Leopard Society

The Leopard Society were a West African society active in the early- to mid-1900s that practiced cannibalism.^[1] They were centred in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire.

Members would dress in leopard skins, waylaying travelers with sharp claw-like weapons in the form of leopards' claws and teeth. The victims' flesh would be cut from their bodies and distributed to members of the society. In theory, the ritual cannibalism would strengthen both members of the society as well as their entire tribe.

In fiction

• A fictional version of the Leopard Society was featured in the Tarzan novel Tarzan and the Leopard Men.
• The Leopard Society also appeared in the book African Adventure.
• Tintin encounters an enemy posing as a member of the Leopard Society in Tintin au Congo.
• The White Glove Society in the video game Fallout: New Vegas is said to be based on The Leopard Society.

In other literature

• Encounters with what is believed to be members of The Leopard Society are described in the book "Travels in the White Man's Grave: Memoirs from West and Central Africa", by Donald MacIntosh. The author challenges the idea of the society as extinct, and provides first person stories of strange encounters. The author lived in several West African countries from the 1950s to the 1980s.

External links

• The Leopard Society in the Nimba Range and at the Kru coast
• 1900-1950: The Leopard Society in 'Vai country' in Bassaland
• Human Leopards: And account of the trials of human leopards before the special commission court: With a note on Sierra Leone, Past and present

References

1. ^ "The Leopard Society - Africa in the mid 1900s". http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/RitualKillings1900_1950b.htm. Retrieved 3 April 2008. 

• The International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies & Fraternal Orders, Alan Axelrod, 1997, Checkmark Books