Can Black Magic Make Real Zombies?
The man was pronounced dead. His official death certificate was dated in 1962. After he died, he was buried by his family. When a family buries one of its own, the tragic, heart-breaking event is never forgotten. But years later there came a horror. The man they buried was found alive in another village in Haiti. In 1962 he had been placed in a state of living death so subtle and complete that even medical doctors were fooled by it. After his grave was sealed and covered, a voodoo cult dug him up and made him their slave for years. In that hellish state he was kept drugged with no knowledge of who he was or even that he was fully alive. They had turned him into a zombie.
In Haiti the fear of voodoo cults has been so great that families have been known to make sure their loved one was forever dead by stabbing the body in the heart or even severing the head. All for one purpose, to keep voodoo sorcerers from raising the person out of the grave and enslaving them. But is all of that just dark, primitive mythology?
To talk about zombies and voodoo is very difficult in western society for one reason, the ignorant stench that Hollywood has created around this evil tragedy. To say the word zombie automatically conjures a raft of lying images long established in film and television. I’m sure into your mind slither masses of dead-eyed people turned, by a weird plague, into brain-eating former humans, who now wander around searching for other brains to destroy. That’s the premise of the wildly popular television series, The Walking Dead.
I have an odd kind of relationship with that show. In the past, I have personally known and worked with one of its leading stars, Jeffery Dean Morgan. In the mid-90s, I cast him in his first episodic lead role for a series I created called, The Burning Zone. Though I haven’t had contact with him in many years, I know that Jeffery is a great guy with a lot of talent and I enjoyed working with him. That said, I absolutely hate the character he has chosen to portray in The Walking Dead. The bloody, inhuman violence that he has perpetrated has taken evil to a new dark level in series television. The Walking Dead perpetuates heartless lies about zombies.
Just as Hollywood has painted zombies with ignorant fantasies, so it has done with Voodoo, turning a powerful religion that has controlled the minds of millions into nothing but cheap trash for no other purpose than to make money by capitalizing on the addiction of a slathering public for horror thrills. The truth about voodoo and zombies is far more dangerous and tragic than most people could ever imagine. It is about spiritual enslavement that has chained millions for untold centuries, not just in Haiti but in West Africa where it originated and in the United States where it was brought from the Caribbean.
One source for what I am going to tell you is the well-known book, The Serpent and the Rainbow, by ethnobotanist, Wade Davis. In 1988 a horror film very loosely based on his book was made by the late director, Wes Craven. The Serpent and the Rainbow tells the story of Davis’s search for the truth about Zombies in Haiti. At the start, his focus was on the experience of one Haitian man named, Clairvius Narcisse. I shared a little of his story at the beginning of this episode. Davis wanted to find out the truth about this man. Did he really become a zombie and, if so, scientifically how had that been accomplished?
At the beginning of his research, Davis confronted an important question. Exactly how do you determine that a person has actually died? That seems easy, but it isn’t. One definition of death is the permanent cessation of all vital bodily functions. But how do you determine what is permanent? Has death occurred because there is no breathing? Movement of the diaphragm can be imperceptible. Also, the absence of breath may be only the temporary suspension of breathing. There is body temperature. But people have been pulled from frozen lakes, apparently frozen to death, yet they revived. What about the eyes? Well, they tell you nothing. The iris goes on contracting for hours after death. Then there is the heartbeat and the pulse? But there are drugs that induce hypotension that can cause an unreadable pulse.
Since all of these indicators are highly questionable, often a brain scan is used. We’ve heard a lot about brain death. But that too can be misleading. There are people who were considered brain dead who have come back to life. We told about one such person, Dr. Eben Alexander, in the essay, Proof of Heaven? Examining The Near-Death Experience Of Eben Alexander (Video Link). I’m sure you’ve heard about people who were determined to be dead by medical professionals, yet who came back to life at mortuaries when they were about to be embalmed. The truth is there are only two absolutely certain ways to know that death has occurred. The loss of all blood from the body and putrefaction.
