Owls Used as Food and Medicine and for Witchcraft in Africa

Abstract

Wildlife has been used throughout the world since ancient cultures as food or medicine as well as heralds of events and in magic or witchcraft activities. Owl belief interview studies were undertaken in 20 African countries between 1996 and 2002. A total of 794 interviewed people reported reasons for 333 owl killings. In 17 percent of the cases, owls were killed because they represent an omen of death or disaster. In 16 percent of cases, owls were killed for food. Particularly in war-stricken countries, owls are often eaten, like in Sierra Leone, where 41 percent of owl killings were simply for food. Unfortunately, non-selective eating also hits badly some very rare species like the Anjouan Scops Owl (Otus capnodes), Grande Comore Scops Owl (Otus pauliani), Mohéli Scops Owl (Otus moheliensis), and Rufous Fishing Owl (Bubo ussheri). In Africa, owls and their body parts are also used for traditional medicine, representing 6 percent of killings. There are tens of ways how the owls are or have been used as traditional medicine. In recent times, many of these practices have fallen away or substitutes have been found, but some of the traditional uses persist because people believe they work. Primarily, owls were killed for magic and witchcraft, explaining 28 percent of the reported cases. Six interviewed witch doctors admitted that they had used owls for bewitching and even killing people often combining owl parts with poisonous plants and a lot of magic. Now, some of them said that owls should not be used for killing, because the victim suffers too much when death can take four weeks or more. By using lion, leopard, or even snakes and crocodiles, death is instant. The haunted house story from Mozambique is an example of how extreme owl superstitions still affect many people’s lives in Africa.

1. Introduction

There is a strong cultural link between humans and birds. Few birds or animals have gathered so many different and contradictory beliefs about them: Owls have been both feared and venerated, despised and admired, considered wise and foolish, and associated with witchcraft and medicine, the weather, and births and deaths—and have even found their way into haute cuisine [1].

Folklore has it that owls are birds of ill omen and that deception is one of their favorite ploys. As a counterbalance, it must be said that the owl has been widely admired through the ages by deities, scholars, poets, and animal lovers in general [2].

For centuries, people have been using indigenous birds, not just for food and decorative purposes, but also to treat illnesses and to help them deal with difficult and often unexplained psychological and spiritual affairs. Birds have been used to treat physical and mental illnesses, strengthen relationships, encourage good luck, help promote dignity, cast spells, and strengthen individuals and give them protection against evil spells. Mankind has built up a whole range of superstitions about owls, a curious mixture of feelings in which the owl figures as a good or bad creature. Common to many societies is the belief that owls have superhuman powers [3].

There are few regions of the world where owls have had quite the impact that they have on African societies. Throughout the entire continent, there is a complex, sometimes contradictory, but more often corresponding, body of mythology and folklore centered on these birds [4]. For this chapter, I have collected mainly African examples of how owls are used as food, in traditional medicine, or as means of sorcery.

2. Methods

The author spent between 1977 and 2010, almost 22 years, in Africa being a resident in six different countries and a workwise visitor in additional 40 countries. All that time, owl beliefs were recorded to some extent, but more detailed interview studies were undertaken in 20 central, eastern, southern, and western African countries by using a pretested interview form in English and Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique (see [5]).

A local person, Bob Milingo Mvula, undertook the most sensitive interviews with the randomly selected contemporary witchdoctors in Malawi, and a female wizard was interviewed by the author in the Gambia. Handwritten notes were kept from each interview following the Annex 1 questionnaire. A total of six male sorcerers were interviewed in Malawi on the use of owls for bewitching people. The sensitivity of the interviews came from the fact that all respondents thought first that Mr. Mvula wanted to become a witchdoctor himself. For that reason, they were reluctant to reveal the secrets, especially the ingredients of their poisonous bewitching medicine. Some thought that Mr. Mvula was too young to become a witchdoctor—so in some interviews, he had his old father with him. If he admitted that he was collecting the information for a “white man’s” book, then all respondents required money for these secrets, but we did not have too much money for this. As one Malawian lady said before refusing the interview: “I can’t give information without some money. This time things are no longer like in the past when whites used to collect information for nothing” [5]. During the 22 years in Africa, the author collected all noted witchdoctor-related newspaper articles, out of which some anecdotes have been published before [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14]. Table 1 gives the details of how owls were used as food, in traditional medicine, or as means of sorcery based on 794 interviews and 333 recorded owl killings in Africa.

Region or country	Bad omens and evil spirits	Simply as food	Traditional medicine	For or against the witchcraft
East Africa (51)	25	12	8	22
Malawi (41)	29	17	5	11
South Africa (68)	29	25	9	19
West Africa (48)	11	19	4	12
Gambia (98)	4	4	4	59
Sierra Leone (27)	15	41	4	11
Total (333)	17	16	6	28

Table 1.

How many owls are killed because they are bad omens or evil spirits or to be used as food, traditional medicine, or witchcraft in Africa as a percentage of all listed killings.

In this table, the number of killings is indicated in parentheses after the region or the country (countries with a lot of killings are presented separately from the region). East Africa = Botswana (6), Kenya (16), Lesotho (6), Mozambique (9), Tanzania (9), Uganda (5), Zambia (18), and Zimbabwe (15); Malawi (147); South Africa (181), and West Africa = Angola (4), Cameroon (6), Ghana (20), Guinea (8), Liberia (14), Namibia (4), Nigeria (96), and Senegal (5); the Gambia (188); Sierra Leone (37) (total number of the interviews in parentheses). Percentages above include only four reasons for killings, excluding many others like killing for decorations, feathers, fun, mistake, or due to the noise of owls.

