"WHAT was that?" gasped Beatrix, grabbing my forearm tightly. We all heard it. Was it the sound of waves from the Atlantic Ocean crashing on the rocks outside or, as many of us thought, the ghostly whispers of long-departed slaves who once huddled in these squalid, pitch-black dungeons awaiting an uncertain fate?
Here in the underground holding cells at the now UNESCO World Heritage listed Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, we stand transfixed, listening to a kind of supernatural white noise that waxes and wanes in our subconscious. Our heartbeats quicken and our skin tingles at the realisation that, over the centuries, thousands of miserable souls shuffled through these rank corridors through the infamous "door of no return" on an endless journey of horror.
Africa has long been seen as a land of mystery by Westerners. A continent full of mind-boggling rites and rituals but, at the same time, holding a perverse attraction for all who visit. Even a short stopover on the so-called "dark continent" can leave powerful impressions.
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