Lake Bosumtwi, Where Souls Say Goodbye
In Ghana, a round lake in a ring of hills is where the Ashanti say the souls of the dead come to bid farewell to their god.
What was reported
Lake Bosumtwi is an almost perfectly round lake about 8 kilometres across, sitting in a bowl of forested hills south-east of Kumasi. To the Ashanti it's sacred: the souls of the dead are said to come here to say goodbye to the god Twi.
Traditional rules still shape life around it. For generations, fishermen didn't use boats, which were thought to offend the lake's god, but floated out lying on wooden planks called padua.
Explanations offered
The lake sits in a crater made by a meteorite impact about a million years ago, one of the youngest large impact craters on Earth. The water has no river leading out of it. Its beliefs are part of a living tradition that visitors are asked to respect.
- When
- Sacred for centuries
- Where
- Ashanti, Ghana
- Witnesses
- Ashanti tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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