Everyday Eerie – Just off the beaten path, Just outside the light or Just below the surface lies the Everyday Eerie

When the sun goes down across central Africa, and the people gather around cooking fires. When men come home from the hunt and women prepare the evening meals. This is when stories are told. This is when lessons are taught. This is when fears are fostered through the spoken word. This is when the stories of the Biloko are told. Today I will tell you 2 stories of the Biloko as they were told to me... The Eloko and the Hunter's WifeThe Fisherman and the Biloko But first, What are the Biloko? Biloko is the plural of Eloko. In these stories you will hear references to both. Stories of the Biloko are warnings to the listener. They represent the dangers lurking in the shadows of the dark forests. But, if you look into the eyes, as I have, you can see that the storytellers believe what they are saying. They believe that the Biloko are real. They believe that the Biloko are dangerous, and who am I to disagree? In the center of the continent, formerly known as Zaire, lies the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That is where, according to legend, you will find the Biloko. They prowl the only the darkest parts of the rainforest, where little sunlight reaches the ground, even in the middle of the day. Where the sun is blocked by layer upon layer of leaves, branches, and tangled vines. The Biloko are believed by some to be spirits of dead ancestors who still hold a grudge on the living. Other people believe that the Biloko are an ancient evil released on the world when it was first formed. And still others, think that the Biloko are a natural part of the forest, no different than a mushroom on the forest floor, a bird in the forest canopy, or a leopard that also hunts in the shadows. The Biloko eat only human flesh. They are small in stature but they have the ability to unhinge their jaw so wide that, if they wanted to, they could swallow a human whole. They have no hair on their bodies, instead they grow grass where hair should be. This way they blend into the forest. Their eyes shine a bright red. An Eloko has long arms with savagely sharp claws at the end. And, the Biloko posses magic. The Biloko always have a small bell with them that they use to enchant unsuspecting visitors to the deep forest. Once under the Biloko's spell, a human has no defense. A hunter who ventures into the jungle should bring either an amulet made from a lions tooth or a fetish created from river reeds, tied into exactly 11 knots. The amulet will help conceal the hunter's presence from an Eloko. The longer the tooth, the more powerful the magic. The reed fetish repels Biloko, but none of my storytellers could explain why, or the significance of the number 11. The Eloko and the Hunter's Wife There was once a hunter from our village named Mamadou. He was old and wise, but still very strong. His wife, Victoria, kept asking him to stay home and not hunt. She was scared that when he entered the dark forest that he would never come back, even though he always did, time after time. There were younger men who were stronger than him that could supply the meat that the village needed. "Please don't go anymore, Mamadou. You are old and I don't want to be alone. Stay with me." Mamadou refused. He knew the most about where to find meat in the jungle and the younger men still had a lot to learn from him. But his wife kept pleading for him to stay and finally she said, "If you won't stay, will you take me with you?" Again he refused, but she insisted. Seeing her concern, he relented, but said solemnly to his wife, "If you must come, you will need to stay in the hut that we build." The next day Mamadou, three young men, and Victoria left the safety of the village and entered the jungle. When they reached the edge of the hunting grounds they built a small hut, and made a fire as the last light of the day faded away. The hunters and Victoria sat around the fire and ate their supper. The men made plans for the hunt on the following day. Then they went to the shelter. Mamadou whispered in Victoria's ear. "We will leave before you wake in the morning. If you hear bells, stay in the shelter. Don't pull back the door. Don't look out, and above all, don't let anything in." He rolled away from Victoria and slept. Victoria lay awake thinking about the warning. After a long time sleep came. When she woke the men were gone. Before she even got out from under her covers, she clearly heard a bell. She thought it was Mamaduo playing a trick on her, so she ignored it and the bell stopped. Around noon, she heard the bell again and wondered what Mamaduo was doing back so soon. She pulled aside the door flap and at first saw only jungle, but the bell came much louder and made her happy and sleepy. What she thought was a bush started moving toward her and the bell chimed louder. She still saw only grassy leaves blowing and some bright red berries, but the bell was getting louder still and just as she was going to call out to Mamaduo, she saw the Eleko and could not understand how he had gotten to the door, but there he stood. He asked to come in and she reluctantly refused, then the bell came again and she stepped aside and let the creature into the shelter. In a raspy voice the Eleko told Victoria that he was very hungry. Victoria offered a bowl of fruit to the monster just as she would her own mother, but he refused the bowl of fruit. and said, "I can't eat that, I can only eat flesh, the flesh of your kind." Victoria looked startled and backed away, but then the bell rang so loudly that she stopped backing up and held her right arm out toward the Eloko. She was fully under his power now. He took a bite. The bell continued as he took another, then another, and another bite from the flesh on her arm. This continued until she was so weak from blood loss that she sat down, The Eloko helped her down, and continued to tear meat from her body. Mamaduo returned after the sun had gone down. They had killed many monkeys on the hunt and were proud. He wanted to show Victoria what a great hunter he was, but when he opened the door flap he did not see Victoria. He saw a pile of bones on the blood soaked mud floor. The Biloko and the Fisherman This story was told to me by my good friend Yann Banza, who is originally from Kindu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, (He now lives in Boston). This area of the Congo has many myths and legends about the Congo River, including this one about a fisherman who encounters the Biloko. There was once a fisherman who fed his family by catching fish. But, he wanted to be the best fisherman that ever lived and so he sought to catch the most and especially, the biggest fish. So, he decided to follow the river deep into the jungle. He would go farther than anyone had ever done, and he would catch the biggest fish the villagers had ever seen. One morning he took his canoe and started downstream. He paddled all day, slept in his canoe that night, and paddled all the next day, ate some fruit, and slept in his canoe again. He did this over and over for the next 18 days. He had never come this far, no one from the village ever had. He only stopped paddling to eat and sleep. Finally, he found what he was looking for, a wide spot in the Congo where 6 or 7 large creeks flowing out of the Jungle and into the river. He arrived just as the sun was setting, so he pulled his canoe onto a small sandbar and slept restlessly. The fisherman awoke early and set his line using the largest net. He spread the net across the deepest water and waited. While he waited he made camp on the side of the river near some dense undergrowth with red berries growing on them. He dosed a little when the sun was hot and woke to the sound of bells, but he didn't think of the bells. He wanted to check his nets, so he got in his canoe and checked his nets. He noticed that the bells stopped when he pulled away from shore. In the nets were the biggest fish he had ever seen. Different types too. He wanted to start paddling back to his village with his catch right away, but the night was coming, and so he went back to the shore. As soon as he set foot on land, he heard the bells coming from behind the bushes. He peered into the dark jungle and called out, but there was no answer. He parted some branches and stepped through them like stepping through a door. The branches swung closed behind him just like a door slamming shut and the fisherman was never seen again. The people in his village would never know how good of a fisherman he was. The Biloko made sure of that.

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