Vampires Are Scaring People to Death In Malawi: “My Blood Was Sucked!” #TrueStory

If you think blood-sucking creatures of the night went out with black-and-white midnight movies, you're wrong.

As you have probably seen on the news and sites like Daily Mail, the police departments in Malawi, Africa have been working overtime in connection with a bizarre rash of “vampire vigilantism.” We know, sounds crazy, but we promise, we're not making this stuff up.

Here's the deal. Since September, nearly 250 citizens have been arrested and charged with murder or inciting violence in their hunt for so-called “vampires”.

Villagers in remote areas believe human bloodsucking is a ritual practiced by some to become rich and exert power over them. While this type of hostility is nothing new there – educational standards are low, with belief in witchcraft widespread – this particular outbreak of violent killings started on September 16, 2017 when three people suspected of practicing black magic were killed by a mob. Four more followed, two of which were a mother and son. One of those murdered was an epileptic, who was burned to death.

Still, these stories of innocent people being killed as vampires have done little if anything to quell the villagers, who see themselves as the victims, from speaking out and sharing their stories of pain and fear at the hands of their alleged attackers.

Jamiya Bauleni, a 40-year-old single mother who makes a living selling pea stew, told reporters that an attacker entered her home at night and sucked her blood at her home in Thyolo district. “This is not hearsay,” Bauleni insisted. “I know my blood was sucked! I saw light on the corner of my roof. I failed to stand up from my bed and felt something piercing my left arm.” She was taken to a clinic and given vitamin supplements. Bauleni did not report the attack.

Another self-professed victim, Florence Kalunga, 27, said she was sleeping next to her husband in their home when she “heard the door open. I felt something like a needle in my finger.”

All of this is having a disastrous effect on the region’s economy. In addition to the extra police forces needed and the costs associated with the arrests, trials, and burials, there’s a trickle-down consequence.

Malawi’s national blood transfusion service claims that rumors of vampire attacks have destroyed their ability to draw donors. “This issue has affected us a lot. It has prevented us from going to collect blood in the affected areas,” said Bridon M’baya, medical director of the service. So when patients at hospitals need blood transfusions, they may not be able to get them.

McDonald Kolokombe, a clerk at the state-run Likhubula forest reserve, says tourism has dropped off considerably since this all became international news. “The communities rely on visitors to feed their families working as tour guides, porters and selling curios.” A tour guide in the area, Eric Yohane, agreed, saying, “We are starving because of a bad rumor about blood suckers. It is a big lie.”

Malawian President Peter Mutharika doesn’t mince words: “There is no evidence of blood suckers. It’s a lie meant to destabilize the region. Those spreading rumors will face the law.”

This situation doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, but eventually something’s gonna give. There are so many little kids living in these remote villages. Hope the violence and killings stop soon.