The Curse of the Mcafee Estate

Chapter One

Mary was a house servant in the 1840’s on a plantation called McAfee Estate. The house is located within walking distance from my house. The mansion still stands with all of its wonder and beauty. The home is located in Hammond, Louisiana and this town is riddled in the Deep South traditions. The home still holds many mysteries and some will remain secret forever. The plantation in its glory days was the toast of the town. The plantation was built by Joseph McAfee and his wife, Dortha. Joseph and Dortha were the proud owners of the Estate. Joseph was a handsome man with dark brown hair with blue eyes. He was almost six foot tall and towered over most people. He carried himself with a pride and would greet anyone he met as a future friend. Joseph was ready to meet each day with a smile and he was ready to make his mark on the world. He decided to start out on his own he would go anywhere to obtain his dream for his future. Joseph had travelled to America from Scotland and settled in Louisiana. Joseph had come to America to make his fortune in the building of houses. He had work for his father in Scotland and knew how to build the best homes in the countryside of Scotland. Joseph knew that America was the land of opportunity and decided that he was going to make his dreams come true in America. Joseph worked hard and made a name for himself in a matter of only a few years. Joseph was lonesome and wanted to find a wife to start a family with as soon as possible. He met his beautiful wife Dortha late in summer of 1819 in the city of New Orleans. Dortha was a true Southern belle, she was beautiful beyond words and would stop conversions when she entered into a room. She had beautiful dark brown curls that surrounded her angel like features on her face. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean and her smile has perfect. Dortha was a delight to be around and everyone wanted to be her friend. It was not long before Joseph was also enslaved by her beautiful face and she had won his heart. Joseph was devoted to winning her hand and after months of courting her, he asked for her hand in marriage. They were wed on the 5th of March 1820. They were only married a year when their son, Thomas Joseph was born. They called him T.J. as his nickname. They had a wonderful marriage and there spent their days on the McAfee Estate where they raised their son. The plantation house had four bedrooms that had a hallway that run between them. Three bedrooms were located on one side of the house. The dining area and parlor were located along with master bedroom on the opposite side of the home with a lovely view of the large oak tree. There was a constant wind that blew through the home and the tree provided the shade in the hottest part of the day. Their home was decorated with the finest furniture that New Orleans had to offer. Dortha had a keen sense of fashion and so the home became the focus of all the local people of Hammond because of their wonderful taste and sense of hospitality. They decided after twenty years of running the estate to give it to their son and return to New Orleans to enjoy the rest of their lives in the city that they had fallen in love many years ago and they turned it over to their son T.J. T.J. McAfee II and his lovely family, Elizabeth and three children shared this wonderful home. Elizabeth was from a prominent family in Hammond. She was a beautiful red head with a fair face with beautiful green eyes. T.J. and her had met at church and had fallen in love at an early age. When Elizabeth was sixteen, T.J. asked from her hand in marriage. They moved into the plantation home with his parents and had their three children. The oldest son, named Jack was a wonderful hunter. It spent his days wandering through the woods and tracking his prey. His favorite game was the white tail deer and he would make it is ambition to kill several for the family feasts. Katherine was the only daughter and was the pride and joy of T.J. McAfee. She had him wrapped around her finger from the first day he laid eyes on her. The youngest son was named Joseph and he was the mischievous one that enjoyed playing tricks on everyone.

Mary was a house servant to this prominent family, she did all of the cooking for them. She was born on the plantation and her parents were slaves that worked in the Indigo fields of the farm. Indigo had brought much of the wealth acquire by the family. Mary was the same age as T.J. and they were close friends. T.J. considered Mary more like a sister. He was an only child and Mary was his only playmate. Mary and T.J. had spent many hours happily playing under the giant live oaks that surrounded the family home. It was a piece of heaven under the live oaks, when the harsh summer sun baked everything else but the ground under the tree it was a delight to play in the shade. T.J. and Mary would make believe that they were under siege and that the tree was their castle. Mary loved T.J. and they were happiness when they were playing together.

