Disaster And Werewolf Fears
Haiti’s homeless are haunted by creatures who prowl the night.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti - The corpse of a young man, bloodied by bullet wounds, lay on Boulevard Truman in the center of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, a few hundred yards from a rag-tag camp for the homeless.
Why this man was killed is unknown, but a deeply ingrained belief in the occult can explain some of the sporadic outbreaks of violence among the 690,000 people left on the streets by the earthquake of January 12.
By night, mythical creatures are said to prowl the camps, snatching and murdering children. Many Haitians are convinced that people possessed by evil spirits turn into wolves after dark, a version of the werewolf legend.These loups-garoux, or wolf-men, are thought to be preying on defenseless people sleeping in the open.
“Almost all Haitian families are afraid of this,” said Vladimir Cadet, 29, who is among the homeless. “While they are sleeping in the street, they are living with this reality. There was a woman whose two children were taken by a werewolf. This kind of thing is spreading like wildfire.”
Mr Cadet, an English-speaking university graduate, is convinced of the existence of werewolves. “I have never seen one but I’ve been told by my mother that they exist. When I was a little boy, I was nearly taken.”
This widespread belief in the occult has worsened the ordeal of the homeless. As well as facing the daily burden of finding food and water, many also live with the fear that creatures of the night will abduct their children.
Where Mr Cadet sleeps, people have formed brigades of watchmen who guard against the twin dangers of thieves and werewolves. Anyone suspected of falling into either category is liable to be killed.
About half of Haiti’s 9 million people are thought actively to practice voodoo. Many more share some of these beliefs.
This has had one positive effect in the earthquake’s aftermath. Voodoo holds that human beings never truly die – instead their spirits simply migrate to another dimension of existence.
Consequently, the 150,000 people who were claimed by the natural disaster are thought to live on in a parallel universe, from where they might occasionally contact their relatives in this world.
In a country bereft of comfort, this belief is a rare source of peace for the survivors of its tragedy. - David Blair
Source - http://www.ft.com/
