Af “Historier” 21

Det fænomen, der oftest associeres med voodoo, er zombier. En zombie er person, der er død og begravet, men lever videre som en troldmands – en bokos eller hungans – viljeløse slave. Som et forsøg på at give en naturlig forklaring antager man, at zombien ikke er virkelig død, men i en kataleptisk tilstand forårsaget af et giftstof.

On October 24, 1936, an old naked woman with no eyelashes and a ragged cloth around her face wandered into the village of Ennery, Haiti. Panic spread through the village, and the news spread as well; and soon the Mentor family who lived just outside the village heard and investigated.

It was said the strange woman was lame in her left leg, and she bore a resemblance to Felicia Felix-Mentor, who was also lame due to a fracture in her left leg. Felicia, however, had died and been buried in 1907, twenty-nine years earlier.

Det er et fænomen, selv straffeloven anerkender eksistensen af:

Also to be termed intention to kill, by poisoning, is that use of substances whereby a person is not killed but reduced to a state of lethargy, more or less prolonged, and this without regard to the manner in which the substances were used or what were their later results.

If, following the state of lethargy the person is buried, then the attempt will be termed murder.

En mere bredt accepteret forklaring er, at bokoens magt over zombien skyldes, at han er i besiddelse af den dødes sjæl – en oplysning, jeg af indlysende grunde fandt nyttig! Åbenbart handler bokoerne med disse sjæle (ames zombi) som med andre værdigenstande.

Ofte er det den person, der vasker liget, der ser sit snit til at fange sjælen i en flaske, ganske som jeg selv gjorde det. Han har forinden sikret sig det af ligets hår og negle, han har klippet af, og som sjælen formodes at følge ind i flasken.

Det ser ud til, at jeg har en ubehagelig nat foran mig.