Mary had chores to attend to when she grew closer to adulthood. As a house servant, she would be in charge of cleaning the kitchen. That is where she spent her time with her Great Aunt Betty. She learned to cook from her Great Aunt Betty. She was a wonderful cook and patient teacher. She can cook the best seafood gumbo and crawfish etouffee that you have tasted. Aunt Betty was the oldest person on the plantation. She could remember travelling by boat from Africa to Haiti. She was a young girl when she was captured and sold into slavery. These dark powers would soon enter the life of Mary and all of those on the plantation grounds. Voodoo is an ancient practice of the dark art and still to this day practice in this very same state of Louisiana.

Voodoo was brought to Haiti by African slaves in the sixteenth century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but was force to convert to the religion of their masters. Louisiana voodoo is a set of underground religious beliefs which originated from tradition of the African dasyure. It is a cultural form of the Afro American religious which developed within the French, Spanish and Creole speaking African American population of the United States, particularity in the State of Louisiana. Voodoo was brought to the French colony of Louisiana through the slave trade from 1719-1731. Their knowledge of herbs, poisons, and ritual creations of digamous and amulets were intended to protect oneself and harm others become a key element of Louisiana Voodoo. The practice of making and wearing charms and amulets for protection, healing or the harm of others was key aspects of early Louisiana Voodoo. The ouanga, a charm used to poison an enemy, would contain poisonous roots of the figure maudit tree, which was brought from Africa and preserved in the West Indies. The ground up root combined with other elements, such as bones, nails, root, holy water, holy candles, holy incense, holy breads or crucifixes. Another component of Louisiana Voodoo brought from Africa was the worship of ancestors and the subsequent emphasis or respect for the elderly.

In Voodoo spells, the cure-all was very popular among followers. The cure-all was Voodoo spell that could solve all problems, there were different recipes in the Voodoo spells for cure-all. One recipe was to mix jimson weed with sulphur and honey. The mixture was placed in a glass, which was rubbed against a black cat and then the mixture was slowly sipped. The Voodoo doll is a form of gris-gris and an example of sympathetic magic. Contrary to popular belief, Voodoo dolls are used to bless, rather than to curse. The purpose of sticking pins in the doll is not to cause pain that in that person, but rather to pin a picture of a person or name to the doll, which traditionally represents in spirit. The gris-gris is the performed from one of four categories; love, power and domination, luck and finance and uncrossing.

Voodoo was practice on the plantation by many of the slaves, it was a religious cult that had travelled with them from Africa to Haiti and finally to the Louisiana farmlands. Many of the slaves found their very existence at risk by the practice of the black craft. Great Aunt Betty was a powerful voodoo Crafton that would go to great lengths to protect her family from the evil that lurked in the swamplands of Louisiana.

Great Aunt Betty taught Mary everything she knew about Voodoo and Mary had been to dabble in the black craft a little. Mary was a very quick study and she would become a master of the art right before her eighteenth birthday and it would be that same year that she met the man that would eventually become her husband. Louis LeBlanc had arrived on humid hot day in August of 1852. He was a handsome young man in his early twenties. He has a tall and walked with pride. He had arrived from New Orleans, where he had been purchased in order to work on the plantation. He noticed Mary as soon as he walk up to her, Mary had smiled and greeted him and he in returned smiled back at her. Mary was a beautiful young lady with a beautiful soul. Her eyes were a soft brown color with a warm glow came from her very big heart. She had a shyness about her that made her even more beautiful to Louis. The Chemistry between them was electrical and they would be soon fall deeply in love. He had been educated in New Orleans by his old master. Tavis LeBlanc was a true gentleman on the Deep South. He had raised Louis as if her were his own child and Louis also had a deep affection for Tavis. Tavis had tragically passed away with no heirs and Louis was sold into slavery soon after Tavis’ death.

Louis was sold at the estate auction in New Orleans to the overseer of the McAfee plantation. Louis was already began planning his escape from the plantation. He would run away to New Orleans and catch a boat back to Haiti. Louis had family that still lived in Haiti. He was the only child to his parents, both of which had been killed on the journey from Africa to Haiti, but he knew of an Aunt and Uncle that still lived on the island of Haiti. Tavis and he had planned on a visit to see them, but yellow fever had taken Tavis before they could make the journey to see his relatives in Haiti. Louis would do anything with his powers to escape the slavery and make his way to freedom in Haiti. Louis also began to strengthen himself with the powers of Voodoo with the help of Great Aunt Betty.

