Encounter with stubborn corpses

By Mangoa Mosota

In some parts of Kenya the dead are believed to have a mind of their own. They can communicate with the living on issues affecting their dear ones. And stories abound of the dead people who have revealed where their bodies lay unknown to their immediate family members.

They have also been known to decide where to be buried and even who should and should not attend the funeral. And if their wishes are not honoured, they refuse to move and in some cases cause calamities to drive their point home.

In what can be described as pure mazingaumbwe (miracles), witnesses of such incidences insist that it is difficult to believe the wonders unless one is present when they occur.

strange tales

Stories about the stubborn dead are common in parts of Nyanza and Western provinces. Numerous instances have been reported of hearses that ‘refuse’ to budge even when in good mechanical order, until the dead are cajoled, threatened and even beaten.

Mary Achieng from Nyando District has witnessed several instances where mourners had to persuade the deceased to accept burial.

In one incident, Achieng was living at Katito trading centre when a body became defiant, with tragic consequences.

"A vehicle carrying the body of a woman overturned and killed her two daughters," recalls Achieng, a teacher.

Burial wishes

She explains that the dead woman had separated with her husband, and while she lived had expressed a wish to be buried at her parents’ home in Oyugis, and not at her marital home in Siaya.

Mourners assisted by this police officer had a hard time restarting a vehicle that stalled on a Nairobi street recently. In some places such an incident would be open to interpretation. [PHOTOS: Mbugua kibera/standard]

"She did not want to be buried at her spouse’s home and threatened those who would disobey her wish with dire consequences. The death of her daughters was a strong message to the relatives," explains Achieng.

It is believed that she had called her daughters to be with her to protest her unwanted place of burial.

Later, elders performed traditional rites at the site of the accident to persuade the three dead women to change their minds.

"They later accepted and were buried at the husband’s home in Siaya," says Achieng, who adds that only respected and specialised elders perform such cleansing.

cleansing

The ceremony involves prayers and sprinkling of special herbs whose identity is only known to the elders.

"Tafadhali msichana wangu, wacha tuendelee na safari (Please my daughter; allow us to continue with the journey)," the elders were heard pleading.

Prior to the Katito incident, Achieng had witnessed another case of the ‘stubborn dead’ on the Katito-Kendu Bay road in the Pap Onditi area.

The body of a widow was being transported to her spouse’s home in Kano, Nyando District, when the hearse was involved in an accident, she says.

Achieng says while the woman was on her deathbed, she had insisted on being buried at her parents’ home in Rachuonyo. The deceased had differed with her husband leading to separation.

After she died, relatives on both sides disagreed on the place of burial. They later agreed that the widow should be buried at her husband’s home since dowry had been paid.

accident

"The woman’s relatives had to carry food and water from their homes since it was agreed that they were to take centre-stage in the burial that had been planned to take place in Siaya," explains Achieng.

After the accident, in which several people were injured, the body was left by the roadside as frantic efforts were made to get elders to the site to perform cleansing rituals.

"The corpse remained at the spot the whole night, and by morning dogs had chewed one of the legs," the teacher recalls.

Achieng told Crazy Monday the relatives and mourners moved the body in a broken coffin to Kisumu with assistance from police officers. The corpse was later buried at Mamboleo cemetery.

high price

"It is only in rare cases that dead people in the Luo community are buried in cemeteries," says Mzee Tom Owuor, 70.

Owuor says in the past the community has paid a high price for ignoring the wishes of the dead.

"They often cause road accidents resulting in many deaths which would not have occurred had their wishes been respected," he argues, adding that funeral costs shoot up when such incidents occur.

Valeria Awuor, a resident of Kisumu, shivers with dread when she recalls her experience a few years ago.

"A wealthy uncle died in Mombasa. Moving his body to our home in Yimbo, Bondo District became a nightmare when the vehicle carrying his body started developing problems," says Awuor.

