Francis Henry Giles

“ Before commencing the work of exhuming the corpse, it is necessary to place the consecrated thread round the area of the grave, and the eight pieces of cloth inscribed with talismanic figures have to be placed one at each of the eight cardinal points of the compass. The doctor sits within this magic circle, and, placing himself in a spiritual trance, invokes the spirit of the dead person to come forth. The spirit, on thus being conjured up, comes out of the grave, standing before the doctor, in many cases having the height of a palm tree. ”

“ Should the love of any woman be obtained by using this philtre, trouble always follows, for the woman becomes ill, her arms and legs are affected, and before long she dies. Should this love philtre be taken from a male corpse and applied to any one to attain any object whatsoever, it is difficult to exorcise or cast out the spirit from the person within whom it has entered. The doctor who may so attempt to cast the spirit out, sometimes finds it to be so obstinate and obdurate that it refuses to leave its fleshly home. ”

“ The pot holding the spirit oil is kept in the house placed on an alter high above the heads of those living in the house. Food, that is a little rice and fish or meat, must be presented to the spirit twice day. Should the doctor neglect to make these offerings of food, then he is asking for trouble, for the spirit which has become hungry will enter the body of the doctor and begin to eat his entrails. The hunger of a spirit must be satisfied like that of a mortal. ”