Jackson had traveled to Haiti in pursuit of becoming a Manbo priestess, a role within the Haitian Vodou tradition that involves performing ceremonies, initiations, healings, and divinations.
Vodou, an African religion with roots in the ancient kingdom of Dahomey—now modern-day Nigeria , Benin, and Togo—has often been misunderstood and misrepresented.
Alternative spellings such as Vodun and Vodoun are more accurate than the widely used term “Voodoo,” which is considered a sensationalist and derogatory Western creation.
According to her son , Timothy Jackson, his mother had been researching and practicing Vodou for several years and felt a deep spiritual connection to the tradition.
Dana Jackson left for Haiti on July 1 and was scheduled to return to the U.S. on July 26. She traveled with a group known as Sosyete, a Vodou community with which she had developed close ties.
Timothy noted that the group had even traveled together to Boston in June for another spiritual gathering.
After learning of his mother’s death, Timothy reached out to one of the retreat leaders, who gave conflicting accounts of what happened.
According to the leader, Dana Jackson fell ill during the ceremony, became disoriented, and later suffered seizures, a heart attack , and a stroke at the hospital .
However, Timothy was skeptical, especially when they mentioned his mother had forgotten to bring her medicine.
“ What medicine are you talking about? It sounds like they were trying to perpetuate a story ,” he said.
Timothy was supposed to receive an update on the location of his mother’s body on Aug. 16 but has not heard anything. He is frustrated by the lack of communication from both the Vodou group and the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, which reportedly only became involved a few days ago.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0