Voodoo, and variants of it, flourished on the plantations, in the Caribbean, in South America, and on the North American continent. It also flourished around American slave ports, primarily in Louisiana (New Orleans) and in the realm of the Rice Kings in South Carolina (Charleston)—anywhere where slaves concentrated in large numbers. And the Voodoo sects spread quickly wherever they took root. As early as 1782, Governor Galvez of Louisiana specifically forbade the importation of slaves from Martinique, because he believed them to be “steeped in Voodoo” and that they would make the lives of the citizens of New Orleans and of the state in general “very unsafe.” A decade later, several slaves from Santo Domingo were publicly burned in New Orleans for practicing “the heathen rites of the Voodoo.”

  Christian-seeming Worship

  In the early 1700s, many Christian plantation owners forbade their slaves to practice Christian or “Christian-seeming” worship and many of the Voodoo rituals (which were loosely based on Christianity) slid away into the jungles, swamps, and forests, becoming secretive and mysterious. Legends grew up around it, as Christians speculated about what went on at these clandestine gatherings. Clearly there was some sort of spirit possession as the loa, drawn by the veve, took over the bodies of their followers in order to prophesy and heal, and this alarmed the Western Christian minds. Such a concept, for Western Christians, held echoes of medieval demon possession in Christian lands and they quickly equated possession by the loa with possession by the Devil himself. The copying of portions of Christian ritual was suggestive of the Black Mass, that was said to have been practiced by European witches and heretics. There were tales, too of cannibalism amongst the slaves.

  Le Cochon Gris

  In parts of the island of Martinique, where the Voodoo religion was supposed to be extremely widespread, certain cults were said to devour “le cochon gris” (the grey pig) which was a coded reference to human flesh. Whilst there may have been instances of the eating of human flesh, there is little evidence that it was in any way widespread. However, some of the white planters and settlers may have had good reason to be alarmed.

  Bokor

  Similar to many other religions, Voodoo had its darker side. If the loa were like children, then they could be unpredictable and capricious. They knew neither good nor evil, they could just as easily commit a sinister act as a righteous one. They could be duped into committing diabolical and anti-social acts by unscrupulous magicians known as “bokor.” Once the bokor had the spirit under his or her control, it could be turned against humankind and had the potential to unleash great evil. As well as that, the bokor might summon up dark and vicious sprits that had no love for Mankind. Although in most cases, the spirits and forces were drawn down for benign reasons—to heal, to give aid for specific tasks, and to bring good luck. An alteration in the pattern of the veve could encourage less welcome forces, the substance of African nightmares.

  Bori, Tikoloshi, and Dodo

  These were beings similar to the Bori—a shapeshifting, often invisible, entity that engaged in acts of extreme violence. Then there was the Tikoloshi, a Xosha water demon that could either appear as a bird with an abnormal head, as a baboon, or the Dodo of Ghanian folklore, often assumed to be the blank-eyed ghost of a dead man who prowled the forests, ready to tear travellers asunder with claw-like hands.

  Gegbo

  Many of these terrors reflected the regions from which the slaves themselves came or from where their people had originated—mainly from West Africa or the Congo basin. The art of calling them down was known as gegbo, the evil side of Voodoo. Practitioners often chose to live well away from the main settlements or plantations and were often considered to be witches or sorcerers.

  Gods of Voodoo

  If the Voodoo religion was a complex affair, then so was its pantheon of gods and forces. Many of these reflected the native gods and powers, that characterized regional beliefs. But as Voodoo spread into other countries, there were some variations relating to the country in which the slaves found themselves.

  Olorun and Obatala

  In the Yoruba/Ewe pantheon, the supreme deity was Olorun, who was remote and unknowable. This did not, however, prevent him from interfering in the world, and he might have spoken to his followers through an intermediary or demi-god known as Obatala. Similar to children, the two deities often fought and were in conflict, which might be mediated for the benefit of Mankind, by an experienced houngan.

  Minor Gods

  Beneath these two entities was a pantheon of minor gods who in many ways resembled Catholic Saints. They might be approached in order to intercede with Olorun or they might have supernatural powers that they could use themselves. Amongst such entities were Ogou Balanaji, a god with healing powers, and Zaka, who presided over agriculture. There were, too, rather dangerous deities who had to be approached extremely carefully. Amongst these were Shango (or Shago) who controlled storms—especially lightning,—and maybe the most dangerous of all, Dambala-wedo, the great serpent. This pantheon was an ancient one which had arrived with the slaves from Arada in Dahomey and is refereed to as the Rada (or Arada) pantheon.

