Skinless Creature

 by Aalayna Bolton

Veronica Byrd told an interesting story about a young man who suspected that his beautiful wife might be a BooHag. While BooHags are considered an urban legend they are real to the Gullah culture as creatures that are similar to vampires who feed on the unsuspecting and vulnerable people nearby. In this story the young man named Emmet was looking for love when he found a beautiful woman to marry. People around town were warning him that she was strange and he needed to stay away from her. He married her anyway. After their marriage he started to notice on certain nights at midnight his wife was nowhere to be found. He got worried and thought she was seeing someone else. He ranted to his friend about what was going on and his friend told him that she might be a BooHag. One night he looked in the closet and saw his wife’s skin hanging up. He put salt and pepper inside her skin. When his wife returned that night, he saw her skinless. When she put her skin on it was burning her alive and she eventually died. Although BooHags are dangerous, widespread and unnatural they have a rich history and there are ways to repel and protect against them.

Robin Jarvis explains the legend of Gullah culture and the origin of the BooHag. He states that, “The seas Islands and the Coastal plains of the Southern Coast of South Carolina are home to a culture rich in African Heritage.” The heritage site is called “Gullah” after the creole language spoken there. The Gullah people along South Carolina’s coast have a culture all their own. Their culture is well-respected by other South Carolinians. Part of their culture involves the legendary tale known as “Folklore” of the BooHag. The Gullah people believed that if a person did not make it into heaven they became a BooHag instead of going to Hell. 

Author, Kyle Van Helsing gives information about what a BooHag does. He states, “A BooHag is a vampire-like creature. It’s similar to the vampire of Central and Eastern European folklore. The BooHag sits on the chest of their victim while “riding” them.” BooHags steal their victim’s breath while they are sleeping and they wake up tired. BooHags live in abandoned houses that are deep within the swamps of South Carolina. The BooHag’s appearance is difficult to miss as the BooHag has no skin to call its own. He states that, “Since the BooHag has no skin, its muscles, tendons, and arteries are exposed.” This is why the BooHag steals the skin from victims who struggle to fight with them during the attack. They eventually kill the victim and wear the skin as its own. During the day, the Hag appears to be a young and beautiful lady. At night the Hag removes its skin and takes off into the night sky to look for victims.”

Sloane Frederick provides information about how to get rid of a BooHag and Shannon Scott provides another way. Sloane explains that getting rid of a BooHag requires you to use a broom because it will attach itself to the broom once it jumps out of its victim. Then it can be swept out the door. Shannon explains how some Gullah people practiced voodoo to rid themselves and others of BooHags. The Gullah used paint called the “Haint blue” paint because it kept the haints  away.” Haint was another word for an evil spirit or BooHag.

BooHags have been around for years as they find their roots in Gullah culture. They are a myth but many people recognize them as being real. They are the source of many superstitions and there are ways to protect and defend against them. Always keep a broom near and be educated on what they are.

Works Cited:

Veronica Byrd. “The Boo Hag: Georgia Witch Story.” The Moonlit Road. Oct. 2012.
https://www.themoonlitroad.com/the-boo-hag/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2021

Sloane Frederick. “Boo Hag.” South. Dec. 2017. https://www.southmag.com/boo-hags/. Accessed
18 Oct. 2021.

Kyle Van Helsing. “The Boo Hag.” The Demon Hunter’s Compendium. March 2013. The Demon
Hunter's Compendium: The Boo Hag (demonhunterscompendium.blogspot.com).
Accessed 18 Oct. 2021.

Robin Jarvis. “The Creepy South Carolina Legend That Will Keep You Awake At Night.” Only In
Your State. May 2018. https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/south-carolina/gullah-culture-boo-
hags-sc/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2021

Shannon Scott. “The BooHags by Lisa Marie.” Shannon Scott Tours. March 2019.
https://www.shannonscott.com/the-boo-hags-by-lisa-marie/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2021

Robert the Doll

 By Dureal Dobbs

Robert the Doll's background started off with him being gifted to a child named Gene. They did everything together and talked about everything. Gene had the attic as Robert’s house, it had furniture and he even gave him his own teddy bear. His parents thought Gene was just doing a different voice for Robert but realized the doll was possessed when they heard furniture moving, and Gene balled up on his bed in fear. They locked Robert in the attic for years but would still hear footsteps. Many kids would see Robert move in the window from side to side.  

Later on Gene became a painter and he wanted to spark up their relationship. Doing that caused him to blame his shortcomings on Robert. It caused problems with Gene’s wife because he would have random mood swings and beat her. Gene died then not too long after his wife died as well.

