Nigeria, April 15 -- Mama Nneka was always dreaming. One dream was so vivid that, as her cowife and her son chased her away from her most lucrative palm-nut farm with a cutlass, she fell into a den of snakes.

She had woken up screaming, and her bedside lantern was broken on the floor. Her cowife rushed into the room. Younger and more spritely than her, she had no issues yanking open the door and shouting, "Mama, O gini, o gini? "She enquired in Igbo, Mama Nneka was not to be fooled. Ojiugo had been after her life since she came into this family. It had started with dreams. They had become even more vivid over the years, and sometimes she woke up with marks on her body.

Ojiugo had haunted her for years mentally, but when that was not eno...