The convoy escorting the body moved without hiccup from Mombasa, but on reaching Naivasha, the vehicle carrying the deceased and about 20 relatives had a puncture.

The tyre was changed and the vehicle proceeded with the journey. "But a few kilometres from Nakuru town, the vehicle got involved in an accident. Although the passengers suffered only slight injuries, we felt that something was amiss with the body," says Awuor.

She says the uncle’s wife hurriedly got out of the vehicle and started screaming.

"My aunt was shouting that her brother in-law had bewitched her husband leading to his death," recalls Awuor.

sorcerer

The presumed sorcerer was forced to move from the hearse to another vehicle. After the incident, the mourners continued their journey without another hitch.

Last year, a body that was being flown to Kisumu from Nairobi ‘refused’ to travel to the lakeside town midair.

"On reaching Nakuru, the plane would not move and the pilot was forced to return back to Nairobi," says a source who was among those in the plane.

Back at Wilson Airport, traditional rituals had to be performed to appease the body so that it could be transported the following day.

However, Luo Council of Elders chairman Riaga Ogallo disputes that such incidents actually happen.

"In the Luo community we do not believe in such occurrences. If a vehicle carrying a body is involved in an accident, then it a coincidence, a normal accident," argues Ogallo.

The elder says he has heard stories of bodies acting as if they were still living, but argues that these are merely myths.

snake in a hearse

An acquaintance of this reporter says he once witnessed a shocking incident in Shauri Yako Estate in Nakuru a few years ago.

A widow who used to live with a snake caused a stir when she died, Peter recalls.

A funeral home’s hearse that was to transport the body to Busia would not start. The funeral organisers sought a second vehicle, which also would not move.

The body only co-operated after some neighbours suggested that the snake be put in the hearse next to the coffin, says Peter, adding that efforts to transport the body took six hours, from 5pm to 1am.

Peter says he was shocked that the two vehicles were able to move as soon as the body had been offloaded.

"I could barely sleep for several days after the incident," Peter says.

A colleague who hails from Western Province says among the Luhya community the dead sometimes punish the living for neglecting them while they lived.

punishment

"If someone was sick for a long time and was neglected by relatives, then they can be punished for it. Once a person who was sick for a long time dies, there can be many hitches especially during transportation," says the colleague, Brian.

"Why would transporting a body from Nairobi to Butere for instance, take over 15 hours?" posed Brian, adding, "When the vehicle develops mechanical problems, nothing wrong is found upon examination."

Among the Kisii and Mijikenda communities, the departed refuse to move as a result of witchcraft performed by the living. Evans Komara, who hails from the Coast, says ‘enemies’ of the deceased sometime deter their movement.

witchcraft

"Sisi hapa pwani tunaamini majini sana, kwa hiyo mwili ukikataa kuenda nyumbani lazima mganga aitwe (Here at the coast we believe in ghosts. If a body declines to move we seek the intervention of a witch doctor)," says Komora.

Divinah Kwamboka, who has lived in Mombasa for several years, says if someone among those transporting a dead person steals an item, then the corpse can refuse to be transported.

Among the Kisii community, a person who has died as a result of witchcraft can cause havoc during transportation from the morgue to the corpse’s final resting place.

Recently, the body of a university student being transported from Nairobi to Kisii declined to be moved.

Japheth Onsomu, a friend of the deceased says along the way it rained heavily and the hearse stopped moving.

"We were forced to move the body to another vehicle. On reaching Kisii the roads were impassable due to the pounding rain. Fellow students who tried to carry the body found it too heavy," he explains.

They were compelled to seek the assistance of a witch doctor who performed some rituals. The body finally got home well past midnight.

Contrary to the notion that educated people do not believe in witchcraft, the university students present during the incident were left with their mouths agape.

Stories abound of bodies that grow bigger in mortuaries as attempts are made to put them in coffins for transportation.

"We had a scary experience when the body of relative did not fit into about five different coffins last year. It was whispered that the body just wanted to stay in the morgue due conflict over land at our home in Kitui," says a source.