More people moved into the house and a 10 years old little girl found Robert in the attic. Robert did the same exact thing to the girl. He was later on sent to a museum where other possessed dolls are. The museum is Fort East Martello Museum where he resides in a box. The box is covered  with writings from people begging him to release his curse. Robert glitches in pictures but it stops as soon as people leave the museum. Robert is examined yearly to make sure the humidity of Florida is not affecting his wool. His misfortune causes such as car accidents, broken bones, job loss, divorce, and many other tragedies They dove deeper about the gifts Robert’s gift he received such as candy, money, letters, advice, emails, and even kept up with his social media and catalogs. This curse happens when people take pictures without permission or save pictures on their devices.

Work Cited

“Robert the Doll.” Atlas Obscura. 2021.https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/story-behind-robert-the-doll 

Discover the Story of Robert the Doll.The Artist House.2021, History of Fort East Martello – Key West Art and Historical Society. Kwahs.org.

 “Haunted doll is safely at home in the Key West museum.” Daily Journal.2015.https://www.daily-journal.com/life/travel/haunted-doll-is-safely-at-home-in-key-west-museum/article_13239a0b-d3e3-5e56-ba7d-dde6cd1e23e7.html

For Further Research:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/story-behind-robert-the-doll This source gives a solid background infromation on Robert.

https://www.kwahs.org/8579-2 This article talks more about Robert being in the museum and his curse.

https://www.daily-journal.com/life/travel/haunted-doll-is-safely-at-home-in-key-west-museum/article_13239a0b-d3e3-5e56-ba7d-dde6cd1e23e7.html It gave a person input on how Robert and his experience seeing him.

Voodoo Queen

by Calvin Windless Jr.

If you haven’t heard of her, she is known as the “Voodoo Queen of New Orleans”, according to many eyewitness accounts. Her title as Marie Laveau was earned due to the hard work she did while she was alive but, the thing about it is that she still holds on to that name to this day because of how powerful she was as a mortal. 2 Still to this day the crypt where she's buried, which is St. Louis Cemetery #1 is said to be the most haunted cemetery in America. If you ask some of the visitors, they claim to have seen the ghost of the Voodoo Queen herself. According to road trippers they have said to see the voodoo queen inside the cemetery, walking around tombs, in her trademark turban, while whispering a Santeria Voodoo curse to disrespectful gawkers. If you visit her grave, you'll notice that people still leave offerings, candles, flowers, Voodoo dolls, all in the hopes that Laveau will bestow her supernatural blessings. When people make a wish at her tomb, they return if their wish comes true and leave three X marks as a sign of their gratitude.

Some background information about this amazing and mysterious woman is that she was introduced to multiple religions and was well acquainted with all of the leaders in the “French Quarter” and so they taught this older teenager at the time what they knew. She had multiple tutors, some taught her religion like Catholicism, which was Pere Antoine who was the high priest of her time. On the other hand, the voodoo side of her teaching came from a man by the name of Bayou John, he taught her things like how to prepare spells and charm bags which were called a “Gris-Gris” which was used for prosperity and protection if used right. She was a person who didn’t just do things out the goodness of her heart, which is something most people do. For instance, she used her influence on her client to get a brand new house equipped with anything she would ever need and want. She used the man to get her a house, in exchange for an acquittal for their son in court. Her legacy followed her mostly by word of mouth. It was told by her having abilities to sway a justice system an determine a verdict amongst many other things that she was infamous about.

Works cited 
“St. Louis Cemetery.” Road trippers, https://maps.roadtrippers.com/trips/19417349. Accessed 29 October 2018.

Hehe, Joshua. The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Medium.com. 3 February

Links for Further Research
www.womemhistoryblog.com.
http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/07/marie-laveau.html.
This article entails information on her story and how she became known as the “Voodoo Queen.”

www.allthatsinteresting.com.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/marie-laveau.
This is to explain how she worked up to be the leader and advice giver from when she was young.

www.atlasobscura.com.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/marie-laveaus-tomb.
Tells about the story of her tomb and its history.

Marie Laveau the Voodoo Queen

Quaderia Fields




 The Voodoo Queen herself: Marie Laveau, by Dannie Cox


 
Looking at the history of New Orleans there are many famous people that are still remembered today. It is believed that New Orleans is a place popular for its deliciously famous beignets, gumbo, jazz music and voodoo. Voodoo practices originated in the West Indies country of Haiti during the French colonial period. The slave-owners in the south tried converting all of the slaves into being a Christians but the slaves just wouldn’t let that happen.

