Romelus effectively reclaims the narrative of Haitian spirituality by grounding "terrifying" folklore in the lived reality of cultural preservation. It is a necessary deconstruction of the Western gaze that often reduces complex ancestral traditions to mere superstition.
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My Aunt Was the "Bronx Witch" & Everyone Was Terrified of Her | KRIK KRAK
Added:[music] [music] [music] [music] >> Hello, we bust out.
I'm doing that was out and sassy dizzy and Chanel wear. As you guys can tell by the title, we got another quick crack for you. When I say you guys comment down below crack and that's because y'all be out here talking about I don't know what to comment.
Comment down below crack. I know you're watching. I know you're probably watching me on the TV, go on the phone and comment crack or just like the video, whichever or hype it. Hype it, you know.
So, for today's video we actually have three shorter stories. I could not really lump these in with others. If you guys are not aware, I read these with you guys but I kind of like read like the beginning and the end to try to see where I can put them to put them together in a video but these were all pretty short and I couldn't lump them in with any others. So, of course if you would like to share your own stories, the email's right here on the screen. Do not send to any of my professional emails or my DM cuz I will not answer it or I may not even see it. Please also remember to keep these anonymous at all times. No exceptions. Hello Ivana, I'm a huge fan of your channel and I've been subscribed since my teenage years. Oh my god.
That's a long time. I'm a New Yorker born and raised to Haitian immigrant parents. My mother hails from Okai and my father is from Gonaives. Growing up I experienced vivid dreams and flashbacks similar to the psychic visions depicted in the show That's So Raven. These episodes would occur while I was awake and I'd see myself in various West African countries, primarily Senegal and Ivory Coast. The visions would feature vibrant marketplaces, sunsets at the beach with palm trees and other sensory details. This persisted until I turned nine. Now, this is crazy. I've known a lot of people to have the same exact experience as you. If I'm not mistaken, there's actually a real name for this.
You might be like reincarnated, like you might actually be like a Senegal woman that like came back and now you're Haitian or something like that. Like I've I've heard of these stories, especially like with people that have children and like their children is like recalling a life that they never lived before. Like they're six and they remember being a pilot. Like real I think reincarnation is so freaking real. And I believe that if you were reincarnated, you might have memories and fragments of it throughout your childhood. Like I used to always have visions, but they were like premonitions like of the future. I've never had like past regressive thoughts or visions and and stuff like that. I'd love to know down below if any of you guys have ever had that happen where it's like you're having like thoughts and visions and things of places that you've never been to because I've heard of this happening to a lot of people. I know a couple people personally that this happened to. I think it's so fascinating. It's even more fascinating that it stopped when you're a kid. It makes sense because like when you hit nine, 10, that's when you start getting older, you start kind of questioning things and you're not as open to different experiences that are out of the norm. Your imagination starts to kind of like die off and you want to those preteen years and then teen and then adulthood. So that actually makes sense. However, as I've entered my late 20s, these dreams and flashbacks have surfaced with increased intensity and vividness. Recently, I've had two notable dreams set in Senegal. In the first, I was walking with a toddler during a festival and a tall man dressed in a traditional attire played the kora, singing a comforting song that protected us. He escorted us safely to a church and I woke up. In the second dream, I attended a jazz festival in Senegal, where I bumped into an elderly man. He looked at me with a warm smile and said, "Come home. We're waiting for you."
I've shared these experiences with others, but many have reacted with skepticism or even accused me of rejecting my Haitian heritage.
Haitians are African.
So, like you know how many African attire I got? Like I'll be at African events. I have a lot of African friends. Like what are you talking about? We're African. And even in like most of the Haitian music, you'll hear them, like they always shout out to Africa. Like they'll shout out to Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Senegal. Like so, I don't know what the like really rejecting your Haitian roots is a joke.
Like we are Africans and a majority of us respect, um, love, and honor that.
Even a lot of our foods come from Africa. Like don't don't is fufu. Like so, what are we actually talking about?
Like y'all wildin. Oh, a few, however, have suggested that these experiences might be indicative of past life connections. Period. That's what I said.
Uh, to Senegal and Ivory Coast. As someone knowledgeable about spiritual topics, I'd appreciate your insight into these experiences. I'm sorry for the long message. This was not long at all.
It took me like, what, 3 minutes to read this? Uh, to be quite honest with you, I do think it has a lot to do with past life connections. You should probably get a reading done.
