Trace Murillo's Blog

I am a huge fan of horror and urban legends. I have to say, so many more legends are out there far beyond Bloody Mary or The Hook Man. Some legends will make your skin crawl, some will have you questioning your own sanity, and even have you sleeping with your lights on for a very long time. Just the mere possibility that we ask if any of these legends are based on fact or fiction holds a lot of strength to their story. So, are they true narratives or just folklore? I really do not know the answer to that, but isn’t this what makes the urban legends so exciting?

In January of 2019, I decided I wanted to bring some of these stories to the forefront of horror fiction and create a collection of urban legends for you to enjoy. I wanted to give them a new life, a new voice while staying close to their original storyline. A Girl Named Carmen Winstead is the first book in the collection, and The Wendigo, Hannah Crannah, and The Werewolf of Defiance will follow later this year.

While writing A Girl Named Carmen Winstead, I did struggle with whether to bring such a horrific topic to life. Although Carmen Winstead deserved her story to be told—and I did want it to be a part of the collection—I struggled with the fact it does detail a very real issue that many young adults struggle through daily, and that is bullying. I have written about the hopeful origins of this topic several times and its somewhat disheartening aftermath. I grappled with it at length and decided the subject deserves attention. So, I’ll ignore the immemorial and be brief about the latter and assume most of you readers know this is a written form of fiction and concentrate on the history instead, so let’s get down to the heart of the matter—bullying.

This is a horrific crime against humanity. And although the first school anti-bullying law has been in effect since 1999, the last state to adopt it was not until 2015; this should be a reminder to us all that we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to this horrific crime.

No one deserves to be brutalized because they are different or if they are characterized as not offering some so-called normalcy to our society that thinks everyone must act the same, walk the same, believe in the same things, or be some Barbie cutout of what society thinks you should look like—whatever that means. Being different is what makes us special, isn’t it?

With that said, as Carmen Winstead became more real for me—I mean, I cried with her and then cheered her on—it was imperative that I did not characterize her as a monster. I do not think anyone would agree that she was; she was a victim that, in the end, bullied her bullies. I hope everyone who reads her story will agree she was a young, lonely girl who needed a friend.

Have you ever really asked the question, what was the voodoo doll really used for? Now I know most of you will answer that it was some form of effigy that certain religious practitioners made to inset pins into and attempt to inflict pain on their enemies or anyone that caused them harm. But what if I told you that it could have been possible that these small cloth-like figurines were used for something more serious? Something that we today still use, but in a different way?

Before we get to that let’s dig into some history of the doll and the myths that surround it. If you ever travel to New Orleans, Louisiana, you can walk into any shop that are laid out in the rows in the French Quarter or any voodoo shop on Bourbon Street and buy what they call an authentic voodoo doll. The truth be told, there is nothing authentic about it. They are nothing more than pieces of artifacts used in commercializing the religion of Vodun. The truth about the voodoo doll still remains a mystery.

The voodoo doll is based on a mythical magical practice that historically derived from Europe. I know most people believe Haitians incorporated the dolls into their black magic practices, but I have found textual records that claim the voodoo doll first appeared in Britain. As far back as the 18th century in Europe, they had similar dolls they used for magic and witchcraft called a poppet. It was a doll used in the same way as the voodoo doll, but it was used as a kitchen with a cloth-like effigy lodged in fireplaces or chimneys to scare away evil. Witch dolls!

The truth is that there is no prominent place on record where the dolls made their debut. The history of the voodoo doll remains a mystery. But there is one fact that I would like to share. While I was in Louisiana doing research on my newly released novel Jasper Kaine, I spoke to a historian of voodoo and he said something to me that made perfect sense.

He claims that we have it all wrong about the doll. He claims that many years ago when people went to witch doctors for curing or medicine, the doctor would create a doll, put the patient’s name on it and stick a pin on the areas of which he worked; collecting data, a medical record of sorts. This statement made perfect sense to me. How else would practitioners be able to keep record of ailments of his patients in a time when they did not have sophisticated record keeping like we have today?

