Why Fighters Claimed Bullets Could Not Harm Them

Introduction

During Liberia’s civil wars between 1989 and 2003, many fighters claimed that bullets could not harm them if they wore the right charms, followed particular rituals or received supernatural protection from spiritual specialists. These beliefs were far more than battlefield folklore. They shaped recruitment, morale, intimidation and reputation, while also becoming intertwined with some of the conflict’s worst atrocities. Historians emphasise that such beliefs should not be dismissed simply as irrational fantasy. Instead, they reflected older religious traditions that were adapted to the collapse of state authority, the extreme fear of combat and the need for commanders to project invincibility. At the same time, claims of magical protection often encouraged reckless behaviour and helped justify ritualised violence against civilians and prisoners.[African Studies Centre Leiden]ascleiden.nlOpen source on ascleiden.nl.

Amulets, Costumes and the Promise of Invulnerability

Liberian combatants from several armed factions wore protective amulets, charms, animal skins and specially prepared clothing believed to shield them from bullets. Fighters also used medicines, ritual washing, body markings and blessings performed by religious specialists before entering battle. These practices drew on diverse local spiritual traditions rather than representing a single organised religion or shared doctrine. Stephen Ellis, whose field research remains one of the most influential studies of the war’s spiritual dimensions, argues that participants often described these practices as forms of “African science”, distinguishing them from Christianity or Islam while regarding them as practical technologies of protection.[African Studies Centre Leiden]ascleiden.nlOpen source on ascleiden.nl.

The appearance of many combatants reflected these beliefs. Some fought wearing elaborate collections of charms, while others wore wigs, wedding dresses, masks or women’s clothing. Certain commanders, most famously Joshua Milton Blahyi, better known as “General Butt Naked”, claimed that fighting unclothed except for shoes, weapons and magical charms made them immune to bullets. Such costumes also had psychological value, making fighters appear unpredictable or supernaturally powerful to opponents and civilians alike.[ascleiden.nl]ascleiden.nlOpen source on ascleiden.nl.

Not every fighter believed equally strongly in supernatural protection. Some reportedly wore charms because everyone else did, while others regarded them as insurance that could improve confidence without guaranteeing survival. The beliefs therefore existed on a spectrum ranging from deep religious conviction to tactical performance and group conformity.[African Studies Centre Leiden]ascleiden.nlOpen source on ascleiden.nl.

Why These Beliefs Flourished During War

Beliefs in supernatural protection became especially powerful because the civil wars destroyed many of the institutions that normally provided security and authority. Young recruits, including many forcibly recruited children, entered an environment where survival depended partly on courage and obedience. Rituals promising invulnerability offered psychological reassurance in circumstances where death appeared arbitrary.

Military leaders also benefited from encouraging such beliefs. A commander believed to possess supernatural powers could inspire followers, discourage desertion and intimidate enemies without firing a shot. Stories of miraculous escapes spread rapidly through refugee communities, military camps and local markets, becoming part of wartime propaganda whether or not witnesses could verify them. Ellis argues that rumours about mystical power often became strategically useful regardless of their factual basis because fear itself influenced military behaviour.[African Studies Centre Leiden]ascleiden.nlOpen source on ascleiden.nl.

The wider cultural setting also mattered. Belief in unseen spiritual forces had long existed in many Liberian communities alongside Christianity and Islam. Civil war did not create these ideas, but it altered how they were used. Practices once associated with local religious authority became militarised as armed groups competed for territory and legitimacy.[OUP Academic]academic.oup.comOUP AcademicWitchcraft in Liberia | Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History | Oxford AcademicApril 17, 2024…Published: April 17, 2024

Ritualised Violence and Wartime Terror

Claims of supernatural protection were frequently linked to ritualised violence. Some commanders believed that sacrifices, consumption of blood or body parts, or other ceremonial acts could strengthen magical protection or increase fighting power. These practices were reported by survivors, journalists, humanitarian workers and later investigated during Liberia’s post-war truth-seeking process. They formed only part of the wider violence of the conflict, but they became among its most shocking symbols.[researchgate.net]researchgate.netResearchGate(PDF) Ritual violence in Liberia: 1. How to perceive, define and study it as a form of brutality—also beyond LiberiaJuly 30…

Researchers caution against treating every wartime atrocity as evidence of a coherent religious system. Ritual violence varied greatly between factions and locations. In some cases, commanders genuinely appeared to believe such acts generated spiritual power. In others, ritual practices may have functioned primarily as methods of terror, initiation or social control. Public displays of mutilation could convince opponents that fighters possessed supernatural abilities while simultaneously discouraging resistance.[researchgate.net]researchgate.netResearchGate(PDF) Ritual violence in Liberia: 1. How to perceive, define and study it as a form of brutality—also beyond LiberiaJuly 30…

The rituals also helped bind armed groups together. Shared ceremonies distinguished insiders from outsiders, reinforced loyalty and normalised extreme violence. Once recruits accepted that magical protection depended on obedience to ritual rules, commanders gained another means of maintaining discipline.[African Studies Centre Leiden]ascleiden.nlOpen source on ascleiden.nl.

Witness Testimony, Propaganda and Later Memory

Accounts of supernatural protection come from several different types of evidence, each with strengths and limitations.

