According to the African religious system and especially voodoo spells The Supreme Being manifests on earth in four fundamental forms: fire, air, water, and earth.

The divine fire of voodoo is in lightning, in thunder. It is called Water Xebieso.

The water of Xebieso represents alchemy, the transformation of creation, the rough stone that is hewn. It is with the Water Xebieso voodoo shamans send fiery rites. Another name for Vodu Xebieso is Yeve. Literally translated, it means "I am the smallest."

The water of Xebieso corresponds to the Shango of the Nigerian Yoruba and possibly the Greek Zeus.

At the stage of final transformation, the Water of Xebieso leads us to the tamed fire of blacksmiths and, in a more distant reverse perspective, to the domesticated warming fire of the hearth.

The tamed fire of blacksmiths is called Water Egu (in the Yoruba - Ogu), in the Antilles and Haiti - Eguferrai. Perhaps it corresponds to the Greek Hephaestus.

A voodoo shaman in a voodoo spell perceives the air as the breath or word of a Supreme Being

It is a word of communication, but also a word that creates. Voodoo spell they call him Afa, or Fa. The Fa has two sides: communicative and creative, or embodying.

Fa-destiny:

The voodoo shaman calls "Fa-destiny" that side that corresponds to the embodiment of the Supreme Being's word.

The voodoo spell assumes that each individual is born for a specific earthly purpose.

This purpose breathes into his consciousness and genes the Supreme Being. The fundamental initiation you can take is Fa-destiny. It is about introducing a voodoo shaman to his own destiny, in order to find out what earthly destiny Mavu breathed into him. As a result of the initiation of voodoo spells, you are given sacred nuts that establish formal connections between your consciousness and the environment. With this initiation, the voodoo shaman wants to prove that the Supreme Being incarnates in every individual.

Fa-oracle:

Voodoo shaman calls "Pharakul" a system of voodoo spells and voodoo divination, called geomancy. The Fa-oracle requires three sets of oracle rosary, giving two hundred and fifty-six signs. There are sixteen basic signs, interpreted in twos, which adds up to two hundred and fifty-six. The Fa-oracle allows the voodoo shaman to have a real dialogue with the invisible and with the psychic, in the broadest sense, be it the individual or the collective psychic.

The Fa, the divine breath, breaks up into F-Fate and F-Oracle to incarnate on earth and enable people to communicate. I think you could say that this is the Word and the embodiment of the divine Word.

Water for a voodoo shaman is what makes it possible to produce offspring and, accordingly, increase wealth. She is also considered a reflection of the maternal side of the Supreme Being.

Shaman voodoo denote the symbol of water by the phrase Mamiwata Water. The same is usually called the mother of waters or the mermaid. However, this is in no way a translation of the Anglo-Saxon Mammy water, here we are talking exclusively about accidental consonance.

In reality, Mamiwata is the twin of the individual. This means that everyone has their own (or their own) Mamiwata. Personally, I call him (or her) the spiritual counterpart of the individual, since we are talking about psychic reality.

Voodoo shamans consider it necessary to achieve an ideal balance between the spiritual counterpart and the consciousness of the individual, so that he can develop. Harmony with our Mamiwata may or may not be achieved naturally. Disharmony with Mamiwata manifests itself in an individual through existential troubles, including intimate problems, problems with children, hysterical states. The harmony of voodoo spells with Mamiwata makes life easier, brings harmony to relationships with others and feelings. The individual feels more at ease with his own personality.

The symbolism of water is also manifested in the Water of Ed (the serpent) and in the Water of Anyohoedo (the rainbow). Finally, you can combine water and the alchemy of conquering fire. The result is Water Tsankpanan, a collection of three water-hardened horseshoes.

The earth is the densest of the fundamental symbols of the Supreme Being. The earthly world also belongs to it. It is at his level that a person in general and voodoo shaman in particular, they are fully aware of the presence of the Supreme Being. The voodoo shaman acquires the appropriate consciousness, both through the environment and through the relationship between God and man.

Awareness of divine voodoo is not limited to ecological objects; his religion is far from one of the forms of animism. In this awareness, he comes from his own experience. voodoo spells, calling the divine Mavu, or the Supreme Being. This implies that there is a mind above the human. Man is also a container of God, but a container of consciousness. For now, let's talk about the voodoo spell of the earth and its symbolism.

The earthly world among the aja-tado (voodoo people in Africa) is also called agbegbome, which literally translates as "the world of material life." Religious circles prefer a different, very indicative name: kodzogbe, "the world of trials."

Thus, voodoo shaman perceive the earthly world not only as the embodiment of divine breath, but also as a world consisting of trials. Is it because in earthly life we ​​know suffering, and every element of everyday life is something?

Shamanism and voodoo religion are basically similar. Spirits, trance, initiation, faith in the help of ancestors, petitions for the mercy of gods, demons and spirits of different levels, sacrifices to them - these are the similarities.

Differences, of course, also exist ... More on that below.

The shaman is considered the chosen one of the spirits and only then - the conductor of the spirit (or a whole "team" of spirits). They become shamans not of their own free will, and not only through training, but by the will of the spirit that possesses the shaman. Every shaman goes through a "shamanic disease" (initiation and its consequences, often incurable).

Shamans perceive the world as an interaction of spirits. For them, rituals are of great importance - initiation, offerings to spirits:

Fighting "evil spirits", healing the sick, working with the forces of nature (for example, causing rain, snowfall, fish spawning, etc.).

Entering into a trance (talking about the perception of the transcendental), shamans go to “travel“ to other worlds ”: the lower world (the world of spirits), the upper world (the world of the gods), the middle world (the world of“ earthly spirits ”).
Being in a trance and actions performed in tansa are called rituals.

The shaman's task is - in short - to protect the mental integrity of society and the well-being of the community.

Voodoo is a traditional African religion that has the status of a state religion on the territory of some countries located in West Africa.

The voodoo religion is built on a mixture of all kinds of cults, including totemism and borrowings, for example, from Catholicism.

The voodoo religion has gained widespread popularity in modern popular culture, especially due to the theme of zombies, magic dolls and black magic. Voodoo is very spectacular and "spectacular". Modern "magicians" of other countries, imitating voodoo, use only the outer surroundings of the cult of voodoo, ignoring the real content of the teachings of this religion.

Music and dance are a key part of voodoo rituals.

There are many differences between voodoo cults and shamanism of the peoples of the north, Altai, Siberia, Indian tribes of Latin and North America, Mexico. The difference is the desire of voodoo cultists for orgies of the entire community with pronounced sexual components, the use of "substances", zombies, "catching souls".

As a sanctuary, voodooists choose an ordinary dwelling (hunfor - sanctuary). Main attributes: mitan (pillar - the road of the gods) and black candles.

Bondyo is the supreme deity of the voodoo religion, an almighty God, comparable to the Christian image of God. Nevertheless, unlike Christianity, there is a belief in voodoo that Bondieu has withdrawn from everything that happens in this world and does not interfere in the affairs of people.
Bondieu's name comes from the French bon Dieu, which means "good God."

Loa are deities of a lower order, with whom, due to Bondyo's detachment from worldly affairs, the followers of voodoo deal with them. Prayers and rituals performed by voodoo followers are associated with the appeal to the loa.

