The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia

F or a while, the residents of Manitoba Colony thought demons were raping the town’s women. There was no other explanation. No way of explaining how a woman could wake up with blood and semen stains smeared across her sheets and no memory of the previous night. No way of explaining how another went to sleep clothed, only to wake up naked and covered by dirty fingerprints all over her body. No way to understand how another could dream of a man forcing himself onto her in a field—and then wake up the next morning with grass in her hair.

This is a strange case of ongoing rapes occurring in a Mennonite community over the course of many years. Apparently a group of men found a strange way of overcoming the families and having their way with them. While the rapes and acts of the men are despicable, the story itself is interesting. An unusual, isolated community was taken advantage of and the events are just now coming to light.

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reply to post by Metallicus


sounds like someone has a stash of this stuff...

I thought this was going to be about some hallucinogen in the food or something, not Mennonite men spraying an anesthetic & knocking out households to have their way

The more I read the article, the worse I felt for the women & kids in this community. By the time I got to the last page, I was seriously p***ed off. It may not be a representation of the overall Mennonite philosophy & way of life for communities elsewhere, but this colony in Bolivia is very, very sick in the head.

Ghost rapes? Wouldn't that imply that no one is being raped?

reply to post by jarien21


You didn't bother to read the article, did you?

Serial rapes were occurring in an ultra-orthodox Mennonite (kind of like Amish) community. Day in and day out for four years, 160+ girls and women between the ages of 3 and 65 would wake up in their beds injured in various ways with blood and semen on their bodies and sheets, either remembering nothing from the night before or barely remembering being violated. An unknown number of boys and men were violated as well. The community doesn't believe in technology at all, they are extremely insular and religiously minded, their education is extremely limited (girls go to school until they are 12, boys go until they are 13 and learn math in their extra year)...all of those things combined rendered these people uninformed about even basic knowledge about the names of human anatomy and from their uninformed and religious perspective, the only conclusion they came to was that they were being raped by demons.

The reality is that a group of nine Mennonite men were spraying a drug in the windows of families to incapacitate them and violating them over and over and over for years...some women had actually come to just understand that they'd be raped nightly. The nine men were caught, one escaped, and the other eight were sentenced to twenty five years a piece.

Incest and sexual abuse seems to run rampant in the community as well. Also, members of the community have reluctantly admitted that the druggings and rapes are still occurring. None of the victims have received any treatment/assistance regarding what happened to them because the community leaders (all men) have decided that it isn't necessary and they have many excuses to explain why they feel the women and children need no further help.

It's horrific, sickening, and enraging that these women and children are being continually victimized because the community/church leaders refuse to acknowledge and prevent the atrocities occurring there. All of the victims believe they have to suffer in this life and just forgive their rapists as part of going to Heaven...those poor women and children are suffering terribly and don't even know that they don't have to endure these atrocities, and the women aren't allowed to do anything to truly protect themselves or their children or escape. It's heartbreaking and absolutely maddening...I just wish I could go take them away from there and save them from suffering any more.