dave costello
15th October 2011, 17:24
:cool:William Seabrook avidly studied the spirit religions of the West Indies in the 1920s. In his book The Magic Island he relates a strange tale told to him by a Haitian farmer. It seems that their was a bumper sugar cane crop in 1918,and labourers were in short supply. One day Joseph,an old headman,appeared leading a band of ragged creatures who shuffled along behind him staring dumbly like people in a daze. They were not ordinary labourers. They were zombies-dead men whom Joseph had brought back to life by magic to slave for him in the fields. Zombies must never taste salt according to the farmers tale,so Josephs wife fed them special unseasoned food. But one day she took pity on them and bought them some candy,not knowing it was made of peanuts. As soon as the zombies tasted the salty nuts,they realized they were dead. With a terrible cry they set off for their own village. Stumbling past living relatives who recognized them in horror,they approached the grave yard...and rushed among the graves,and each before his own empty grave began clawing at the stones and earth...and,as their cold hands touched the earth,they felland lay there rotting as carrion,