A British woman who vanished while hiking in South Africa may have been killed for her body parts to be used in witchcraft rituals, it is feared.
Lorna McSorley, 71, went missing in September after she and her partner of 30 years, 81-year-old Leon, left their hotel to go for a short walk from the Ghost Mountain Inn in the KwaZulu-Natal province to search for local wildlife.
On the walk, Leon found the heat and distance too difficult and left his partner carry on on her own.
He raised the alarm when she failed to return three hours later, with search parties scouring the nearby lake and banks for any sign of her.
To this day, Lorna has still not been heard from. Locals in the region believe she may have been kidnapped and killed for use in ‘muti’ rituals.
‘Muti’ is a type of traditional medicine or magic. Though most ‘muti’ rituals require parts from plants or animals, there are those who believe the most powerful charms and medicines require human body parts.
These spells are often used by those with the wealth and contacts to procure human body part, be they businessmen closing a deal, a gangster wishing to protect themselves or a politician seeking high office.
And KwaZulu-Natal, particularly the region’s north where Lorna went missing, is known for being a hotspot for strong ‘muti’ beliefs that locals told the Times put them above the law.
Hellbound and Down 