PHOTOS: Incredible Voodoo Fetish Market In Togo

Leopard heads are deemed powerful but they’re difficult to come by, so wild dog’s heads are painted with spots to trick the customers and the gods:

To use the skulls in treating a patient they’re first ground up and burned in a fire to create a black powder. The resulting powder is then rubbed into fresh cuts in the afflicted person’s chest or back. This market is a Mecca for local practitioners, people travel for hundreds of miles to peruse its macabre wares.

The voodoo goodies are brought in from all over West Africa, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast and from Nigeria. The animals aren’t killed there and the government turns a blind eye to the goings on. You’re not supposed to be able to buy the remains of protected species after all.

Even problems unrelated to health are covered in this bountiful marketplace. For instance, if you take a monkey’s hand and a gorilla’s hand and mix them together with some herbs you can increase the prowess of a goalkeeper. By rubbing the ash over his body he will become much faster and more nimble. If you’re training for a marathon they would use the head, heart and four legs of a horse.

This little fella is holding a gorilla’s foot:

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