Case file · Witch trials
Mary Slessor and the twins of Okoyong
In 1888 the Scottish missionary Mary Slessor settled among the Okoyong, inland from Calabar, where twins were believed to be unnatural, one fathered by an evil spirit, and were often abandoned or killed.
1888 CE · 5.20, 8.20 · status: official
The account
Slessor took in abandoned twins and their outcast mothers, acted as a local magistrate and campaigned against the poison ordeal. She is honoured in Nigeria and Scotland. The plotted point is approximate.
The sceptical view
Attitudes to twins varied widely: Yoruba communities, by contrast, honour twins (ibeji).