Palo-Mayombe

             It was a hot humid July afternoon in Manhattan on July 17, 2000, when 74 year-old Margaret Ramirez was trampled to death by a tractor-trailer on St Nicholas Ave and 162nd Street in Washington Heights. DOA at the scene, the responding patrol car from the 33rd Precinct would have to go to 548 W. 164th St and make the routine death notification to family members. Only this notification would be anything but routine. It would allow New Yorkers a peek into the bizarre and eerie world of Palo Mayombe, a ritualistic religion that blends African shamanic religion with spiritualism, black magic, and Catholicism.

             African slaves exported West African shamanic religions from the Congo to the Americas during the 1500’s and 1600’s. Not allowed to practice these religions by their masters, slaves would mask this these religions with Catholicism. This brew of Catholic relics, spiritualism, and African black-magic helped form Palo Mayombe, a religion practiced in Brazil, Cuba, and the United States. It is believed that both human and animal sacrifice is often performed during rituals and it is the integral component of  "Palo".

            When officers from the 33rd Precinct arrived at Mrs. Ramirez' residence they were met at the door by a disheveled, reclusive and silent Michael Grajales, a 54 year-old Vietnam Veteran that was rarely seen by the neighbors. When informed of his mother's misfortune, Grajales went berserk, had to be handcuffed, and an ambulance called, for a trip to the local psychiatric ward. Upon subduing Grajales, the officers sensed that they were being watched by dozens of eerie statues in a very dark, filthy apartment with windows that were covered with black plastic bags allowing absolutely no light. Sensing something not being right, and egged on by the hee-bee gee-bees, the officers haste fully commenced a retreat from the apartment with Grajales only to stumble across a human skull on the way out. It was time to notify the 33rd Detective Squad.

             A few steps into the hallway marked the entrance to the kitchen. With the windows covered, a low wattage light bulb barely lit the kitchen but a good look would reveal a human skull inside an opened cabinet. The cabinet was host to old books, a picture of the Virgin Mary and a very creepy network of cobwebs. The crowned skull was on a plate and had a five-dollar bill sticking through the left eye socket. At this point the detectives backed out of the kitchen and continued down the hallway. A few steps further there was another room, what appeared to be a bedroom. A look into this dark evil looking room revealed where some kind of rituals were held. There was a mummified pig’s head, what appeared to be a goat's skull, a machete, a pentagram and endless array of unknown offerings. There were ashes, animal horns, candles, and filthy plates with food. There were bones and they looked human. There was a clay pot or cast iron cauldron with what looked like the parietal and frontal portions of a human skull imbedded in an ash like substance. Around the skull were feathers and other unknown objects.... the pot resembled some kind of witches brew. Oh how proud Vincent Price would have been!

The pig's head along with other offerings.	A jar with human flesh.

            The detectives without saying a word retreated from the room and continued down the hall. They next passed a bathroom and after what seemed like an eternity they, reached the end of the hallway. At the end of the hallway was the entrance to the living room where they were greeted by a dozen or so statues of saints, Indians, and offerings in what was some type of altar. What was strange about the way the altar was set up was that all the statues were in formation and faced the hallway towards the apartment's entrance. From a distance the statues all appear to be looking down the hallway. The lead statue was the Indian aiming a bow and arrow towards the hallway and next to him was another statue, an Indian head. It was as if this altar was set up with saints and warriors and offerings to keep evil from entering this portion of the apartment. What evil could be on the hallway side of the apartment? Although on the first floor and on a fairly busy street, not a sound could be heard in the apartment, but deafening was this chamber of horrors.

            The living room was met with one other room. The entrance to this room at one time must have had double doors, as the entrance was wide enough to reveal from a distance yet more altars, scores of statues, pictures of saints and shamanic items including a three-foot statue of an African, and a jar almost full with a clear liquid and with some kind of flesh inside. The detectives had seen enough and it was now time to contact the Manhattan District Attorney's office for a search warrant. A warrant would be required for a more thorough search in anticipation of some future arrest. It was also time to contact the only detective in the NYPD that specializes in Santeria and the occult. Stunned and silent, they left the apartment wondering what else they would find in this rather morbid crime scene.