So does the voodoo have a bad reputation for being an evil effigy used for dark magical powers to do harm against thy enemy or was it just a form of record keeping in a time when they had nothing else and society made it into what it is today for money? Unfortunately, I do not have the correct answers for you. No one does.

So the next time you are in New Orleans…pick one up. Give it a proper home and do not think it is used solely to put bad mojo on people. Or is it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boy, do I have a story to tell. While I was writing my
latest novel, Jasper Kaine, I went to Louisiana several times. I talked
to numerous people, traveled the bayou, visited museums and noticed how many
people had commercialized the religion of Vodun just to make a quick buck. This
made me sad, but it also got me thinking. When exactly did Voodoo become so
interesting that thousands of people each year travel to this great state,
spend thousands of dollars just to tour a cemetery that the dead lay in
waiting? I realized quickly to answer my own question, it is Marie Laveau. The
most famous Mambo Queen in New Orleans.

Marie Laveau is buried, supposedly in St. Louis
Cemetery No. 1. This is where most of the high profile, famous people are
buried in New Orleans. The problem is, some say she is not buried there at all.
Some claim Marie Laveau’s body was spread out between three to four
cemeteries’, claiming her bones are resting peacefully in the swamps of
Louisiana where they belong, but this has never been proven. Others claim it is
her daughter Marie Laveau II that is buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 and not
the original Voodoo Queen herself. It is proven fact that there are two tombs
that carry the name Laveau, but each with different middle names. So where is
Marie Laveau?

History takes us to the day she passed away on a mysterious journey, standing outside of 1020 St. Ann Street in the French Quarter where she lived. Once it was announced the passing of the Voodoo Queen, some residence claimed they saw her walking around the French Quarters. They claimed she looked younger and more vibrant than she normally appeared. We must remember at her death, Marie Laveau was claimed to be 98 years old, although some historians have debunked this claim and records show she was 78.

As the myths go, people claimed she was getting younger. Some stories were even as farfetched as claiming the Voodoo Queen was sucking the souls out of younger children to preserve her soul for eternity. Sounds like a great Hollywood movie, doesn’t it? What most did not realize or take into consideration is Marie Laveau II. Her daughter. A more young, charismatic version of the Voodoo Queen herself. Her twin of sorts. But which daughter was it? Marie Laveau had two daughters, both named Marie. Marie Euchariste Eloise Laveau (1827-1862) and Marie Philomene Glapion (1836-1897). It was tradition in French Catholicism to name your daughters Marie and use their middle name as a common name. As history has shown, no one knows which daughter took on the identity of Marie Laveau and no one really knows which one is buried in the second tomb in St. Louis Cemetery. What we do know is that the tomb of Marie Laveau is the most visited and the most vandalized tomb in Louisiana. But is it the daughter’s tomb that is being vandalized or is it the original Mambo Queen’s spirit that is pulling believers to her grave? Stay tuned while I travel to New Orleans and figure out this mystery myself.

To get a better understanding of Voodoo, let’s begin by calling it Vodou. If you’ve wondered if they are the same, the simple answer is “Yes.” The other answer is most easily described as commercialism.

The fact of it is that Vodou is not a cult. It’s actually an established religion. In America, in places like Louisiana that serves as a setting for Jasper Kaine, Vodou has roots in Catholicism as well as other beliefs they share. A more in-depth explanation appears in the video below.

I chose this particular video because it actually explains a great deal so that you can better understand Jasper Kaine. When the video speaks of LWA, there are two in the book. First, we meet Papa Legba. And then, there is Baron Samedi. They each have their own purpose in this world and this video explains exactly what that is. 

It also shows you a ceremony which is somewhat similar to the ones you’ll read about in the book. The only difference is the ceremony in the video is taking place during the day. The ceremonies in the book happen at night at a mysterious place they call Black Rock. 

Enjoy The Video

When