Table 2 shows further details on owl species known to be eaten in Africa, also indicating the rarity status of the species. Table 3 has a global list of some known owl-related traditional medicines. It is important to note that the effectiveness of any of the listed medicines from owl parts has not been scientifically proven, nor even studied, and their potency in all cases may be more than questionable. They are presented in Table 3 only as a curiosity and as an example, which may explain the thinking behind any unnecessary killing of owls.

Owl species	Status	Country where eaten	References
Grande Comore Scops Owl Otus pauliani	Endangered	Grande Comore Island	[16]
Anjouan Scops Owl; Otus capnodes	Critically Endangered	Anjouan Island in the Comoros	[17]
Mohéli Scops Owl Otus moheliensis	Critically Endangered	Mohéli Island in the Comoros	[16]
Pharaoh Eagle Owl Bubo ascalaphus	Least concern	Northern Africa	[15]
Spotted Eagle Owl Bubo africanus	Least concern	Sub-Saharan Africa	[15]
Fraser’s Eagle Owl; Bubo poensis	Least concern	W-Africa	[15]
Verreaux’s Eagle Owl Bubo lacteus	Least concern	Sub-Saharan Africa	[15]
Rufous Fishing Owl Bubo ussheri	Vulnerable	Nigeria	[18, 19]
White-browed Owl Athene superciliaris	Least concern	Madagascar	[15]
Madagascar Owl Asio madagascariensis	Least concern	Madagascar	[15]

Table 2.

Eating and killing the rare owl species in Africa. Owls listed in taxonomic order [15].

Disease or problem	Owl parts needed	Medicine preparation	References
Alcohol abstention	Owl egg	A child will never be a drinker if eating an egg	[20]
Against epilepsy	Owl eggs	Soup made when moon waning	[20]
Against snakebite	Owl feet	Burn with herb Plumbago	[20]
Aphrodisiac	Owl meat	Meat must be eaten	[21]
Asthma	Body of an owl	Cures it since owls eat coffee beans	[20]
Earache	Owlet’s brain or liver	Mix with oil and inject into the ear	[20]
End fever	Right leg	Just to have a right leg	[21]
Eye complaints	Owl eggs or entire owl	Must be charred and powdered	[20]
Give dislike of wine	Owl egg	Eating one egg gives a lifelong aversion to wine	[20]
Gout	Owl body without feathers	Mummify in the oven, mash, mix with pig fat and apply to the affected site	[20]
Gray hair	Owl eggs	Use an egg to darken the hair	[20]
Hemorrhage	Entire Barn Owl	Boil in oil and add ewe-milk butter and honey	[20]
Hair-loss prevention	Owl eggs	A good cure for thinning hair	[20]
Hangover cure	Owl eggs	Cook eggs three days in wine	[20]
Hypnotizing	Owl’s blood	To be used internally	[21]
Improve appetite	Owl meat	To be eaten as a delicacy	[22]
Infection of sinews	Long-eared or Eagle Owl’s head	Take ashes with lily root and honeyed wine	[20]
Influenza	Magical owl hooting	Strain to hear cures worst symptoms	[20]
Night vision	Owl eyes	Eyes must be eaten	[23]
Rheumatism (1)	Owl feathers	Burn over charcoal	[20]
Rheumatism (2)	Owl meat	A gel made from owl meat	[21]
Seizures in children	Owl eyes	A broth made from owl eyes	[21]
Stop the child from crying or help them sleeping well	Owl feathers	Put feathers under the pillow. Works for children and adults; as well	[20]
Whooping cough	The entire body of an owl	To be eaten as a soup	[20]

Table 3.

Some traditional owl medicines as known from Africa, Europe, India, and South America [20, 21, 22, 23].

3. Owls on the menu

Although the body of an owl is believed to have some magic power, not everyone in Africa finds eating them agreeable. South African Bantus say: “Asituiwa kuba silixelegu; umzimba waso uzele yinkwethu, into ke leyo sinuka ngathi sifile” (it is not eaten, for it is a slut; its body is full of scurf, which causes it to smell as if it was dead) [23]. But if you are starving, the taste of the food is not the most important issue as is later shown in the case of Sierra Leone.

East Africa is well known for its high wildlife awareness because of the importance of tourism. However, owls are still commonly killed for several reasons. Twelve percent of 51 recorded killings used the owl simply as food or to make condiments, or the killer just wanted to taste the owl meat (Table 1).

In South Africa, 34% of respondents knew people killing owls mainly for traditional medicine and eating reasons (Table 1). Some older people refused to answer this question, maybe indicating that in their youth, eating owls was much more common.

In the Gambia, more than half (59 percent) of respondents knew of people killing owls for or against witchcraft, but only 4 percent had witnessed somebody eating owl meat or even had done so themselves (Table 1).

Elsewhere in West Africa, most likely dreadful civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia explain that 19% of 75 reported owl killings involved “to be eaten” as the main reason, but owls were killed simply for food also in Senegal and Nigeria. In Sierra Leone alone, 41 percent of the killings were only for food (Table 1). Before eating the owl, people just catch them and burn the feathers, put salt, and roast the meat. Creoles of Louisiana, perhaps inheriting dishes from West Africa, used to eat Barred Owls (Strix varia)—but since no recipes have been handed down, we can only surmise whether the bird was roasted or put in a stew [1].

There are several statements about how very rare owls are still commonly eaten in Africa or the adjacent islands. It is said that the principal threat to the Anjouan Scops Owl (Otus capnodes) is the fact that it is still widely captured for food [17]. However, it is too rare to be worthy of special searches, but any owl encountered is usually taken, and hunting can be considered the main threat to its survival [15]. The same fate concerns the Grande Comore Scops Owl (O. pauliani) [16] and Mohéli Scops Owl (Otus moheliensis) (Table 2 and Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Critically endangered Mohéli Scops Owl (Otus moheliensis) tied with a rope before being eaten. Photo: Courtesy of René-Marie Lafontaine.