Five drummers, tapping out a clear rhythm, each his own, announce the opening of the ceremony. After which a petition song is sung, addressed to the loa ...

Cleansing sacrifices and talismans save "from evil". The most famous type of voodoo talismans are bags of various objects called gris-gris, masks, figurines, necklaces, bracelets, etc.

Altar of voodoo:

Http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Voodo-altar.jpg/800px-Voodo-altar.jpg

The famous voodoo dolls are one of the main methods of "magical" influence ...

The difference between voodoo and shamanism in general is in thinking, in goals, tasks, practices, naturally, in the ritual part, in many methods of "witchcraft", in the content of their myths and pantheons.

This is my personal opinion, which does not claim to be universal.

In this article:

Voodoo magic is known to many only from films and books. In real life, it is not as common as other areas. Not everyone knows how to handle this art. Voodoo conspiracies are complex but very powerful. It is the primordial power that will serve you. If you are not afraid, then rather start studying the art of real black magic. The possibilities are endless. Do not tell anyone about your practices, learn to keep a secret. You will be able to do amazing things. Love spells, curses, creating volts - this is just the beginning.

Where does voodoo get its strength from?

The voodoo shaman believes in the existence of spirits. He knows how to communicate with them, share experiences, call for their rituals. Each magician-shaman has his own Patron Spirit and Helper Spirits. The magician is so powerful that he himself can create Spirits. At the head of everything is the Cult of the Ancestors. They talk with people from the underworld, help, advise. They can, at the request of the sorcerer, go a great distance and show him what they want. Ancestors whisper ancient secrets in the shaman's ear. In ancient times, the practice of voodoo made powerful talismans, amulets that pirates bought for their dangerous journeys. Shamans knew how to bring people back to their dead. For this, a very complex ritual was carried out. The world of the dead gives tremendous strength to those who know how to turn to it.

Making a volt for the rite

Magic is not possible without rituals. Voodoo is characterized by the creation of a volt for work.

Volt is a doll depicting a person. To give him a real connection, you need to use something that belongs to that person. Suitable for such purposes:

• hair;
• nails, teeth;
• a piece of skin;
• blood;
• for some rituals, part of a person's clothing;
• talismans, amulets.

The volt is created from wax. To do this, you need natural wax without impurities. The wax is melted on fire, and then a doll is molded in the shape of a man.
To enhance the effect, the wax is mixed with:

• blood or saliva of a magician;
• ritual plants: sage, cactus juice, St. John's wort;
• the ashes of a deceased, possibly another magician.

The face is shown schematically. If there is hair, then it is attached to the head. For sexual attachments and love spells, genitals are added to the doll.

Voodoo conspiracies

Any conspiracy is aimed at awakening a person. The magic of any ceremony appeals to him. To do this, you need to pronounce special conspiracies.

Attracting black luck

Anyone can attract good luck. To do this, you will have to make your own volt. Add a few drops of your blood to the wax, attach a strand of your hair to the doll's head. Hands are made with open palms.
For the ritual, you must prepare:

• 80 thin black candles;
• coins from different countries;
• white woolen thread;
• your volt.

How to attract good luck

The ritual is performed at midnight on a full moon.

• Draw a wide circle on the floor with chalk. He will protect you from the world of the dead, but will allow you to use their energy. Until you complete the ritual, you cannot leave the circle!
• Blind 40 candles together, place them in a circle in front of you, put coins.
• The remaining 40 candles need to be placed around the room so that all dark corners are illuminated.
• Sit in a circle, put your hands on your knees, palms up, and your volt on them.
• Say 40 times:

“Iam aathat iushes gaily mumhan vases tut am. Raais kulla abakaam abrakalam ".

Keep your own volt in a very safe place.

Take any coin at random, press it into the volt's belly. Pour wax over 40 burning candles.
Stand up and bow. This will complete the ritual, the world of the dead will return to its limits, and you will be able to leave the circle. You do not need to extinguish the candles. They must themselves burn out to the ground. If any entities remain in your room, the candlelight will destroy them.

Healing the disease by shifting to an empty volt

With the help of this conspiracy, you can transfer any disease to an empty doll. Disease, like magic, does not disappear anywhere. In order for it to leave one creature, it must be transferred to another.

For this ritual, you need to make an empty volt. It does not contain anyone's energy. This is a sage wax doll. Observe the gender, if you take the disease from a woman, make her breasts, draw the genitals.
Take:

• Fresh ribs of an animal - goats, cows, pigs, sheep;
• a shoe box pasted over with black paper on all sides;
• white thread;
• shovel.

Carrying out the ritual.
This magic works with the world of the dead, so come to the graveyard. The older it is, the better.
Put the volt on the grave of the person who bears the same name as the sick person. You need to kneel down, tie the rib to the volt. Say all the time:

“Iaam, Iaam (name of the person backwards). Sii asmagaаj. Abrakalaаm ".

The volt is put in a black box, buried in the grave.
Thus, you have buried the disease where it will no longer harm anyone. In the next 24 hours, you need to burn a large piece of meat at the stake, at least 1 kilogram. This is a gift to the spirits for their help. It is best to choose meat with blood. It should burn to ash.

Do not practice voodoo if you have the slightest prejudice.

Voodoo love spell

Voodoo magic is capable of creating the appearance of love. Thus, you bewitch a person to yourself once and for all. Only one feature - this love spell does not pass over the years. Every year a person becomes dependent on who imposed it. If you want to leave him, the person will simply die without you. Think three times before doing it.
What is required for a love spell
You need to prepare:

• 1 thick black candle
• 1 glass of red wine;
• 1 glass of water;
• chicken head.

Draw a circle with chalk in which you will sit. As soon as you light a candle inside the circle, the ritual will begin.

• Have a glass of wine.
• Have a glass of water.
• Take the chicken's head in both hands, hold it on the flame of the fire so that it does not burn.
• Tell:

“I conjure in the name of the All-Sore One.
I plunge into the hell of antiquity:
longing, pain, suffering, worries about me.
And how are you, oh heaven,
you pour an ocean of water like rain
so you shed tears of sorrow for me:
all sorts of days, years, nights, hours.
O Almighty, give this soul (the person's name is the opposite) to me! "

Open the chicken's mouth and put out the flame with it.
As soon as the candle goes out, the ceremony is over. The candle should be buried in the cemetery, and the head should be thrown where the beloved is most often. Can be put under the apartment door.

This magic is obtained by those who are not afraid to follow the path of black magic. Try it. Voodoo opens up endless horizons of Power for the practitioner.

“The worst thing is the eyes. And this is not at all a game of my imagination. They were the eyes of a dead man. But not blind, but burning, defocused, unseeing. Therefore, the face was scary. So empty, as if there was nothing behind it.

By this time, I had already seen in Haiti so many things that lie outside the ordinary human understanding that for a moment I completely turned off and thought, or rather, felt: "Great God, what if all this horror is true ..."

This is how William Seabrook describes in his book "The Mysterious Island" his meeting with the most sinister creature among all the mysterious creatures spawned by the world of the supernatural - the Haitian zombie.

the walking Dead

The fate of zombies is worse than vampires or werewolves. Vampires still return to those they love. The werewolf can be injured, and he will take on a human form. But a zombie is an automaton without a mind, doomed to live half asleep. He is able to move, eat, hear, even speak, but does not remember his past and is not aware of the present. Without a glimpse of recognition, a zombie can look into the eyes of those he loved, or walk past his home. Not a ghost, but not a living being either, he is, in fact, a walking dead man, placed, perhaps forever, in the border zone between life and death.

