The notorious Baron Samedi, the dreaded Voodoo Lord of the Dead, who plays an important role in my supernatural horror short story "It's Your Funeral"
This entry, from the content-rich Resource Guide of my supernatural short story, "It's Your Funeral," introduces the dark world of Voodoo, the French version of the ancient Yoruban nature religion mixed with Catholicism religion in the Caribbean.
The great Geoffrey Holder (the inspiration for the character of Dr. Martinique in "It's Your Funeral") as Baron Samedi in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1972); I had a memorable encounter with him once in New York
"It's Your Funeral" is about a certain famed Hollywood superstar who is alleged to secretly practice Santería—to further her career. But she calls down the wrath of vengeful Voodoo gods on her head for a transgression, and my protagonist is impelled to save her.
You can order it as an ebook here on Amazon for only $.99.
The Magic Island (Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1929): William Seabrook’s in-depth first-hand study of Haitian voodoo remains the undisputed, unchallenged classic on this fascinating subject. Highly sympathetic to the downtrodden Haitian people, their plight, and their spiritual needs.
White Zombie: Thrill to Bela Lugosi’s masterful performance in this 1932 horror classic based on, yes, the aforementioned The Magic Island. The best movie on voodoo ever produced.
By the way, so-called Hollywood flesh-eating “zombies” featured in films and TV shows made after 1968’s grotesque Night of the Living Dead aren’t real zombies. They're ghouls—Arabic ghuls, demons that haunt graveyards hungering for human flesh.
Zombies, in the true Haitian sense, aren’t rampaging cannibals, but instead reanimated corpses used as part of capitalism’s worst nightmare: a slavishly obedient plantation workforce you don’t have to pay or feed, requiring no sleep. Karl Marx or Frederick Douglass couldn’t conceive of a more frightening horror story.
These creatures from Night of the Living Dead aren't zombies—they're ghouls, which are Arabic in origin (known as ghuls)
By the way, so-called Hollywood flesh-eating “zombies” featured in films and TV shows made after 1968’s grotesque Night of the Living Dead aren’t real zombies. They're ghouls—Arabic ghuls, demons that haunt graveyards hungering for human flesh.
A nightmare chain gang of true Haitian zombies: free labor
Zombies, in the true Haitian sense, aren’t rampaging cannibals, but instead reanimated corpses used as part of capitalism’s worst nightmare: a slavishly obedient plantation workforce you don’t have to pay or feed, requiring no sleep. Karl Marx or Frederick Douglass couldn’t conceive of a more frightening horror story.
The “Voodoo” segment of Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors: This scary 1965 British horror anthology film, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, features the unforgettable tale of an opportunistic young British jazz musician (Roy Castle) who commits an unforgivable act of cultural appropriation while playing a gig on a Caribbean island—he deliberately spies on a jungle voodoo ceremony, records the melody of a haunting Voudun hymn, and then plays a jazzed-up version of the sacred tune in a London nightclub—with horrifying results.
The infidel gets caught in the act
Don't mess with the gods
Haiti Voodoo Music (YouTube video): Voodoo Drums in Hi-Fi (CD); Voodoo Drums (CD); Spirits of Life (CD): No doubt because of Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, I never in my life thought I’d ever get to hear authentic Haitian voodoo music—but one of the wonders of our age is that now these once-forbidden cultural treasures are readily available. Timeless Yoruban culture lives on in these amazing recordings.
Authentic Haitian Voudon worshippers seized by the spirit
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