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Woman in custody over "Voodoo Head"

 
  

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All Acting Regiment
08:05 / 11.02.06
Here's the link.

US immigration officials have arrested a Haitian woman after baggage screeners found a human head in her luggage at a Florida airport.

Myrlene Severe, 30, has been charged with failing to declare the head on a customs form and transporting "hazardous material".

She arrived at Florida's Fort Lauderdale airport on Thursday on a flight from Cap Haitien in north Haiti.

Ms Severe said that the head was to ward off evil sprits, officials said.

"Severe stated that she had obtained the package, which contained a human head, from a male in Haiti for use as part of her voodoo beliefs," the US Attorney's Office said in a statement.


What do we think about this?
 
 
illmatic
10:31 / 11.02.06
She's pretty bloody stupid?
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
10:50 / 11.02.06
Well, yeah. I firmly believe that allowances should be made for people who need to own or transport certain items that might otherwise be looked on askance if their faith requires it, but...

...she got on a plane with a SEVERED HEAD in her luggage. Dude.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
12:32 / 11.02.06
Aye. Did she have any documents proving that the bloke was happy for this to happen to his head?
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
15:45 / 11.02.06
There have been similar cases with Native Americans transporting eagle feathers (endangered species) as well as ceremonial axes and knives.

In all off these cases after credentials are checked they are allowed to go about their business. It usually ends up being a 30 second blurb on the news here.

Trying to move a severed head in your baggage is, I think, not the brightest thing to do, especially internationally where they ARE going to check out anything strange, for fear of bringing bugs into the states.
 
 
*
18:37 / 11.02.06
I thiiiink I'm going to have to call foul on the notion that carrying an eagle feather if you're Native American is equivalent to carrying a severed head if you're a Voudouisant, at least in the eyes of customs officials.

Still, 15 years? I feel bad for her. Evidently it didn't work.
 
 
LykeX
21:42 / 11.02.06
15 years sound extreme and hopefully it won't come to that. It was stupid, no doubt, but 15 years? It's not like she was hiding a bomb in it.

I do wonder who the head belonged to, though.
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
22:47 / 11.02.06
Oh, I wasn't trying to compare the two as a way to justify carrying around a human head, just mentioning similar situations which happen fairly commonly in my part of the world.

I wonder if the length of imprisonment is the saem regardless of body part, or if heads are somehow worth more time in jail.
 
 
Dead Megatron
23:04 / 11.02.06
I wonder how a severed human head would ward off evil spirits. To my understanding, it would be a magnet for bad vibes. I remember I had a dee skull in my house tha t I had to throw in the trash-can to have some peace. And the thing was not even of my own species...

In Brazil, we use wood-sculpted heads to do that sort of job ("carrancas", i.e. "angry-faces", is what we call them) and they work pretty fine, thanks



Other than that, I agree with previous posts: pretty stupid move...
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
14:10 / 12.02.06
Look, if one of Rage's friends wants to get their head cut off in the name of art, that's entirely-

-oh, hang on.

Sorry.
 
 
MrCoffeeBean
20:25 / 12.02.06
Stupid custome, i guess they didnt realize how good one of them "voodoo heads" are. I think US realy needs som espiritual healing to get them christian shitheads out of there.
Crap! How much wouldnt i give to own one of them heads...
 
 
Seth
01:24 / 13.02.06
That's a really interesting question. How far would you go to obtain yourself a human head? Who else here would like one? I mean, besides the one they already have on their shoulders...

Failing to see how this is the fault of Christians.
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
02:36 / 13.02.06
I agree Seth. Someone on livejournal was having a fit because she could get 15 years for "practicing her religion".

That is not how I see it, the way I see it she was moving decaying human flesh on an international flight. Ignoring that it is from a part of the worl NOTORIOUS for the dead coming back alive, this thing could have been full of nasty ick.

Hell, if she was moving fruit and didn't declare it she would likely be facing a similar sentence.

As far as wanting a human head, I don't, unless it is John the Baptist's
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
05:14 / 13.02.06
I'd be cool with John Candy's head. Or maybe one of his hands. But I don't think I'd take it on a plane.

cause of those damn christians, of course.
 
 
*
05:25 / 13.02.06
Yeah. Those christains are always keeping ME from carrying various parts of dead humans on planes. Especially ones that died of unknown causes. Ruins my day when I get 10-15 for just practicing my religious imperative to carry bits of dead humans with me wherever I go. It's discrimination. You don't see Catholic priests get 15 years in prison for carrying THEIR pieces of Jesus around, do you?