With the help of witchcraft, their bodies are given the appearance of life, and by depriving them of their soul and mind, they are actually doomed to death. They are the offspring of the Bokor, Haitian voodoo sorcerers, a unique blend of African, Catholic, and some American Indian tribes.

The birthplace of this phenomenon is Haiti. On that island there are many eyewitness accounts who knew people who died, were buried, and after a while reappeared, becoming zombies. Bokor sorcerers usually rent them, most often to work in the fields, less often keep them with them as slaves.

One of the most famous cases, described by the American writer Zora Hurston in 1938, is still remembered in Haiti. In 1909, a charming young girl named Maria died there. Five years after her death, Maria's former school friends suddenly saw a tud girl in the window of one of the houses of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. Its owner flatly refused to give any explanation for this. The father of the deceased girl himself took up the investigation. But it was already too late: neither Maria nor its owner was found in that house.

Ominous rumors spread throughout the city. To stop them and reassure residents, the authorities exhumed the corpse of the deceased. A skeleton was found in the coffin, too large for a girl of her age. He was dressed in the clothes in which Mary was buried, and they clearly did not correspond to the length of the skeleton. Why is this? And where did the man who was the owner of the house suddenly disappear, in whose window they saw a long-buried girl? It was not possible to get answers to these questions.

Relatives and friends of people turned into zombies are often unaware of what happened. And if they even know about the trick of the bokor, then they are too intimidated to try to do anything. In addition, if a person has already been turned into a zombie, no one can help him.

The same Zora Hurston cited a story told to her by the mother of a dead boy. On the night after the burial, the family was awakened by loud crying from the bedroom. It turned out that the sister of the deceased heard singing and noise on the street, and then recognized her brother's voice. Looking out the window, the family saw an ominous procession slowly wandering along the street. At the end of it was a boy buried the day before. When he, with difficulty moving his legs, drew level with the house, everyone unmistakably recognized him and heard his plaintive cry. “But the horror inspired by the zombie was so great that even the mother did not dare to go out and try to save her son,” writes Zorah Hurston. - Soon the procession disappeared from sight. After that nightmare, the boy's sister went crazy. "

Dinner with corpses

William Seabrook also cites a no less terrible case in his book. A young girl named Camilla married a certain Matthew Toussel. On his first wedding anniversary, after midnight, he called his wife to celebrate the event. Moreover, her husband insisted that she put on a wedding dress. In the ceremonially decorated and candlelit room, in addition to the young couple, there were four other silent guests.

Matthew apologized for the guests, promising his wife that after the feast the men would cheer up and dance with her. Camille's husband's voice sounded unnaturally tense. She looked more attentively at those sitting at the table and saw how the motionless fingers of one of the guests awkwardly squeeze the glass from which the wine was pouring.

The young woman grabbed a candlestick from the side and set it down in the center of the table. Only then, in the light of the burning candles, did she discover that she was sitting at a table with corpses.

In a panic, Camilla rushed upstairs and locked herself in her room. Morning came, the servants came, but the young woman stubbornly refused to go out. In the future, she never recovered from the nightmare she experienced, and her husband left Haiti the next day.

A legitimate question arises: how reliable are such stories? Moreover, in all the cited cases of the appearance of zombies there is an understatement, as if some important facts were missed. But Catholic and Protestant priests in Haiti have their own testimonies that are hard not to believe. They tell, for example, how they saw the deceased with their own eyes, sent the funeral service, closed the coffin with a lid and threw the earth into the grave. And a few days or weeks later, they suddenly met the “former deceased” with a frozen look and a lack of facial expressions. Insane, but not dead. “In Port-au-Prince, even among the educated, there are many who believe at least partly these ominous stories,” writes Alfred Metro, author of Voodoo in Haiti, who researched the zombie phenomenon.

British anthropologist Francis Huxley cites a zombie story told to him by a Catholic bishop about a "living dead" who wandered around his own village and was eventually taken to the police station. But the police were too scared and, not knowing what to do, they just threw him back out into the street.

Some time later, the zombies were again returned to the police station. And then someone remembered that the "walking dead" can be partially brought out of the trance by giving him salt. Plucking up courage, the police gave the zombies some salt water, and a miracle happened: he muttered his name. Then his aunt recognized him, according to whom the man died four years ago.

A priest was called, and the zombie discovered the name of the bokor, who made him and several other zombies work for themselves. The finally terrified police officers did not find anything better than to send the sorcerer a letter demanding to take their zombies. But two days later, the unfortunate man died for real. It is not excluded that because of the revelations he made, the sorcerer himself killed him. That bokor was arrested, but was soon released, since no other zombies could be found at his house, and the testimony of a crazy deceased could not serve as proof.

The same American writer Zora Hurston was one of the first to see and photograph the "living dead" herself. In particular, she filmed the zombie Felicia Felix-Mentor, who died of a sudden illness in 1907. And in 1936 she was found: she wandered naked near her brother's farm. Both husband and brother recognized in her the one whom they themselves buried almost thirty years ago.

Felicia was in a terrible state and was sent to the hospital. There, the zombie woman was seen by the writer Hurston. “It was a terrible sight,” she recalled. - White face with dead eyes ... The eyelids were completely white, as if burned by acid. What could she say and receive in return if she was unaware of anything? All that remained was to look at her. But no one could endure this sight for a long time. "

Sorcerers who steal souls

13-year-old voodoo priestess confessed to killing 50 people Jummai Hassan, a 13-year-old Nigerian schoolgirl, was arrested a week ago on suspicion of the murder of a two-year-old boy. Despite his young age, the killer faces life imprisonment or the death penalty, reports lenta.ru with reference to AFP. During the investigation, she confessed that she was a secret sect, professing the Voodoo religion and practicing murder with the subsequent sale of the organs of victims for witchcraft rituals. The girl stated that over the seven years that have passed since the initiation, she has taken part in the ritual murders of more than 50 people, including her own father. She agreed to indicate the burial places of her victims, and in addition, said that the priests of the local church were her regular "buyers" - she sold them the organs of the victims, including the eyes and heart. The killer also pointed to her accomplice. After conducting a search of his home, the police found a variety of paraphernalia used in voodoo rituals. The fact is that in some areas of Nigeria, beliefs are still widespread that the organs of those sacrificed to the voodoo cult have magical effects and can heal many diseases. 28.07.2001

Most Haitians believe that they are turning people into "walking dead" by Bokor sorcerers who steal their souls.

According to them, this theft is done like this. As soon as it gets dark, the sorcerer saddles his horse and rides to the victim's house. There, pressing his lips to the crack in the door, the bokor "sucks the soul" and "places it" in a tightly corked bottle. Soon after this, the victim falls ill and dies, for a person cannot live without a soul.

After his burial at midnight, the bokor and his assistants dig up the grave and pronounce the name of the victim. In response, the deceased tries to raise his head, since the sorcerer owns his soul. As soon as he succeeds, the bokor brings the bottle with the captive soul to the nose of the corpse for a split second and opens it slightly. After that, the dead man is reanimated. They pull him out of the grave, tie him up and beat him on the head with the same bottle to fully revive him. Then the grave is carefully buried so that no one can find out about what happened.