As an ethno botanist professionally interested in plants used for medicinal and religious purposes, Wade Davis asked a question. Is there a drug that can cause a human to appear to be dead to such a degree that medical professionals would be fooled, yet would keep that person in suspended animation in the grave until such time as they were dug up and revived? And could that drug or others maintain the victim for years in a prolonged psychotic state where they would blindly obey orders? In 1974 Davis’s journey into darkness began.
To study zombies is to study voodoo. The actual name of this religion is vodoun, but I will call it by its popular designation. Davis had been given the names of people in Haiti who might help him in his search for the reality about zombies. The first was a Haitian voodoo priest named Max Beauvoir. Davis discovered that this individual conducted a for-profit voodoo ceremony open to anyone willing to pay a ten dollar fee. That sounded interesting. So one night, he joined a crowd that had gathered for the mysterious rituals. What Davis witnessed was shocking.
The ceremony began when a sixteen-year-old girl, robed in white, entered a large circle where a fire was burning. She was a mambo priestess and as Davis watched she began performing ancient rites to call down the Loa, the empowering spirits of Voodoo. To invoke them, prayers were led by the priest Max Beauvoir. The rites began with deep, powerful drumming. On and on it went, so loud it felt like the earth would split open. The girl’s voice rose high in a long screaming chant. Initiates into the mysteries stepped out from the crowd and began to dance. For 40 minutes the pounding and dancing went on with all the bodies crushed together as one. But suddenly, the young priestess broke away from them. As the drums crashed, she began spinning out of control, stumbling, falling, and thrashing the air with her arms. And the Loa arrived.
Without warning, the girl stopped her thrashing and was still. Staring upward with wide eyes, she was transformed. In the fiery darkness, an invisible spirit mounted and possessed her. Then began a manifestation of raw power. The small girl raced through the crowd, picking up large men and swinging them around like children. Grabbing a glass, she bit it to pieces, swallowing shards and spitting the rest on the ground. A live dove was handed to her. She broke its wings, then tore it apart with her teeth. Several initiates were possessed by the spirits and the chaos multiplied. On it continued for half an hour, then suddenly everything went still. But only for a moment.
Once more, the Loa took control of their chosen vessel. Dropping to her knees, the girl screamed in an ancient language, then rose and began to spin. Closer and closer to the fire she swirled until she fell straight into it. There in the flames, she remained without moving. Finally, pushing up, she stared into the burning pile. Screeching like an enraged bird, she dropped into it again, hugging fiery coals to her chest. Grabbing a red-hot shard of wood, she licked it, then stuck a burning coal the size of a small apple in her mouth and held it there. Leaping up, once more she danced and spun, finally collapsing with the coal still in her mouth. When it was over, the girl was totally unhurt. She told Wade Davis that fire cannot harm the Loa. Davis reports that in all his travels and research in primitive lands he had never seen anything like this. It was real and whatever spirits had possessed her were very powerful.
So who and what are the Loa and what is it that they do? Well, that depends on who you ask, but the mythology points in one direction. They are spirit beings whose original home was West Africa. Voodoo believers say these spirits live in families called Nanchons or nations. They believe that over a thousand such spirits exist. And they differ one from another. Some are malevolent and filled with violence, while others can be protective and helpful, even to the point of bringing physical healing, power and success to those who are obedient. Like so many primitive peoples around the world the worshippers of Voodoo in ancient times thought the Loa served as intermediaries between humanity and Bondye, a transcendent Creator Deity who could not be approached directly. We will talk about the worldwide pervasiveness of this belief in a Creator God, who is above all others, but who cannot be reached directly, in the Patterns of Supernatural Phenomena essay, Eternity In Their Hearts (Episode 27 – Eternity In Their Hearts video link).
