Masvingo ghosts

AS demand for housing mounts in Masvingo, some residents who bought housing stands just close to Jairosi Jiri cemetery are having sleepless nights as a "ghost" harasses them throughout the night.

To most residents of Runyararo West, darkness brings with it fear as weird movements in and outside their homes and sounds of a person doing kitchen chores, including washing plates, occupies the entire night.

Residents who spoke to our news crew said the scary incidents of the 'spirits of the dead people' who are coming back as ghosts to haunt them are troubling them. Most victims are beer drinkers who come from the pub in the wee hours of the night who have reportedly been harassed by the ghosts on their way home.

Cynthia Gwamure, a resident said: "We are now living in fear and we get scared when it gets dark. This is because we are being haunted by the spirits of the dead people we live with as our neighbours. We experience some weird and scary incidents in our houses in the evening because our houses are just 10 metres away from the cemetery."

The residents said upon hearing weird sounds within their houses they wake up but suddenly the noise disappears when they turn their lights on. Others narrated encounters when they woke up to realise that the house had been cleaned, even their dishes as well.

"I think we were given stands on top of graves and the dead are not happy with it. Some colleagues here have reported cases were they wake up to see all their dishes washed and arranged properly despite leaving them dirty at bed time," Terrence Magunda said.

The residents were contemplating selling their properties as their families do not have peace at night.

Masvingo City Council on the other hand is failing to cope with the ever increasing demand for residential stands, with reports indicating that the current housing waiting list is hovering above 20,000.

Children who lack proper recreation facilities have resorted to using the cemetery as a playing ground and are seen jumping up and down on graves during the afternoon.

The children were vandalising tomb stones while others took home flowers, buckets and various items placed on the graves.
Drug abusers especially dagga smokers have also found a perfect hiding place to smoke the illegal substance, while others take advantage of the quietness of the area to turn it into their love nests.

The lovers have turned the cemetery into a dump site for used condoms that are strewn everywhere even on top of graves.
These immoral activities are usually done in the afternoon and residents believe that they were making the dead angry hence they come to haunt them in the evening.

"Some people are now using the graveyard for immoral activities like making love and smoking marijuana. I think this is the reason why the dead are coming after us at night for revenge," said Sekai Masvuura.

Residents called on the city council to maintain the cemetery and respect the dead so that they are not provoked by the people.

"We believe council should at least try to maintain this cemetery, they collected burial fees for these people to be buried here and I don't see why they are not using that money. They should put up a fence," added another resident

Masvingo City council Mayor, Hubert Fidze professed ignorance over the issue.

"As council we have not received reports on of that nature. We are aware that houses near the cemetery but the issue of ghosts and scary tales has not come to our attention, "said Fidze.

Masvingo Residents and Rate Payers Association, (Murra) confirmed the reports.

"Some residents have approached us with complains that they were not having peaceful nights in Runyararo West area. They feel they are being disturbed by the spirits of the dead. We are trying to engage the city council to stop issuing stands near the cemetery because we believe as African people such incidents do happen," said Anoziva Muguti, Murra coordinator.

                                                               

A ‘ghost prostitute’ called Peggy

tendai chara

November 15, 2015

Tendai Chara
It is in the early 1980s. A man is downing a beer at Machipisa Shopping Centre in Harare’s Highfield suburb.
As the nightclub closes, he wanders along Mangwende Drive, hunting for a little action.
His drunken search leads him to a strikingly beautiful commercial sex worker with whom he raedily seals a deal.
But to his horror, he awakes the following morning to find himself perched on a grave, his “catch” nowhere in sight!
Creepy tales like this spread like a veldfire in the late 1970s and early ‘80s when a suspected “ghost prostitute” known as Peggy earned notoriety for prowling the streets of Highfield.
Peggy’s clients somehow ended up at the local cemetery the following morning.
According to those familiar with the tale, she often positioned herself near nightclubs and at times on the suburb’s beaten tracks.
Late night imbibers invariably courted her, agreeing to be led to her “home”, her dazzling beauty, no doubt, luring them.
Many a man said he subsequently woke up atop a grave or in a cemetery.
One account has it that Peggy once lived indeed and walked the streets at night. She was murdered by a client, prompting her troubled spirit to seek revenge against menfolk, so the story goes.
Many older Hararians dispute the veracity of the tale. Peggy was an imaginary character created by crafty Highfield women who wanted to dissuade wayward hubbies from dalliances with prostitutes, is what they told The Sunday Mail.
But 62-year-old Sekuru Stephen Dauti maintains that Peggy was a prostitute in both life and death.
“Some of the people I shared a house with as tenants knew this Peggy,” insists Sekuru Dauti. “She was a beautiful prostitute who was murdered by a jealous client. It is said that she was buried at the local cemetery and this is where her victims were often discovered.”
Apart from snaring befuddled men making the long walk home at ungodly hours, Peggy is also said to have terrorised motorists who were lust-drunk enough to make the decision to invite her into their cars.
Such motorists reported that Peggy would disappear from their cars – and they no doubt would thencefoorth vow never to stop for anyone at night again.
However, sightings of Peggy became fewer by the late 1980s, and by the early 1990s she was lost somewhere in urban folklore.
Some people believe the ghost was exorcised, while others say Peggy has simply moved elsewhere.
Whether or not she trully existed remains a mystery perhaps only she can help unravel.