  Le Danse de Don Pedro

  However, just to confuse matters, a later Spanish variant of the original voudun threw up a wider pantheon that incorporated deities not found in the former. The story is that this strand of Voodoo belief started amongst slaves in the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and the Americas and was much more flamboyant than the traditional African one. The traditional story concerning the origin of this particular form of the religion is that a Spanish-African slave named Don Pedro combined a mixture of rum and gunpowder and drank it. As he did so, he became inspired by a much more lively form of loa that made him behave in outlandish and bizarre ways. The central ritual of his followers was known as Le Danse de Don Pedro which gave rise to a form of Voodoo called Petro. In this form, the drumming was wilder than it had been before, the movements of the dancers were greatly exaggerated, and the colours used were more striking. Blood played an even greater part in the rituals than it had done in Rada. Animal sacrifice (usually a cockerel or a goat) had played a significant part in the ceremonies of both forms, but in the Petro ritual, the dancers, often inflamed with rum, smeared themselves with the animal’s blood liberally as a symbol of devotion.

  Papa Legba

  Petros Voodoo also introduced an entirely new set of loa or minor deities to the pantheon, including Papa Legba, who acted as a kind of “gateway” between the spirit and human worlds. He was the first of the loa that the houngan called up in the ritual and through him, other spirits might be contacted and brought forth. Within this Voodoo form, the forces of the Otherworld took on some human semblance—Papa Legba, for instance, often appeared as an old man, leaning on a crutch, a wholly recognizable figure amongst the slave communities. His mistress or wife was Erzule Frieda, the deity that controlled both love and lust—a huge, grinning, buxom figure, sometimes carrying a fruit basket. Again this was a recognizable figure on many of the plantation and served to “humanize” the loa.

  Baron Samadi

  The most famous of all the Petro Voodoo pantheon was Baron Cemetiere (graveyard), also known as Baron Samadi (Saturday) or Baron La Croix (the Cross), the Lord of the Graveyard. Often depicted as a skeleton dressed in grand style (sometimes in a gentleman’s tuxedo and top hat), he was the Master of the Unquiet Dead and certainly not to be trifled with. He was placated with both rum and tobacco and could take awful vengeance if these items were not regularly offered. The Baron was an entity of the slave plantations of the New World and had no African equivalent.

  Ghede

  There was another added element to the Petro version of Voodoo as well—that was the Ghede, or ancestral ghosts. Whilst ghosts and ancestral spirits had been acknowledged in Rada Voodoo, they had been slightly less important than the primeval deities and loa. Now, these spirits assumed a vengeful role, turning against humans and had to be supernaturally restrained. They were under the command of Baron Cemetiere who often used them against the living unless he was given gifts and offerings.

  The Elements of Voodoo

  Both Rada and Petro Voodoo often placed a reliance on either wambi or gris-gris (charms). These concentrated the forces of the loa through tangible elements—for example, rooster’s feet, black crows, and other such items. Much has been made of the concept of “Voodoo dolls,” tiny effigies of a living person in which pins and sharp objects were stuck in order to cause that person pain or death. In fact, although many of these are actually sold as Voodoo items, they have very little to do with the religion itself. Indeed, they are not specifically African in origin. In early English tales concerning witchcraft, mention is made of the mommet, a clay image into which sharp objects and pins were placed by English witches in order to cause injury or illness. The same was also true of alleged European witchcraft. Besides the gris-gris, Petro sorcery also placed great emphasis on poudre—herbal preparations and powders. Many of these were natural remedies used to cure illness and resist infections, but others were said to be used for more sinister purposes, such as poisons and hallucinogenics.

  Haiti

  Zombies played a role in many Voodoo-related ideas. For example, it was considered illegal under Haitian law to use zombies (men without wills rather than actual dead men) in the cane fields or to exploit them as cheap labour. Those who did might have found themselves liable for a fine under the employment legislation.

  Papa Doc

  Also in Haiti, there was an added political dimension. During the brutal regime of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier who came to power in 1957, Voodoo was used to keep the dictator in power. Born in Haiti in 1907, Duvalier had started out as a simple country doctor who had been involved in the treatment of yaws (a common bacterial skin infection that had crippled large parts of Haiti). His treatments of the disease were highly effective, leading him to make the claim that he was healing through the power of Voodoo.

  Code Noir

  The Voodoo cult had flourished in Haiti since roughly the mid-18th century, with whispers of the infamous “Code Noir”—a blasphemous tome written in French, that outlined a number of ghastly ceremonies for calling down loa. It is possible that Duvalier was a member of a local cult and that he used this suspicion to gain control over those around him. Gradually he began to rise in power and influence through the ranks of Haitian society, moving into the fluctuating power vacuum left after the withdrawal of American troops at the end of World War II. He began to model himself after Baron Cemetiere who was then a feared figure in Haitian folklore.

  Ton Ton Macoute

  In 1957, Duvalier seized power, emasculating the already weak Haitian army and appointing a number of thugs to protect him, led by his friend and ally, Clement Barbot. These were the Ton Ton Macoute, who took their name from a bogeyman in Haitian folktales. This vicious group acted as a form of secret police and were known to use Voodoo ceremonies to create fear and unease in the populace. In their stronghold at Fort Dimanche, they tortured Duvalier’s unfortunate opponents and allegedly committed acts of cannibalism and sorcery. “Papa Doc” himself began to use the trappings of Voodoo to intimidate those who spoke out against him—placing skulls and dark candles on his official desk and claiming that he was a powerful bokor. He was rumoured to drink human blood and devour human flesh in the privacy of his own quarters—rumours that he personally encouraged to intimidate his enemies. It was widely reported that he could not be killed and he also spread the suggestion that he had a veritable army of zombies, ready to do his bidding. During his oppressive regime, Haiti became, in the public mind, the Voodoo capital of the world.