Nigeria got a lot of global publicity when in Ebu State in October 1997, a fisherman was seen eating a rare and vulnerable Rufous Fishing Owl (Bubo ussheri) [18, 19]. He admitted taking advantage of a soaked owl rendered unable to fly in the early morning. The owl was killed after being hit with the paddle. The fisherman claimed that the Rufous Fishing Owl was common in the area. Since that killing, he has turned out to be a converted protectionist of this globally threatened owl species in the area [24].

A comprehensive study of owls and humans was made in Malawi [5, 24, 25], and it seems that the owl meat is mainly used for bewitching and killing people, but not so much for eating as food. Every fourth of 147 respondents knew people who were believed to eat owls, and one out of ten had seen people eating owls. Males more often witnessed such happenings than females. Owl eaters existed both in cities, like Lilongwe, and in typical villages, but often, northern respondents felt that owls were eaten in southern and central regions only and naturally vice versa. Half of the interviewed people knew somebody who had killed or sacrificed an owl. Therefore, killing and sacrificing owls is much more common than eating them for food. Again, males were more aware of the killings than females [5].

4. Owls in traditional healing

There seems to be a worldwide consensus that owls can be used as medicine for healing some diseases, although the effectiveness of any owl part of medicine has not been proven or even studied. Many of the folk remedies survive and reappear throughout the world at different times. How we all happen to hold similar beliefs about parts of the owl’s anatomy is partially a mystery. In some cases, the transfer of such beliefs is easy to trace; for instance, many of those held in medieval Europe originated in Greece and Rome, and those held in North America would have traveled to that continent with, say, the slaves of Africa and, later, with European immigrants [26].

The body parts of owls are used in both curative and preventive medicines (Table 3). In curative medicine, they are mixed with herbs and/or parts of other animals and given to patients to ingest, use as a lotion, or place on burning coal and inhale the smoke emitted. In preventive medicine, the preparations need not be in contact with the body. The owls or their parts may be buried at a chosen point around the home to keep away bad spirits and illness or be carried in pockets or bags as good luck charms [27].

Not so many details have been written on the use of owls in folk medicines, although some medicinal applications seem to exist for a variety of owl products. Different parts of the owl’s anatomy have been and are highly prized as ingredients for indigenous systems of medicine [27].

In Germany, the first natural history and medical encyclopedia was published in 1491 [28] in which it was recorded that treatment for madness included the placing of owl ashes on the lunatic’s eyes. This attempted cure was doubtless based on the principle that the owl’s wise vision could, in this way, be infused into the madman’s wildly distorted vision [29].

An interesting medical belief is that eating raw eggs of owls would cure a person of drunkenness (Figure 2). The eggs of an owl should be broken and put into the cups of a drunkard, or one longing for drinks; it will work in such a way that he will suddenly loathe his liquor and be displeased with drinking [30]. In Gironde, France, the same cure involved an omelet made using 5, 9, or 13 owl eggs. The belief presumably came into being because the owl is such a studious, solemn-looking bird that it was felt to epitomize sobriety and therefore to lay sobering eggs [29].

Figure 2.

Owl eggs have been used to cure a person of drunkenness. Photo: Grayish eagle owl (Bubo cinerascens) eggs/courtesy of Clive R. Barlow.

Greek writer Philostratus (ca. 170–250 AD) said that owl eggs made into soup as the moon wanes was the cure for the sickness, and when given to children, it would ensure lifetime sobriety and temperance. It was also presumed that one could restore clear thinking or reason after a night’s boozing by consuming owls, especially their eggs. People would eat the eggs beforehand as a prophylactic against drunkenness (Mark Cocker, in litt.).

A variation of the owl-eggs-for-curing-drunkards theme saw the eggs administered repeatedly in glasses of wine (Figure 3). At first glance, there appears to be a basic flaw in this version of the treatment, but then again, perhaps the eggs made the wine taste so vile that even this method eventually worked [29].

Figure 3.

Glasses of wine and owl eggs could cure drunkenness—Especially owl wine. Photo: Courtesy of Rudolf Schaaf.

One much-acclaimed cure for gout (in earlier times, it was believed to be only the classic boozer’s complaint brought on by over-indulgence in alcohol) calls for the sufferer to take an owl, pull off its feathers, salt it well for a week, then place it into a pot and close it with a lid, and put it into an oven so that it may be made into a “mummy.” It is then finally mashed, mixed with boar grease, and smeared liberally onto the affected place (Table 3).

There is also an old belief that owl soup will help to cure whooping cough. Again, the entire body of an owl is needed to make the soup. This is based on the idea that owls hoot and whoop so much without doing any harm that a broth made from their bodies should cure the disease [27, 29]. Today, due to animal protection, the genuine recipe may, in any event, be hard to come by, but the authentic version is said to beat any modern medicine!

There is a common Indian belief that the meat of an owl is a potent aphrodisiac [21]. On the other hand, in other places and at other times, this “tasty” morsel could cause loss of memory and, if you are particularly unfortunate, result in complete insanity. Also, in India, the eyes and flesh of owls cure some diseases. For instance, seizures in children could be treated with a broth made from owl eyes, and rheumatic pain is treated with a gel made from owl meat. A nomadic Kuravar tribe in India also stated that owl meat, particularly liver, eyes, and flesh, could cure the diseases associated with lungs and eye-related problems [29, 31].

Clouston [31] reported that owls’ eggs and the blood of their nestlings preserve the hair and make it curly. The Shoshone Indians in the United States believed that dandruff could be cured by simply putting your head inside the burrow of the burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia) and shaking your head.

