'Local Prophet' Blames Goblins for 10 Deaths Suffered by Zimbabwean Family

A “local prophet” claimed recently that goblins were to blame for a string of deaths that took 10 members from a single family in Nyanga, Zimbabwe, reported The Manica Post at the end of October.

Madzibaba Shepherd Nzira, who leads the Zvakazarurwa Zvevapostori Church, began investigating the Nzvenga family's troubles after they entreated his help by literally camping outside of his shrine in the Hobhouse neighborhood of Mutare; 70 miles to the south of Nyanga. Madzibaba means "father" in Shona, and is an honorific often applied to religious leaders.

During his investigation, Nzira allegedly retrieved paraphernalia associated with witchcraft that belonged to one of the family members; including a goblin statuette, a lance, a knobkerrie (a short stick with a knob at the top, traditionally used as a weapon) tied with a hyena tail, and a clay pot filled with blood.

“Family members [were] dying mysteriously until we established that there was witchcraft in the family. We could not figure out who exactly was behind the death[s] of about 10 family members and then engaged Madzibaba Nzira, who exposed the culprit," said Francis Nzvenga.

“I once confronted [the family member accused of witchcraft] before,” he explained. “I had weird dreams in which he would be trying to stab me. We are happy that Madzibaba Nzira got to the bottom of the mystery and fished out the culprit. He [has] exposed him. What shocked us most is that inside one of the clay pots was a paper with a list of people that had died mysteriously and [who were] earmarked to die. We hope the cleansing rituals will eradicate our problems."

Nzira, who reportedly specializes in exorcising evil spirits and settling spiritual battles in families, said that more deaths in the family were imminent had they delayed seeking his services.

“People who appeared on a list in the clay pot were bound to die in the near future. I prayed first, and summoned the goblins to expose themselves. The family will not be haunted again,” he said.

It is unclear at this time how exactly the afflicted family members died, and what action, if any, has been taken against the person accused of witchcraft.

Reports of deadly goblins are not uncommon in Zimbabwe, where in 2018 they were blamed for the deaths of two children in Ziqaweni Village, and for slaughtering scores of livestock in the same area in early 2019.

“Every morning we wake up to the death of our cattle,” a villager who preferred anonymity told the Zimbabwe Mail earlier this year. “At first we thought it was a thief so we took turns in guarding the kraals in the hope of catching the thief. It was all in vain because we never caught anyone but every morning we found a dead cow in different homesteads.”

“Last year a cleansing ceremony was carried out when some kids mysteriously died and we thought we would have peaceful lives. Right now we don’t know how we will be helped because we believe these goblins can be killed but later on come back in full force,” added the villager.

Ziqaweni Village officials planned to hire another “prophet” to conduct a cleansing ceremony following the most recent attacks.

To report your own encounter with the impossible, reach out to us directly at the Singular Fortean Society through our contact page.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to support the Singular Fortean Society, please consider becoming an official member by signing up through our Patreon page—membership includes a ton of extra content and behind-the-scenes access to the Society’s inner workings.