Majini kutoka baharini: Myths around Coast homes lying abandoned

Somewhere in Mwakirunge, Mombasa County sits a stalled beautiful estate that has stayed abandoned for close to two decades over fears of being possessed by spirits.

The story by locals is that the houses were cursed by the village elders due to the eviction of the locals by investors.

Stories of tenants experiencing horrendous nights have seen the beautiful development remain vacant despite its magnificent location. The estate sits on top of a hill offering serenity and a scenic view overlooking the slopes of Bamburi and Mombasa Island, which is a few minutes drive to Mombasa town.

The locals say anyone who dared rent the houses would be subjected to torture by unseen forces with some alleging sexual assault by the spirits.

Some of the narrations are that tenants would wake up wet in a pool of water without leaking roofs or rain pouring.

The estate is among a few houses abandoned for fear they are possessed with jinis.

It is common practice to see tenants sprinkle 'holy water' on walls and around the houses when they first enter into a newly rented house as a form of exorcising any demons. The belief is that some of the houses are possessed and the owners have evil spirits that stay in their rental houses.

Another myth is that some landlords use the evil spirit to keep their tenants tied and enslaved to them and one would never progress as long as they leave in such houses.

Is a common practice to see people placing pig bones and using pork and its products as a way of chasing away the said jinis.

No pork

Recently a tenant was thrown out of a house in Majengo by the landlord for cooking pork in the house.

The landlord said that he cannot allow anyone to cook pork in his house and even reimbursed the rent and deposit. However, the said tenant was new in town, and it was not clear if he was exorcising the demons or innocently enjoying his meal.

The said houses were meant to be Kenya's first eco-city on the outskirts of Mombasa City.

To date, the 10 complete units ready for occupation have continued to rust away losing their aura of bright brown, yellow, and pink colours that dot the walls.

Villagers around have claimed that their grandfathers cast a spell on the project following a tussle on the acquisition of the land with the investors and whenever an outsider asks about renting the houses, they are laughed at.

According to reports, the multi-million project was initially planned to have at least 6, 000 housing units plus a hospital, school, playground, recreation facilities, a police post, commercial centres, and office blocks.

The design of the buildings was supposed to conserve the environment by utilizing solar and wind energy as a source of electricity for tenants.

The housing units were to be two and three-bedroom flats, together with three and four-bedroom bungalows. But the project quickly stalled after villagers protested forceful eviction from their land.

Casting spell

Lucus, a native said the tussle between villagers and the investor saw their grandparents casting a spell on the estate.

"The grandfathers were unhappy that their sons have been evicted from the land and they cast a spell on the houses now no one can and has ever lived here," said Lucus.

He said the tenants were being possessed and could find themselves naked on the shores of the Indian Ocean or the houses would be attacked by ants.

Similarly, in the Leisure area, along Malindi Mombasa road, Mwavumo in Likoni, Magongo, and Bamburi sits houses that have been left abandoned for a while.

However, the logical explanation for why the Mwakirunge project stalled is because of the dumpsite that sits a few kilometres. The amount of smoke and stench from the dumpsite is sickening to allow anyone to live comfortably.

Jabez Mwakolo a resident of Mwishomoroni says that he moved from the place because the smoke and stink were too much to bear.

"I don't think anyone will find peace living in a place where you inhale smoke always and the stink fills the room throughout the day. That alone is a curse by itself," said Mwakolo.

According to John Mitsanze, Spiritual Priest (GOHU) of the Africana Cultural Beliefs, the myth of houses being possessed is true given that there are spirits living amongst the society both in urban and rural settings.

Mitsanze said that if a house was built where there existed graveyards, then there is a possibility of the houses being haunted.

He said that if the house is also on a shrine where the people in the society used to pray to spirits, then definitely the house will be possessed.

Mitsanze said that in such houses, the lights might flicker, doors bang, and people whistle, waking up naked despite having slept with clothes or finding themselves outside. But the extremes can be a family member getting sick and dying.

"There are such houses. The problem is that people build graves or shrines where anti-social prayers were being conducted.