Drouin de Bercy: "Le Vaudou est le plus dangereux" (Paris, 1814)

SUMMARYDrouin de Bercy: "Le Vaudou est le plus dangereux" (Paris, 1814) [Connections: Ayiti spirit, first-person, Nov 5, 2026]

RECORDDrouin de Bercy, De Saint-Domingue (1814), p. 177: "Le Vaudou est le plus dangereux de tous les nègres"; his appendix presents the "sects" as a security threat and ends with a chant he translates as an oath to destroy whites (p. 178). Descourtilz, Voyages d'un naturaliste (1809), vol. 3, pp. 180–87, by contrast gives anecdotes of possession, serpent veneration and charms as one curiosity among many. HOSTILE witnesses (French colonists hoping to retake the colony)

PATTERNPettinger notes Drouin's emphasis on menace was unusual for its time: the "danger" frame came from those who wanted reconquest

LENS (WW9)The fear was political before it was religious

OPENRead Drouin's appendix in full

SOURCEPettinger, "From Vaudoux to Voodoo".