The Cursed and Haunted Cannibal Village

The Fiji Islands located east of Australia in the South Pacific Ocean were once called the “cannibal islands” because cannibalism was so wide spread. The natives compared human flesh to roasting a “big pig”. 

One Methodist Missionary, Reverend Thomas Baker was a victim of these cannibals. Reverend Baker was sent by the London Missionary Society in 1859 to help reform the natives in what is today the Western Division of Fiji.

Today the Museum of Fiji * located in Suva has the last letter that the Reverend Baker wrote to his wife. In it he states, “ I do not fear the natives and we hope to bring them good”. 

Unfortunately, his assessment was not correct. In July of 1867 Baker and six of his Fijian students were hacked to death with an axe. 

Cannibalistic tribesman from the Northern Nabutautau mountain village then threw their bodies into a ravine. Later their remains were recovered and skinned on top of the hill. One witness to their deaths stated, ‘we ate everything except boots.”

Up until recent years, the 200 members of the Nabatautau community believed that their ancestors “act of cannibalism” on this missionary, had placed a curse upon them. 

Three of the chiefs' sons died mysteriously shortly after Baker was killed. Even years later this community, which is located in the inland mountains on the main Fiji island is deprived of the lush vegetation that dominants the rest of the region. 

They struggle to find enough food. This village has neither a school or roads or even medical equipment. When they have applied for these services they are denied.

Within this community many family lines have died out. None from this community have ever been educated beyond high school. The village children who do attend school must walk 25 miles on foot through the jungle to the nearest school. 

One village elder, Tomas Baravilala states, “The other Fijians want to punish us for what happened.”

The village in 2006 held a “rite of reconciliation” ceremony in order to make amends to the descendants of the Reverend Thomas Baker. They returned to the Baker family, Thomas' Bible, comb and the soles of his shoes. 

They released balloons made by descendants of Baker and gave 100 sperm whale teeth to eleven of the descendants from the Methodist Missionary. Their wish was to ask the world for forgiveness in hopes of receiving more help.

Besides this curse this Nabutautau Village is also considered haunted. Many people have heard crying, screaming and have seen ghosts in the area over the years. 

An American television show, “Destination Truth” traveled to Fuji to investigate this haunting. They visited one former cannibal village where they heard noises and saw an unexplained light in a cave that had an oven that was used to cook victims. 

The crew from this show also recorded EVP’s of a scream and a voice in the area where Reverend Baker lost his life near the present day village of Nabutautau. 

In this episode they also recorded pictures of a substance on an altar that looked like fresh blood. Later they determined it was blood. They captured on video the axe that killed Baker moving on its own accord. 

One of the investigator's necks was touched and the crew recorded her hair moving when this happened. The Destination Truth team determined that this Nabutautau Cannibal Village does appear to have "paranormal energy". 

* This museum has many cannibal souvenirs, including the soles of Reverend Baker's shoes. An anthropologist at this museum states that one Cannibal chief had a stone placed outside his hut every time he ate someone--by the end of his life literally hundreds of stones were piled outside his hut.