The bokor then leads the victim past her house, casting spells. After this procedure, she will never be able to recognize her home and will not try to return there. The newly minted zombie is taken to the bokor's house, where they are given a drink of a witch's infusion of poisonous plants.

Bokors also have other ways of stealing the human soul. A vessel with magical objects and herbs that draws out his soul can be placed under the dying person's pillow. Bokors prepare a special powder from the cemetery earth and the bones of the dead, speak it and scatter it in front of the door of the intended victim. It causes paralysis, depriving the doomed of the ability to resist.

Bokor sorcerers lead secret societies, worship the devil, and carry out their ritual ceremonies in cemeteries. Usually they turn people who do not please them into zombies out of revenge. But it often happens that when there is a suitable victim, they are made into zombies to use as labor. Much less often people become zombies, because sorcerers enter into an agreement with devilish forces, which take human souls as payment for services rendered. By the way, if Christians believe in selling their own souls to the devil, then voodoo adherents use a different version: some people sell the souls of others in exchange for power and wealth.

To prevent the bokor from reaching the corpse and turning it into a zombie, different methods are used. Wealthy families are concreting graves. Many people bury loved ones in their own garden or on the side of busy roads. Since only a fresh corpse is suitable for "making" a zombie, relatives can establish a watch at the grave until the body begins to decompose. Sometimes the dead person is killed again by piercing the head with an iron bar, injecting poison or tightening the noose around his throat. Sometimes they are buried with a knife in their hands, so that the deceased himself could defend himself from the sorcerer who came for him. Often the body is laid face down in the grave, and the earth is stuffed into the mouth and the lips are sewn up so that the deceased cannot respond when the bokor calls his name.

“With the help of black magic, you can create the appearance of the“ life ”of a dead body,” says the expert on black magic, Montague Summers, “it will move and speak. But, according to the Bokors themselves, only a few, the most sophisticated sorcerers who plunged into the depths of hellish depths, can cast the spell for a long time, without its periodic repetition.

According to some researchers, a more plausible explanation is that the so-called zombies are not dead at all, but simply mentally disabled people who are specifically sought out and used by bokors.

But then what about the witnesses who swear they saw the bodies of the zombies dead? And not all zombies were originally idiots. Some relatives and friends remember them as healthy, intelligent people, who later appeared in the form of their own miserable likeness.

A possible explanation can be found in Haiti's old criminal code. "Also, an attempt," it says, "is the use of substances with the help of which the subject is immersed in a prolonged lethargic sleep, regardless of the purpose of the use of these means ... If a person is buried in a state of such a lethargic sleep, then the attempt becomes premeditated murder." ...

Zombie Powder

The doctors with whom Zora Hurston spoke fully admit that a zombie is a person who was declared dead and buried in a trance state, whom the bokor later retrieved from the grave. “We spent a lot of time building theories to explain the appearance of zombies,” writes Hurston. - This is certainly not raising from the dead. Most likely, those people were immersed in a state very close to death with the help of some kind of medicine. The way they were made was probably taken out of Africa and passed down from generation to generation among sorcerers. They obviously destroy the part of the brain that governs will, speech and reason. Victims can move and follow orders, but are unable to formulate their thoughts. Two doctors who tried to uncover the secret of these drugs were never able to find out how they were made. "This is a secret," they were told, "and the initiates would rather die than reveal it."

And yet there was a man who managed to penetrate into the secret of "zombie powder". It was the American ethnobiologist Wade Davis, who attracted talented chemists, doctors, ethnographers, historians, even theologians and art critics to his Zombie project. Ethnobiology is a new scientific discipline that includes pharmacology, biology, botany and anthropology.

The research started by Davis was carried out according to the standard scientific scheme: describing the problem, developing a hypothesis, identifying contradictions, checking the data and evaluating them, and, if necessary, returning to the starting point. His work was unique, because as paid experts he invited ... the bokor sorcerers themselves, with whom he had many hours of leisurely conversations. Communication with them was supplemented by mass polls of ordinary Haitians.

Step by step, Davis and his team gradually studied the whole process of zombification, delving into the background of each part of the secret ritual and all the methods and means used.

As a result, the hypothesis was confirmed that there is no resurrection of the dead during zombie. First, with the help of "witch's powder" a person is brought into a special state - it can be called a trance or coma, when all life processes are so weak that even the most experienced doctor cannot distinguish a victim of a zombie from an ordinary deceased. Then, no later than twelve hours after the funeral, the zombie candidate is removed from the grave and brought back to life. In hot climates, the dead are buried rather quickly, so that the bokor can be sure that the body will be in the ground when the effect of the drug ends, and it continues for a day. This drug, in combination with oxygen starvation, permanently incapacitates the most important centers of the brain, turning a person into a zombie.

Literally bit by bit, Davis managed to collect information about the composition of "zombie powder", which can be poured into any drink, applied to a needle or a sharp rod and pricked with it. Moreover, this is not done by the bokors themselves, but by members of the secret voodoo societies they lead.

One of the main components of the mysterious powder is puffer fish, which contains tetrodotoxin. It is dried in the sun for several days and then crushed into powder, which in no case should be inhaled so as not to be poisoned. For the second component of the powder, the Haitian toad bufo marinus is used. She is previously kept in a jar overnight, along with a sea worm that bites a toad. As a result, the bufo marinus caratoid glands produce a large amount of active chemicals - bufotein, bufogenii and bufotoxin. In the morning, the toad and the worm are killed, dried in the sun and also ground into powder.

Other components of the drug include the gall bladders of the dead bodies of a mule or human, native plants, human remains, preferably fresh. The skin and bones of the child are especially prized. Finally, the "zombie powder" includes black powder and talc.

Simultaneously with the powder, bokor also prepares an antidote. But it is not intended at all to "revive" the victims, as is commonly believed, but to protect the participants in the zombie process from poisoning.

In a report on the results of his research on the Zombies project, Wade Davis warned of the danger of those who want to follow the example of the Bokors and try to engage in zombies on their own - they will most likely become the first victims themselves. Making "zombie powder" is technologically so difficult that only the initiated - Haitian sorcerers can do it.

Sergey Barsov, INTERpolice, No. 2 2001

Love. Revenge. Voodoo.

Voodoo, the secret magic of the Negro slaves brought to America from Africa, has now spread throughout the world. This is the only pagan cult that managed to survive with the advent of civilization. Voodoo love magic is considered one of the most powerful. But voodooists are more likely to use it for something else. For revenge. Because taking revenge on a departed lover is sometimes sweeter than bringing him back.

