Genital retraction syndrome

This is a strange phenomenon – men are losing their important”tool” in Nigeria

In what looked like a confirmation of the alarm raised last week alleging infiltration of ritualists in Patani in the Patani Local Government Area of Delta State, from neighbouring Ughelli by Chairman of Patani community, Chief Lawrence Babodor, three young men have allegedly lost their genitals in mysterious circumstances.

Daily Independent gathered that the incident occurred in a restaurant after one of them allegedly gave change to a man after eating. Those involved, according to reports, are Ufoma Julius (24), Stanley Jeremiah (23), and Innocent Ebioma (15), all were said to be eating in the restaurant when the dramatic incident happened.

According to one of the victims, Mr. Ufoma, who spoke with Daily Independent at the General Hospital, Patani, where they were subsequently taken for medical check up, “We were all eating in the hotel when he too came in and after eating he paid and as the boy received the N500 note from the suspected ritualist he felt a cold shiver immediately and his penis disappeared.

“Alarmed, he started shouting ‘my penis, my pennies’ and he touched me and immediately I too also felt the same way and my penis also disappeared and so it was with the third victim, so we all raised alarm and a crowd gathered at the scene,” he narrated.

Consequently, the suspect whose name was given as Obinna Eloke (24), was taken to the police station at Patani with the aid of some soldiers, who were also attracted to the scene, Mr. Ufoma explained.

In a related development, another suspected ritualist was also arrested by youths in Aven community near Patani on the same day, and handed over to the police.

Here is a discussion of this phenomenon:

In his book Little Green Men, Meowing Nuns and Head-Hunting Panics: A Study of Mass Psychogenic Illness and Social Delusion, Robert E. Bartholomew writes, “In parts of Asia, entire regions are occasionally overwhelmed by terror-stricken men who believe that their penises are shriveling up or retracting into their bodies, whereupon they will die. Those affected often place clamps or strings onto the precious organs or have family members hold the penis in relays until an appropriate treatment is obtained, often from traditional healers. … Episodes can endure for weeks or months and affect thousands. Psychiatrists are divided as to the cause of these imaginary scares. Some believe that it is a form of group psychosis triggered by stress, while others view it as a mass hysteria. … While these episodes may appear humurous to Westerners, they offer a valuable lesson because they show how vulnerable we all are to mass delusion.”