Night Club

As a young child, I witnessed nightrunners kick my mother's door, threw sand through the ceiling make noises outside and nobody was brave enough to tell them to leave. My mother was not bothered by them, but as a child, this terrified me a great deal.

Let me explain what nightrunners are: these are grown men, married with families who decides at night that they will run around other peoples' compound and disturb their sleep. Nightrunners are not violent people, they do not steal, or try to kill, their mission is to run around other peoples' home, throw sand or rocks on the iron sheet roofs and move to the next home. They get satisfaction by disturbing people who are asleep.

Many of the nightrunners were ordinary people except at night, there is a demon or something that triggers them to leave the comfort of their home and run around naked. It is absurd but true that most nightrunners are men. nightrunner also enjoy running when it raining because the chances of meeting people outside at night is minimum.

My grandmother told me of her cousin who had an arranged marriage to nightrunner man. At midnight, the husband told his wife that he was going out. The wife was very suspicious but did not respond. The following day, the nightrunner suspected that the wife might leave and tell others about his 'night duties' and plot to kill his wife. On the night that he left to go out, the wife also left and put a pillow and some clothes to pretend that she was asleep. The following day, the nightrunner visited the woman's family and begged them not to reveal his secret. He paid them two cows, 3 sheep and a goat.

I have researched in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual to find what diagnosis a nightrunner would fit and found none. It is still a mystery to me that a grown man would leave the comfort of his home and run around other peoples home naked. Nightrunners are mostly in the rural areas where there is no electricity and people cannot identify who they are. Some people have speculated that nightrunner are depressed individuals, however this can be debated because most depressed people would not have the energy to get up and run at night. If someone out there has some information about the diagnosis for nightrunners, I would very much appreciate to discuss further.

Betty Odak http://www.ccaafp.org Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Betty_Odak

Night Club