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Zombies and Voodoo
When Tina went to Basil and told him of her predicament, Basil told some rather unwanted information. He told of an anthology by William Seabrook called "The Magic Island" that introduced North America and Europe to abstractions that had held the atoll of Haiti in a chokehold of awful alarm since 1629. The belief was called "Voodoo": A complicated amalgam of African folk magic, Christianity and atmospheric psychology. The most appalling abstraction of this canon was the zombie: a cadaver reanimated by charms and bludgeoned to conduct the choices of the lord enchanter while in a state of living death. Seabrook wrote that he had actually seen a zombie walking through the sugarcane fields under the light of the full moon.
Basil continued with stating that that Francois Duvalier had fostered a cult of personality and claimed he was the physical embodiment of Haiti itself. He also revived the traditions of Voodoo. Later using them to consolidate his power with his claim of being a Voodoo priest himself. To make himself even more imposing, Duvalier modeled his image on Baron Samedi, the Loa of Death. He donned sunglasses to hide his eyes and talked with a strong nasal tone associated with the Loa of Death. The propaganda of his regime stated that he was one with Baron Samedi, Jesus and God himself. The most celebrated image of Duvalier's reign showed a standing Jesus with a hand on Duvalier's shoulder captioned "I have chosen him." This dictator had declared himself an "immaterial being" as well as "the Haitian flag" soon after his first election. In 1964, he published a catechism in which the Lord's Prayer was reworded to pay tribute to Duvalier instead of God. In his closet, Duvalier kept the head of a political enemy who tried to overthrow him in 1963 and believed another political enemy was able to change into a black dog at will and ordered the militia to begin killing all black dogs on sight in Port-au-Prince.
"Voodoo is not dead in Haiti." Said Basil when he was finished.
Thus on the plane with her boyfriend Lee Ping, did Tina think of what Basil had said. It was absurd. Zombies only existed in bad Mexican movies and Voodoo was as dead as Julius Caesar!
"Zombies are work of fiction and voodoo is dead." Muttered Tina.
"Of course they are." Said Lee, having heard what Tina said. "Are you expecting us to live 'Isle of the Snake People?'"
"No, just thinking of what Basil said."
"Don't work yourself up over what he says. Having an estate in a place doesn't mean you know everything about it."