What say, can we still get something out of this or should it go in Convo?
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
07:08 / 13.02.06
I don't see a reason to move it.

I think we can all agree, except for MrCoffeeBean (whose reasoning my be skewed from years fighting back the tide of oppressive christianity threatening to wash away all free thought), that carting around a human head and not telling anyone is understandably illegal.

So how, exactly, would one go about legally transporting a human head across national lines?
 
 
MrCoffeeBean
09:45 / 13.02.06
cant be that hard to legly move varius body parts... institutions and collectors moves mummies and stuff back and forth all the time, maybe you just have to be able to claim they been dead for a couple of hundred years...
 
 
Evil Scientist
09:56 / 13.02.06
maybe you just have to be able to claim they been dead for a couple of hundred years...

Transporting human remains of any kind (with the exception of, I believe, cremated remains) across international borders is always a tricky business. It doesn't matter how old the remains are. Spore-forming bacterium can lay dormant for a long old time, so there is always a risk of infection.

When museums, etc, want to move mummified remains there is a lot of paperwork done. The fact that human remains are in transit on a plane/ship/zepellin is known by Customs, so appropriate precautions can be taken.

Whatever her religious beliefs, it was extremely foolish of the woman in question to transport a human head in this manner. Customs would be obligated to investigate the origin of a human head to ensure that no foul play had been involved.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
10:03 / 13.02.06
I've been reading some discussion of this on a couple of Vodoun-relatd lists, and the general feeling seems to be that the woman's a bit of a fool.

It seems that this might be less at the religious end of things than the magical? Not always easy to seperate the two, of course, but some people seem to be dismissing the argument that the woman was "only practicing her religion" since there's nothing in the book of rules that says you have to carry a head around with you. Let alone take it on a plane...
 
 
Unconditional Love
10:29 / 13.02.06
My point is these kinds of practices are common to all religions at some point in there evolution, attempting to use or understand the power of death in a spiritual context.

Theres nothing icky about it either, its normal once you realise you are going to die.
 
 
Evil Scientist
10:48 / 13.02.06
My point is these kinds of practices are common to all religions at some point in there evolution, attempting to use or understand the power of death in a spiritual context.

Theres nothing icky about it either, its normal once you realise you are going to die.


Well, I don't believe she was arrested because it was icky and threatend Western perceptions of mortality. She was arrested because it was a potential health risk, evidence of a possible felony, and it is currently illegal to bring human remains into that particular country without the appropriate paperwork.
 
 
Evil Scientist
10:51 / 13.02.06
By the way, Dead Megatron, you realise that photo is how I'm going to imagine you from this day forth?
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
11:23 / 13.02.06
Theres nothing icky about it either, its normal once you realise you are going to die.

So, were I to come round your house with a decomposing head of unknown provenance in a bowling bag and rest it idly on the kitchen counter as we discussed the weather, you'd be cool with that? The possibility of infection with disease or contamination with decomposing human flesh wouldn't bother you at all? You'd be happy to shrug off any nagging little doubts as to how, precicely, such an item might have come into my posession?

Just sayin', dude.
 
 
Dead Megatron
11:36 / 13.02.06
By the way, Dead Megatron, you realise that photo is how I'm going to imagine you from this day forth?

As long as you realise I look a lot more like the guy on the bottom of the picture...
 
 
Unconditional Love
12:21 / 13.02.06
I would be very intrigued as to the story behind it, i would assume a prepared head rather than a decomposing one, that would be smelly.

There have been some comments that do suggest western difficulties with mortality. Which does add to the persecution that those that are more comfortable with notions of death and body parts in general suffer.

If the object were a fetish of somekind it would be preserved and not decaying as has been suggested by others, neither would it be fresh, there is a whole treatment process that goes into using heads or skulls for that matter in vodou.

The news item lacks alot of detail, a hell of alot.
I wonder why.

As somebody else has said she is a fool for having it in her luggage, but for having it in general, no not at all she has every right too, otherwise smash every bone shrine in the world and powder every saints bone and cast them to the wind.

Why is it possible for a spiritual institution to display such possession but not a spiritual individual? Power?

It must be because spiritual institutions are more accountable and responsible in there behaviour than individuals, that must be it. I can tell by the examples in the world around me.