Voodoo is a synchretized religion that has absorbed other belief systems. And here we come to another great tragedy, the deep relationship of voodoo with Roman Catholicism. It is heartbreaking to say it, but for many centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has itself been a syncretized religion with ancient paganism. From the point long ago when that church began canonizing and praying to dead Christians, including the Virgin Mary, viewing them as mediators to help get the attention of God the Father and Jesus, from the point when they began believing that bone fragments of dead people should have shrines built around them where Christians might get special blessings if they came, donated and prayed, Roman Catholicism moved straight out of New Testament Christianity and opened the door to greed, power and supernatural evil. The veneration of saints has long been a part of other ancient religions. In India there are thousands of shrines both large and small dedicated to Sufi saints. At these shrines Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs all pray for blessing.
Disregarding what the New Testament says in I Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus”, disregarding what Jesus said in John 14:6 “No one comes to the father but by me,” forgetting that Satan can appear as a saint, a holy angel of light or even the Virgin Mary herself, Roman Catholicism took a syncretized religion around the world, directly replacing pantheons of pagan deities with their own pantheon of canonized Christians. The result has been disastrous.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the syncretized beliefs of Voodoo worshippers who go to Catholic Church on Sunday, then make sacrifices to supernatural evil the rest of the week. The Voodoo spirit historically known as Papa Legba is also revered as Saint Lazarus or Saint Anthony. Erzuli Dantor is worshipped as the Black Madonna and on and on through the pantheon of Voodoo spirits that have been transformed into Christian saints. This hellish corruption has made it impossible for people to tell the difference between a supernatural manifestation that comes from the True God and one that comes from Satan. Davis tells the story of a lovely female manifestation in a forest that Haitians believed was the Virgin Mary. The Catholic priests were certain it wasn’t because of the descriptions that were given, but how do you convince people of the truth when you have helped create the lie? There are many wonderful people in the Roman Catholic Church who truly love and serve Jesus Christ, but that does not excuse the institutionalized evil at the highest levels of their church structure that, for centuries, has corrupted the Christian faith that they profess.
How did Voodoo originally come to the Caribbean? In the 1700s half a million people were brought to Haiti and enslaved in the most brutal conditions by a wealthy group of French Roman Catholic plantation masters. These poor slaves had been kidnapped from West Africa. Many were from tribes that had been captured and sold to slave traders by more powerful African tribes. From the start they were utterly brutalized. What really enslaved these poor people? The greed of Christian France who, like England, Spain and Portugal, felt that it was their divine right to enslave other human beings, utterly destroying their lives in order to gain wealth.
In their misery, these West Africans looked to their ancient religion to empower and protect them. Clearly, the Christian God wasn’t going to do it. They had brought their gods with them, the spirits of the Loa. They believed that these beings guided and protected them when they rose up against the plantation owners in a brutal war. The result was that the French were thrown out, but this did not free the slaves. The plantations just got new owners, half white, half black Haitians who previously had served the French. The misery continued and the voodoo along with it. That poor nation is still in misery today.
The heart of the Voodoo culture in Haiti is found in secret occult societies. These powerful groups are the center of Loa worship and are greatly feared by everyone. They have existed for centuries, first in West Africa and then in Haiti down to the present day. Their secret meetings, in which they conduct voodoo rituals, are often designed to lure young people into membership. Each society is active in a specific area and forms a parallel ruling structure that operates alongside the official government. Everyone on every level is well aware of these groups. They fear them and do not try to stop what they do. One of the things they have done is to create Zombies. And they’ve done it for specific reasons. People have been turned into Zombies for actions that a society deemed worthy of such punishment. Which brings us back to Clairvius Narcisse.
His false death, burial and evil resurrection to live as a slave was done because of a family dispute over an inheritance. A family member took the grievance to a secret voodoo society and Narcisse was judged guilty. Then, it was only a matter of slipping the drug to him and watching him die. Years later, when he awoke from his Zombie haze of slavery, his family was not happy to see him. They were terrified of him and his return reopened the inheritance issue. After his awakening, he lived in a different town apart from them.