ZOMBIE This is one of the most important voodoo myths. Some believe that a voodoo sorcerer with the help of special powders and spells can kill a person, and then resurrect him for work. A person, they say, at the same time loses speech and memory and turns into a semblance of a dumb animal, capable only of working. Strictly speaking, zombification is not a myth, but a reality. To make a zombie out of a person, African sorcerers use the components of various plants and animals. The main component of the powder is the poison tetradotoxin, which is contained in the meat of many fish, including puffer fish (a similar species is found off the west coast of Africa). In Japan, puffer fish is a dangerous treat, and the job of the cook who prepares it is to reduce the amount of tetradotoxin in meat. In small quantities, this poison causes a narcotic effect (in fact, for the sake of this, fugu is eaten). If the dose is exceeded, the person has a tingling sensation in the hands and feet, then his eyes turn glass and complete paralysis occurs. A poisoned person can stay in a coma for quite a long time, in African practices he is "revived" with the help of a special plant "zombie cucumber", which restores the person's ability to move, but not speak. It is noteworthy that the owners of zombies categorically forbid their slaves to eat salt. The fact is that tetradotoxin blocks the transmission of nerve impulses, preventing sodium ions from entering the cells of the human body. Salt, sodium chloride, "unlocks" this mechanism, and speech and memory return to the zombies. COSMOPOLITAN, April 2001

I would never have become interested in this kind of occultism, if not for one story that happened in ancient times in the pioneer camp. Our detachment had a counselor who divided the children into "us" and "strangers". Those who sucked up to her walked in her favorites, were always admitted to discos, and could even take walks to the neighboring village. Others, those who did not want to call her Lenusik, did not hang on her elbows on both sides and dodged when trying to gently embrace the counselors, scrubbed the floor, washed toilets and, under any pretext, were deprived of the right to discos and bathing. Finally, after another screeching statement "The third chamber does not go to the disco today !!!" the unloved are tired of all this.

"Let's go," - said to me the black-eyed Olya, whom the counselor did not seem to like the hardest of all. She took me into the forest on the outskirts of the camp area. After making sure no one was seeing us, she pulled out a group squad photograph, scissors, and a box of pins from her pocket. Then she raked the moss, pulled out a piece of clay from the hole and began to sculpt a little man out of it: "I dug out the clay beforehand." I looked at Olka as if she were a fool. In the meantime, she continued to practice modeling. "I'm going to bewitch Lenka. My dad worked in Cuba. He told me how Cubans do magic." - "Do you think it will help?" Instead of answering, she pulled out the pins and forcefully began to thrust them one by one into the doll's stomach. After a while, the impression arose that a hedgehog was sitting on the doll. Satisfied with the work of her own hands, Olka put the doll in the hole and covered it with moss. "It'll be a hiding place. Swear you won't tell anyone." I swore, not really believing in the power of a clay doll studded with pins with the face of our tormentor - well, the usual pioneer camp witchcraft, like the same summoning of spirits after lights out and horror stories about a black hand and a little girl in a big black house.

In the evening Olkino's witchcraft did not work, and the third chamber did not go to the disco. And at night counselor Lena was taken to the regional hospital with appendicitis. I proceeded to Olka with questions, but she could not really tell anything, except that witchcraft is called voodoo and in order to defeat the enemy with its help, you need to blind a doll and stick it into her pins. Then, secretly from Olya, I found that hole and pulled out all the pins from the doll. The next time I heard about voodoo was only ten years later.

Brief voodoo history course

"Voodoo" in the ancient African language of the tribe background means "spirit". Communication with voodoo loa (or, as the Yoruba Negroes called them, the orisha spirits) was the religion of the West African Negroes brought by the Spaniards to the Caribbean. Bloody sacrifices were made to spirits, and with the help of drumming, music and ritual dances, believers fell into a state of trance (it was believed that a spirit entered a person at that time). It is noteworthy that many spirits in their, so to speak, character and deeds were very reminiscent of Christian saints and ancient Greek gods. But the Spaniards did not want to know any of this and tried to convert their slaves to classical Catholicism. For keeping a figurine of some spirit, a slave could easily lose his life. And then the negroes in the Caribbean, especially in Haiti, changed their altars. But under the masks of saints, archangels and madonnas, they worshiped their old spirits. Neither the slave owners nor the spirits objected to this. And now, just four years after the first black slave was brought to Haiti, a rebellion broke out against the calmed slave owners on the island. It was suppressed, but the united Voodoo Negroes continued to revolt until at the end of the 18th century they took control of the island - by that time it was half owned by France, and Napoleon went to suppress the uprising, but he suffered one of his first defeats. It is noteworthy that from the very beginning to the present, voodoo has been a secret cult. The inconspicuous American scavenger may well turn out to be a voodoo sorcerer. Those who follow similar practices do not divulge it even now.

In the 20th century, New Orleans became the capital of voodoo - this is where most of the descendants of Haitian blacks moved. The local jazz musicians described the atmosphere of the city very well. They said that all of New Orleans then was only music, only love and only death. And if a girl wanted to attract a jazz trumpeter from a local zucchini into her arms, she simply got a hair from the head of her beloved or something like that, made a voodoo doll, stuck pins into her heart, head and legs - and the enchanted trumpeter thought about her, strove for her with his heart, and his feet themselves carried him to the girl. The wife of this trumpeter (if this happened) could take revenge, in turn blinding a voodoo doll, symbolizing a homeless woman, summon the spirits of destruction and poke pins into the doll - it was believed that the girl then had to get sick, die or leave.

You can laugh about it as much as you like. Voodoo followers claim this magic works. And just as the Russians once embraced jazz, so now they embraced voodoo. And among the services provided to the population, now there is also voodoo magic. To find out how all this happens, I went to a Moscow voodoo witch.

Moscow voodoo witch

Based on the foregoing, I expected to meet at least an elderly black woman in the voodoo priestesses. Meanwhile, a young girlish voice answered me on the phone, completely without an accent, except perhaps with a Ukrainian accent. We agreed to meet in three days. Two days later, I collapsed with a severe flu. I called the witch and rescheduled the meeting. A week later, getting ready for a meeting, I could not start the car. Spitting on all this, I went to her on the subway. At the entrance to the desired station, the train stopped and the electricity in the carriages was cut off. We stood like this for ten minutes ...

The witch practiced on the first floor of an ordinary Khrushchev five-story building. The secretary opened the door for me, and she gave me coffee, keeping me for twenty minutes in the kitchen under the pretext that "the witch is preparing for a visit." And finally, I enter a semi-dark room, lit only by candles. In the far corner sits a black-haired girl in a white kerchief and says in a grave voice: "What do you want?" It seems that she just forgot about everything. I explain again that the journalist came to interview her and to film the process of her work. Having realized that I was not a client, the girl relaxed and offered to demonstrate the process of modeling a doll, because spirits cannot be invoked in front of strangers anyway. Dolls are so dolls. I agreed. The witch lit a cigarette, took a sip of coffee, took a thick candle, lit it and began to pour wax on the newspaper, complaining about the customers along the way.

Here comes to you a kind of eighteen-year-old fool, brings a photo of a flabby 40-year-old businessman against the background of a Mercedes and says: "Bewitch." I say, "Why?" And she told me: "I love him." - "Who? This pot-bellied?" - "Yes," he says, "he has a very cute belly." - "Mercedes" is cute, not a belly! Who do you want to fool? You love his money, not him! "The young lady then stands with her mouth open. She has no words to protect her love, as it were.

Meanwhile, I listened to all this, too, with my mouth open, but not from surprise, but because it was hard for me to breathe. Severe asthmatic symptoms appeared in me only a few times in my life, and even then only after I ate fish (I am allergic to it). I painfully wondered what could be sprayed into the air (the incense that burned in the room does not count - I have never had an allergy to them and I have not), and in the end I asked the witch about it.

