlin is no joke.

Although no one ever has seen it, belief in the monster and his unnatural lust is so strong that entire villages will sleep out of doors for protection: Popo Bawa (Swahili for Bat's Wing) prefers to attack behind closed doors at night.

In huts set amid rustling groves of jackfruit and mangoes on Zanzibar's Pemba island, victims told Reuters in interviews that they detected a bad smell, became cold and went into a trance in the moments before they felt the creature's inhuman strength.

Some attacks were heralded by the sound of giant wings and claws rattling and scraping on huts' tin roofs. Others cringed in terror at what sounded like a car engine ticking over.

"We heard a rustling on the roof," recalls Asha Saleh, in her late 50s, in Machomanne village near Pemba's main town of Chake Chake. "I felt someone fondling me. I felt very cold. I felt weak," she said, recalling the attack some 35 years ago.

LEGENDS

"I couldn't call out for help to my husband who was lying asleep beside me. Popo Bawa is strong: He really presses down on you. And it took such a long time: One hour! Eventually I lost consciousness. And I was one of many who were attacked."

Successive waves of colonisers and traders -- Arabs, Portuguese, Hindus, Chinese, Britons, Persians and Africans -- left behind a multinational array of legends on Zanzibar.

Accordingly, many dismiss Popo Bawa as another of the satanic stories swapped over the centuries by migratory Indian Ocean peoples as they moved back and forth on the tides from Indonesia to the Comoros, from Madagascar to the Maldives.

Zanzibar's distinctive past as an Arab-run slave market prompted some academics to speculate that the story of Popo Bawa emerged from a collective race memory of the horrors of slavery.

But Popo Bawa is unlike the many goblins believed by the islanders to populate the tall grasses that ring their huts.

Many on the islands are adept at exorcisms, placing charms at the base of fig trees or sacrificing goats to avert evil or draw favour from the spirit world.

So experienced are the isles' traditional healers that they draw visitors from the Gulf and east Africa, with the successful amassing riches and prestige.

But no placatory offering or witch doctor can deflect Popo Bawa when he has made his mind up to strike, islanders say.

The monster favours Pemba, the poorer and more backward of the archipelago's twin islands despite being home to the clove plantations that provide the mainstay of Zanzibar's economy.

He also becomes active at election time: a habit that is testing nerves ahead of polls due in October.

His last major visitation was during elections in 1995, when Juma says he endured his terrifying ordeal, although some reported his presence again in 2000 and in 2001.

"APOLITICAL"

Pemba's population are staunch opposition supporters. Many accuse the ruling party of Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa of neglecting the island since 1964, when Zanzibar merged with mainland Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

But Juma says Popo Bawa is apolitical even though electoral emotions seem to summon him from the beyond. "He can strike even if the opposition wins the elections," he said.

The driver vows to do his utmost to avoid what happened to him back in 1995 as he sat alone late one evening.

"Many were afraid and were sleeping outside. But I was confident and was alone in my room. I was reading the Koran for protection. After about 20 minutes I started feeling sleepy. I heard something falling on the roof. I continued reciting. I started feeling something in the room.

"I felt my mouth becoming bigger and bigger. I started losing my ability to form words. My feeling was that my lower lip had stretched to my lap. I felt weak in my body. I became very sweaty. My experience was like that of a neighbour of mine who said his head seemed to grow to an enormous size."

Popo Bawa gets annoyed if villagers deny his existence -- a fact to which Khamis Juma Hamad says he can testify.

Hamad, a retired village chief now aged 75, said that in 1971 Popo Bawa spoke to terrified villagers on Pemba through a girl possessed by the monster.

"I am Popo Bawa," said the girl, called Fatuma, speaking in the unnaturally deep voice of a man. "You have challenged my existence so I have come to prove I am here."

Seconds later, he says, the villagers heard the sound of a car revving and a rustle on a nearby roof -- signs of Popo Bawa. "The people felt cold, almost paralysed. They were terrified."

-----------------------
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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Source
 
New Popo Bawa story: Source

Actually sounds to me like someone (with a costume?) spiking people's food/drinks with hallucinogenic drugs and/or something like Rohypnol/GHB in order to sodomise them (perhaps with some sort of ritual humiliation in mind)...

[Emp edit: Adding in Bcode to stop link breaking the forum.]
 
Sex attacks blamed on bat demon

Men in parts of Tanzania's main city, Dar es Salaam, are living in fear of a night-time sex attacker.

A BBC correspondent says the attacks are being blamed by some on a demon called "Popo Bawa" meaning winged bat.

Some men are staying awake or sleeping in groups outside their homes. Others are smearing themselves with pig's oil, believing this repels attacks.

Reports of the demon's existence have been common for many years in Zanzibar, where locals claim it originated.

The BBC's John Ngahyoma in Dar es Salaam says not many people actually believe that the demon exists and there have been no sightings.

But Mbaruku Ibrahim, who hails from Zanzibar, says the story of the demon is common there and people in his village on Pemba island sleep beside a huge fire outside their houses whenever it is said to appear.

The story goes that the bat is able to transform itself into a man at night and it has also been blamed for rapes of women.

Sheikh Yahya Hussein, a prominent astrologer in Tanzania, claims that the demon is a spirit that is unleashed by witches to torment their opponents.

Belief in witchcraft and superstitions is widespread in Tanzania, especially in rural areas.
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from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6383833.stm

Another 'Vampire' legend perhaps - mods, please move/merge as necessary.
 
Actually, that sounds like an incubus/succubus, which would extract sperm from monks in female form and then change to male form and rape nuns, back in the Middle Ages.

And the succubus in the D&D Monster Manual (all editions) has bat wings. OMG they're real! I'll never play that Satanic game again! :shock:

No, wait, yes I will, 'cause I'm DMing and they're counting on me. I just won't put in any demons. Yeah, that's safe.
 
I think you just beat out "Astro-slut love-triangle airport rumble" for the Most Bizarre Thread Title Award
 
andy_just_andy said:
graylien said:
It's like the Mad Gasser of Mattoon all over again. Only in Africa. And with buggery.
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The Mad Asser of Zanzibar. :shock:
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LOL!!! I love that!! :lol:

But I must admit, I'm getting a little offended here.

How come no ghost/demon/incubus/succubus/night hag/etc ever wants a slap and a tickle in bed with me???

Am I ugly?? Do I have offensive body odor???

Or--OMG--do I have a horrific case of halitosis????? :twisted: :p :madeyes:
 
They are sooo lucky; some people have to pay for that sort of thing.
 
Apparently classed as both an urban legend and a shapeshifting shetani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetani, the Popobawa is essentially a bar winged cyclopic rapist creature that attacks people in Tanzania... or a person with a strange one eyed mask, a batman costume and a penchant for aggressive and non-consensual sodomy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popobawa

So watch out next time you're in Zanzibar, you don't wanna meet this one.
 
AlchoPwn said:
Apparently classed as both an urban legend and a shapeshifting shetani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetani, the Popobawa is essentially a bar winged cyclopic rapist creature that attacks people in Tanzania... or a person with a strange one eyed mask, a batman costume and a penchant for aggressive and non-consensual sodomy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popobawa

So watch out next time you're in Zanzibar, you don't wanna meet this one.
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Sound like an interesting chappie. There was an article about this in the FT mag a few years back.

I'll be buggered if I go to Zanzibar though.
 
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