5 - The Leopard People

A history of the Leopard Men, a murderous - sometimes - animistic cult in Central Africa.  Also other similar African groups, the Crocodile Men, Baboon Society and Lion-Men or Mbojo are dealt with.  Finally, we detour briefly to South America and take a quick look at the legends of werejaguars in the armies of an Argentine general.

 

Sources

Aldridge, Thomas Joshua. A Transformed Colony: Sierra Leone as it Was, and as it Is, Its Progress, Peoples, Native Customs and Undeveloped Wealth. London: Seeley & Co., 1910.

Ambrosetti, Juan. “The Legend of the Yaguarete-Aba; the Indian Tiger, and its Projections among the Guaranies, Quichuas, etc.” Annals of the Argentine Scientific Society 41 (1896).

Beatty, K.J. Human Leopards: An Account of the Trials of Human Leopards Before the Special Commission Court. London: Hugh Rees, 1915.

Fyle, Magbaily C. Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2006.

Howard, Robert E. “Man-Eaters of Zamboula.” http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600791h.html

Miller, Ivor L. “Bongo Ita: Leopard Society Music and Language in West Africa, Western Cuba, and New York City.” African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal 5:1 (January 2012). Retrieved from: http://people.bu.edu/imiller/pubs/Miller%202012.pdf

Miller, Ivor and Mathew Ojong. “Ekpe 'Leopard' Society in Africa and the Americas: Influence and Values of an Ancient Tradition.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 36:2 (2013). Retrieved from: http://www.afrocubaweb.com/ivormiller/Miller-Ojong2012-s.pdf

Pratten, David. The Man-Leopard Murders: History and Society in Colonial Nigeria. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007.

“The Influence of Islam on African Native Law – II.” In The Moslem World, Vol. 11 (S.M. Zwemer, ed.). Harrisburg, PA: Missionary Review, 1921.

Van Bockhaven, Vicky. “Leopard-men of the Congo in Literature and Popular Imagination.” Tydskrif vir Letterkunde 46:1 (January 2009). Retrieved from: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0041-476X2009000100006