The ash obtained by burning owls’ feet together with the herb plumbago is considered a nostrum against snakebite. This is not quite as silly as it sounds because owls kill with their feet and their legs; feathering also gives some protection against prey bites, so people might be justified in thinking it would be just as effective against snakes. Along these lines, there was another bizarre medication in Germany that helped you to avoid being bitten by a mad dog and contracting rabies. You must place the heart and right foot of an owl under your left armpit. Luckily, people in Germany have stopped placing parts of owls under their armpits, thanks to modern medicine against rabies [29, 31].

But in Africa, it is still a general belief that eating the eyeball of an owl would give a person night vision due to the owl’s ability to see in the dark. It is interesting that also in northern India, it is believed that if one eats the eyes of an owl, they would be able to see in the dark [21]. In Zambia, for instance, the dried eyes of owls are mixed with other traditional medicines and used by hunters so that they can see clearly and aim at targets during night hunting. According to North African belief, it is essential to know which eye to use, for one eye of an owl sleeps, but the other is permanently wakeful. To tell which one is which, the eyes must be put into a bowl of water; the sleepy eye will sink, while the other will float [1]. In ancient Europe, it was not necessary to eat the eyes, but only applying an owl’s tears to a person’s eyes enabled that person to see in the dark [32].

In Algeria, owls were used to cure blindness and headache [33]. The advice was to go to an owl’s nest and blind all the young ones, and then line the nest with cotton wool. When the female owl returns, she will bring medicines to cure her young, and some of that medicine will fall upon the cotton wool. That can be removed later and used on the human eyes. If the bandage is soaked in a special lotion (fidili + runhu) and tied around the head, it will act through the eyes and cure headaches. Thus, some Tripoli women tie this kind of bandage continuously to their hair on the right side and never suffer from headaches [33].

It is a popular belief in Morocco that the Barn Owl (Tyto alba), and often also Little Owl (Athene noctua), is thought to cure skin diseases; the birds are killed, cooked, and eaten. It is also believed that “powdered owl,” applied as an ointment, is the ideal cure for eye complaints. The remedy for earache is by injecting into the ear an owlet’s brain or liver, mixed with oil, or by applying the mixture to the parotid gland. Owl feathers are also of use to man—when burnt over charcoal, they are a good cure for rheumatism. In India, rheumatism is also treated with a gel made from owl meat (Table 3).

Commonly, owl’s egg soup was reckoned to be effective against epilepsy, the only snag being that it had to be prepared when the moon was on the wane. Folk medicine advocates strain their ears to hear the magical hooting of an owl, guaranteed to banish the severest symptoms of influenza. Again, like in India, seizures in children could be treated with a broth made from owl eyes (Table 3).

In South Africa, owls are still used for healing purposes, and it is estimated that 70 percent of the black population makes use of the services of traditional healers [34]. Traditional medicine or “muthi” is a billion Rand business [35]. The apartheid era placed restrictions and censures on this industry, which forced most traditional healers and sangomas to operate in secrecy (Suppression of Witchcraft Act of 1957). The post-apartheid era has allowed traditional healers and the use of traditional medicine to venture into the limelight. Traditional “muthi” medicine markets are now found in all major cities and throughout rural villages within South Africa. The decriminalization of the traditional medicine markets and sangomas in post-apartheid Africa has resulted in calls from traditional healers to be afforded greater recognition within the medical fraternity. These calls extend from the ability to advertise themselves as doctors to the issuing of valid doctors’ notes for illness-related absenteeism within the workplace [35].

As in many cultures globally, owls have featured prominently in South African folklore and mythology. The use of owls and owl parts, although acknowledged, has to date not been qualified or quantified within the traditional healers’ “muthi” chest. Through site visits to “muthi” markets in South Africa and the partition of traditional healers in a simple questionnaire, the uses associated with owls and their body parts have emerged. In addition, insights have been gained into the collection and identification of owls by these healers. The so-called “muthi” owls in South Africa are distinct as they are used for both traditional cures relating to headaches and insomnia as well as for spiritual curses and “witchcraft” [35].

Mrs. Zodwa Khumalo is one of those healers in Durban. According to her, there are a variety of beliefs surrounding owls. Alive, they may be a harbinger of bad news or evil spirits, but once dead, they can be used to help people with little energy who sleep during the day. She tells people: “You must wake up in the day. You are a person, not an owl.” And then, they must take some medicine made with the owl [34].

With the influx of both legal and illegal migrants in South Africa through un-defined borders, the reliance on traditional healers and their remedies will likely continue to rise [35]. Also, in Zimbabwe, the traditional medical business is booming, and this has had serious implications for raptors and other birds used in medicine [36].

In Malawi, south-eastern Africa, where a comprehensive study of owl beliefs, legends, and myths was done [5, 24], owl-based medicines were mainly used for bewitching and killing people, but not so much for healing many diseases.

The idea that owls can be used as medicine for healing some diseases is based on the traditional precepts of sympathetic medicine, whereby eating an animal or parts of it enables the patient to not only benefit from the meat itself but also absorb the physical and moral characteristics of that creature’s sharp night vision, very good hearing, and the like, as mentioned above.

Therefore, it is unlikely that traditional healing will end soon. It has even been increasing at least in Africa, which has alarmed many people interested in birds from a scientific or recreational perspective [37, 38]. However, more owls are likely killed on roads by motor vehicles, or lost through habitat destruction, than are sold in medicinal or “juju” markets. But by ensuring a supply of owls for traditional healers, environmentalists could also conserve certain vulnerable species.