In his research, Wade Davis discovered drugs that could be used to create Zombies and maintain them in that state. Drugs were given to cause false death, but after resurrection more drugs were continually given to maintain the zombie trance. Specific types of food were eaten by these slaves and their diet was carefully watched by their slave masters. If a victim was given the wrong food, he could awaken. That may have been what happened to Clairvius Narcisse. And it has happened to others. A small group of zombie slaves was awakened when compassionate people gave them chocolate cookies that contained salt. Apparently, salt is an awakening agent. Those who lived in the zombie state for years and then came back to life, have talked of being outside their bodies unable to think or communicate. All they could do was obey. It was a near-death experience that went on sometimes for decades. Of course, most often it continued until real death finally took them.
So what are we to make of all this? Rather than being trashy entertainment to give you a cheap video thrill, I hope what you will see in Zombies is absolute tragedy. In this tragedy there is a clear pattern. To understand zombies is to understand the way Satan and his evil servants, both supernatural and human, always rule. They thirst to judge, enslave and destroy people. There is no real compassion, or mercy in Satan’s world. His supernatural servants may actually heal people from sickness and disease, but their ultimate goal is the destruction of a human soul forever. I have talked about their kind of healing in previous essays, (Video Links: Episode 22 – Alien Gods of Healing, Episode 23 – Healing From Heaven And Hell, Essay Links: The Serpent Healers: Alien Gods Of Healing, Who Is Behind Miraculous Healings?)
Right now, many young people in Haiti and elsewhere are being drawn into the darkness of voodoo. Because of the way Christianity has been presented for centuries, they consider it to be weak and powerless. It is the same in the United States where young people are leaving the church by the millions. It is the direct result of Satanic syncretization whether in the Roman Catholic Church, mainline Protestantism or the evangelical and Pentecostal churches of today. When great evil is excused and accepted in political and religious leaders in order to gain security, wealth and power, the true, life-changing message of Jesus Christ is destroyed. But Jesus, the Eternal King, lives and His power is infinitely beyond all others. His true followers represent His Kingdom in this world. That King and His Kingdom are coming and all will answer to Him.
The tragic reality is that those who practice voodoo, those who worship the Loa, and those who create Zombies are enslaved just as much as the victims whom they place into living death. In their ignorance and lust for supernatural power, they do not see the eternal horror that awaits them. Yet, the True God of Heaven loves every, single one of those people and what they do breaks His Heart. The Bible is clear when it says that He is not willing that anyone should perish eternally in a living death, because that’s what the final judgment brings. God wants every one of us to repent, to stop doing all the things that destroy us and others. That’s what sin is. He wants us to turn away from sin and turn to Him to be forgiven and receive a new life that will go on forever. He paid the price for your freedom when He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to give His life and shed His blood for you.
In this world, things are growing darker by the day. What is really happening? Satan is gaining ever-greater control. As terrible as things are at this moment and have been for eons, the Bible says that Satan’s full wrath has been restrained by God. But at a certain point, which I believe is coming soon, for a brief number of years he will no longer be restrained and will do whatever he wants. Foolish people will follow him and his human servants just as they are doing right now. In the Book of Revelation, the writer, the Apostle John, tells us that in the days of the end a strange mark will be placed on all people who follow this Anti-Messiah, the anti-Christ. It is my belief that the result of receiving this mark will be a form of zombification. Those who take it will no longer be able to think for themselves. Like zombies, they will blindly obey evil until their final destruction. The zombies of voodoo are a prediction of what is to come.
If you are enslaved by anything and want to be free, contact us in the comments section. We will pray for you. We serve a powerful God who loves you more than you could ever imagine. He is waiting for you to pray to His Son, Jesus, to ask Him to forgive your sins and be your Savior. A new life is waiting if you want it. And if you are a person who knows Jesus, pray for Haiti and all those enslaved everywhere by evil spirits. Until next time, please do like and subscribe to our channel. And share it with your friends. Thank you so much for watching this first episode of our second season of Patterns of Supernatural Phenomena.
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