What is "sassywood"

Sassywood is a form of trial by ordeal in use in Liberia. There are various types of ordeal. The principal one involves the drinking of a poisonous concoction made of the bark of the tree Erythrophleum suaveolens.

There are other forms of ordeal also described as "sassywood". Some that have been described involve the rubbing of a red-hot machete on the legs of suspects, or dipping the suspect's hand into hot oil.

A poison drink ordeal of the same name has also been reported in neighboring Sierra Leone.