Satanism scare: Siblings 'turn into snakes'

by Staff Reporter

 20 Aug 2017 at 07:29hrs | 3163 Views

THERE was a satanism scare at a house in Gweru's Mkoba 14 when two orphaned children allegedly turned into spiritual snakes during a family prayer before demanding blood from their grandfather, forcing family members to abandon the prayer session on Thursday.

The orphans - a girl aged 10 and her 13-year-old brother, who are under the upkeep of their grandfather reportedly went into a trance, with the girl reportedly oozing blood from fingers and sweating profusely, charging towards the grandfather demanding that he becomes their "next meal".

The siblings - sources said - told family members that they were recently initiated into satanism at their schools (names withheld). The strange utterances forced the grandfather and other members of the family to scurry for cover while sending SOS to neighbours who then quickly gathered at the house.

When Sunday News newscrew arrived at the house at around 11am, hordes of people from the surrounding area had gathered while over a dozen police officers were trying to contain the commotion, driving away the crowds outside.

The media was denied entry inside the house where relatives of the siblings were said to be busy trying to contain them with the assistance from the family's United Apostolic Faith Church (UAFC) members. Three high-ranking police officers who arrived in a truck later got inside the house while their juniors continued to deal with the crowds. They spent more than 30 minutes locked in before the dizzy-looking siblings were carried into a church car and whisked away under police escort to Mkoba Poly Clinic and later Gweru Provincial Hospital where they were later admitted.

A neighbour said the siblings recently started behaving strangely and later fell sick when their family members decided to conduct a prayer with consultation from the church. He said during the prayer session - the siblings fell into a trance and the girl allegedly turned into a spiritual snake and said she wanted her grandfather's blood.

"We just saw their guardians bolting out of the house claiming that the kids had turned into spiritual snakes and that they wanted to kill their grandfather since they are satanists who survive on human blood. The grandfather then screamed for help before church pastors were called in," said a neighbour on condition of anonymity.

However, a distant relative who declined to be named, said the girl had complained of chest pains and headache since last week.

"The boy then followed suit and said he was not feeling well complaining of the same chest problems and headache like his sister. We then phoned our pastor at the UAFC, who asked us to pray for them. We then gathered in the spare bedroom to pray for the kids. It was during this prayer session that they started manifesting, the girl screaming uncontrollably while saying she was seeing a huge snake suckling blood out of her," said the relative who declined to be identified.

The relative said the scary screams forced them to abandon the prayer and seek help from neighbours.

"We even called our UAFC leader to come and help us but by the time he came, hordes of people had gathered here and the situation was becoming uncontrollable. We then decided to call the police who responded swiftly and helped us out," said the relative.

The relative denied reports doing rounds that the girl was bleeding while in a trance.

"You know when something as strange as this happens, there are bound to be many versions. Some witnesses allege that they saw a snake while some are saying the girl was bleeding profusely, these are all lies. They just fell into a trance and we are waiting to get information about their condition from the hospital authorities," he said.

Police sources said the grandfather told them that previously he had seen something that looked like a rat with blood all over running around the house.

"The grandfather said strange things have been happening to the siblings of late and he saw a strange rat in the house which had blood. At Mkoba Poly Clinic, the children were said to be anaemic - and were referred to Gweru Provincial Hospital where they are admitted," said the police source.

Midlands acting police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Ethel Mukwende could not readily comment.

Goblins

A NYANGA man committed suicide by hanging himself after he was accused by his relatives of possessing some goblins.Robert Musandinyere, 64, of Kaitano village in Chief Katerere's area, is reported to have had a long-running dispute with his relatives who accused him of possessing some goblins that were tormenting family members.Police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Luxon Chananda, confirmed the incident saying the deceased had problems with his relatives since June this year over the issue of goblins.According to NewZimbabwe.com, Musandinyere is said to have told his wife, Anita Makumbo, 25, that he was going to look for his lost cattle in Mozambique.When he did not return home as expected the relatives suspected that he could have gone to dump the goblins across the border in Mozambique.His decomposing body was found hanging by one Koka Kasosa who was looking for poles near Nyamububa River on August 19.The matter was reported to the police who attended the scene. Goblin Source: newzimbabwe - See more at: http://www.bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-53452.html#sthash.oeCSsP4e.dpuf