A couple of years ago there were a string of robberies taking place in Johannesburg (South Africa) where the victims reported going to bed and waking up with all their belongings gone. Upon catching the robbers (after they robbed a house with hidden cameras) it was discovered that they used udosi lempisi to put the victims in a comatose state. Udosi lempisi is Zulu for a single hair of a hyena extracted from the tail.

The hyena’s tail hairs were used to successfully rob people’s houses due to the magical properties attributed to the animal. This article explores these properties in different cultures as well as how the robbers used these hairs during a robbery.