The Legba Story

[Party_car1]

So, in watching Tale Of The Goat many times, I always wondered about the validity of the story Crockett, Tubbs and Castillo were told by the doctor concerning how Legba appeared dead but left his coffin. I thought they made up the Tetredotoxin story as a way to explain it. Creative bit of writing but suspect from a reality standpoint or so I thought. Then I ran across something online that actually validated it.

[OCBman]

                  TUBBS
Man, nobody's gonna risk brain damage for a 
handful of cashola and a bad girlfriend.

                 CROCKETT
Come on, Rico, we've seen people killed 
for a nickel bag every day.

 

[Mvice8489]

Man, nobody's gonna risk brain damage for a 
handful of cashola and a bad girlfriend.

 

Sounds like a couple of my buddy's college experiences ....LOL !!!  )

[jpaul1]

vaudou like any other religion, has a part of real, and a part of allegory. it's up to everyone to distinguish the part of each. i read a good book about haïtian vaudou once. and only zombies they refered to, were 'charmed' people, that were put into a great depression state. at such point that they would loose any hope, and thus become malleable. they can be put into such frustration states by charms sent by black vaudou sorcerers (aka bokors). one of these charms is the 'expedition of the deads'. a highly feared charm among vaudou practitioners. in short it consists of sending the spirits of the deads after a person, and puts him/her into a great frustration state, that can lead to the death of the victim. never heard tetrodotoxin stuff though..

the author spent months with a haïtian houngan (white vaudou priest), and her hounsis (adepts/family)

 

[pahonu]

3 hours ago, jpaul1 said:

vaudou like any other religion, has a part of real, and a part of allegory. it's up to everyone to distinguish the part of each. i read a good book about haïtian vaudou once. and only zombies they refered to, were 'charmed' people, that were put into a great depression state. at such point that they would loose any hope, and thus become malleable. they can be put into such frustration states by charms sent by black vaudou sorcerers (aka bokors). one of these charms is the 'expedition of the deads'. a highly feared charm among vaudou practitioners. in short it consists of sending the spirits of the deads after a person, and puts him/her into a great frustration state, that can lead to the death of the victim. never heard tetrodotoxin stuff though..

the author spent months with a haïtian houngan (white vaudou priest), and her hounsis (adepts/family)

 

I would recommend a book I read years ago by Zora Neale Hurston, called Tell My Horse.  She was an author and anthropologist during the Harlem Renaissance and the decades following.  She mostly focused on the folk traditions and beliefs of the African American South where she was born, including hoodoo.  However, in the 30’s she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to conduct ethnographic research in Haiti and Jamaica.  The book documents her fieldwork studying vodoun in Haiti and the cultural and spiritual rituals in Jamaica. 
 

I recently downloaded her article from The Journal of American Folklore called Hoodoo in America, but haven’t read it yet.

Edited August 20, 2023 by pahonu

[RedDragon86]

 

Legba is based on Clairvius Narcisse, a Haitian man who claimed to have been turned into a zombie by a Haitian vodou.

The hypothesis for Narcisse's account was that he had been administered a combination of psychoactive substances (often the paralyzing pufferfish venom tetrodotoxin and the strong deliriant Datura), which rendered him helpless and seemingly dead.

[Matt5]

On 8/20/2023 at 7:50 PM, RedDragon86 said:

 

Legba is based on Clairvius Narcisse, a Haitian man who claimed to have been turned into a zombie by a Haitian vodou.

The hypothesis for Narcisse's account was that he had been administered a combination of psychoactive substances (often the paralyzing pufferfish venom tetrodotoxin and the strong deliriant Datura), which rendered him helpless and seemingly dead.

Great piece 

[Party_car1]

Wow. Lots of great commentary on this. Thanks to all who have weighed in.