In 2000, I raised a not-so-well-defined suggestion that common, easily managed species of owls could be bred in captivity to satisfy some of the demands for body parts of owls from practitioners of traditional medicine. I assumed that this would provide legitimate, readily available material, which would reduce some of the pressure on much rarer species in the wild. My biologist wife, Anita, found this suggestion repugnant and so did many other readers of my paper [39].

After the wife of Bernard Sayers visited the commercial farming of non-domestic animals (crocodiles and tigers) in Thailand, Bernard commented [40] on my wild suggestion and found it a little more acceptable should it reduce the threat faced by so many rare owl populations. The owl keepers could produce enough barn owls for medicinal purposes and thus avoid the unnecessary killing of African Marsh Owls (Asio capensis), Madagascar Red Owl (Tyto soumagnei), or African Grass Owl (Tyto capensis) and other rare species because a medicine man does not know the owl species.

It has been noted in Africa that tourists are flocking the stalls of medicinal street markets and finding how African people use indigenous materials fascinating. If we accept the fact that crocodiles and rhinos are farmed, why not rare birds and owls? Bernard Sayers [40] concluded his writing on my suggestion: “So shall we see Barn Owls or other species of owls farmed commercially to supply the international trade in traditional medicine. I do not pretend to know the answer, and, in many respects, I hope it does not happen, but if through well-run commercial farms the temptation to take much rarer species from the wild is reduced then I guess that it must be the lesser of the evils. Should such an operation arise the critical issues are to ensure that farms are well run, the birds well cared for and the conservation benefits maximized.” Then he concluded: “I appreciate that commercially breeding non-domestic animals for slaughter is an extremely emotive and highly sensitive topic and it would be interesting to learn the views of other members (of The International Owl Society).” Due to very strong points of my wife on encouraging questionable medical treatments, I had already decided not to say a word about this suggestion any longer.

However, recently, Haw [35] has given almost similar suggestions to be explored. Wildlife rehabilitation centers and zoological gardens routinely receive owls that require euthanasia, which could contribute to “muthi” markets and this way reduce the exploitation associated with the wild harvesting of owl species by traditional healers.

5. Owls and witchcraft

Many of the ideas revolve around two key beliefs. Owls are perceived as harbingers of evil, and usually, they are viewed as messengers who announce forthcoming illness or even death to the observer or the observer’s family [1]. The other central belief is that owls are integrally involved in witchcraft. Should an owl appear to a person steeped in traditional lore, then the individual often makes one of two assumptions: either the owl is seen as a nocturnal form assumed temporarily by a witch during his or her nefarious practices, or the owl, while retaining its natural form, has somehow been coerced into service and is itself abroad on the witch’s business. What is of significance is the fact that these negative ideas are widespread, have great potency, and are deeply rooted in parts of indigenous societies and even in contemporary Africa, the Middle and the Far East, and parts of South America [26].

Table 1 shows that owls are widely killed and collected in Africa to supply magico-medicinal practices often connected with witchcraft. The witch doctors are required during the so-called “blood brotherhood” initiation, to mingle their blood with that of an animal. And whereas the blood bond is likely to be established with one of the more ferocious species, such as a lion, leopard, snake, or crocodile, night birds such as the owl are an acceptable alternative. Witches proper are renowned, of course, for preparing a variety of brews and potions, which form the crucial ingredients of their spells and the very basis of their magic [1].

Six contemporary medicine men (proven to be real witchdoctors) were interviewed in Malawi in 1997.

1. Dr. E. Kamwendo, as the name is written at a place in Lilongwe Market, where he operates, was interviewed on January 23, 1997. At that time, he had been a medicine man for the past 30 years and had an interesting recipe for preparing the bewitching medicine. Kazizi (an owl; also a Nyanja name for the Spotted Eagle Owl [Bubo africanus]) is killed—this can be done by a vehicle or by any other means. The fat is taken from the owl and mixed with “mwavi,” which is a strong tree bark poison from Forest Ordeal Tree (Erythrophleum suaveolens).

In old times, “mwavi” liquid was used to define who is a witch or a wizard. People drank the liquid, and those with weak blood died and those with strong blood only vomited. People believed that those who died were witches. In Dr. Kamwendo’s bewitching medicine, some leftover “nsima” (maize porridge) and gravel from a fresh grave are added; the last mentioned has to be collected secretly. The last ingredient can be only a small stone, and everything is then pounded.

At night, between 9 and 10 pm, this preparation is taken to the roof of the intended victim’s house. The witchdoctor stands on the roof at one corner of the house and throws some of the powder into the middle of the roof, then into the different corners of the house, and lastly again into the middle of the roof. Then early in the morning, an owl will be on the veranda or at the front of the house. The owl is captured and taken to the graveyard at night and told that this is his home!

Dr. Kamwendo was reluctant to reveal further his secrets about how the owl was then used for killing from the graveyard but asked us first to prepare an owl by using his method. Anyhow, he concluded that the power of his owl was the same as that of a poisonous snake. Later, Mr. Mvula visited Dr. Kamwendo again to ask what the owl that was created by the witchdoctor ate. He said that it ate what the normal owls ate. He added that even the lion that has been created by people (man) ate what the lions that God had created ate.

