Case file · High strangeness
Lagos penis-theft panic
In 1990 a wave of accusations swept Lagos: men claimed that a stranger's touch had made their genitals shrink or disappear, and mobs attacked the accused.
1990 CE · 6.46, 3.38 · status: explained
The account
The Nigerian psychiatrist Sunny Ilechukwu described the epidemic in 1992 as a 'koro-like' syndrome, after earlier outbreaks in western Nigeria in the 1970s. Victims believed sorcerers stole genitals for money magic.
The sceptical view
Examined men had nothing missing. Researchers explain the panic as a socially spread fear shaped by local ideas of witchcraft, comparable to koro in Asia.