Um, like one of those past life readings. I feel like different people and different cultures and spiritual beliefs call them different things. Um, but just I guess I would say look up something like that in your area. I'll say try to look on and usually I don't say look on social media for these things, but there are people out there that do do these readings and they are legitimate. Check out reviews and check out people's experiences before. But go on TikTok and Instagram and like look into people that do those past life readings because I want one, but I'm afraid because I think that a majority of my past life, if I had one, was [ __ ] traumatic. Like I think I had a trauma I think I have like really bad like past life connections because um I First of all, I have a innate fear of water. So I'm I I'm inclined to believe that I legitimately drowned or someone drowned me or something. Like I know I died by water in one of these past lives.
And I don't want to know cuz I really want to learn how to swim so I could conquer that fear. Like and I I don't know I feel like a lot of the things that I'm dealing with now are trials and tribulations of past life things that I'm trying to get through. And I think I'm doing a pretty good job except I don't know how to swim. Uh but with the other stuff that I'm not going to mention, it's like yeah, I don't want to know. Like I wanted to know a lot at one point, but now I'm like yeah, I don't want to know because I feel like it's probably going to like make me scared um to like uh do what I need to do in this life, so I'd rather just like not know.
But I think you should probably look into it since you have such vivid memories. Like I don't really have memories of the past. I have a lot of memories of the future. Or I'm not I said memories, I have premonitions. Like I have like oh [ __ ] maybe we shouldn't go to that party cuz some bad [ __ ] will happen.
Um I have dead people coming to me giving me messages. I just remembered I actually have to You know what?
Hopefully I remember after I'm done filming. I have to text one of my friends about something her mom told me to tell her. So I get that, which I don't know which is better or worse. I don't know if I'd want to have past life memories. Like dealing with deceased stresses me out enough.
>> [laughter] >> Like I ain't going to you.
Uh I love the gift. You know how the ancestors be taking [ __ ] away, but you know, like I think it works out. Um but sometimes it's stressful. Um hello, I discovered your Chronicles of the Zoo channel maybe a month ago. I'm Dominican and the granddaughter of a voodoo priestess. FYI, she's deceased. I'm so sorry for your loss. What I know about the religion is limited, but I've always been interested. She lived in the Bronx, New York. Everyone that knew her was afraid of her. No one walked in front of her building. Taxis didn't come if you called. That is so funny. People sometimes spit when you mention her name. She never told me stories herself, but I've heard many from family friends and family. After one of my uncles committed suicide in the late '80s, she converted to Christianity. Maybe that's why she didn't tell me anything. Oh, well, that's fascinating. There was actually somebody in my neighborhood that was about the same. Like everybody was so terrified of her. Nobody even like walked past in front of her house.
Like I wonder what happened to that lady, bro. There's little stories with her, but I don't know. Like just like you said, [ __ ] don't want to talk about it, bro. Like I don't know. Like I I think she's dead now. She got to be.
I'm going to ask my parents, like what happened to that damn lady?
Uh but that's actually quite fascinating. And it's interesting.
That's why it's like I I'll be telling people I don't really trust the most religious people. Like the people that are die-hard Bible, die-hard Quran, die-hard Like I don't Like even the people that are die-hard spiritualists, I don't be trusting them because it's like what are you hiding? What are you running from that you literally have to spit a verse every 2 seconds? That you literally got to do a spell for everything. It's like you're taking a [ __ ] and you got to do a spell. Like why? Like you're walking through doors and you're like I I think it's extra and I think it's performative, but I also think it's indicative of someone that's hiding something.
Um and that's why when people like oh well, my mom is a devout this and and she Huh. And she There are stories of her sacrificing farm animals, lighting summoning circles on fire with just a wave of her hand, and even sacrificing and drinking the blood of infants.
Oh, okay. She a lougawou. That's what we call that in Haitian culture. Huh. Which was creepy because her day job was a neonatal nurse at a large hospital.
Oh my god, I'm clutching my invisible pearls.
I don't know. My mother recounts being dressed in white while my grandmother put her clothes and all in tubs filled with blood. I'm sure if the blood was animal or human.
Maybe some type of initiation.
Yeah, I don't know much about Santa Muerte or Dominican spiritualism. Um, but I I don't think that's a good one. I don't I I might be ignorant. I am ignorant to this. I don't know much about Dominican culture even though they're right next to Haiti, right? Um, what y'all think?
Dipping white clothes in blood? Wait, I Ooh, that just triggered a memory. I do think it is something, but I can't pinpoint if it was good or bad. Oh, Lord, this is too much. She had her head shaved, which is why she always wore something on her head. That looked a lot like a turban. She was covering occultic tattoos on her head.
