Part One: Thokolosi
By day, an innocent log lying by the side of the road. By night, a thokolosi.
A thokolosi, pronounced toh-koh-loh-see, is a type of spirit that witch doctors in Botswana
I’m unaware of the actual process of creating a thokolosi, and I assume that most practices of witch doctors aren’t known to the public anyway. Once it is created however, it becomes a “spouse” to the person who asked for it – women receive a male thokolosi, and men receive a female.
As I said, during the day a thokolosi is a piece of wood. But at night, it turns into a kind of human – the closest thing to a description I’ve received is “a hairy, sort-of human.” It could be tall or short and usually is not seen by anyone other than its spouse unless it has direct interaction with another human during the twilight hour. An interesting note is that they abhor salt. At night, the thokolosi will go around the village and acquire wealth for its spouse. It will also tend to the crops, the animals, and keep the house tidy and clean – whatever the spouse demands. It does such an excellent job that neighbors will start to notice how well everything is improving and will often comment upon the sudden change. The person who owns the thokolosi will become much more affluent.
There is, as with all spirit-related things, a dark downside. As a spouse, a thokolosi has all spousal privileges, and at night the thokolosi wants to be … satisfied, if you catch my drift. I suppose some people feel grateful to the thokolosi and agree to fulfill its more carnal desires, but there are those who are creeped out by making love to a hairy sort-of human, especially if said person is married to an actual human. When asking for a thokolosi, the person can request that the being will sleep with someone else at night. This “someone else” has no choice in the matter, and is not notified that there will soon be a hairy thing forcing itself upon him or her. It’s obviously a twisted, creepy spirit.
In a fictional (but based on reality and her own personal experiences as a lawyer) book by Unity Dow (The Heavens May Fall), a woman’s husband wants to divorce her because the woman has consistently been raped by a thokolosi at night. The woman believes that her mother-in-law sent it in order to break up the marriage, while the husband fervently denies this. However, he can no longer sleep with or be married to his wife due to what happened.
Once a person is finished with a thokolosi, he or she doesn’t exactly want the creature hanging around, so it releases the thokolosi from its service. However, it cannot just disappear, nor can witch doctors or religious leaders destroy it, so the thokolosi roams the village, doing whatever (and whomever) it wishes. When a village realizes a thokolosi is on the loose, it immediately looks to those families that have recently acquired wealth or good fortune.
My best friend and fellow volunteer Paco is located in a small, remote village 30km away from me, named Medie (Meh-dee-eh). One night he repeatedly heard footsteps outside his window. He assumed it was dogs, chickens, or some other animal. In the morning he went outside and amid his smoothly swept dirt was only one set of footprints – human. He mentioned to his teachers that someone had been in his yard, and they assuredly informed him that it was no trespasser, but a wayward wraith roaming the village.
Do I believe? I’m not sure, but I’m in no hurry to find out for myself, face-to-face with my own thokolosi.
Three articles (Note: not well-written) about thokolosi occurrences in Botswana
An animated short about a thokolosi (Note: my internet is not fast enough to watch it, so I’m not sure about the accuracy or even the entertainment value, so if you watch it, let me know how it is).
Let me know any questions you have, and I’ll find out an answer for you.
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