Interesting thread. I was reminded of an incident with the Contras in Central America. A fairly senior USG officer had flown in to harangue them about something. A big meeting was arranged. After the visitor finished haranguing, the top commander said he wanted to discuss a "special problem." He told the Washingtonian that the Sandinistas were training witches and that these women were infiltrating Contra units and putting curses on key commanders. The curses caused small animals to grow in their stomachs. "Julio, go get that thing that came out of the stomach of Wilfredo..." The gringo from Washington thought they were kidding, and he was laughing like a fool. I realized they were serious, and was trying to get him to stop laughing.

The commanders were Central American country folk, and those people have a lot of these kinds of beliefs. Before anyone gets too scornful and superior, it might be a good idea to consider how some of the rituals in OUR religions might appear to outsiders. Incense and holy water come to mind.

For more of this kind of stuff see http://www.contracross.com