I only remember dots on the top of her head. She also had a fish tank filled with dark water. It had piranhas inside.
Would have been easy for her to dispose of infant and animal bodies in there.
I feel a little uneasy.
Anyway, a lot of what you mentioned made me remember my grandmother who was known as the Bronx Witch. Baby, I I don't think you're you're you're you're you're I don't think your grandmother was a good witch. But, I will say this is actually uh some good silver lining for you because that means you could possibly be a good witch um in the future cuz it's in your lineage. You could be like a good practitioner. Not even just that, you could be a pastor, you could be a nun. Um, most of the time when someone comes from a family that is of like high uh spiritual order, they are kind of in line to be of a high spiritual order themselves, right? They might become some sort of spiritual priest or priestess. They might become a pastor or a deacon or a shaman, or like whatever. So, I think [ __ ] I mean, if this is something you're interested in, you could go into the line. I don't know if what she was doing was was white, or black, or gray, or I cannot speak to that cuz I'm not Dominican.
But, I don't know. I would love to hear y'all insight down below if you know more about this because I don't have a good feeling about it, and my feelings are also never wrong for the most part. I ain't been wrong yet.
And this one, LIKE, I DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE WAS DOING.
BUT, this would be a good way to kind of right any wrongs that she might have done in time in terms of spiritual order and lineage because you guys do know I've spoken about this at length, right?
A majority of the things that your family, especially your parents or grandparents do will affect you, even if you don't know [ __ ] about it. So, hey, you know, you could probably take the time, you know, become a you know, a green witch, you know, out here spreading love and positivity, and you know, doing luck spells, and you know, try to reverse some of that. Like, that's how chaotic. Like, I I don't know. It Child, listen. I'm glad that you're not experiencing anything because of this from what I read. I mean, you didn't share too much, but This is the final story. This one is a tad bit longer than the other two. Hey Ivana, I've been holding on to these stories for several months. I have a lot going on spiritually. I've grown up around supernatural things here in rural Alabama. My family is white, mostly British with some Cherokee. My great grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher who was known to either do cartwheels or somersaults when in spirit.
Oh, I forgot. Okay, Pentecostal. Yeah, that sounds about right. I had to be like, what? I love Pentecostals because they are probably some of the most How do I explain it?
Spiritual of the Christianity sect. And when I mean spiritual, I mean like they are very connected to the other side.
Um, especially if they are ordained to be Pentecostal or ordained to have higher spiritual gifts. I always found their churches fascinating. I will say though, there was always like when I was going to Pentecostal church, I went to Pentecostal church for a very long time.
It was probably one of the churches um, throughout my childhood that I spent the longest time in. It was the first church that actually let me choreograph a dance piece. My first dance piece that I ever choreographed was God and me. Okay, and it was at that church. There was always something energetically that I didn't vibe with there, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Okay, I almost never fell asleep. They always gave food.
I'm talking from a 12-13 year old perspective right now, right? Um, but they there was always something about the energy in there that didn't align with me, but I always appreciated that they were always um, spiritually connected and spiritually authentic. That's the best way to explain it. I feel like a lot of other churches that I've been to, a lot of them are performative, judgmental, problematic, etc. I didn't really feel that in the Pentecostal. It was just energetically, it just it just didn't go. It just didn't go, and it was just also, um, yeah, there's a lot that goes into the whole Pentecostal thing. That would be You know what I should do? Do you guys want this? Comment down below if you guys want this cuz I would not mind doing it.
I want to do like a series on my time in different churches cuz I've been in so many different churches and so many different settings, and I could probably do a dedicated video for each one. My time in a in a Baptist, my time in Pentecostal, my time in Catholic. MY TIME >> [screaming] >> AH! LET ME KNOW IF YOU GUYS WANT IT CUZ IF YOU GUYS WANT IT, I'LL REALLY DO IT.
OKAY? Like get this video to like 500 likes and I'll actually really start that series because child, the amount of things that I've witnessed, and especially in Pentecostal church, child, like I'm not shocked. Like the cartwheels and the somersaults sound just about right. Like they sound just about right, okay? His wife was a very superstitious woman. She believed doing laundry on New Year's was bad luck. Or if an old person sneezed at the table, we'd hear about a funeral. I suspect that there's something shamanic in my bloodline, but that's for another quick crack. Let's just say Odin showed up.
