Sorcery and black magic are alive and well in Cambodia, and they’re worth killing over
- Outbreaks of disease, unsolved deaths or bad luck are often blamed by villagers on witchcraft, and sometimes there are violent consequences
Phnom Penh seems to have all the trappings of a modern cosmopolitan city: towering skyscrapers, world-class restaurants and painfully air-conditioned shopping malls. But venture a few hours outside the capital and things become different very quickly.
There is, particularly in rural provinces, a pervasive belief in the supernatural in Cambodia. Near the end of November, a couple was attacked in Pursat Province – about 200km northwest of Phnom Penh – by a small mob accusing them of killing someone’s daughter with sorcery. The accused husband, 83, was beaten to death while his wife, 72, was shot in the leg with a home-made rifle.
Alleged sorcerers are often blamed for unexplained deaths, a rash of illnesses or other small-town misfortunes, leading to a beheading in November 2017 and a deadly stabbing in 2016 – just two examples.
Ryun Patterson, a former journalist with The Cambodia Daily and author of Vanishing Act: A Glimpse Into Cambodia’s World of Magic, said there is a large economic element to sorcery incidents.
The poor and disenfranchised often find their belief in magic and witchcraft can explain factors outside their control.