A four-year-old boy has died during an exorcism ritual carried out by a traditional healer in the Far East of Russia, investigators say.

The boy apparently suffocated during the ritual, after healers held him face-down to the ground.

Deep immersion in a faraway jungle is the latest fix for those stuck in the cultural, spiritual or personal malaise that besets many in the 21st century.

ST. JOHN, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS -- She's drinking pink rum punch. The sailboat lights are twinkling and the steel-drum band is clinking. Alison Leeds, 38, a full-time mother on an anniversary getaway, came to listen to the waves and to unwind.

71-year-old elder died after ingesting a solution containing tobacco, water and South American vines

National Post (Canada), Apr. 25, 2003

Diane Wray reports on a unique healer with an international reputation who recently chose to make her base in Northern Ireland