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Topic: Severed head found in airline baggage

Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 02-11-2006 04:57 AM

quote: BBC News Online
US immigration officials have arrested a Haitian woman after baggage screeners found a human head in her luggage at a Florida airport. Myrlene Severe, 30, has been charged with failing to declare the head on a customs form and transporting "hazardous material".

She arrived at Florida's Fort Lauderdale airport on Thursday on a flight from Cap Haitien in north Haiti. Ms Severe said that the head was to ward off evil sprits, officials said. "Severe stated that she had obtained the package, which contained a human head, from a male in Haiti for use as part of her voodoo beliefs," the US Attorney's Office said in a statement.

A spokesman for Miami's immigration and customs agency told the AFP news agency that the head was not simply a skull. "It had teeth, hair and skin, and quite a lot of dirt," she said. Ms Severe, a US resident, appeared in court on Friday in Fort Lauderdale. She could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

The practice of voodoo, an Afro-Caribbean religion whose roots go back thousands of years, is still widespread in Haiti. The Haitian government officially recognised voodoo as a religion in 2003.

It's surely a bit funny that all she appears to be charged with and investigated for is illegally transporting hazmats. The presence of a severed head would certainly raise the possibility that the individual who had been relieved of it did not die of natural causes - yet the authorities don't seem to be interested in that. I wonder if the Haitians are investigating?

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 02-11-2006 06:14 AM

So, if you want to bring your voodoo head with you, do you have to buy an extra seat for it?

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Paul Mayer
Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under!

Posts: 3836
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 02-11-2006 10:47 AM

Nah, I'm sure it's considered carrion.

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Jonathan M. Crist
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 531
From: Hershey, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 02-11-2006 11:50 AM

quote: Leo Enticknap
The presence of a severed head would certainly raise the possibility that the individual who had been relieved of it did not die of natural causes

But there are many ways to get ahead in life!

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 02-11-2006 12:00 PM

Aha! Now at least know the whereabouts of one missing Hurricane Katrina victim!
[Wink]

Man, I'm going to hell.
Even sprinting to get there!

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Rick Raskin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1100
From: Manassas Virginia
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 02-11-2006 02:46 PM

"The Haitian government officially recognised voodoo as a religion in 2003."

She'll probably claim religious interorance and get off. Then some sleaze-bag lawyer will convince her to sue for millions.

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Adam Wilbert
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 590
From: Bellingham, WA, USA
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 02-11-2006 03:21 PM

there's a long standing tradition in christianity to carry body parts all over the world as relics. How is this different? There isn't any indication that this fellow met a shady demise, and the report indicates that everything would be fine if she had declared the head to customs. My guess is that this isn't a religous intollerance issue because nobody is saying that she can't posess the head, just that she was trying to "smuggle" it across a border. I think 16 years is a bit steep, given the information in the report. Further, I think that the woman from Miami customs was wrong to try and insinuate that, if it had just been a skull, all would be okay. So what if it has skin and *gasp* dirt!

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 02-11-2006 05:33 PM

quote: Adam Wilbert
there's a long standing tradition in christianity to carry body parts all over the world as relics. How is this different?

It's the same. Good point.

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Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Film God

Posts: 3977
From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from)
Registered: Jun 2002

posted 02-11-2006 06:07 PM

Ms. Severe was carrying a severed head? Who would'a thought.

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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug

Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 02-11-2006 06:15 PM

Michael, I thought you were much smarter and gave you more credit than to agree with that horseshit. Asking how it's different is akin to saying carrying a cut-off penis and balls to remind them of their husband/lover/BF is the same.

A relic is dried and ancient "keepsake" while that head is apparently relatively "fresh" with skin, hair, and dirt and probably decaying and infested with all sorts bacteria, worms, and God knows what else. (Of course I'm assuming since the article doesn't go into detail)

Bottom line: Where are the other 7 heads? [evil]

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Adam Wilbert
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 590
From: Bellingham, WA, USA
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 02-11-2006 08:44 PM

the head isn't just a keepsake (like an urn of ashes is a keepsake. To her, its religiously significant. Like a turban or a saints fingertip. There is no way a customs official would be okay confiscating a Christian relic without serious repercussions. But since we westerners think voodoo is bunk, its okay. Nothing in the article said anything about worms. Even mummies have skin and sometimes hair. I wouldn't bet on the forensic skills of the customs official to determine whether the head was a biological hazard. She just saw a creepy head and made some assumptions. Note that she made no mention of it smelling like decay, or anyother tell-tale sign of if not being anything other than dried out tissue and bone.

anyway. My alternative post went something like, "whats wrong with a little head every now and then?"... but there is no way i'd post that in a public place. [Big Grin]

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Dominic Espinosa
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1172
From: Boulder Creek, CA.
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 02-11-2006 10:00 PM

quote: Daryl C. W. O'Shea
Ms. Severe was carrying a severed head? Who would'a thought.

I was hoping I wasn't the only one who found that ironic.

I'd like to see where this case goes. Most interesting.

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 02-12-2006 04:51 AM

quote: Adam Wilbert
There is no way a customs official would be okay confiscating a Christian relic without serious repercussions. But since we westerners think voodoo is bunk, its okay.

It's not because I think voodoo is bunk that this scares me a little, but rather because when you find the head of someone who obviously died not that long ago (because of the, erm, biomass still attached to it), that raises the question of how that head came to part company with the rest of the body it was once attached to. Certainly in this country, mutilating a body like that is highly illegal even if the death of its owner did not involve any foul play. If murder for religious purposes is legal in Haiti then fine, I guess - but remind me to tick that off the list of possible places to go on holiday this year!

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Wolff King Morrow
Master Film Handler

Posts: 490
From: Denton, TX, USA
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 02-12-2006 01:22 PM

quote: Adam Wilbert
there's a long standing tradition in christianity to carry body parts all over the world as relics. How is this different?

I don't they are alloud to smuggle heads either.

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Jeremy Jorgenson
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1002
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 02-12-2006 01:36 PM

... but if it's declared at customs ... no worries, right?

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