Jessie Bodeen
Miss Jessie Bodeen is characterized as a New Orleans Voodoo queen, who acts as a healer for the local African Americans working as servants in the city. As a healer, she has pledged to do no harm. Now a resident at "Everlasting Life", Jessie tells the story of her downfall when she accepts a commission from Delphine LaLaurie, a character based on her real-life counterpart. For $150, this character was supposed to keep away another socialite, Mrs. Anton, a wealthy young widow, who is new in town and already more popular than Delphine LaLaurie. Jessie had been warned by Mambo Marie, a fellow Voodoo practitioner, to not invoke the Loa to curse Mrs. Anton. So for the next three months, Jessie is able to discreetly poison Mrs. Anton with small, non-lethal amounts of aconite to keep her too ill to attend any parties. However, after three months and the end of the social season in New Orleans, Delphine LaLaurie reneged on their deal, despite Jessie Bodeen upholding her part of the bargain. Furious about having been lied to, Jessie Bodeen makes up her mind to seek revenge on Delphine LaLaurie by invoking the Loa, particularly Damballa, to avenge her. The Loa punishes Delphine LaLaurie, regardless of collateral damages and innocent bystanders. Ten years later, the Loa also punished Jessie Bodeen for having taken on Delphine LaLaurie's commission in the first place.
Agwé, is a lwa who rules over the sea, fish, and aquatic plants, as well as the patron lwa of fishermen and sailors in Vodou, especially in Haiti. He is considered to be married to Erzulie Freda and La Sirene. He goes by several titles, including koki la me, koki dore, "The Angel in the Mirror", "The Eel", and "The Tadpole in the Pond".
Damballa, also spelled Damballah, Dambala, Dambalah, among other variations, is one of the most important of all loa, spirits in Haitian Voodoo and other African diaspora religious traditions such as Obeah. He is traditionally portrayed as a great white or black serpent, originating in the city of Wedo in modern-day Benin. Damballa is said to be the Sky Father and the primordial creator of all life, or the first thing created by Gran Met. In those Vodou societies that view Damballa as the primordial creator, he created the cosmos by using his 7,000 coils to form the stars and the planets in the heavens and to shape the hills and valleys on earth. In others, being the first thing created by God, creation was undertaken through him. By shedding the serpent skin, Damballa created all the waters on the earth. As a serpent, he moves between land and water, generating life, and through the earth, uniting the land with the waters below. Damballa is usually syncretized with either Saint Patrick or Moses. He is counted among the Rada loa.
Papa Legba is a lwa in Haitian Vodou, Winti and Louisiana Voodoo, who serves as the intermediary between the lwa and humanity. He stands at a spiritual crossroads and gives permission to speak with the spirits of Guineé, and is believed to speak all human languages. In Haiti, he is the great elocutioner. Legba facilitates communication, speech, and understanding. He is commonly associated with dogs. Papa Legba is invoked at the beginning of every ceremony. Papa Legba has his origins in the historic West African kingdom of Dahomey, located within present-day Benin.
Erzulie is a family of loa, or spirits, in Voodoo.
Marie Catherine Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo, herbalist and midwife who was renowned in New Orleans. Her daughter, Marie Laveau II, also practiced rootwork, conjure, Native American and African spiritualism as well as Louisiana Voodoo. An alternate spelling of her name, Laveaux, is considered by historians to be from the original French spelling.
Shadowman is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by Valiant Comics. The character debuted in Shadowman #1, created by writers Jim Shooter and Steve Englehart, and artist David Lapham. Shadowman appears in his own series and video games, as well as numerous other Valiant comics.
Marie Delphine Macarty or MacCarthy, more commonly known as Madame Blanque or, after her third marriage, as Madame LaLaurie, was a New Orleans socialite and serial killer who tortured and murdered slaves in her household.
Brother Voodoo is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Strange Tales #169. The character was created by publisher Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and artist John Romita Sr. Since replacing Doctor Strange as Sorcerer Supreme in The New Avengers #53, the character is referred to as Doctor Voodoo.
A manbo is a priestess in the Haitian Vodou religion. Haitian Vodou's conceptions of priesthood stem from the religious traditions of enslaved people from Dahomey, in what is today Benin. For instance, the term manbo derives from the Fon word nanbo. Like their West African counterparts, Haitian manbos are female leaders in Vodou temples who perform healing work and guide others during complex rituals. This form of female leadership is prevalent in urban centers such as Port-au-Prince. Typically, there is no hierarchy among manbos and oungans. These priestesses and priests serve as the heads of autonomous religious groups and exert their authority over the devotees or spiritual servants in their hounfo (temples).
The Zombie is a fictional supernatural character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett for the standalone story "Zombie" in the horror-anthology comic book Menace #5, which was published by Atlas Comics, a forerunner to Marvel. The character later became well known for starring in the black-and-white horror-comic magazine series Tales of the Zombie (1973–1975), usually in stories by Steve Gerber and Pablo Marcos.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers is a 1993 point-and-click adventure game, developed and published by Sierra On-Line for MS-DOS, Macintosh, and Windows, and released on December 17, 1993. The CD-ROM version features the voice talents of Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Michael Dorn, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Leah Remini. The game's story focuses on Gabriel Knight, a struggling novelist and owner of a rare book store in New Orleans, who opts to research a recent spate of murders around the city that have a connection to voodoo. In the process, he is slowly revealed to be a descendant of a German family who are involved in combatting people who use supernatural forces, and discovers a link between the killings and his family's past.
Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is an African diasporic religion which originated in Louisiana, now in the southern United States. It arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional religions of West Africa, the Roman Catholic form of Christianity, and Haitian Vodou. No central authority is in control of Louisiana Voodoo, which is organized through autonomous groups.
The iron bit, also referred to as a gag, was used by enslavers and overseers as a form of punishment on slaves in the Southern United States. The bit, sometimes depicted as the scold's bridle, uses similar mechanics to that of the common horse bit. The scolds bridle however, is almost always associated with its use on women in the early 17th century and there are very few accounts of the device as a method of torture against black slaves under that particular name. As opposed to the whip, the iron bit lacks the historic, social, and literary symbolic fame that would make information on the use of the iron bit as accessible. Its use throughout history has warranted some attention though, mostly from literary texts. Even earlier, slave narratives and publications of newspapers and magazines from the 18th century on give evidence of this device being used to torture and punish slaves.
The third season of the American horror anthology television series American Horror Story, subtitled Coven, is set in 2013 New Orleans and follows a coven of witches descended from Salem as they fight for survival, and features flashbacks to the Salem witch trials in 1692, as well as the 1830s, 1910s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s. The ensemble cast includes Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe, Emma Roberts, Patti Lupone, Denis O'Hare, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange, with all returning from previous seasons, except Roberts, Bassett, Sidibe, and Bates.
"Bitchcraft" is the premiere episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on October 9, 2013 on the cable network FX. The episode title is a portmanteau of the words bitch and witchcraft.
"Fearful Pranks Ensue" is the fourth episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on October 30, 2013, on the cable network FX. This episode is rated TV-MA (LSV).
"Boy Parts" is the second episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on October 16, 2013, on the cable network FX. The title is a reference to a line in this episode spoken by Madison Montgomery.
"Head" is the ninth episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on December 11, 2013, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Tim Minear and directed by Howard Deutch.
Julia Jackson was a Louisiana Voodoo practitioner from New Orleans.