2. On January 25, 1997, Mr. Mvula interviewed the witchdoctor known by the name Balowe Shaba. Balowe means letting people bewitch him or her. By naming himself Balowe, he meant that even if people could bewitch him, nothing was going to happen to him. Mr. Shaba told that the owl parts are used in several ways; the parts he mentioned were the head and heart. A head or heart of an owl is taken and a place is chosen at the yard of a house, where the pounded owl part is put under the soil. It must be well prepared for planting a fruit tree or any other plant, which he will choose. The plant or seed of a fruit tree is planted so that the growing plant will pass through the middle of the pounded owl’s head or heart. After this plant or fruit tree has grown enough, its roots can be used for bewitching. Before using it, the root is mixed with some other roots or herbs, which he did not reveal. When the witchdoctor wants his medicine to go and bewitch someone, he will talk to the root and some other roots, which will turn into an owl. The major component of the magic is called “mphiyi.” These are small pieces of a branch of a tree or a root of a tree that are collected, and the outside part is removed and then cut into pieces of more or less one inch. When sending the bewitching medicine, the witchdoctor speaks to the “mphiyi” by saying: “I am sending you to such and such a person, to do such and such a job, because I want him or her to die.” Immediately after the witchdoctor finishes talking, the “mphiyi” turns into an owl, which then flies to the person to whom it has been sent. The owl lands at the house of that person and hoots. After a few days, the person or one family member starts suffering due to some illness, which eventually kills that person some days or weeks later. Mr. Shaba confirmed that as long as the owl is kept in the form of “mphiyi,” no feeding is needed. He also added that no part of an owl is used as medicine for healing any diseases. The owl is collected dead or alive; a road kill can also be used. Mr. Shaba felt that the strength of the owl-based medicine only differed slightly from potions prepared by lions, leopards, or reptiles.

3. On January 26, 1997, Mr. Mvula visited Mr. Msamale Wjiko, who was first very suspicious of what Mr. Mvula wanted from him. Later, he opened up and said that the owls were kept in the form of “mphiyi” and that “Chizimba” was the major component for the bewitching medicine to work. Chizimba means a substance made from a special part of a wild or domestic animal or a living creature. In this case, owl parts included are the heart, brain, legs, and beak, which are mixed with “mono,” the black one, and “kachebele” from the river. “Mono” literally means a basket to catch a fish—but it is assumed that the black one is a fish. “Kachebele” is a local name for the common Water Hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), which is considered toxic to humans. These elements are put together and ground. He also uses “mwavi,” which is a strong tree bark poison from the Forest Ordeal Tree. That tree is found at Choma in Mkubazi Mountain and Vizala Rubber. It is the most powerful tree, so when taking it, the medicine man must not sleep with a woman for one month. “Mwavi” is added to the above-mentioned items, and all elements are burned together. Some other medicines are still added, but “mwavi” alone can kill a person. If the tree bark is taken, burnt, and ground and this powder is added to some food or beer, the eater or drinker will die. Another way of using the bark is just by drying it, after crashing it, then grinding it, or just soaking the bark in the water. This stuff and some “mphiyi” are put on a piece of a broken pot of clay, which is called “dengere.” This piece of clay with medicine on it is put on fire, and the snout is taken from the nose. “Chimphonogho” (snout) has two functions: One is for rubbing the medicine, and the second is for sending the medicine to where the owner wants. If the snout that is used for sending is taken from the right side of the nose, then the owl will be a male, and if taken from the left side of the nose, the snout will form into a female. If snout from both sides of the nose is mixed, then two owls will be made, and they will go to the place where the owner wants to bewitch the desired person. According to Mr. Msamale Wjiko, the female owl is more powerful than the male owl, showing that he is well aware of the sexual dimorphism in owls [20].

The “mphiyi” is rubbed with the oil of black “mono,” and the stuff is kept in a house until the day of use, when it is taken to a place where the rubbish (e.g., ashes) is thrown. Then, one has to wait and see if the medicine will turn into one owl or two owls. To improve the results, a song is sung, “kazizi-kula-kula” (owl-grow-grow). And the owl grows, and it becomes big, looking like a cat or a bat.

Mr. Msamale Wjiko also confirmed that owls were not used for healing medicines, and according to him, animals like leopards and lions, and even snakes are more powerful than owls. With the animals and snakes, the person who is a target is killed at once, whereas when using the owls, the victim suffers between 1 and 4 weeks.

4. On January 27, 1997, Mr. Chimutoto Mdhluli was interviewed. He was feared as a witch, and even Mr. Mvula went to see him with his old father. First, he only saw the nephew of Mr. Mdhluli, who is also a young medicine man. He was very suspicious toward Mr. Mvula and did not want him to write down anything. Later, the interview materialized with Mr. Mdhluli himself. He stated that an owl was not used as medicine for healing but only for bad things like the bewitching of people. He uses the roots and stem of a tree called “Muchemani,” a Latin or English name that is not known to us. Another new term in his magic was “kutembelera” (a curse word in Chichewa), which is used when talking to the roots or stem of the “Muchemani” tree. This tree is used in many ways: for the growth and prosperity of a business, for women to be loved by their husbands, or for males to be loved by women. People say that a tree has the power to attract something (e.g., women, if the user is a man).

After “kutembelera,” the owl in the bush becomes wild and goes to where it has been sent by the medicine man, the owner of the “mphiyi.” According to Mdhluli, lions, snakes, and leopards are more powerful than owls. The owl tells that something bad is going to happen in the village. The medicine man, like Mr. Mdhluli, can protect the house to avoid owls and any other form of witching to happen at the house of a person who does not want to bewitch. In the case of Mr. Mdhluli obviously, no owls are created or taken from nature, but only through “kutembelera” (cursing) by using the “Muchemani” tree.

5. The fifth medicine man interviewed was Mr. Msamale. His name means “watch out,” meaning that witchcraft people should be careful with him. He was the only interviewed person who told us of the use of owls for something other than killing people. His owl is used to save somebody who has committed a serious crime or to release someone already in prison. His medicine preparation is as follows: He goes into the valleys or gullies looking for a nest of an owl, which has young ones. The leg of a young owl is tied to a branch of a tree or to a tree itself. When the female or male owl comes back to the nest, it sees that a strand of bark from the rope tree tethers its young. The strand that is used is made from the bark of a “mtondo” tree, which is the sunbird or wild mango tree (Cordyla africana).

