{Scanned July 2001. This book is not in the public domain. It is posted here under the 'non-profit archive' provisions of the US Copyright law. because of its rarity and importance for researchers. Please do not reproduce, repost, print or otherwise copy this material. No commercial use of this book is permitted.
Some mispellings have been corrected, except where they appear in quoted historical documents. This is an historical description of a society (19th and 20th century New Orleans) with a profoundly racist ideology; and therefore some descriptive passages, transcriptions of Afro-American dialect, and terms which are currently considered offensive are found in this text. None of this offensive material has been censored, deleted or altered.
This text is presented for entertainment and research purposes only. This text contains descriptions of Vodun spells and preparations, the concoction of which may be harmful or cruel to animals, or contain poisonous ingredients. The reader is advised that their use or preparation, other than by Vodun practitioners, is not recommended.--jbh}
{p. 6}
FOR MY MOTHER
{p. 7}
MUCH NONSENSE has been written about Voodoo in New Orleans. It seems to me that here is a truthful and definitive picture.
Robert Tallant has done several years' research on the subject and, in addition, has consulted some of the files collected by the Louisiana Writers Project, now in the possession of the Louisiana Library Commission in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
When I read Mr. Tallant's manuscript I was highly pleased with his accuracy and integrity and I think he has made extremely good use of all his material.
LYLE SAXON
St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans
1944
{p. 8}
PARTICULAR acknowledgments are due Miss Essae M. Culver, Executive Secretary of the Louisiana Library Commission, Mrs. Joel Doane Howerton, of Meridian, Mississippi, Miss Caroline M. Burson, Miss Hazel Breaux and Robert McKinney, each of whom, in one way or another, lent assistance.
I want, too, to thank all the people, white and colored, many of whose names I do not even remember, who offered information without which the material for this book could never have been gathered.
And I am very grateful to all those who wrote of my city before me--Alcée Fortier, Charles Gayarré, Lafcadio Hearn, George W. Cable, Henry Castellanos, Grace King, Dr. William A. Read, Charles Dudley Warner, Edward Laroeque Tinker, Herbert Asbury and, most of all, Lyle Saxon, to whom my debt is beyond measure.
R. T.
{p. 9}