THE TELEPORTATION THAT IS EFFECTED IN AFRICAN MAGIC

 

 

It is called teleportation when a person, or an animal, or an object mysteriously disappears in the place where they were and reappears somewhere else; and on this topic, the expert in African magic, Miad Hoyora Korahon, related the following cases:

 

« In his book on Obeah magic, Mr. Bell told the story of a Catholic priest who told the following:

 

« Some years ago I was in Trinidad, and the Archbishop sent me to take charge of a parish far in the interior of the island, at that time very little known and developed. There being no presbytery, I had to make shift, until I could build one, with part of a small wooden house, of which one room was occupied by an old colored woman, who lived with a little girl.

 

This woman was looked on with a good deal of dread by the people, being supposed to possess a knowledge of a good many unholy tricks, and it was confidently hoped that my near neighborhood would do her good, and at all events induce her to be seen now and then at church, which is here a great sign of respectability.

 

When taking possession of my part of the house, I was shown her room, and noticed particularly that it contained some very handsome pieces of the massive furniture so much esteemed by the Creoles.

 

A tremendous family four-poster with very heavy, handsomely turned pillars, stood in one corner near a ponderous mahogany wardrobe, and various other bits of heavy furniture pretty well filled the little room. The door of her apartment opened into my room, which she had to pass through every time she went out of the house.

 

 

The night after my taking possession, I heard a monotonous sound through the partition, as of someone crooning a sing-song tune.

 

This continued for over an hour, and more than once I felt inclined to rap at the partition, and beg the old dame to stop her incantations, but it finally acted as a lullaby; and I soon dropped asleep.

 

Next morning, having got up and dressed, I noticed that all was perfectly silent next door, and on listening attentively failed to hear a sound; I feared something had gone wrong, but noticed that the door leading outside had not been opened, as a chair I had placed against it was in precisely the same position as I had left it.

 

I then knocked at her door several times, but obtained no answer; fearing an accident had happened, I opened the door, and as it swung back on its hinges, I was astounded to see the room perfectly empty, and evidently swept (clean. On examining the room carefully, I found it only had two small windows, besides the door leading into my room.

 

From that day to this, neither I nor anyone living in that district has ever seen or beard anything of that woman or her little girl.

 

How she moved all her heavy furniture out of that little room, has ever remained, an inexplicable mystery. I would have defied any one to move the wardrobe alone, and even if the old woman had had strength to move the furniture away, she could never have dragged it through my room without waking me! »

("Obeah", London, 1889)

 

 

Query: Did the near approach of the ‘odor of sanctity’ cause the ‘vile sorceress’ to flee? Or did the old woman consider the same as a defilement?

 

In the above we have a broad hint as to what process Mr. Congo Brown’s brother used when he flew away, and as to how Mr. Brown himself got those hogsheads of sugar transported from the sugar-works to the beach »

(Theosophist, February 1892, p.304-305)

 

 

 

 

This last thing that Miad Hoyora Korahon mentioned, he detailed in another article where he wrote the following:

 

« About sixty years ago, there were brought to the estate among other new slaves, two men who were distinguished from the rest by reason of their light brown color, and straight hair. They are also described as having had unusually large heads, prominent noses, and long arms. These peculiarities are inherited to some extent by the descendants of one of them, some of whom I have seen. I have no doubt that these men were Moors, as these descendants’ physical characteristics go to show.

 

Some six months after their arrival, one of the brothers disappeared, bodily, and completely. The other, who meanwhile had ‘married’ a black woman, accounted for his brother’s disappearance by saying he had ‘flown away back to Africa, and that he would have done so too, had he not eaten something that prevented him doing so.

 

The brother who remained became known as “Kongo Brown” and was one of the most prominent Obeah practitioners ever known in the region. And one of the most impressive feats he performed was when he mysteriously moved one hundred tonnes of sugar.

 

The farm where he worked was a sugar plantation, and it happened that towards the end of the harvest season, about a hundred barrels of sugar had been obtained ready for export.

 

But the ship that was going to carry the sugar had embarked in a bay that was about two miles from that farm, so preparations immediately began to lower the sugar the next day, since it was a very rugged and steep road. that had to be traveled. But Kongo Brown went to see the manager and proposed that he would take all that sugar to the bay in exchange for a reward.

 

The manager laughed at the implausibility of his proposal but finally agreed to bet him that he would not succeed. However, the next morning, the hundred barrels of sugar were in that bay, with no one other than Kongo Brown knowing how he did it, and Mr. Brown could not have transported those barrels during the night because it would have required an entire week so he could carry them alone.

 

 

This and other feats performed by Kongo Brown are well known to the black natives of this region, who have related them to me in different places and by different people.

 

And no other Obeahman that I have heard of here is credited with feats of such a high degree, and it does not appear that the powers which Mr. Brown has used can also be used by the ordinary practitioner of Obreah magic. »

(Theosophist, April 1891, p.412-414)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OBSERVATIONS

 

To some readers these stories will seem very fanciful, but similar stories have also been mentioned in the West and in more recent times.

 

And although I remain cautious about its veracity, some esotericism instructors affirm that these feats can be achieved with the help of the elementals.

 

Unfortunately I have not yet found that the wisdom masters have spoken about it and that is why for the moment I limit myself to considering it as something that perhaps could be possible.