Cow Tongue Found Hanging in Pine Banks Park in Apparent Voodoo Ritual

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

A groundskeeper at Pine Banks Park in Melrose found a cow tongue hanging from a tree Wednesday, Sept. 17, near the pond, according to a WCVB report.

Police were called to the scene and believe the tongue was hung as part of a Santeria or voodoo ritual, or as a prank mimicking a ritual, according to the report.

The tongue was most likely purchased from a butcher or meat shop, police told the Boston Globe. It had pins in it, had been cut open and then sewn back up and was decomposing, according to the report.

In a Santeria or voodoo ritual, a piece of paper with someone’s name on it is put inside a cow’s tongue to keep them quiet about something, according to the Globe. According to WCVB, police found a piece of paper inside the tongue but it was unreadable.