  Baby Doc

  Despite all his alleged Voodoo powers, Duvalier died in 1971 and was succeeded by his equally brutal but less politically adept son, Jean Claude, known as “Baby Doc.” Unable to maintain his hold over the minds of the people, or to continue the “Voodoo mystique” in the way that his father had done, Jean Claude’s grip on power failed, bringing an end to the Duvalier regime. Even so, it had proved a powerful political tool for almost twenty years and had turned Haiti into the “land of zombies.” Since then, Haiti, its economy almost decimated by the reign of the Duvaliers, has traded on its sinister reputation in the hope of attracting tourists and the curious.

  American Voodoo: New Orleans

  Perhaps it is the practitioners—the houngans, mambo, and bokors—who have added to the Voodoo and zombie mythology, especially amongst the slaves of America. Two American slave ports with their surrounding areas are recognized as centres for the religion. These are Charleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The latter of these two seems especially soaked in Voodoo culture with its largely French ethos, shadowy alleyways, and its hinterland of dark and mysterious swamplands and bayous where runaway slaves tended to gather.

  There were always whispers of blood sacrifice (usually animals or cockerels) in some areas of the city, and, there were sometimes tales of strange practices imported from ancient Africa. In October 1863, a riot threatened when a dismembered human torso was discovered in the home of a suspected Voodoo practitioner. There was talk of the “goat without horns” (human sacrifice) which made its way into the city newspapers.

  Elizabeth Sunderland

  New Orleans was already on edge. Tales of “darkie worship” had been circulating for some time. Over eight years previously in 1855, the home of a known Voodoo practitioner named Elizabeth Sutherland had been mobbed by her neighbours who believed that she’d put a spell on them. The police rescued her and held her in protective custody in the Third District Station. A crowd then gathered outside the station, demanding that the witch be released. Fearing widespread civil unrest and of being seen as accessories to Voodoo, the police allowed Elizabeth to escape out the back door of the station and then told the crowd that she’d turned herself into a black cat in order to elude them. In this guise, she had squeezed through the bars of her cell.

  Bessie Tolendano

  Voodoo queens who could allegedly command fantastic powers, such as controlling the walking dead, were now rife in New Orleans. One of these, Bessie (or Betsy) Tolendano, “a stout and intelligent free woman of colour” according to one newspaper report, was brought to trial on a variety of charges, including trying to raise a corpse and of kidnapping children for use in blasphemous Voodoo rituals. She expressed surprise at some of the allegations, but claimed her position as a Voodoo queen through rights of inheritance. She displayed some of her gris-gris to the court and boasted of her great powers. She seemed quite sincere and declared it her right to convene Voodoo gatherings in any part of the city that she chose. She was, she claimed, the descendant of ancient Congo Queens and for her, Voodoo was a religion.

  Hoodoo Mag

  Another of the great New Orleans Voodoo queens, Hoodoo Mag, was also brought to court following the death of a prostitute named Julia Henderson in which she was said to have been implicated. She was accused of murdering Henderson by supernatural means—probably involving zombies or some form of fatal gris-gris. Hoodoo Mag was not a free woman but a slave in the service, (according to the Daily Crescent), of one, Mr. Marpolis, a leading slave-holder in the city. The paper referred to her as “a black hellcat named Margaret…known throughout New Orleans as Hoodoo Mag.” She was charged with stirring up the coloured people in the city against both their white and coloured masters. What became of her is unknown, but the trial left the municipal authorities extremely jittery.

  Since 1817, a Municipal Ordinance in the city had forbidden slaves to gather in large numbers for any purpose, whether it be talking, drinking, or dancing. Fears of a slave uprising were everywhere and such gatherings were considered as the birthplaces of sedition and unrest. Nevertheless, by the mid-19th century, the enactment was largely ignored. Groups of slaves and “free people of colour” would often gather in the city’s Congo Square, especially on St. John’s Eve (23rd June—a sacred day in the Voodoo calendar) to drink and dance. Often, several Voodoo queens or mambos, and a number of hougans were also in attendance. What was beginning to worry the authorities was a number of curious white people who were also making their way to such gatherings and taking part in them.

  Helen Thomas

  Around 1853, a Voodoo queen named Helen Thomas conducted a massive gathering in the square where two white women were present and took part in the dancing and the rituals that went on. The Dictionnaire Universale du XIX Siecle described a raid by New Orleans police on a Voodoo gathering in which fifty nude women were found taking part—several of them white and prominent socialites. Inflamed with pambai (a form of rum punch) infused with a concoction which contained High John Conqueror Root (St. John’s wort) the revellers danced all night in many parts of the city. However, many held that it wasn’t the real thing—the real Voodoo dances were held in private, not in public.