Leopard Men: West Africa's Brutal and Mysterious Cult of Killers (7 photos)

From the early to mid-20th century, West Africa was haunted by the Leopard Society—a secret cult whose members practiced ritual murder and cannibalism against their own people.

Authorities in Sierra Leone were the first to encounter these brutal local rites. British explorers returning from the region told terrifying tales of fierce cannibals clad in leopard skins. Later, a man was burned alive in the town of Port Loko. Forty years after that, a high-profile incident known as the "Tongo Scandal" sent shockwaves through the region.





The Tongo Ritual Play

In 1891, a tribal chief summoned influential figures from nearby settlements to Bogo to participate in a Tongo play. At the climax of the ritual, eight men—specifically captured for the occasion—were burned alive under the pretense that they were shape-shifters.



The spectacle stunned everyone present. Colonial authorities promptly banned Tongo and similar tribal games, threatening violators with imprisonment. Nevertheless, reports of similarly atrocious murders kept surfacing over the next few years. It quickly became clear that these were not random acts of lawlessness by local tribesmen, but something far more organized and sinister.

The Secret Leopard Society

At the center of it all was Sierra Leone's secret Leopard Society. Members draped themselves in leopard pelts and wore footwear carved to leave animal tracks. They armed themselves with weapons designed to mimic a leopard's claws and fangs, including spiked metal bracers and three-pronged daggers.





The "Leopard Men" struck under cover of darkness, tearing open their victims' jugular veins and mauling their bodies with spiked weapons. The injuries were crafted to mimic a wild predator's attack. Between 1934 and 1935, scores of mutilated bodies were discovered across the Belgian Congo, attributed to rogue beasts. Only later did investigations reveal that the true predators were human.

Hunting the "Shape-Shifters"

Police forces mobilized to stop the killers, but the murders persisted. Authorities launched a major crackdown, deploying the army, instituting curfews, and offering substantial rewards for information on the cult. By 1912, law enforcement had arrested over 400 suspects linked to the gruesome killings. Though the accused denied any involvement, searches of their homes uncovered damning evidence: clawed gauntlets, track-making footwear, and animal skins.



While the crackdown curbed the society's activities in Sierra Leone, the cult simply migrated across borders into Congo, Nigeria, Guinea, Liberia, Cameroon, and beyond. Annual body counts ranged from 80 to over 200 brutal slayings, with children frequently targeted. Mass arrests eventually yielded breakthroughs, producing witness testimonies and suspect confessions that shocked even seasoned investigators.

The Cult of the "Leopard Men"

Investigators discovered that local witch doctors orchestrated the Leopard Men's operations. Secret shape-shifter cults—including Python Men and Crocodile Men—had existed in Africa for centuries. Yet none left a trail of blood as horrifying as the Leopards.



The cult leaders viewed themselves as guardians of social order—omnipotent enforcers of law, harmony, and justice. They claimed to punish only wrongdoers and criminals, insisting that indiscriminate killings were the work of copycats. Yet the society's initiation rites themselves were soaked in extreme brutality.

To join the Leopard Society, an initiate first had to request borfima from the grand master. Borfima was a sinister potion prepared from egg whites, rooster blood, a handful of rice, along with human blood, skin, and fat harvested through human sacrifice. Cult members believed this concoction granted supernatural strength and authority over their tribesmen. Obtaining it, however, required a harrowing process.

Borfima: The "Elixir" of Absolute Power

To secure the elixir, a novice first sought the chief's blessing. He then followed a trail into the jungle and delivered a secret code phrase to waiting cultists: he was searching for borfima to play a game of jagei.

After swearing a preliminary oath, the initiate proceeded to a small box containing the elixir alongside a ritual dagger. Tapping the dagger against the box, he swore a second solemn oath bound by death to protect the society's secrets—explaining why suspects remained tight-lipped during interrogations for so long.



The ritual then paused for three days, after which the novice was unwittingly fed human flesh. The final stage of initiation called for blood sacrifice: the recruit had to murder a young girl.

Chillingly, the victim's family was often informed beforehand, as cult leaders formally requested their consent. Eldest daughters were frequently targeted. Terrified parents rarely dared to refuse, knowing a denial meant the slaughter of their entire family.

Draped in a leopard skin and armed with clawed weapons, the initiate lay in wait while the girl walked alone down a forest trail, tracked by senior cultists. As she reached the designated spot, the men let out a bloodcurdling roar. The novice pounced, slitting her throat. The body was then dragged away and butchered: the liver, forehead skin, and kidney fat were harvested to complete the borfima brew.

Modern "Leopard Men"

Rigorously suppressed by authorities, the cult lay dormant for decades, only to re-emerge in 1994. A shocking incident shook Liberia when eight heavily mutilated bodies of women and children were brought to an International Red Cross facility. Staff were strictly forbidden from touching the corpses under threat of death.

Terrified, most of the medical staff fled, leaving only a nurse and a Puerto Rican surgeon. Examining the bodies, the surgeon discovered that a woman and a child were still breathing, though both were too traumatized to speak.



Boys returning from their Poro initiation. Panguma, Sierra Leone, 1936

Local law enforcement was equally paralyzed by fear. Only a single police officer arrived at the hospital, declaring outright that the Leopard Men were responsible. The next day, both the doctor and nurse were found dead, while the surviving woman vanished without a trace. Interpol joined the investigation, but the killers were never identified. To prevent mass panic, authorities officially attributed the massacre to a local criminal gang.

Yet the Leopard Society never truly vanished. Whispers of horrific ritual killings still surface periodically, committed in the knowledge that local police are too terrified to intervene. Some members have even operated in plain sight. William Tubman, President of Liberia from 1944 to 1971, had previously served as a leader in the secret Poro society.