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Sorcerers beaten to death in Ghana

 ACCRA, Ghana - Angry mobs beat to death 12 "sorcerers" in Ghana for
"allegedly" causing penises shrink or vanish, Ghanaian news sources
reported Monday.

 "The death toll is 12, up by five since Friday," a headline in the
Ghanaian Times said.

 Victims say sorcerers touch them and make their penises shrink or
vanish by witchcraft to extort money in return for a cure. Police
dismiss the phenomenon as a scam by thieves to cause a
crowd to gather and then rob people
..
The majorityof the deaths have been in the capital city of Accra but
in a sign the crisis was spreading, newspapers reported that police
opened fire in the second town of Kumasi to save one man from
lynching. Police prevented other attempted lynchings, they said.

Other news sources said that women had started reporting shrinking
genitals and that witches were to blame.
Ghanaians attribute the scale of the crisis to the fact that genitals
are used in certain pagan voodoo rituals.

 Medical experts have appeared on TV explaining why penises increase
and decrease in size.

Reports are not uncommon, with victims often blaming a simple
handshake with sorcerers.