Dark Mother Earth

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There were eight suicides reported between mid-May and late June of 1991 in one Međimurje village on the south bank of the Mura. According to the official records and police reports, there was no hint of a link among the suicides. The 1991 census reported a total of twenty-one suicides in all of Međimurje (population 119,966)—one of the lowest regional rates anywhere in Croatia. The six-month death rate in the municipality of 2,500 residents wasn’t significantly different from earlier or later rates, and so the series of suicides attracted little attention in the local and national media. The public was focused, of course, on the outbreak of war in Yugoslavia. It was becoming clear that the previously sporadic bursts of violence and mounting tensions would lead to clashes of far greater proportions, so something out on the farthest periphery of the country was unlikely to draw attention from the press. In addition, these events stayed out of public awareness because the people living in the affected village, though terrified (later statements suggest phenomena bordering on collective paranoia), were reluctant to share information about the mysterious events. The suicides were mentioned only twice in the news beyond brief death notices in the local paper, and even these appeared many months apart: in January 1997 during an episode of the talk show Latinica, about depression among war veterans; and, a year later, in the segment A Little About Health on Radio Sljeme’s afternoon show. Both times the cluster of suicides was referred to as a statistical anomaly by psychologist Mario Torjanec, affiliated with the Zagreb Police Academy.

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