POWERFUL PHOTOS: Inside Sinister Rituals Of Vodou – Blood, Dirt, Possesed Men And Women

An American photographer has opened a door into one of the most terrifying and mysterious world of Vodou culture.

Please, scroll down for photos!

Les Stone has traveled over 150 times to Haiti to take photos of Vodou followers and their sinister ceremonies. And the result of his work is incredible. You won’t be able to take your eyes off these pictures, we guarantee that!

Haitian Vodou is a syncretic religion practiced by  more than 8 million in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora around the world.

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It is popularly described that Vodou is not simply a religion, but rather, an experience that ties both body and soul together. It is based on the belief that everything is a spirit and humans exist to serve the spirits through different devotional rites and prayers.

In order to navigate their daily life, vodouists cultivate personal relationships with the spirits. They present offerings, create personal altars and devotional objects, and participate in elaborate ceremonies of music, dance, and even spirit possession.

Though not widely used, one traditional practice of Vodou is animal sacrifice, which is another way to make an offering to the spirits. Because respecting nature is an important tenant of the religion, the animals are often then butchered and consumed by the community.

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Les Stone said: “Visually, the Voodoo ceremony is incredibly exciting to witness and photograph. It’s very positive and beautiful and no more superstitious than many of the Catholic church traditions, to which Haitian voodoo in particular is tied very closely.

During rituals, Vodouists often experience spirit possession and enter trance-like states, which can include eating and drinking, dancing, divination and performing special medical cures or physical fears.

It’s my lack of belief that keeps me passionate about people who don’t separate reality from the spirit world. For them it’s one and the same. Their world is one in which everything is connected, and I’ve always believed that is the true way of looking at things.”

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Vodou has often been associated in popular culture with Satanism, witchcraft, zombies and “voodoo dolls”. Zombie creation has been referenced within rural Haitian culture, but is not a part of Vodou.

Today, Vodou is practiced not only by Haitians but by Americans and people of many other nations who have been exposed to Haitian culture.

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