And you need to smoke less! And in general, you have damage! - she answered.

But she did not express her desire to cut off my energy tail or to cure the corruption of my desire. However, in about ten minutes everything went by itself in a mysterious way. The pile of wax on the table was growing. The atmosphere of the witch's room was reminiscent of women's gatherings in the kitchen while making dumplings - the witch kneaded the wax and slowly, comfortably talked about how, during the rite of initiation, she was put in a coffin, buried, and then taken out back.

Finally the wax was ready. The witch took out from somewhere an amateur photograph of a nondescript pot-bellied man, tore it out of it along the contour of a man with her fingers, burned it on a candle, and mixed the ashes with wax. After that, she began to sculpt a little ugly man. Male sexual dignity was supposed to stick to the figure. The dignity was so small that it fell off all the time. Sticking it in place once again, the witch said:

Only it is imperative to tell the readers that they themselves do not do it.

Useless. It is necessary to summon the spirits, and a common man will not see them, although they are there, here everywhere, and she shook her head somewhere in the corner of the room. From there a wooden African mask gazed at me thoughtfully.

But you show it anyway!

And with these words, the witch put the little man with the dignity attached to the right place in the drawn triangle, took out the pins and with the words "So that you, slave Sergei, love only one slave Natalia" stuck several pins of the little man in the head, in the place where it should be heart, long-suffering dignity and feet.

Can you tell fortunes?

What for? There is no future anyway. You will make your own future!

We finished our coffee, finished our cigarettes, and I went out into the air, into the frosty night Moscow - to make my future for myself.

Deciding to take away the business from her ex-husband, the 45-year-old woman from Luhansk tried to exterminate her faithful ... with the help of black magic

When police officers told the owner of a car shop from Luhansk Oleg Sergeev that his ex-wife wanted to kill him, the man got angry: “How can you say that? We have lived together for so many years, we have two children! Well, yes, she sued me, believing that after the divorce, my store should go to her. But I gave her half of its value - 320 thousand hryvnia. Why kill me? "

Only after meeting with the "killer" hired by his ex-wife was Oleg convinced that there was no mistake. “Here are the $ 8,000 that your wife gave me as an advance,” the failed killer told the owner of the auto shop in the presence of the organized crime department staff. - Before hiring me, Olga tried to squeeze you out of the light with the help of black magic. I myself saw how she and her friend performed some kind of ritual in her apartment. She said she was spoiling you. "

Hearing about the strange rituals, Oleg shuddered. Then, after a little pause, he asked the killer: "I wonder how much Olga appreciated my life?" It turned out that for the murder of her ex-husband, the woman promised the performer 20 thousand dollars.

Small in stature, thin Olga does not look like an insidious woman who ordered the murder of her ex-husband.

We have been divorced for three years, - Olga said during interrogation. - Anything happened between us. Of course, there was a time when we loved each other. We have two children. The eldest son serves in the Crimea. He is about to be transferred to the mainland. My daughter is 14 years old.

About five years ago, Oleg changed a lot in relation to me - he began to insult, sometimes he even raised his hand. And then he went to another family. I was left alone with two children. I couldn't forgive him for that. Submitted for alimony. And then I decided to sue him for our general auto shop. But all the courts were in favor of her husband. The business remained with him. Once Oleg met me on the street: “Stop walking around the courts. Do you want me to give you half the cost of the store? " I refused. To be honest, I still hoped to bring Oleg back to the family. And he, it turns out, paid off from me.

- What is this story with black magic? Did you really want to spoil your husband?

Olga lowers her eyes, is silent for a few seconds, but then she still answers:

All this magic is nonsense. Children's fun. Whether it was or not, witchcraft is not being judged now. They won't burn me at the stake.

They really found literature on black magic in Olga's apartment, - says Deputy Head for Combating Organized Crime in the Luhansk Region Maxim Tsitsyura... - In addition, in the most prominent place on the table, we found a homemade voodoo doll, stuck with needles. Everything indicates that some kind of magical rituals were performed in this house.

All this is not serious, - says Natalya, Olga's friend, who is a witness in the case. - I am fond of magic, love spells. But this is just a hobby. Olga was very worried after her divorce from her husband, she wanted him back. Once she came to visit me when I was reading tarot cards and told me about my problems. I suggested: “If you want, let's try to bewitch your husband. What if he comes back? " She said this as a joke, but over time she herself believed that I was helping my friend.

I read in books on black magic that there is such a method of love spell: you need to take a feather from the pillow on which the woman is sleeping, read a prayer over it and put it under the rug in front of the man's front door. We did so ...

- So what, Olga's ex-husband returned?

No, - Natalya sighs.

- And what is the story with the voodoo doll that lay in Olga's apartment?

Well, you know that there is only one step from love to hate. When Olga realized that Oleg was not going to return to the family, she decided to take a desperate step. Once she came to visit me and in despair said: "Let's kill him!" At first I thought that my friend was joking, but she stood her ground: “You can do magic. Think of something. I must take revenge on Oleg! He told me about it on the phone and now he doesn't want to return the money for the store at all. "

Olga asked me how you can get rid of a person with the help of magic, - continues Natalia. - I told her the first thing that came to mind: "voodoo doll." In principle, I can do it. This is not difficult. We made our magic doll from wax. I will not tell you in detail how it is made. Print it in your newspaper, and then your readers will start doing nasty things to each other. The main thing is to name the doll by the name of the one you want to lime, and, observing a special ritual, pierce it with special magic needles. Where you prick with a needle, then the person you want to hurt should hurt. Olga most often stuck needles into the doll's head.

- In addition to this ritual, did you perform any other rituals?

I gave Olga several books on black magic and said that I no longer want to participate in this. Perhaps my friend was still doing magic at home. Do not know. But once she came to me so happy: “I saw today how an ambulance drove up to Oleg's house. Magic works! " As we later found out, Oleg had a severe headache and his blood pressure rose.

Magic is magic, but soon Olga switched to more effective, in her opinion, measures, says Maxim Tsitsyura. - She decided to hire a hitman. Moreover, the woman, apparently, understood how to look for hired killers in the same way as in black magic.

Olga had an acquaintance who was once in prison. It was to him that she turned with a request to find a person who could kill her husband. The former prisoner willingly got down to business, as he was entitled to a reward. Soon he brought a man to Olga who agreed to kill Oleg. We agreed on the amount. Olga promised to pay 20 thousand dollars for the death of her ex-husband. We also discussed the deposit. The killer got his hands on eight thousand dollars and ... disappeared. It was not possible to find him. He stopped answering the customer's calls.

The most interesting thing is that soon the story of the hired killer-swindler repeated itself. An acquaintance brought another killer candidate. And he, taking a bail of eight thousand dollars, also disappeared.

Despite the setbacks, Olga did not give up trying to find the killer. Unexpectedly, a previously convicted acquaintance himself agreed to the role of a hired killer. Olga gave him eight thousand dollars too. And she promised to settle accounts with him for the murder immediately after she sold her husband's store. The killer accepted these conditions and ... informed us about the impending murder.

- Why do you think he handed over his customer to the police?

It seems to me that by that time he realized how far everything had gone.

- What for Olga was supposed to serve as proof of the murder?

