Africa: ‘Witch-Gun’ and superstition in Guinea and Sierra Leone

Belief in ‘witch-gun’ is common among the peoples of Guinea and Sierra Leone. It is not clear how they came about this superstitious notion. But the belief is deep rooted. In fact there are as many conceptions of witch- gun as there are believers. One figure whose notion of a ‘witch gun’ stands out is the National President of Sierra Leone Indigenous Traditional Healers Union, ‘Dr’. Alhaji Suliaman Kabba. He said “The earliest and deadliest type of witch gun is made out of the husk from rice, but today’s witch guns are made out of gun powder while others are made out of lead. In fact the type of witch gun bullet that is most frequently removed when people are shot is the lead.” Read more here.