[0:05]Eastern Poland, near the border with Belarus. There are women here who are known as whispering witches.
[0:17]Not everyone here is Catholic. There are about 600,000 Russian Orthodox Poles, and nearly all of them have been to see a whispering witch. Local people discreetly point out where they say one lives. Her patients are waiting outside the door. They come from as far away as Warsaw. That's a three-hour trip. But nobody here is willing to talk to us, not the women outside, and most definitely not the witch herself. All of us go to the witch. We've even taken our son to see her, and she helped. Before he was so restless. She helps people who believe. It won't help the ones who don't. It's like going to the doctor. She's a grandma who heals with prayer. They can heal anything. My mother took me to one when I was little. I had a nervous disorder and she really helped. A witch is said to live in the nearby hamlet of Rudka. Here in this house. We knock and after lots of negotiating, the whispering witch Anna Artemiuk agrees to an interview. She was just going to treat these two men for asthma and insomnia. Yes, I can do it. I have the gift. It was years ago, I was asleep, and he came. He said, I shall give you this gift. Now you will feel warmth inside your head. That's the gift. Anna the witch is 84 years old. She's been practicing for 40 years now, using, among other things, holy books written in Cyrillic letters. She says the gift can be a burden. It's a high price I pay for the gift. I'm not allowed to celebrate any birthdays or celebrate name days. He forbade it. I can't go to the movies. She puts Andre Pavlovsky, who's suffering from asthma, into a trance and drapes a cloth over his head. Then she burns some linen fibers above his head, part of the whispering witch's mysterious ritual. She chants a few words in a mix of Belarussian and Polish that she says counters the bad magic. It may seem to outsiders like Humbug, but she says that within a week, it ought to take effect. Then she tells the insomnia sufferer, Mihal Kruk, to look into the clouds behind the stork's nest. A fascinating dialogue ensues. Do you see Jesus? I see white. Is he standing or lying down? He's standing. Wearing shoes or barefoot? Wearing shoes. You liar, look closely. Jesus doesn't wear shoes. Right, he's not wearing shoes. You see, I know better what you see.
[3:28]Both patients are deeply religious and have no doubt that the witch's words have healed them. Something warm flowed through me. I'm sure it'll help me. It's a feeling everyone has to experience for themselves. It was warm and hot. That's how it was. Those were special prayers the witch spoke for me. Prayers that are only available and known to us Orthodox. These prayers are something special. Like people must not say them. Only someone who's got special authority, like the whispering witches, can do it. They also have the experience. The head doctor at the Bielsk Podlaski District Hospital, Doctor Arslan Azaddin, takes a very practical approach to the whispering witches. When the patients go to them, they're not competition. It's psychotherapy and faith. Even doctors have gone to these women and aren't able to explain why patients suddenly got better. That's black magic. Here culture, faith, and blood have mixed for centuries. It's no simple matter. I've heard tell that people have been cursed. Here in the border region, the whispering witches still know the old spells for how to curse people, how to cast bad magic upon them. Nine whispering witches still practice in this region. One of them even travels in a mobile home and receives patients only by appointment. She was whispering for this patient when we came by. This woman is seeking nothing less than happiness in love. But that's no problem for this witch. People will turn to you. Have no more fear of your enemies. My magic powers will protect you. I see people who love you. Only these people will bring forth positive feelings for you. And these feelings will touch you every day with my and God's power. The Orthodox Church in Poland has its doubts about the witches. But no matter where we asked, nobody would agree to an interview on the subject. As we were shooting these pictures, an old Orthodox monk explained, no one here will tell you anything about the whispering witches. It's a touchy subject.
