Case file · Witch trials
The tangena ordeal
In the Merina kingdom people accused of witchcraft or treason were made to swallow a poison from the seeds of the tangena tree; those who vomited up three pieces of chicken skin were innocent. Radama II abolished the ordeal in 1861.
1861 CE · -18.92, 47.53 · status: official
The account
The ordeal reached its height under Queen Ranavalona I (1828–1861), when thousands, Christians among them, are thought to have died. Missionary writers estimated that a fifth of the population of Imerina underwent it in some years. The point is the Rova of Antananarivo.
The sceptical view
The seeds of Cerbera manghas contain heart poisons; survival depended on dose and vomiting, not guilt.