The parent owl then goes to look for a certain tree. The root is collected, and when it returns to the nest with that root, the strand tying the young owl cuts itself. Then the medicine man comes to collect the root that was brought by the parent owl. This same root is used for freeing the person from jail or to stop the jury from finding the accused criminal guilty of any crime. And the accused goes free.

6. Mr. Mvula tried to interview one more sorcerer called Mr. Moyo in Lonje but found such poverty in his house that he gave up by concluding: “I hate poverty.” The sorcerer’s house had three almost naked children and two wives. Boiled cassava was the only food, but when that was offered to Mr. Mvula, he found it below his standards. Mr. Moyo was suspicious and stated that he knew nothing about how the owls were used for bewitching people. Witchdoctors in the area were afraid to talk because some traditional healers had accused them of sorcery.

As seen above, all witchdoctors had slightly different ways of using owls, but in almost all recipes, the owl was similarly recreated through a complicated ceremony combining poisonous plants and a lot of magic. The owls are collected dead or alive, often they are road kills, but sometimes, owls are also especially killed for the bewitching medicine. If seen catching an owl, the medicine man tells suspicious people that he is going to eat the owl. The species of owls are not mentioned and do not make any difference in witchcraft. Indirectly, however, two species became known and are often used, Barn Owl and Spotted Eagle Owl. When the owl is in this “mphiyi” form, as it is called locally in Malawi, it will not need feeding according to some medicine men. Others say that owls are owls and eat what they normally eat.

The owl is used in several ways, but most often the head or heart is put into some place in the garden, which the medicine man has chosen. A seedling or seed of a fruit tree is planted into the pounded head or heart of an owl. When this fruit tree grows, its roots are used for bewitching. The root is mixed with some other roots or herbs, which are often poisonous. The medicine man or the owner of that fruit tree will talk to the mixed root and herb medicine, and the owl will be born again from the roots of the fruit tree. At the time, the medicine man sings a Nyanja song: “Kazizi-kula, kazizi-kula-kula” (grow owl, grow-grow). And the owl grows and becomes a big creature like a cat or a bat. The owl then flies to the person to whom it has been sent and lands on the roof of the house of that person. Then it hoots, and after a few days, the person or the family members start suffering from an unknown illness. Some days or weeks later, the suffering person dies. Almost hilariously, some interviewed medicine men concluded that owls should not be used for killing, as the victim suffers too much if dying takes 4 weeks or more. By using lion, leopard, or even snakes and crocodiles, death is instant. Again, healers disagreed with this.

During the interviews, Bob Milingo Mvula collected some plant remains that the witchdoctors had been using. Among those, we identified castor seeds (Ricinus communis). The plant is a shrub or small tree, and its seed (castor seed) contains ricin, one of the highly toxic substances in the world. One to three seeds can be fatal to a human being. The deadly ricin can be used in aerosol or pellet form as a bioweapon. Heat disarms the toxin. The plant is originally from Africa but is nowadays cultivated and naturalized throughout the world [41].

After the Malawi interviews, Mark Cocker studied traditional medicine markets and interviewed two traditional sorcerers in Cameroon [42]. Although there are no developed markets for dead birds or their parts, the few skins that are being traded by the ubiquitous herbalists are almost all owls. In Cameroon, the owl heart is identified as especially prized for its magico-medicinal power, although both sorcerers in that country confirmed that all parts of the owl were an effective medicine.

One explained that patients came to them because of a curse by another sorcerer whose intention was to make them ill. The aggressor takes owl parts and prepares a spell. To counteract this type of practice and work on the same principle as an inoculation, the traditional healer also takes owl parts, or a whole bird, and cooks it. The charred powder is then added to other herbal ingredients and given to the patient to eat. Any witchcraft in his or her body will be driven out.

Another sorcerer reported that owl parts were used in conjunction with other herbal ingredients to construct a form of talisman worn by the person in an amulet or similar container. This both served as a protection against witchcraft and could also be effective against general bad luck. Should an owl fly into the house of an individual wearing such a charm, the bird would instantly fall dead on contact with the “medicine” contained therein.

In 2002, a female diviner from Sierra Leone was interviewed. She was explaining how you get the owl to do even worse things for you, like killing a baby or so. First, you catch the owl and keep it secretly in the house. You give the owl palm oil, snuff, bené, and pepper (you must force-feed the owl). Then you explain everything to the owl, and after that, you strip yourself naked and go on the floor and start moving round and round. Then, the owl will understand what evil you want to do. After that, you release the owl. In the end, she added that owls were not bad, but if you understand the owl, you can make it do a bad job for you. When I asked if she is personally afraid of owls, she said: “Me, I can’t be afraid of owls – if I want to enter an owl, I can do it and come back as a human after my evil mission as an owl.”

Also, in India, owls and their body parts are primarily used for black magic [21]. There are probably at least 50 active wild bird-selling points/localities in India where any bird trader is likely to be able to procure owls, although the birds are rarely on open display. Owls are used to control a person or a lover with “vashikaran” (hypnotism). Both an owl’s ear tufts and castor seeds are mixed with milk and then dried, powdered, and served in paan (betel leaf). The person who is served it, or has it sprayed on their head, will be hypnotized. Another method is using the heart of an owl, which is grounded or mixed with gorochan (a product from a cow’s bile duct) in equal parts to form a paste. This paste is blessed seven times with a prescribed mantra, then used as an eyeliner, and the person targeted becomes hypnotized.

