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Illustration of South African witchcraft zombie
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
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South African witchcraft zombie

A tún ń pè é ní: xidachane, maduxwane, witch-train zombies
Ìtàn àtẹnudẹ́nu àti àròsọÒkúOṣó

In parts of South Africa, witchcraft belief includes people turned into zombies to labour for a witch. The victims are thought of as the stolen dead: small, mute and put to work at night. Stories of 'witch trains' staffed by zombies spread once railways began carrying migrant workers to the mines and cities. Scholars treat the belief as a commentary on labour exploitation, which is the same anxiety that produced the Haitian zombi.12

Bá a jà
Orírun
South African (Tsonga, Sotho, Venda)
South Africa
Ohun tó fà á
Oṣó
A witch kills the victim, or makes them seem to die, and takes control of the body for forced labour.
Bí o ṣe di ọ̀kan
A witch's spell; in some accounts even a small child can zombify a dead person.
Làákàyè
Aláìní làákàyè
Àwọn ibi tó lẹ̀
  • a sufficiently powerful sangoma (traditional healer) can break the spell
àkọsílẹ̀ pápá

Ohun tí àwọn orísun sọ

1

Called xidachane in Sotho and Tsonga and maduxwane in Venda12

2

Imagined as shrunken in size, with the tongue cut out so that it cannot speak or protest12

3

Witch trains, ordinary-looking trains crewed by zombies, were said to abduct people at night12

4

Passengers were either zombified or beaten and thrown off far from home12

5

Anthropologist Isak Niehaus reads the belief as a picture of migrant labour and domination12

Àwọn orísun

  1. Zombie - Wikipedia
  2. Zombies - Encyclopedia.com

Gbogbo òtítọ́ lórí ojú ewé yìí wá láti àwọn orísun wọ̀nyí, a kọ ọ́ ní ọ̀rọ̀ tiwa. Ṣé o rí àṣìṣe? Sọ fún wa ní [email protected].

Fún agbo náà ní oúnjẹ. Kò sí ìpolówó, kò sí olùtọpa, ẹnìkan ló ń sanwó rẹ̀. Ẹ̀bùn kan ń mú kí ojú-òpó náà wà lórí ayélujára.Fi ẹ̀bùn sílẹ̀

Ìtàn àtẹnudẹ́nu láti àwọn ilẹ̀ kan náà

UmkhovuZulu, 1875

Àwọn bí èyí síwájú sí i

GhoulArabicPocongJavanese / Indonesian and MalayRo-langsTibetanToyolMalay and IndonesianXiangxi walking corpsesChinese (western Hunan; attributed to Miao sorcery)CondenadoAndean (Peru and Bolivia)
Fún agbo náà ní oúnjẹFi ẹ̀bùn sílẹ̀