• Academic field research records how combatants, religious practitioners and civilians described beliefs during and shortly after the war.[African Studies Centre Leiden]ascleiden.nlOpen source on ascleiden.nl.
• Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission collected testimony from perpetrators and victims, including admissions by former commanders that they participated in rituals they believed offered spiritual power or protection.[trcofliberia.org]trcofliberia.orgTruth and Reconciliation Commission of LiberiaTruth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia
• Human-rights investigations and journalism documented ritual killings, mutilation and the use of fear, although not every reported supernatural claim could be independently verified.[ResearchGate]researchgate.netResearchGate(PDF) Ritual violence in Liberia: 1. How to perceive, define and study it as a form of brutality—also beyond LiberiaJuly 30…

The testimony of Joshua Milton Blahyi illustrates both the value and the difficulty of this evidence. After the war he publicly confessed to leading child soldiers, conducting ritual killings and believing that spiritual rituals made his forces invulnerable. Some aspects of his life story have been questioned by relatives and researchers, while others are supported by contemporary witnesses and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Historians therefore distinguish carefully between corroborated wartime actions and personal claims that cannot always be independently confirmed.[trcofliberia.org]trcofliberia.orgTruth and Reconciliation Commission of LiberiaTruth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia

Modern popular culture has often exaggerated these stories into tales of bizarre “magic wars”. That portrayal can obscure the reality that supernatural claims existed alongside conventional military tactics, firearms, political ambitions and ethnic conflict. The beliefs mattered because people acted upon them, not because historians can demonstrate that they provided literal protection.

Why These Beliefs Still Matter

Beliefs in supernatural protection remain one of the most distinctive features of Liberia’s civil-war memory because they reveal how warfare reshaped religious ideas under conditions of fear and institutional collapse. They also illustrate why psychological and cultural factors cannot be separated neatly from military history.

For historians, these beliefs help explain behaviour that otherwise appears irrational, including apparent fearlessness in battle, ritualised cruelty and the extraordinary authority enjoyed by some commanders. For psychologists and sociologists, they show how shared beliefs can spread through armed groups, strengthen cohesion and influence decisions even without objective evidence that the promised protection works.[ascleiden.nl]ascleiden.nlOpen source on ascleiden.nl.

The legacy is also a caution against reducing Liberia’s civil wars to sensational stories of “bulletproof” fighters. The supernatural beliefs were real in the sense that many participants sincerely held them and organised violence around them. Their historical importance lies not in proving magical powers existed, but in understanding how collective belief, fear and ritual became powerful instruments of courage, coercion and terror during one of West Africa’s most devastating conflicts.

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Endnotes

1. Source: academic.oup.com
Link:https://academic.oup.com/book/44040/chapter-abstract/373132975

2. Source: trcofliberia.org
Title: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia
Link:https://trcofliberia.org/press_releases/199.html

3. Source: academic.oup.com
Link:https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/61663/chapter/553472333?searchresult=1

Published: April 17, 2024

4. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/382689723_Ritual_violence_in_Liberia_1_How_to_perceive_define_and_study_it_as_a_form_of_brutality-also_beyond_Liberia

5. Source: academic.oup.com
Link:https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/61663/chapter-abstract/553472333

6. Source: researchgate.net
Title: 28646190 Liberia 1989 1994 a study of ethnic and spiritual violence
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/28646190_Liberia_1989-1994_a_study_of_ethnic_and_spiritual_violence

7. Source: ascleiden.nl
Link:https://www.ascleiden.nl/publications/mystical-weapons-some-evidence-liberian-war

8. Source: ascleiden.nl
Title: liberia 1989 1994 study ethnic and spiritual violence
Link:https://www.ascleiden.nl/publications/liberia-1989-1994-study-ethnic-and-spiritual-violence

9. Source: Wikipedia
Title: General Butt Naked
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Butt_Naked

10. Source: ascleiden.nl
Link:https://www.ascleiden.nl/publications/armes-mystiques-quelques-elements-de-reflexion-partir-de-la-guerre-du-liberia

11. Source: military-history.fandom.com
Title: General Butt Naked
Link:https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/General_Butt_Naked

Additional References

12. Source: africanews.com
Link:https://www.africanews.com/2021/06/30/liberia-the-former-dreaded-bloodthirsty-general-now-rehabilitating-ex-child-soldiers/

Published: August 13, 2024

13. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UCPAueLYas

14. Source: cambridge.org
Link:https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/comparative-studies-in-society-and-history/article/ritual-and-the-enemy-body-a-new-approach-to-modern-atrocity/6E87A2E7C44D7B08CF64D28B78688573

Published: March 24, 2025

15. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbOSGDx04cE

16. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOc6aMM3kpQ

17. Source: youtube.com
Title: “The Redemption of General Butt Naked” Official Trailer
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLySFPGG7hQ

18. Source: youtube.com
Title: Joshua Blahyi (A.K.A. General Butt Naked) Testimony Details
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY1sd-ZVWJI

19. Source: ttbook.org
Link:https://www.ttbook.org/interview/redemption-general-butt-naked

20. Source: everything.explained.today
Link:https://everything.explained.today/General_Butt_Naked/

21. Source: pbs.org
Link:https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/film-tells-story-of-warlord-turned-evangelist-known-as-general-butt-naked