She was dumb to have it in her luggage, but i stand by her right to use it in her spirituality.
 
 
electric monk
13:05 / 13.02.06
A spokesman for Miami's immigration and customs agency told the AFP news agency that the head was not simply a skull.

"It had teeth, hair and skin, and quite a lot of dirt," she said.


This isn't St. Agustus' ulna we're talking about here, tho. This sounds very much like the noggin of a recently deceased person. I think that makes a bit of a difference.

I know very little about Voudou and so have to ask: Is it conceivable that this was an object to be used in a ritual context, or did this woman get, I dunno, "swindled"?

Florida. Always friggin' Florida.
 
 
Evil Scientist
15:42 / 13.02.06
Why is it possible for a spiritual institution to display such possession but not a spiritual individual? Power?

Or possibly because they don't cram them in their carry-on bag next to the duty-free.

but for having it in general, no not at all she has every right too

Hmm, yes in theory. Assuming the previous occupant of the head had consented to being used thusly and there were no complaints from her/his family (it's not just us Westerners who get a bit funny about people wandering around with bits of Aunty Ethel in their satchel).

Surely the spirtuality of the deceased person, as well as that of their family should also be taken into account?

As I said previously. She wasn't being arrested for having a religion that requires the nearby presence of a severed human head. She was arrested for carrying an item which, at the very least, requires some form of identifying paperwork in order to be brought into the US.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
15:50 / 13.02.06
And from a magical perspective, there are plenty of reasons to look askance at a person carrying important bits of the Dead around with them as they could be doing something ethically very dodgy (possibly up to and including enslaving the soul of the former inhabitant).
 
 
Seth
15:51 / 13.02.06
I wonder how much the desired magical effects of such an artefact may be increased by using such an emotionally charged part of the human body, with all the attendant breaking of taboos? As has been mentioned here, there are practitioners for whom this would only have negative associations… what might other people think? Does the breaking of taboos automatically grant useful power? Does it demand the expectations of a person or culture whose taboos are contravened to gain power?
 
 
MrCoffeeBean
18:52 / 13.02.06
Whats wrong with the US, a poor woman cant keep her religiuos relic but they let Dick Chaney cary firearms...
 
 
Dead Megatron
19:15 / 13.02.06
That's because firearms are probablu Dickie's version of a religious relic. That, and SUVs...
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
20:04 / 13.02.06
MrCoffeeBean: I'm compelled to ask--and I do apologise if this refrain is becoming overly familiar--have you actually read the rest of this thread?
 
 
grant
20:05 / 13.02.06
Florida. Always friggin' Florida.

Amen, monk.


I wonder how much the desired magical effects of such an artefact may be increased by using such an emotionally charged part of the human body, with all the attendant breaking of taboos?

Uninformed speculation, but there's a thing in Haitian Vodun about your head. The met tete in Haiti -- the "master of the head" - is the lwa who sort of functions as a guardian angel. Baptism is lave tete or sevis tete and to be possessed by the lwa is to have one of them monter la tete.

Of course, heads are also where eyes (windows to the soul), faces and mouths are located. Tongues and noses, too. Lots of identity and sensing going on there. And brains, if you're into that kind of thing.
 
 
Dead Megatron
20:23 / 13.02.06
In fact, biologically speaking, heads exist for the very purpose of putting all those sensory inlets close to the brain. Shorter "wiring", less chance some of them will shortcircuit. Only expection: skin. but, then again, that's all over the place, ain't it?

That reminds something I saw in Ripley's Belive it or not: an African tribes who made "carrancas" out of the skins of dead enemies...
 
 
MrCoffeeBean
22:14 / 13.02.06
The greatest part of that bit of newstext is what it dosent say. Its a fine example on how western media portray (exscuse my spelling, im from sweden for christ sake!) non-western religions. Theres so much christian and western moral put into this short piece. Read it again, do some close reading, check out every word they use.
Its says so much on how we, in western tradition look supon death and nothing about how people from another tradition can have on death. We do have a raly fucked up and unnatrual idea on death here in the west...

By the way, was it a severed head or a shrunken head? If it were made according to tradition its proberly at least a hundread years old.

Its fucking impossible to take a short news piece like that serious.

And having dead peopel for spirit protection is very fucking effective. Especialy if you cary part sof them with you... you find it in every religion there is.

And, realy, is it realy so different from carrying around parts of dead animals? How many of you dont do that?
 
  

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