As the weeks went passed, Louis grew fonder and fonder of Mary. Mary and him would take long strolls and discuss many things including a future together. Mary never imagined herself anywhere else but on the McAfee plantation, but Louis was endlessly talking about their future in Haiti. Mary was felling in love with Louis as the fall turned into winter. She approached T.J. about her future plans to marry Louis.

T. J. was not so happy with her decision to marry Louis, but he did not stop her from planning the marriage. She had plans for an early spring wedding that would be as wonderful as the first blooms of the camellias bushes that surrounded the whole plantation. The camellias blooms first in February, then the azaleas bloom a little later in the spring.

Louis and Mary would exchange vows on March 18, 1843 under a huge live oak tree on the grounds of the plantation. It was a beautiful day and the couple could not be anymore in love or happier. They happiness would be short lived, however. John Sampson, another slave, was extremely unhappy to hear about the wedding between Louis and Mary. John had intention to marry Mary himself, however, Louis had come into the picture and his dreams of marrying Mary were impossible because Louis had stolen Mary’s heart. John decided he would get rid of Louis one way or another. John decided to ruin Louis reputation with T. J. McAfee. John would kill chickens from the farm in a ritual that resembled Voodoo and make it appear that Louis had performed it after the wedding to ensure good luck. John killed the chickens that night of the wedding and spread the blood over the little house that Mary and Louis had spent their wedding night together.

John woke up the McAfee household with hallowing and commotion that he had seen Louis running from the chicken coup. T.J was on his way to confront Louis about the chicken killings, but Louis run away in fear to New Orleans without his beloved wife, Mary. Louis did not believe that he could face T.J. and he presumed a beating was the only thing that T.J. was going to give him. T.J. concluded that John was correct, since Louis escaped from the plantation, Louis must have killed all of the chickens for a Voodoo ritual.

Mary was heart broken and she was in such a deep depression. She knew that see would never see her husband again. She could not imagine her life without him, but she had no choice. She had no idea where he was or how to get to him. John saw his opportunity to move on Mary, but she was disgusted by him. Mary knew that he had done all of this mischief and she was the one paying the ultimate cost. She had lost her true love, because to this stupid man. Mary had little interest in anyone or anything. She ate very little and each day, she was slowly losing her health. She cooked in the kitchen and talk to no one and that was how it was for several weeks. Finally, T.J. had quite enough and he took her aside and had a serious talk with her. Mary told him that she was ready to die. T.J. told her that dying was not an option. Louis was no longer welcome on the plantation and she was not able to find him to go to him.

Meanwhile, Louis had made this way to New Orleans and boarded a boat heading to Haiti. It had taken nearly a week to obtain the fake papers for his freedom from slavery, but Tavis still had friends loyal to Louis. Louis was heading to freedom the next day, but his heart was very heavy.

Louis was as miserable in Haiti and he decided he would return to Louisiana to get his wife. He developed a plan to get Mary away from the plantation and spend the remainder of his life with her in Haiti. He would need to use an ancient spell that would make her appear dead to everyone and he would remove her body from the wake and revive her. He would need the help of a Voodoo Queen. He travelled to the city of Bloodline to find the Voodoo Queen.

The Voodoo Queen would provide the spell that would enable him to pull off this scheme. The puff fish contains a neurotoxin that when consume makes the body go into a coma. The toxin lasts a few hours and then the body returns to normal. Louis would give Mary the poison and then retrieve her body before the second day of the wake. His plan had no flaws, so all he needed was the poison.

The Voodoo Queen was named Kylah Meloncon, she was as beautiful as she was powerful. She had some reservations about giving Louis this strong poison, but he assured her that all would be fine. Kylah told him how to properly store the fish to keep it for several days without it ruining. Louis took the dry meat and placed it carefully in a cloth bag. Louis had a long time back to Hammond and he needed to make sure the poison was keep safely away from everyone. Kylah told him that he needed to make sure that he retrieved the body before burial or the person would die in the grave. Kylah told him that he would hear the coyotes howl when his love was done forever. Louis must follow her exact instructions on how much Mary was to ingest of the poison and that she must wear the amulet to protect from the full extent of the poison.