In order to keep their faiths and beliefs alive many of the Africans in the catholic parts of New Orleans began practicing voodoo. Throughout different parts of Africa, a great amount of people had the same beliefs on wanting to keep their religious beliefs alive. Marie Laveau, born a free woman in 1794 was the most famous, respected and feared voodoo queen of all time. Before she was considered to be the voodoo queen she was a hair dresser and nurse. How could she have gone from a hairdresser and nurse to someone that was considered THE voodoo queen is a great question. Due to Marie knowing so much about medicine she was able to mix the correct herbs to help those that were sick or those who had problems with their love life. (Chambers)

Typically in the world the term voodoo is affiliated with being evil, but for Marie Laveau many people saw her as doing something good. She not only helped people with their health and hair, but when she began practicing she specialized in romance and finance.  Although Marie Laveau has been long gone people still visit her gravesite in hopes that she’ll grant their wishes. Marie’s remains are located at St. Louis Cemetery #1. 

 
In the picture above is where Marie Laveau’s remains reside. Many believe if they go to her grave site and draw an x on it and leave her something as a sacrifice she’ll grant their wishes. In a YouTube video, Brett Stanker gives a tour of the different tombstones at St Louis Cemetery #1 and he comes upon Marie’s. While in another YouTube video Charles Chamberlain sets the stories straight about the rumors on Marie Laveau. Not everyone was aware that Marie Laveau wasn’t only one person, but it was also her daughter Marie Laveau II. Marie Laveau had 15 children, but she named one of her daughters after her. Like her mother, Marie II also practiced voodoo. St. Louis Cemetery #1 has become a well-known cemetery not only because of Marie Laveau but for others that are laid to rest here. 

 
Works Cited


Black, Annetta.”Saint Louis Cemetery No.1”. Atlas Obscura. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.

 Chambers, Wendy Mae. "Voodoo on the Bayou - Marie Laveau." Voodoo on the Bayou - Marie Laveau.          N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.

Chamberlain, Charles. “Marie Laveau: Legend and Truth “YouTube.  YouTube,  26. Nov.2013. Web. 13.Oct 2015

Stanker, Brett. “A Walk Through the Oldest Cemetery in New Orleans.” YouTube. Youtube, 21 Dec. 2008.  Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

St. Louis Cemetery No.1| Save Our Cemeteries.” Save our cemeteries. N.p., 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

What Hoodoo Really Is

Manny Dejesus

Picture of 7 colorful Voodoo dolls on display.

Crazy dancing, hexes, curses, abductions, oils and Voodoo dolls. All the necessities to create "Voodoo" we have heard so much about. Hoodoo  can be called a religion, healing tradition, an art form, or even magic (Chireau). Hoodoo does not have to have one title but can actually be all sorts of things in one. Hoodoo has been going on for Centuries and has been a practice that started in Africa and was brought to the Americas by slaves, and the knowledge was intertwined with that of the Native Americans and Jews (Yronwode). The “religion” made its way to the United States and is practiced primarily in the southern half of the states like New Orleans. Hoodoo in itself is used in many different ways, in fact it can be used as a verb, noun and adjective. Different researchers say different things but Yvonne Chireau Ph.D. a professor from Swarthmore College that studies African American religions says it best, “Hoodoo African based tradition that makes use of the natural and supernatural to make change in the human experience”. What Chireau is saying is that Hoodoo by itself is not evil nor is it good but just a neutral practice that can change human experience for the better or for the worst.

So What is Hoodoo exactly?
Hoodoo is a spiritual practice but is actually a very general term that can include anything and everything from love spells to protection magic (Yronwode).  Catherine Yronwode is a Folk magic practitioner who wrote, different words pertaining to Hoodoo such as witchcraft had different meanings. Yronwode goes on to explain that witchcraft is basically saying it’s the evil form of Hoodoo meant to curse somebody and while Hoodoo is meant to boost your luck and increase your happiness. What makes Hoodoo different from other “religions” is that it does not have a central power and “places emphasis on personal magical power, there are no priests or priestesses”.

Sculpture of Grandma Hoodoo.

Works Cited:
7 Colorful Voodoo Dolls. 1997. Voodoo Authentica, New Orleans. Voodoo.com. Voodoo Authentica. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Chireau, Yvonne. "What is Hoodoo." Academichoodoo.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 October 2015.