Also, fun fact, I was born 4 weeks early on All Souls' Day. [ __ ] look at you, you probably reincarnated, too.
My grandmother's flea market store was haunted. You got a lot GOING ON.
WAIT, WHAT? SHE ALSO LIVED in the back.
Sometimes I'd spend the night. She told me how light bulbs would go missing.
Something took her goldfish without disturbing any of the thimbles and knickknacks around it. When I was a kid, I saw a shadow man walking in her bedroom. I tried to rationalize it as my own imagination. I never wanted to believe in the paranormal. Years later, I was babysitting my cousin's kids. We were in the backyard of the store. Nanny Nanny or I guess Nana. I guess they probably called their um grandmother Nanny. Um had moved out and into a trailer. The building was empty. I looked into her bedroom window. I saw a woman in Edwardian clothes. What what?
I need to look into that. What is Edwardian clothes? High neck white shirt with poofy sleeves and her hair was teased out and put into a bun. It was mid-afternoon. She was clearly visible then faded away. The kids didn't see her. That's terrifying. [ __ ] them kids.
I would've been out like I would've I would've took the kids with me, but Fast forward until I was nearly 30. A year or so before my grandma died, she did my what she tell What? What? What did she my tell?
Y'all proofread these things. What did my she tell me? What does that mean?
I don't know. I guess she said, "What What she tell me before she died?" One that the store was built from wood taken from an old hospital. Well, that's where they [ __ ] up. Two, she got belongings from a murdered hoarder.
That's dumb. Three, she bought a bedroom suit or maybe she means bedroom set. A bedroom set that included a bloody mattress from a warehouse auction. Do you think this preacher's daughter called the cops? No, she cleaned it and sold it. Cue the sarcasm. Gee, I wonder why it was haunted. No, seriously, all of the like I don't know why people just be thinking they could just get things and it doesn't matter. Like all of that like everything has an energy to it. Um whoever owned something previous to you there's energy attached to it. You got to cleanse these things. That's why even like with thrift stores and stuff like you you got to wash bare minimum you got to wash it. Like you should be saying prayers over it, you know, you should be dunking it in a holy water if it's that bad, but a mattress [ __ ] never. Blood, that is like y'all can't be that desperate for money that y'all selling bloody mattresses. You just can't be.
You can't. Like there's no way. The building was torn down years before she mentioned this. I think it might be connected to the next story. The house I grew up in was next door to the store.
Currently, I'm in a trailer across the driveway from that house. DO YOU GUYS NOT GIVE A [ __ ] I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR THAT STORE or anything LIKE WHAT THE HECK?
I was raised Baptist until I was going into the second grade. Out of nowhere my mom decided to be Pentecostal. Mhm. This is where the real scary [ __ ] kicks off.
She didn't like my step father smoking.
She prayed that he'd stop. Within seconds he came out of the bedroom saying that his cigarettes had gone bad and he needed to buy more.
Cigarettes go bad?
I don't know. They became these crazy Christians that you hear about online.
They thought there was something evil inside their bedroom. They get all worked up and did exorcisms on the house. Basically, they'd speak in tongues and yell for the demon to leave the house in Jesus's name. It didn't work. They kept the doors closed, so I assume the spirit was trapped and pissed off. They'd anoint everything in the house with baby oil. I had no idea why they chose that. The preacher used olive oil in the church. You know, this is too much.
Isn't it too much? Y'all, you would think they were far as possible away from this mess, but Jesus. My father was also a sleepwalker. That man was possessed. One time I'll just tell you right now with all the spiritual activity, spirits were entering him, especially if he was Pentecostal because well or it's giving fake Pentecostal.
It's giving you're trying to run from something. I feel like you're trying to run from something and that's what makes you convert. You're you're fake. You're not a real practitioner whatever.
But this sounds like spirits were being able to enter him, but anyhow, one time he woke up driving to Birmingham about 30 minutes away. They had to put a chair against the back door because it kept opening. I've never heard of people driving while they're sleepwalking. I've heard of people walking like far distances, but driving possessed. Maybe I'm wrong. Correct me down below if you've heard of this cuz I'm sure it's probably is something that happens, but I'm just saying. Scariest part came one day when we left church.
We heard on the radio there was an escaped convict on the loose.
When I got home, I put the key in lock.
I turn it turned and I screamed. There was nobody inside. Sometimes at night I'd sit there and watch the knob turn by itself.
Hold on. I need to read that again. I'm so confused. When I get home, I put key in lock. It turned and I screamed. Why are you screaming? There was nobody inside.
