A female Zimbabwean nurse collapsed and fainted at local General Hospital after reportedly noticing what she described as a ‘witch’ sucking blood from a patient in a hospital ward.

The incident occurred while the nurse was carrying out routine checks on patients early on Wednesday morning. The nurse has now been admitted at the hospital, receiving treatment.

A hospital official said staff were now afraid to work nights following the incident which has become the talk of the city of Gweru.

“The affected nurse is still admitted in hospital where she is receiving treatment. Fear has now gripped the hospital staff following the incident as most nurses are now afraid to go on night duty,” the unnamed official said.

The incident took place as the nurse made her routine rounds in the female wards at around 3am in the morning.

“When she came across the witch, the drip had been removed from the patient. The witch was apparently busy sucking blood from the patient and the on-duty nurse immediately raised an alarm upon witnessing the shocking incident. She (the nurse) suddenly collapsed and fainted,” the hospital official said.

“She is still weak and is being attended to by a doctor. However, she is now able to narrate what really transpired on the fateful day.”

Hospital superintendant, Dr Fabian Mashingaidze confirmed that a nurse was being treated at the institution but dismissed as fantasy reports of a “witch” citing.

“Let me assure the general public that there is no incident of that sort which happened at Gweru Provincial Hospital. It’s a fabrication from some people who are fantasising,” Dr Mashingaidze said.

“The nurse is being attended to by one of the doctors but her condition and the nature of the aliment is confidential.”

Sometimes events occur which make you wonder whether old superstitions hold a grain of truth.

Supermodel Eva Herzigova supposedly predicted disaster when she launched the doomed Italian cruise ship which ran aground Jan. 14 after the traditional Champagne bottle ceremony went awry.

Czech beauty Herzigova launched the ship back in 2006, but the ceremony went wrong after the Champagne bottle, which is traditionally smashed against the hull, failed to break.

According to maritime folklore, an ‘unsmashed’ bottle spells bad luck for the ship.

The Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Italy after hitting rocks just yards from a dock on the island of Giglio.

Three people have been confirmed dead and more than 70 remain missing as emergency workers continue to hunt for survivors of the disaster, which has left the massive vessel semi-submerged on its side.

This is not the first time that ill-fortune has followed an ‘unsmashed’ bottle.

In December 2007 when a Cunard liner named for Queen Victoria was christened, the bottle also did not break.

A reporter from USA Today noted:

Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, the controversial wife of England’s Prince Charles, christened the 2,014-passenger ship earlier this month in an elaborate ceremony in Southampton, England that was marred only by the fact the champagne bottle didn’t break — a bad omen in the superstitious seafaring trade.

The first cruises of Cunard’s Queen Victoria were marred by outbreaks of viral illness, an intense “vomiting bug,” that afflicted passengers.

The British press was buzzing with tales of “The Curse of Camilla.”

So far, the Queen Victoria has not suffered a catastrophic accident.

Sean Quinn was once Ireland’s richest man, with a fortune of €4.7bn.

He then took a huge gamble on Anglo Irish Bank shares which eventually toppled him into bankruptcy.

However for many in his hometown on the Cavan/Fermanagh border, Quinn’s downfall has more to do with the wrath of the fairies than risky business moves.

According to these locals, it was the decision to move a megalithic burial tomb 20 years ago which led to the fall of his cement, hotels, and insurance empire.

The Aughrim Wedge Tomb stood for 4,000 years in the townland after which it is named, two miles outside Ballyconnell, Co Cavan.

But when it got in the way of the expansion of a massive quarry for Quinn Concrete in 1992, permission was granted by the Office of Public Works to move it.

Following a full excavation of the site, it was moved — stone by stone — and relocated in the grounds of Mr Quinn’s Slieve Russell Hotel on the other side of the village.

Mr Quinn has since lost the cement works, the hotel, a raft of other businesses and his multi-billion euro fortune. According to bankruptcy documents, he now claims to have just €11,000 in the bank.

Some locals have linked the movement of the tomb to Mr Quinn’s financial woes.

“I’m a big supporter of Sean Quinn because of what he has done for this area but that tomb should never have been moved,” said publican Toirbhealach Lyons, the owner of Molly Maguire’s pub in Ballyconnell.

“There would be a lot of people who would think you could never have any luck after moving an ancient tombstone.”

Such superstitions are common and widely believed according to University of Ulster folklore expert Seamus MacFlionn.

“Cavan is full of ancient sites like these and therefore many people there would be more superstitious about moving any ancient rath, tomb or fairy tree,” he said.

“People do genuinely believe that to do so brings bad luck. It’s part of our ancient Irish history,” he added.

However, not everyone in the area subscribes to the view that the movement of the tomb brought Mr Quinn his bad luck.

One sceptic is Ballyconnell butcher Gerard Crowe, “It’s a load of auld rubbish. . . Simple as that,” he said.

After several meetings, Hunbatz Men, Mayan Daykeeper and Elder Priest of the Mayan Itza Council, and Pedro Pablo Chuc Pech, President of the Mayan Council of Elders, have announced their plans to lead a group of Mayan Elders on a ceremonial pilgrimage that will carry the Thirteen Crystal Skulls from one coast of the United States to the other.

The journey will begin in Manhattan on the 27th of October, 2011; it will culminate in Los Angeles on November 11th, 2011.

On 11:11:11, another group of thirteen Elders will arrive in LA from the Mayaland to come together in a Gateway Event that will be highlighted by the performance of the Mayan Crystal Skull Ceremony.

The Elders, whose traditions have always been kept within their inner circle, have been instructed to perform all of their ceremonies in public from this point on; for this reason, the Ceremony of the Thirteen Crystal Skulls, a ceremony that was last performed 26,000 years ago, will be open to the general public.

Enroute from New York to Los Angeles the Elders will stop at specific power points to fulfill a prophecy which states that the time has come to reawaken the Spirit of the North American Continent so that it can reclaim itself as the sacred ground in whose soil would be sown the seeds for the enlightenment of all mankind.

At each stop along the way ceremonial gatherings will be held to open the ground and raise the ancient energies that will fuel the Gateway Event in Los Angeles on 11:11:11. All of these gatherings will be open to anyone who feels called to participate.

Read more about it HERE