‘Spiritual healer’ allegedly extorting Maritzburg family who claim their house is haunted

A Pietermaritzburg family spent Halloween in terror after a spate of paranormal activity has left them convinced that evil forces have moved into their home, they told Public Eye.

In desperation, the family turned to a local spiritual healer who promised to help rid their home of the demonic forces, but to their dismay, the healer himself has also turned on them, extorting thousands of rands from them.

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The family from Northdale, who did not want their identities revealed fearing reprisals from the healer, said that they first started experiencing the paranormal activity about a year ago – dishes would inexplicably fly off the racks and shatter onto the floor, while family members said they experienced the sensation of being suffocated in their sleep and would find themselves flung off their beds and onto the floor.

“Our lives have been turned upside down by this evil force that is lurking in our home. There is an eeriness that we cannot shake. We barely sleep because we are terrified,” said the family member.

They then turned to the healer, who promised to rid their home of the supposed poltergeist, but demanded that they pay him R38,000, which the family alleges they did.

“We went to his rooms and performed certain rituals where we had to undress and rub certain herbal formulations on our bodies – but none of this helped. Instead of helping them, the healer then demanded more and more money, threatening the family with black magic if they didn’t pay.

“We told him to stop harassing us and that we would charge him for extortion, but he laughed and said many policemen were his clients as he sold them ‘protection amulets’,” said the woman.

Mountain Rise Police confirmed they had received complaints and were investigating.

Sean Singh, Communications officer for Mountain Rise SAPS, said: “We appeal to people to be wary of con artists and scammers who will use various methods of preying on unsuspecting people for their own financial gain.”

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