Kuebler, Thomas. Grandma Hoodoo. N.D. Sculptor of the Bizarre. Tskuebler.com. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Yronwode, Catherine. "African American Folk Magic." Luckymojo.com. N.p. n.d. Web. 7 October 2015.

Zombies: What's the Fascination?

Author: Olivia Grace Burbage

 Cartoon of a zombie

Zombies. Why are we all so curious about zombies? More fiction than fact, the zombie is, at its barest minimum, the living corpse of a human body. But how can it be a living corpse? If “living” refers to the presence of life and “corpse” refers to the presence of death, how can the two words come together to describe one creature? That is exactly the point. Nothing can be both alive and dead – functioning yet not processing, thinking, or controlling itself – can it?

A zombie is a flesh eating, supposed to be dead human who acts on to its desire for flesh and nothing else. It does not think, remember, or rationalize. To kill a zombie, according to J. Gordon Melton’s The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead, a sharp blow to the head should do it (831). That, of course, is not so simple when the zombie is desperately trying to eat you. They hang out in mobs, which makes destroying them even more difficult, and as far as their concern over keeping up appearances – it doesn’t exist. J. Gordon Melton describes them as decomposing human bodies wearing horrid expressions (831). Their hair isn’t combed, their clothes are tattered, and their bodies, trying desperately to decompose, eventually form gaping holes. I ask again, why are we all so curious about zombies?

Map of Haiti

So where did the zombie come from? Someone’s overactive imagination, perhaps? Actually, the zombie was first born out of Haitian voodoo. Before modern science came to the rescue with its current definition of the death-state – no response, no breathing, no heart-rate, and no brain activity – many people were buried alive. Haiti, with its limited technology and medical knowledge, buried many a live person. So when these allegedly dead humans came back from the dead, the scare must have been tremendous. During the 1980s, an author named Wade Davis encountered this first hand when he traveled to Haiti to perform some research (Hall). He actually met and carried on a conversation with a man who wore a scar on his face from the nail of his coffin. (Hall) Perhaps it was stories like this that led to the birth of the zombie.

Maybe, however, it was the use of a certain drug called tetrodotoxin, discovered in Haiti by ethnobotanists and anthropologists according to research done by Penn State's James Conroy. Tetrodotoxin is a “potent neurotoxin,” taken from the puffer fish. This poison is so deadly that the amount in one fish is enough to kill about thirty people (Conroy). Haitian witchdoctors used this drug, so zombies may have developed through its use. The problem with such a drug being the cause of zombification is that the amount given to a person would have to be so specific that it would shut down their mental processes, almost to the point of a coma, yet not kill them. Author of the book The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia Peter Dendle believes that a few rare times in history this phenomenon may have happened, but not enough to fear the coming of the zombie apocalypse (Conroy).

So, if zombies as we know them are not living bodies returning from a too early burial or the result of this powerful neurotoxin, what are they? Who can define and describe a zombie? Because zombies are mostly the result of overactive imaginations, they are incredibly difficult to define. I may feel confident in my description of a zombie, but someone else may disagree on nearly every point. But on one point, most every expert in the field agrees: zombies are fiction. What they are is not nearly as important as why we let them go to our heads.

Works Cited:Brand, Anton. “#9403566 – Cartoon of a green zombie hand coming out of the earth.”

Cartoon. 123RF. N.p. 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.

 Conroy, James. ResearchPennState. The Pennsylvania State University. 29 Oct. 2007.

Web. 18 Oct. 2012.

Engdahl, F. William. “The Fateful Geological Prize Called Haiti.” Map. Global

Fluxguru. Blogger. Web. Friday, Feb. 4 2011. 22 Oct. 2012.

Hall, Carla. “Back From The Realm of The Zombies: Author Wade Davis’ Account Of

            His Voodoo Pilgrimages Haiti’s Zombies.” Washington Post. 7 Feb. 1986: 1+.

            Washington Post (Historical) (ProQuest). Web. 17 Oct. 2012

Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. Canton: Visible

Ink Press, 2011. Print.

Links for further research:

ABC Science

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/12/09/1260445.htm

Has fascinating research about actual cases of zombification in Haiti and gives more detail on the process.

Skeptoid

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4262

Also talks about Haitian zombies but from a more skeptical point of view. It goes into much more detail about the most widely known case of Haitian zombification

InevitableZombieApoclypse

http://www.inevitablezombieapocalypse.com/2009/03/defining-the-dead-what-is-a-zombie/

Offers a workable definition based on the opinion of the author of what a zombie actually is