Makandal said he would turn into a fly; the people said he lived (Cap-Français, January 20, 1758)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1758 · Places: Northeast, Ayiti
SUMMARYMakandal said he would turn into a fly; the people said he lived (Cap-Français, January 20, 1758) [Connections: Ayiti spirit, first-person, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDMoreau de Saint-Méry, Description... de la partie française de l'isle Saint-Domingue (Philadelphia, 1797–98), vol. 1, pp. 651–53 (English rendering on the page): Makandal was "condemned to be burned alive by a decree of the Cape Town Council of January 20, 1758"; he "declared that he would take the form of a fly to escape the flames"; "Many negroes believe, even now, that he did not perish from the torment"; and "the negroes call the poison & poisoners Macandals." HOSTILE witness: a colonial lawyer and slaveholding-class writer, decades after the event
PATTERNThe colonist's own book records that the people kept faith in Makandal's power about 40 years later
LENS (WW9)The fire did not win the story
OPENWikipedia lists sources saying he briefly broke free at the stake and was recaptured (Dubois & Garrigus 2017); find the 1758 eyewitness report