- "Bond reflected it was no wonder that the Big Man found Voodooism such a powerful weapon on minds that still recoiled at a white chicken’s feather or crossed sticks in the road – right in the middle of the shining capital city of the Western world."
- ― Ian Fleming.
Black Widow Voodoo cult is a fictional religious cult based in Harlem, New York City, United States. Founded by Soviet operative Mr. Big, the cult wielded enormous influence over the local African American population. It first appeared in Ian Fleming's 1954 James Bond novel, Live and Let Die, and was subsequently featured in a radio dramatisation and comic adaptations by the Daily Express and Dynamite Entertainment.
History[]
The Black Widow Voodoo cult was an underground Voodoo temple in Harlem connected to the main cult in Haiti, likely founded by Haitian American criminal Mr. Big upon his post-war return to the United States in 1950.[1] The cult essentially functioned as a psychological weapon through which The Big Man exerted enormous influence over the local population. The rumour had started that he was the Zombie or living corpse of Baron Samedi himself, the dreaded Prince of Darkness, and he fostered the story so that by early 1952[2] it was accepted through all the lower strata of the African American world. As a result, he commanded real fear, strongly substantiated by the immediate and often mysterious deaths of anyone who crossed him or disobeyed his orders. Following its founder's demise, the fate of the cult is unknown.
References[]
- ↑ Note: Big's corpse-like appearance, fostering his identification with Baron Samedi, was "recently" imparted to him by chronic heart disease. The cult was also instrumental in his post-war Soviet spying.
- ↑ Ian Fleming's James Bond: Annotations and Chronologies for Ian Fleming's Bond Stories, Griswold, John, 2006, AuthorHouse, 9781425931001, p.445