Sometimes I I don't know. Sometimes at night I'd sit there and watch the knob turn by itself.
I I don't know. Why is she screaming cuz she put the key in the lock, but um they divorced after a year or so. Mom would still anoint everything. I even found oil drops in the toilet.
Her paranoia about everything made me keep a distance. Everything was demonic to her from unicorns to fairies to X-Men. My brother used to tell me how she was normal before. She even had tarot cards. I think she got into something because it went zero to 60 way too fast. I never told her about the ghost cat.
The ghost cat.
>> [clears throat] >> Whenever I was about to oversleep and miss the bus, I'd feel a cat jump on the bed. It never scared me. I was more afraid of my mom's reaction. It felt protective. It's still there. My mom gave the house to my brother when she married again. He and his wife were watching TV in the living room. They turned and saw a black cat sitting in a chair. I also saw the shadow man in this house Oh, in his house. If I'm standing in the living room and his front door is open, I can see into his living room and kitchen. One night I looked and saw him in the kitchen. What I thought was his shadow on the cabinet turned and walked down the hallway. He's 6'4 and antisocial. Whatever is haunting us can move between buildings. I have more stories. It gets weirder. Thanks for reading this. It feels good getting this off my chest.
Girl, I don't know what the [ __ ] they got going on, but you need to move far away from that [ __ ] I don't give a [ __ ] Move three states away. This is mad crazy, but honestly, it's the fact that everything keeps getting um shifted and moved between the different spaces. Like from the store to the house to the trailer. Like y'all need to get it together. Y'all need to just get rid of everything and then exercise them damn demons. I'm like Like this is the thing I mean, who knows? A lot of those spirits are probably actually chill, right? They're probably like calm, cool, collected, but some of them are probably not. Um so, I would say get rid of a majority of that [ __ ] if not all of it.
Okay? And just, you know, cleanse, do what you need to do because realistically, cleansing is not going to do anything if you keep having the properties that are attached to those spirits around you. I mean, you could exercise objects, but at this point the entire building, okay, that entire store is an issue. You got bloody mattresses and like I I it comes to a point it's like there's only so much some holy water and and and and the spirits themselves could do. Like that's a lot for them. Y'all Y'all ever like sit there and think about all the [ __ ] we be asking the spirits to do? We have to start pulling our weight, okay? So, I I really think that the only way that's going to work is if y'all start getting rid of things. Like and I mean wholeheartedly completely like burn it.
Like I'm not talking about giving it away. I'm not talking about like putting it in the trash. I'm talking about like burn it, destroy it. Yeah, worst case scenario if you really can't burn it for whatever reason like bring it to the dump. Um and make sure it goes far away from you guys because this is like this is terrifying. Like it it it's the it's the it's the murder happened on the mattress and they didn't call the police for me. I child, that person's spirit is probably embedded into the mattress and they're angry. Like that's not okay. Like it's not okay by any means. Um with that being said, I hope you're okay. And I hope you got away from these people at the bare minimum. Like what they do with they [ __ ] is none of your business. I wouldn't have If I was your brother, I wouldn't have you even taking the house.
I wouldn't have taken anything. Like this is just I mean, at least the protective black cat is nice. I mean, but I'm biased. I have a black cat. So, of course I would say that, right? Like I don't know. This is too much. I would love to hear what you guys think about these three stories down below. If you guys want to send your stories again, the email is right here on the screen. Again, please keep them anonymous. As you guys are leaving your comments down below, please keep them respectful. Shout out to those of you guys who follow me on the gram because, you know, that's where I post other content. I post my dance content, speaking head content, all types of stuff. Make sure you guys head over there. I would love to see you there. I also do answer DMs, okay? Just make sure you don't sit there like, "Can I ask you a question?" No. Just just ask the question. I hate small talk, all right? Shout out to the members, the patrons, especially the investors. I love you so very much. If you are interested in joining the gang, I I have a $1 7-day trial. I am so happy a lot of you guys have been taking advantage of this. Make sure you guys take advantage of it until one day I wake up and I have a bipolar episode and I say [ __ ] it, I'm not doing this [ __ ] anymore. All right? So, I love you guys so much. Thank you guys so much for watching. I'm going to see you guys in the next upload. If you guys miss me, you already know I'm posting on the other channels. We do have multiple channels. Everything you need is in the lovely QR code right here on your screen or again, linked down below. With that being said, I love you guys so very much. Like, share, and subscribe and I'm going to see y'all next time. Bye!
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