“Mother of Serpents” (Weird Tales, December, 1936)

Bloch, Robert. “Mother of Serpents.” Weird Tales, December 1936, pp. 563-569. https://archive.org/details/WeirdTalesV28N05193612/page/562/mode/2up

I want to include an accurate summary of this story, but it all just blurred for me with the layers of “octaroons” and the main character’s disdain for anything “savage “ or “dark” makes me want to just put this story down and move onto other, less “of its time” stories. The narrator here presents himself as a researcher and scholar. I am a huge fan of zombie movies, but the story he tells of the President of Haiti trying to rein in the forces of voodoo in the rural areas of his country just does not work at all. On the other hand, this story has been reprinted and translated many times, so what do I know?