Does Haiti Have Demonic Roots or Just an Undeserved Bad Reputation?

A guest post by Dina Rae (visit his blog) author of Bad Juju.

Does Haiti Have Demonic Roots or Just an Undeserved Bad Reputation?

Haiti and her people have been called Satanists, devil worshipers, demons, and other disparaging names since its independence. The impoverished country’s history has unfortunately kept the politically incorrect reputation alive. Why? What could have happened over two hundred years ago that is still the subject of real life horror stories?

To begin with, Haiti has one of the most intriguing independence stories that I ever read about. Yes, the U.S. had a bloody, gory revolution, but nothing as colorful as Haiti’s legendary pact with the devil. It all started with Dutty Boukman, a Jamaican born houngan (Voodoo priest) in 1791. Back then Haiti was called St. Domingue. One fateful night in August, Boukman performed a ceremony that changed the course of history in Haiti forever. He sacrificed a pig, drank its blood, and then all of the loas (spirits) supposedly descended from the Cosmos and possessed all who was in attendance. Legend states a pact was made with the dark side to end slavery and free them from their oppressors. Pat Robertson, a leading evangelist, went even further stating it was a pact made with Satan. Boukman was decapitated a few months later by the French who ran the country. By the way, Boukman means dirty or man of the book.

The rest of the story has quite an apocalyptic ending. Other uprisings occurred years later, but things got really weird once Napoleon got involved. Fifty thousand French troops mysteriously died of yellow fever. With France out of the way, Haiti was born in 1804. Voodoo never went away, but disguised itself under the Catholic religion. Some of their darker practices were used in the plot of Bad Juju.