Grave Robbers Feed Voodoo Rituals
Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Delivered Daily
Daily Newsletter
Sign up for the latest discoveries, groundbreaking research and fascinating breakthroughs that impact you and the wider world direct to your inbox.
Once a week
Life's Little Mysteries
Feed your curiosity with an exclusive mystery every week, solved with science and delivered direct to your inbox before it's seen anywhere else.
Once a week
How It Works
Sign up to our free science & technology newsletter for your weekly fix of fascinating articles, quick quizzes, amazing images, and more
Delivered daily
Space.com Newsletter
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
Once a month
Watch This Space
Sign up to our monthly entertainment newsletter to keep up with all our coverage of the latest sci-fi and space movies, tv shows, games and books.
Once a week
Night Sky This Week
Discover this week's must-see night sky events, moon phases, and stunning astrophotos. Sign up for our skywatching newsletter and explore the universe with us!
Join the club
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
A black market trade in human skulls and organs, used in occult ceremonies, has driven grave robbers to dig up more than 100 graves at a cemetery in the village of Dangbo in Benin, a country in West Africa called by Reuters “the world capital of voodoo.”
Most of the 9.6 million residents practice at least a mild form of voodoo, Reuters reports. "The desecration of graves is about money in this region," said Joseph Afaton, director of the cemetery. "It is for sacrifices, or for bewitching."
Benin, the first country in Africa to transition from a dictatorship to a democracy, is thought to be the birthplace of voodoo, which is considered a religion. Followers of voodoo believe in one supreme God but also many spirits representing the souls of the dead. Voodoo is linked to the fascination with zombies.
As an aside, Benin has the highest national average of twins, with a whopping 27.9 twins per 1,000 births.
Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.

