Litobora: The Demon of Poison as described by Lore Kessibuki to Jack Niedenthal, April 1987 [picture: Lore Kessibuki in Bikini graveyard]
I asked Lore to explain, specifically, why he thought Rongerik Atoll, where the Bikinians were moved to first by the Americans, was such an inadequate group of islands when compared to Bikini. "After all," I explained to the old man, "to an outsider the atolls in the Marshalls all appear to have the same coconut trees, sandy beaches and fish-filled lagoon."
LORE KESSIBUKI "Rongerik was once populated with thousands of demons that used the islands of that atoll for whatever purpose they felt necessary for them to sustain their evil ways; indeed, it was considered a form of hell. One thing they were known to perform continuously on that atoll was the ritual burning of fires day and night in order to prolong their evil spells--and thus increase their power. The intense heat from the flames made all of the plants and trees on Rongerik die or become useless to ordinary humans because these fires had burnt for many years on end.
"Even after these bad spirits finally left the island it was believed that if a tree started to grow there it would eventually mature and create a fire on its own because the demons had planted evil spirits within the seed of the young trees. All remaining food on the island was later ruined by Litobora, who came from the south and cast magic spells over the entire atoll.
"They say Litobora originally brought Rongerik from the southern Marshalls to the north, where she decided to hide it, and then make use of it for the promulgation of her own evil. Eventually, if it weren't for our benefactor, Worejabato, she would have taken Bikini also. As the story goes, fortunately, she realized that Worejabato's power was much greater than hers (because it was the power of good and righteousness) and so she fled from Bikini never to return. But she did go to many other islands in the Marshalls like Ujae, Rongelap and then finally to Ebaten Island in Kwajalein Atoll, where to this day some of the fish are very poisonous because of her.
"Litobora later died on Rongerik. Her smelly rotten and decaying body, part of which was thrown into the lagoon instead of being buried, poisoned most of the reef, and therefore most of the fish, because they ate all the little bits and pieces of her remains. The rest of her body, which was left on the island, poisoned all the ground water and edible foods like the pandanus and coconuts. I myself recall how funny the local food tasted on Rongerik, but we all knew this was because of Litobora, the evil demon of poison."
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