Hey, thanks. Perhaps I might, not right now though. I'm not very worried about the association, these things aren't that secret.

I can tell you though that there is some more disturbing things going on in Ghana, with what they call Sakawa Boys. Sakawa is the name for online scams. Sakawa Boys are more into carding/skimming, but there is a way darker side to Sakawa which I don't think is happening with the 419ers. They are also much less approachable, at least to me, Nigerians (at least in Ghana) tend to be very easy going and open.

The thing with Sakawa is that it is tied up with juju/voodoo and dark magic. They will perform various rituals to earn magic, money attracting powers. I'm interested in magic myself but stay the hell away from this. It's hard to know what's real and how the whole thing works, but young men (around 20) often unemployed, poor and lusting for a western lifestyle, status and respect will go to a witch doctor to get magical powers.

The witch doctor will tell them to perform a ritual. It may involve snakes or other animals, but sometimes they will be told to kill a person and bring, well, body parts. After that they will get magic money earning powers. It's shrouded in secrecy and nobody likes to talk about this but I think it's similar to entering a gang, you need to prove yourself. Same thing which also happens in secret societies. It's a way of building unbreakable loyalty because you have done something unthinkable together. The difference with criminal gangs in the west is the whole dark magic thing. Really, it's just about power, bonds and hierarchy.

The thing is, you will see young men (the big boys, usually, around 30 perhaps) with extremely luxurious cars. In an area with people living in shacks you will see someone roll up in a Bentley, even. I don't quite understand how they make all that money. Even young men will have bags of cash. There are Sakawa girls too, who will romance you and steal your card.

This is much harder to know about because nobody will talk about it. I suspect it also involves the drug trade, since West Africa has become a port for cocaine from South America. Sometimes a boat will come ashore with mountains of coke.

There is a guy in the area where I use to visit who always walks around completely naked, in a zombie like state. He could have been 17 last time I was there almost three years ago. I was told someone had performed voodoo on him and he was unable to wear clothes. I'm pretty sure he has been given datura, which may well be the worst drug known to man (apparently, the British soldiers who fought down Bacon's Rebellion took it).

These witch doctors wield considerable power and are a huge problem in parts of West Africa.

Thanks again, I'll write something up when I get some inspiration and peace and quiet.

read this. also fascinating. yes, write it up if you find a good medium (hint hint) to publish it on.

question: you write in one point here "I'm interested in magic myself." You can't say that to this crowd if you said it I would stop reading your article for credibility reasons. So if you believe that any kind of magic or spells exist (that aren't tricks), then you should separate out this belief from your report, because (just telling you honestly) it makes you lose any credibility. if by 'interested in magic' you meant like tricks/illusion (rather than actual magic, which most people here would say doesn't exist) then you should be more explicit.

you've written a lot more interesting things here than even in your original reply. I am fascinated and hope you will find the time to write it up. if you submit it to HN you can refer to this thread where I asked you to :) very very interesting.

I get what you mean, I've been frequenting HN for years so I know the crowd. Regarding magic, to me it's not so much about whether magic exists but what it is. Sure, it's trickery, originally I guess it is what we would call technology, only wider, technology and psychology perhaps. It's about making things come to happen.

I guess I could put it this way, Clarke's quote ("Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic") is mistaken, any sufficiently advanced technology is magic, it's just that we are disillusioned.

I agree that it's more honest to be an illusionist than a witch doctor, but there are powerful magicians out there today, take Trump for instance, he's got the whole world enthralled.

I have just summoned tens of points to my karma account using nothing but my words, and I'm sure there are more to come.

It's not a big deal. Thanks for the advice though. ;)

from what you've just stated it's fine. What I meant is that there are people who believe you could levitate objects with your mind (like in the xmen comic books) and since you're writing about things that are already really, really outlandish it's SUPER-important not to fall into a comic-book style of narration!! :) If you thought you (or anyone) could actually levitate objects with your mind (and no technology) then it would make everything that you wrote about what you've just shared with us really suspect.

if you write it the way you've just written it, that won't be an issue. Just be clear that what you've shared with us just now already sounds like a comic book!! :) I mean, you've literally written that there are people who ask people to kill someone and get body parts, as part of voodoo. There are people walking around naked after being given drugs. The last thing that is needed is for the narrator to themselves also be suspect, for example by reporting that someone shows him how to levitate objects with his mind (no tricks and technology), and that it works.

So I really look forward to reading more whenever you write it up. What you've written so far is already comic-book style! But I hope you won't embellish and will stick to the facts. :)

I just want to remind you that it is you who are worried about my credibility, not me. So thank you for the advice, but I decline. It is also you who seem preoccupied with levitation.

Regarding the events, it's not comics. It's happening, and it's gotten worse the last 10 years. Voodoo comes from the deltas stretching from eastern Ghana over Togo and Benin to western Nigeria. Whatever it is they do they wield considerable control over people, to the point where big investments are dropped, houses never finished, parents leaving babies to fend for themselves.

But it's like @qb45 says, just google it. I want to advise though that there are many rumours as well, not the least because witch doctors have an interest in building the fear and the criminals want to instil respect and keep away nosy people.

Lastly, you come across as pretty rude to me. Just want to remind you that their is another person writing this, and I don't particularly like being talked about in third person and discredited for sharing an experience. So a piece of advice in return, think for a moment about they way you write about my writing having "issues" or what is or is not "needed", and it'll be fine.

> Just be clear that what you've shared with us just now already sounds like a comic book!! :) I mean, you've literally written that there are people who ask people to kill someone and get body parts, as part of voodoo. There are people walking around naked after being given drugs.

OP's stuff is business as usual, really.

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

You have it all - magic, satanism, naked guys eating people on the street, etc.

Uh, remind me not to come over for dinner. Seriously if you think OP's account is, business as usual, well - you and I live in different worlds, or you've seen a lot more of the seedy underbelly of criminal organizations than I have! Which is what makes OP's write-up interesting.

It's interesting because it's first-person. The list you've given is interesting too but all over the map - OP can report as a direct source, in the first person, not curate information from elsewhere. (Which is why I think it's important for him to not to accidentally sound like he's saying he's able to levitate things with his mind or anything like that. his followup makes this clear.)

if he does write something, you don't have to read it - but I certainly will!

No, I have no direct experience with that extreme stuff, but I grew up in somewhat violent neighborhood. And to this day I have a mild fascination with all things NSFL ;)

Why should he care about credibility? It's you asking for more :p

And magic is a shit test IMO.

Magic is real. Look anywhere in the world outside of modern urban areas and you will find people who have experienced it first hand. It is true that every culture in the world has different gods and spirits, but they all have some conceptions of magic and a spirit realm. The existence and character of this phenomenon has been discovered and independently rediscovered many times throughout and preceding recorded history, but because of the conditions of their environment and because of their philosophical preconceptions western technocrats deny it. Magic is an antifragile phenomenon; it lives in and feeds upon chaos. It can't be tested in a controlled environment anymore than you can study primate mating habits in an environment devoid of oxygen. But in real life it works, and the only truly empirical thing to do is to try it for yourself, in the context of your own life, and see how real it can be.