Over
several years, across several towns in Louisiana, there were multiple
cases of entire families found murdered in their sleep by someone
wielding an axe. The horrific murders began around 1909 and continued
through 1912. A man was arrested, but another murder occurred while he
was in jail. Police turned their attention to his 19-year-old daughter,
Clementine Barnabet. A few months later, Barnabet confessed to 17
murders.
The El Paso Gazette was one of many to run
with the Voodoo angle. After their story hit newsstands, several local
papers also printed the possibility that the murders were connected to
Voodoo. Around the same time, rumors were swirling that Clementine was
the leader of some kind of cult called the "Church of Sacrifice," which
was supposedly led by one Reverend King Harris, a Pentecostal revival
preacher with a small congregation connected to the Christ Sanctified
Holy Church. Police took Harris in for interrogation after rumors of
religious involvement ran rampant, but the reverend had never heard of a
"Church of Sacrifice," and was visibly shaken to think that his sermons
could have possibly inspired a series of bloody ax murders.
There
are problems with Barnabet's confession. Her story changed constantly,
possibly reflecting the publicity and moral panic surrounding the
murders. And the murders did not stop when she was arrested. There was
also scant evidence that the sacrificial Voodoo cult even existed. But
there was physical evidence, such as Barnabet's blood-soaked clothing.
Read
the mysterious story of Clementine Barnabet at Mental Floss.
No comments:
Post a Comment