The live owls are used for countering evil eyes. If a person is having a spate of evil luck, then it is obvious that a jealous friend has cast an evil eye on him or her. So, what can be done? He or she orders an owl. When the owl is received, the person instructs the shopkeeper to kill the owl and then skin it. The shopkeeper is so eager to get his reward that he almost skins the owl alive. Then, the skin is burnt, and the flesh is buried, and the person goes home comforted by the fact that he or she has been liberated from the evil omen. Generally, Spotted Little Owls (Athene brama) are used for this purpose, and Abrar Ahmed recorded up to 20 owls for sale during a single visit to the major bird markets [21].

6. The “haunted” house story

I spent almost 6 years with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Mozambique, first before the war (1979–1981) and later during the dreadful civil war (1989–1993). Due to the demanding situation in the country, there was hardly any time to think about owls or owl beliefs when trying to find the fastest and best ways to feed hungry people. However, Mozambique gave us some owl experiences that prove that extreme superstitions exist in that country as well.

During work travel to Nampula, I saw a young Southern White-faced Owl (Ptilopsis granti) that had to be saved from the street market. That owl spent exceptionally long time with our family, often also traveling with us as we could not leave it alone in the house. So, it became an accustomed air traveler in an African basket made for it.

In the hotels, it was often free in the room and liked to sit at any higher point of the room (Figure 4). The only problem was that the cleaners panicked if they found an owl in the room, so during the cleaning, we had to hide it to avoid such occasions.

Figure 4.

Southern White-faced Owl (Ptilopsis granti) on the window frame in Mozambique. This small, playful owl living on the balcony made the entire house haunted for the local people. Photo: Heimo Mikkola.

Being a VIP traveler, I was not normally forced to pass the security checks at the airport when entering the plane directly from the VIP lounge. Once, however, I went through the normal line at Maputo airport on our way to Swaziland (renamed Eswatini now), which was also a part of my FAO representation. The owl was passed in its basket through the security X-ray. The airport officer only saw the white bones of the owl on his monitor. Soon, this worried and blank-faced Black officer came to ask: “Are you a Diplomat?” I said “Yes,” and the officer hushed us to go quickly to the plane. I still wonder what the security officer thought this “monster” to be or if he was able to recognize that it was a live owl.

On one of my family’s regular Swaziland flights, my wife, Anita, realized that the owl had left the basket and was sitting on top of it. If anybody else would have seen the live owl, it could have caused a real panic inside the plane.

But this lovely little owl, the most talkative of any of the family’s rehabilitated owl species thus far, caused a huge disaster after we safely returned it to nature in a wildlife park in Swaziland when we left Mozambique for a new duty station in Malawi. My successor took the same house in Maputo, where the owl had been kept in a large backhouse balcony where it was able to fly freely.

Dreadfully, this successor soon got ill after moving to Maputo and did not survive a tumor in his head. He was married to a local lady, who started to say that the house they had taken after our family was haunted because we had kept the owl in it. And that this was why her husband died. Luckily, we were safely out of the country, but this left an awfully bad feeling for the entire family. The lady refused to enter the house after the death of her husband, and other people were forced to move their furniture out from that allegedly haunted house.

We have never been to Mozambique after this but heard that the haunted house story came up again when the next successor took the house over and was seriously attacked at the gate of the house. During our time, we never had any housebreaking or larger robberies, but this could be because we had two dogs and one owl living with us. Weinstein also concluded that owls may be the cause of houses being described as “haunted” [1].

7. Concluding remarks

There are a few regions of the world where owls have had quite the impact that they have on African societies. By understanding the patterns of owl killings and use for witchcraft in old times and even today, we might be able to understand better our cultural past in this modern world. For witchcraft purposes, owls are collected dead or alive; often, they are road kills, but sometimes, owls are also especially killed for the bewitching medicine. Witchdoctors do not aim for any particular species and may not cause so much damage to the rarest species. More dangerous are people who catch the owls to be eaten or used for traditional medicine. The killing of the African Grass Owl, African Marsh Owl, Anjouan Scops Owl, Grande Comore Scops Owl, Madagascar Red Owl, Mohéli Scops Owl, and Rufous Fishing Owl, to name a few rarest species, can be devastating because the hungry person or medicine man does not know the owl species. The haunted house story from Mozambique is a sad example of how strong superstitions still govern many people’s lives.

There is no scientific evidence to support any of the superstitions or traditional medicine’s effectiveness to continue using, killing, or being afraid of owls. So, one would like to argue that although these traditions are very deep and difficult to change, education or sensitization programs can contribute to visualizing these species from a different perspective and so be able to protect them [43, 44].

There has been a remarkable project in Zambia, where the Ornithological Society organized the “Owls Want Lowing Survey” (OWLS) involving schoolchildren (7th–8th graders) from various tribes. Children asked their village elders about old stories and folklore on owls but had their educated views to complement the picture. The results were published as a book in 1999 [45]. Similar projects could be undertaken in other African countries to better understand and protect the owls.

A.

Questionnaire for the witchdoctor interviews by using the local languages, like Chichewa, Khonde, Nyanja, Tumbuka, and Yao.

A.1 Personal Data

1. Name…………

2. Age…………

3. Female…………

4. Male…………

5. Education level…………

6. How long has been a witch doctor…………

7. In which Village/ City…………

8. Origin…………

9. How long present in the above village/city…………

A.2 Witchcraft-related Questions

Do you know any owl species?………None………Yes, how many………

How the witch doctor gets his owls?………

Dead or alive?………

How the owl is used?

Which body parts are used to make medicine?…………………….

What medicine………………………………………………………

Against what disease? ………………………………………………

Special ingredients of the poisonous bewitching medicine? ………

Plant species used? ………………………………………………….

How the witch doctor compares the use of owls with leopards……… lions………… snakes………. crocodiles ……… other animals ………

Your comments on the interview?…………………………………….

Any other remarks? ……………………………………………………

Thank you for your participation and assistance in this study!