Chinese villager allowed wife to be boiled alive in bizarre witch doctor
Mother of two killed by scalding vapour after phoney doctors thought that the steam would drive the 'ghosts' from her body
A MOTHER of two has died after being steamed alive in a wooden barrel by Chinese witch doctors in a bizarre exorcism.
The two men believed that the ritual would drive the “ghosts” from her body.
The woman from a small village near Guangyuan in the Sichuan province had tried other superstitious healings before turning to the witch doctors.
Now her husband blames the charlatans for her death.
Yan Yingmao, 45, said: “She seemed okay at first."
The woman was placed inside a wooden barrel which was hanging over a bubbling vat of water.
Complying with the witch doctor’s requests, Yan went to get a needle for the odd ritual.
He told the Sunday Telegraph: "When I returned the screaming had begun.”
"They said the ritual must be concluded, and that the screams from my wife was the sound of demons leaving her body.”
His wife continued to scream until Yan could take no more.
He lifted her out of the barrel to find her body blackened and her face purple.
"I looked at her face, and it was purple. She told me she wouldn't make it."
As the woman died, the witch doctors ran away to the green mountains.
The fake shamans were later arrested .
Yan holds himself partly responsible for his wife’s death.
He now has to bring up their two children alone.
He said: “I really didn’t have any other choice as I wanted my wife to be cured.
“I would have rather died than let this happen. How could I have intentionally killed my wife?”
This horrific incident is just the latest in a series of fake healings that have turned deadly.
On the island of Hainan, three brothers killed their mother after a witch doctor told them to beat her to death and burn the body.
The phony had earlier fed the woman with the blood of pigs, chicken and dogs mixed with alcohol.
He said that he wanted her to “spit out the ghost”.
Chinese authorities have been trying to stamp out rural superstition for the best part of a century.
After this most recent incident, the party has promised to “firmly crackdown on those who used superstition to damage national interests, social stability and people’s life and property.”
Shi Wnji, a shaman from Jilin province told the Sunday Telegraph that phony witch doctors were a big problem.
He said: “There are so-called shamans claiming they can cure.
“A shaman should deal with the relationship between human beings and God, but fake shamans deal with the relationship between human beings and ghosts.”
Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.