             After convincing the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and a very skeptical judge of the macabre find at 548 W 164th St, the 33rd Detective Squad had returned with a search warrant. By now a circus of media, onlookers and other police officers was full fledged outside the building. Word had spread that a skull had been found in the neighborhood witch’s apartment. With their hard-nosed Lieutenant leading the charge the detectives armed with the warrant, began a more thorough search of the apartment. With a notepad in the recording detective's hands, every detail of the search warrant would be documented for the affiant of the warrant, his partner. Who was present, location, date, time, apartment layout, what was found as evidence or required further investigation and where it was found, all would be noted.

             The kitchen was first and other than the skull in the cabinet, nothing unusual for this apartment was noted. Just more Palo Mayombe relics. Next came the bedroom where the pigs head and goat's skull was found. This room was where rituals were held. The only items other than a couple of cabinets on the floor were the array of statues, human bones, a pot with a chain wrapped around it, offerings and countless shamanic items…. or “the sacrificial altar.”  The detectives opened the door to the room's only closet and noticed old clothes that appeared to have been hanging for years covered in soot and cobwebs. A look further down on the closet floor revealed a plastic jar with a red lid, a bottle of rum, more shamanic relics as well as a witch’s straw broom, but a closer look at the jar indicated that it was about half full with a liquid and there was something inside. Some kind of pinkish substance resembling flesh.

             One detective picked up the jar and set it on a cabinet and then there was a long pause. The lieutenant and the detectives looked at each other with a hunch that this was not good. As one detective unscrewed the lid, the others just gazed. The suspense was mounting and lord the apartment was so hot and humid. Finally the jar was uncovered and…. winter white turned the three hardcore homicide investigators. On the floor dropped the notepad. Inside the jar was what appeared to be a newborn baby girl. In a fetal position and completely submerged in this mysterious clear liquid, the baby appeared to be sleeping. Curly black hair contrasted the baby’s pink-white skin color. All three were silent. The horror they just uncovered had just silenced the detectives, the apartment, and the outside world.

              Who was this baby? Where did this baby come from? Was this baby stillborn...born alive? Was this baby sacrificed? How long has this creature of innocence been imprisoned in this macabre world of evil? What did this all mean? The questions just kept piling up as the detectives awaited for a detective assigned to the NYPD's Police Academy to arrive. This detective is the only member of the department that specializes in Santeria and other related religions. He has investigated satanic and vampire cults, religious cult activities, and ritual crimes involving murder, missing persons and ritual child abuse. Perhaps he can shed light into this rather dark crime scene, make sense of all this.

               Word was now spreading that a dead baby was found inside a jar in the apartment and more media and the curious were arriving. In awe stood the police officers and detectives at 548 W. 164^th St upon the arrival of this “voodoo detective”. His arrival hushed and parted the crowd in the lobby of the building as he made his way into the apartment’s front door. He paused, looked up and immediately pointed to the mirror above the door and explained that the mirror was there to keep people with evil intentions out.  He asked for one detective to go in the apartment with him. One detective volunteered and at the mercy of this short, mild-mannered, bespectacled “Santeria” detective they both entered the apartment. The specialist began a slow yet methodical walk down the hallway pausing only to peek into each room as he went along and to the discomfort of the other detective, he would pause silently and sniff as he stretched his arms outward, palms up. He reached the end of the hallway, stood in a trance like stance with arms out, palms up and stared at all the saints, altars and African artifacts. “Evil” he whispered, the first word that he finally uttered in the apartment as goose bumps changed the texture of the other detectives’ skin.  This is “El Palo”, Palo Mayombe, and someone was seriously meddling with the devil here he explained.