Bathroom Witchcraft

Tanzania's Daily News reports that experts have recently been consulted regarding the role of witchcraft in bathroom and toilet accidents. Thankfully for those living in fear of their restroom facilities, they concluded that such deaths are in fact the result of normal accidents rather than evil spells. This suggests that Tanzanian resources could be better applied towards enforcing modern building codes than in trying to obtain magical protection for the nation's bathrooms.

Giving living examples, some of the Dar es Salaam residents interviewed by this paper said that according to their experience, in rare cases does one escape serious injuries after falling in the bathroom or toilet, while others brushed it off as mere accidents which can occur anywhere.

"Three years ago, a neighbor of mine dies on the spot after falling the bathroom while taking a shower, and a year later my brother-on-law also died after suffering a similar fate," said Filipo Siraju, a resident of Tegeta on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.

He said that with the death of the neighbor, he ruled it as a normal accident, but after his brother-in-law died under similar circumstances, he started having serious worries. He told our reported that after the two deaths, he got to lear of similar deaths which occurred in the same fashion, and a relative later informed him that in most cases, these deaths are related to dark forces.

However, retired medical doctor Amos Mwakilasa disagreed, noting that falls in the bathroom can in fact be deadly and when they are health problems such as high blood pressure, which can increase the risk of a concussion or internal blood clot, are often to blame. And as in most other countries around the world, the falls themselves are usually caused by wet tile floors, which can be extremely slippery. Funny how that works.


The one thing I will add to this is that since magical attacks work by increasing the probability of overall misfortune, it's not impossible that someone under a curse would be more prone to a fatal bathroom injury. This is especially true in a country where fewer safety features, such as bathtubs with rough surfaces to keep feet from slipping, are employed. At the same time, though, concluding that any suspicious bathroom death is the result of a curse is simply silly.