The evidence was supposed to be the ex-husband's mobile phone and his driver's license.

- But these things could have simply been stolen and shown to the customer!

Olga thought that this would be enough. By the way, to make sure that the woman was really looking for the killer, we recorded her last conversation with the “killer”, hiding a microphone on his clothes.

The next day, the "killer" told the customer that the job was done and made an appointment with her.

- Olga was arrested?

Yes. She was sincerely surprised when the police officers approached her. They took her in fact on the hot, right after the transfer of money to the "perpetrator of the crime."

- Did the man finally believe that his ex-wife wanted him dead?

With difficulties. He is completely confused and very worried about the children. They are sure that dad set up mom in order to put her in jail. Therefore, the man asks that the children have the opportunity to listen to the audio recording, where his wife is talking to the “killer”.

Soon Olga's case will be taken to court, - the head of the Luhansk regional police Vladimir Guslavsky told "FACTS". - If her guilt is proven, the woman will face a severe punishment - she can go to jail for 15 years.

In Spain, a gang of pimps turned African women into sex slaves using voodoo rituals NEWSru.com... 8 June 2015 Spanish police neutralized a criminal group that forced migrant women into prostitution. To this end, the attackers used African traditions of "black magic", threatening the victims and their families with terrible punishment. Six alleged members of a pimp gang were arrested. Also, the police managed to free four women who suffered from their actions. According to preliminary data, the attackers lured Nigerian women to work in Spain, and then forced them to provide sex services in the resorts of Lanzarote (Canary Islands) or Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Islands). To prevent the victims from fleeing or resisting, the pimps performed voodoo rituals using the victims' cut nails and hair. These objects, together with the animal, were sacrificed to African gods. At the same time, the pimps demanded from otherworldly forces that they punish women and their family with death if they did not fulfill their requirements. In addition, the prostitutes had to pay the pimps a "debt" in the amount of 50 thousand euros. Only after the entire amount was paid were the girls released from their obligations and the "curse" imposed on them. The victims of the gang were underage girls, whose services are highly valued in the sex industry. Pimps were also interested in those who have family problems or financial difficulties. Such women were more willing to accept the offer to go to Spain to work. They managed to get on the trail of the group after the police detained an African woman who had arrived from the Sahara region in February 2015. She, as the investigators found out, was one of the victims of the pimps. Previously, the so-called "ju-ju" (amulets attributed to supernatural properties) were used by pimps in Italy and Great Britain.

Considering Voodoo magic is not entirely correct. Residents of the coast of the Gulf of Guinea (Benin, Togo, Ghana) and in Central Africa (Congo) where almost everyone professes Voodoo believe that this is not magic, but a religion that has its own gods, its own church and the foundations of time.

It is difficult to call it an ancient religion - it is young even in comparison with Islam or Shinto. It owes its origin to the mixing of religious traditions of completely different cultures - Christian and pagan - during the period of French colonial slavery.

Having brought the first slaves to Haiti in 1503, the colonialists forbade them to preach their native religion, replacing it with Catholicism. Unable to resist the invaders, the slaves had to worship the religion imposed on them, but their hearts belonged to their native belief, so they pretended to worship Catholic saints as a cover, while they themselves continued to believe and honor what they had been instilled in since childhood.

The Voodoo religion underwent major changes from 1719 to 1830, when black slaves began to be actively brought to America, and with them their faith in Voodoo. Over time, there was a serious penetration of the two religions into each other, Catholicism and Woodism.

In the period from 1830 to 1930, the African movement turned into a Creole. The transformation began with the then famous Voodoo Queen Mary Laveau, who was the first to turn Voodoo into a business and forced Europeans to show at least some respect for shamans.

Mary Laveau, being a Catholic and a voodoo adherent, managed to tie the two religions together. It was thanks to Laveau that the foundations of modern New Orleans' Voodoo were laid. During her lifetime, the mixture of Catholicism with African and Indian traditions became a full-fledged religious teaching. After Laveau's death in 1881, everything changed. Voodoo began to turn into witchcraft and even acquired a new American name "hoodoo" - witchcraft, evil eye, damage.

From 1930 to the present day, modern Voodoo has appeared, in which there is no longer any hint of religion. Since 1932, Voodoo has been the subject of discussion in the press and cinema. Throughout America, many shops are opening selling utensils for all sorts of Woody rituals. Voodoo becomes the magic of "amateurs".

The transformation of the Voodoo religion into Voodoo magic, she owes to the New Orleans branch, which practiced death spells, targeting corruption and witchcraft on dolls. Hollywood made a significant contribution to the idea of ​​people about Voodoo, exactly as black magic.

Voodoo magic rituals

All the rituals that the bokor (sorcerer) is capable of performing are divided into six main groups. Depending on the number of groups that a bokor is capable of owning, his experience and strength are determined.

1. Group "language of the spirit" - a ritual is used to communicate with the dead. The sorcerer can only communicate with those who died no more than seven days ago, otherwise it becomes very difficult to establish contact with the spirit of a dead person.
2. Group "Erzulie" (gaze) - aka love spell. Used to manipulate feelings such as love. For a bokor love spell, it is necessary to create a symbol of love - veve Erzulie, after which the sorcerer is able to completely control the feelings of the victim.
3. Group "Sobo" (Thunderous Call) - An offensive ritual used by the sorcerer to attack enemies. To perform it, the bokor sings a ritual song for 10 minutes, while holding a handful of silicon dust in one hand, and the same handful of magnetic stone in the other, at the last word of the chant, the sorcerer clenches his fists and shouts out the name of the spirit of thunder - Sobo. Everyone who was within a radius of 15 meters is deafened for 2 hours, the nearest glass objects are scattered into small pieces.
4. Group "Grans Bwa" (Protection of the spirits of the forest) - this ritual is used by sorcerers in order to hide from persecution. To do this, the sorcerer must make the sign veve Grans Bwa from leaves, berries, herbs and branches, and then wash it with his blood while chanting a spell for two hours. After this rite, the sorcerer only needs to place veve Grans Bwa on the ground in the forest and summon Grans Bwa. After this manipulation, the forest itself will cover the bokor. Shrubs and tree branches will part in front of him, and the grass will hide traces.
5. Group "Zombi" (Creation of zombies) - this ritual brought the world lime to the magic of Voodoo and we will talk about it below.
6. Group "Voodoo" (Voodoo doll) - with the help of this ritual, the sorcerer can create a doll that will be mentally attached to a specific person. Thanks to various manipulations with the doll, a person can be harmed, bewitched and even killed.

Zombie stories

The first mention of zombies came from Haiti. One of the most interesting cases is described by the American writer Zora Hurston from the words of the mother of one of the deceased boys. The next night after the burial of their son, the household was awakened by crying from the nursery. It turned out that the sister of the deceased was crying in the room, having heard singing and noise in the street, among which she made out the voice of her brother.

Looking out the window, the family saw a whole procession moving from the side of the cemetery to their house. When the crowd drew level with their house, everyone unmistakably recognized and heard the plaintive cry of the boy buried yesterday, slowly trudging behind the whole procession.

“But the horror inspired by the zombie was so great that even the mother did not dare to go out and try to save her son,” writes Zorah Hurston. - Soon the procession disappeared from sight. After that nightmare, the boy's sister went crazy. "

Another equally interesting case was described by the writer William Seabrook. A girl named Camila marries a fairly wealthy Mr. Matthew Toussel.

