VINCHHIYA, India (WTVO) — A couple used a home-made guillotine to decapitate themselves so they could offer their heads as a sacrifice, according to police in India.

The Daily Mail reported that Hemubhai Makwana, 38, and his wife Hansaben, 35, “severed” their heads with a “guillotine-like mechanism” that rolled them into a “fire altar” as part of a ritual sacrifice.

“The couple first prepared a fire altar before putting their heads under a guillotine-like mechanism held by a rope. As soon as they released the rope, an iron blade fell on them, severing their heads, which rolled into the fire,” sub-inspector Indrajeetsinh Jadeja said, according to India Today.

The couple left a note behind for their two children, parents, and relatives, police said.

Family members said the couple had been offering prayers every day since last year.

Authorities said black magic human sacrifice were feared after two women were abducted, tortured and beheaded last October, and three people, including one described by authorities as an “occult practitioner” were arrested.

The Daily Mail said black magic is still practiced in parts of India in an effort to bring wealth and cure disease.