On the first wedding anniversary, after midnight, Matthew called his wife to celebrate the event, and persistently forcing the woman to put on a wedding dress. Going down to the table, Camila saw that several more men were sitting at the table.

Matthew apologized for the guests, promising his wife that after the feast the men would cheer up and dance with her, but Camila noticed something strange in her husband's voice and drew attention to one of those sitting at the table in the twilight.

The man tightly squeezed a glass of wine, but held it so unnaturally that everything spilled out of it on the floor. Suspecting something was wrong, the woman grabbed a candlestick standing nearby and put it on the table. Horror filled her face. There were four corpses at the table.

Frightened, Camila rushed upstairs and locked herself in the bedroom until morning. In the morning, a servant came, but the young woman stubbornly refused to go out. In the future, she never recovered from the nightmare she experienced, and her husband left Haiti the next day.

There are still many recorded and documented cases of people meeting zombies, but there is no point in listing them, it is better to try to figure out where they come from.

Zombie creation

Zombies created using Voodoo magic are of several types of Zombi:

• Zombi cadaver - a corpse brought back to life
• Astral zombi - the spirit of the deceased summoned to the real world
• Big zombie - a combination of the first and second types

The most common type is the first. It is he who is most often used by sorcerers for their own purposes.

Zombie (eng. Zombi) This is a person devoid of any emotions, memory and feelings. Most often, when pronouncing the word zombie, they mean a living corpse capable of following orders with a completely blocked ability for thought processes.

Most Haitians believe that they are turning people into "walking dead" by Bokor sorcerers who steal their souls. How does this happen?

First, the bokoru needs to get the victim's soul. To do this, he can use several ways.

1. At night, the sorcerer makes his way to the victim's house and, putting his lips to the door crack, sucks the victim's soul transferring it into a bottle which he plugs with a cork. After that, the victim very quickly falls ill and dies, since he cannot live without a soul.
2. A bottle with charmed herbs and objects that draw out the soul of a person is placed under the victim's pillow.
3. Powder, charmed on the cemetery earth and human bones, is scattered in front of the victim's door, after which the person is paralyzed, and he just as suddenly dies. During an illness, a sorcerer can easily visit a person and take away his soul because he cannot resist.

Further, when the soul is received, the sorcerer awaits burial, after which he comes to the grave of his victim at midnight. The sorcerer's assistants dig up the grave, open the coffin and the bokor reads a spell, asking the name of the deceased, he answers him, since the sorcerer has his soul.

After the answer, the sorcerer for a split second brings to the nose of the deceased a bottle in which the soul of the deceased is imprisoned with the cork open, as soon as the corpse takes a breath, he is reanimated.

They pull him out of the grave and begin to beat him on the head with the same bottle, so that he finally comes to life. Then the grave is carefully buried so that no one can find out about what happened.

Next, the sorcerer needs to lead the victim near the house in order to cast a spell that will forever make the zombies forget their home. Then the newly minted zombie is taken to the bokor's house, where they are given a drink of witchcraft infusion of poisonous plants.

Most often, those who want to take revenge are turned into zombies, or if the sorcerer urgently needs labor, and he has found a suitable candidate.

There is another reason people turn into zombies. Some argue that bokor, in order to receive the abilities and help of otherworldly forces, concludes an agreement with the devil, but as payment he offers not his soul, but the souls of other people.

Believing in all of the above, Haitians and residents of other regions where it is common voodoo magic, use methods of protecting the dead from sorcerers.

One of the most widespread concreting of a grave, but not everyone can afford this method, therefore there are a number of alternative methods, such as: burial near the house; burial on the side of busy roads; watch near the grave until the corpse begins to decompose (only fresh corpses are suitable for creating zombies).

Also, to get rid of the dead from the sorcerer, methods of repeated death and self-defense will be used, such as: damage to the brain of the deceased with a metal needle; the introduction of poison; strangling the troupe with the help of a posthumously tightened stranglehold; burial of the deceased with a knife in his hands; burial face down with a sewn-up mouth so that the dead cannot respond, etc.

The zombi cadaver spell does not work permanently and must be repeated periodically. Only a few of the bokors are able to impose a curse for a very long time, but for this they need to plunge very deep into the depths of the hellish depths.

Zombie or victim of chemistry

Inveterate atheists and skeptics would never have believed that anyone could raise the dead. More than once, many scientists and researchers of Voodoo magic have spoken out in favor of the fact that the person who is being turned by the bokor zombies is not actually dead, but only in a state of altered consciousness.

The first who decided to understand this issue and find out the true mechanism of resurrection was the American ethnobiologist Wade Davis. He needed to attract a whole team of talented scientists in the field of medicine, chemistry, ethnography, history, as well as theologians and art critics.

The first thing that scientists have been able to establish is that a special powder is used to create zombies, the secret of making which was taken out of Africa many years ago and is now passed down by shamans from generation to generation.

There was no way to find out the recipe, since the sorcerers flatly refused to talk about it. Then Davis went the other way. He began to collect bit by bit the knowledge of the Haitians themselves regarding this issue and even attracted shamans for a fee, with whom they had many hours of conversations, with the help of which Davis tried to find out the most valuable knowledge. After a long time, Davis managed to get the composition.

As previously assumed, those who became zombies had never been dead before. With the help of a certain powder, bokor introduced a person into a state of deep coma, in which the metabolism slowed down to such a level that even an experienced doctor could not determine whether a person was dead or not.

Then the sorcerer waits for the poor fellow to be buried. Usually, in hot climates, this happens after a few hours. In no more than 12 hours, the shaman visits the grave, from which the victim is removed. Due to oxygen starvation in the coffin and the effects of the potion, the centers of the brain responsible for speech and memory were damaged in a person. This is what turns him into a zombie.

The basis of the powder was the poison tetradotoxin. To obtain it, shamans used puffer fish, which was dried in the sun for several days, and then ground into a fine powder that cannot be breathed, as it is extremely poisonous.

The next ingredient was the Haitian toad bufo marinus. To obtain the necessary component, the toad was planted overnight in a jar with a sea worm, which inflicted bites, as a result of which a large amount of bufotein, bufogenin and bufotoxin was produced in the toad's caratoid glands. After 12 hours, the toad and the worm were killed and also ground into powder.

A number of the following components were the bile of a dead mule or a person, human remains are better fresh (the skin and bones of a child are especially appreciated), a number of local plants, as well as gunpowder and talc.

In parallel with the zombie powder, the shaman also prepares an antidote in case of poisoning of the participants of the resurrection. It contains salt in its composition. The fact is that tetradotoxin blocks the transmission of nerve impulses, preventing sodium ions from entering the cells of the human body. Salt - sodium chloride - “unblocks” this mechanism, and speech and memory return to the poisoned person.

At the end of his report on Project Zombies, Wade Davis warns against trying to make this powder to non-professionals. Since, according to Davis, the technological process of preparing the drug is so complicated that only experienced bokors can do it.

Research by Wade Davis once again confirms that any miracle and mystical component of a seemingly unusual event, when studied in detail, has a completely simple and material explanation and voodoo magic this is no exception.