The Black Supernatural: Folklore, Horror, And Spiritual Influence On Culture

Spooky season has come to a close but the far-reaching traditions of Black spiritual folklore and the supernatural live on. 

In the African American tradition, Black mythology and spiritual practices color many of our well-known stories and cultural habits. Children’s storybooks, horror films, and long-running family customs all part of the larger cultural lexicon have roots in the metaphysical.

Ever wondered where your grandmother’s superstitions come from, like proper etiquette when a broom touches your feet, the significance of the crossroads, or the life lessons around freedom and survival told through tales of otherworldly entities? These customs stem from spiritual practices and histories preserved by our ancestors that seek to offer hope in the face of oppression or innovative workarounds for safety and advancement.

Figures such as High John the Conqueror, are revered supernatural beings sent to protect disenfranchised Black Americans, namely enslaved peoples pre-emancipation. In the story of High John the Conqueror, he was the son of an African king who was kidnapped, enslaved, and taken to America. Through charm and ingenuity, he survived slavery and thereafter became a venerated spiritual figure in African American heritage, whose likeness and eponymous herb high john roots, are incorporated into protection practices and rootwork. 

A significant number of African and Black American folktales center trickster spirits, such as Brer Rabbit and Anansi the Spider, who often had to lean on wit and mischief to achieve their goals or escape peril. The story of Anansi is one that has been told time and again across the global diaspora. In similar fashion, the adventures of Brer Rabbit have roots in the stories brought over by enslaved Africans in the American South, and eventually developed into foundational Black American folktales documented during the post-Reconstruction era, by way of literature such as the Uncle Remus stories. 

Literary works from acclaimed Black American authors such as Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston also detail multiple instances where these long-preserved practices of African spirituality and more specifically, African American Hoodoo and conjure work, were incorporated into everyday Black American life. These survival-based rituals live on through physical media, oral histories which today are extended through creators following the griot tradition such as Hip Hop and Hoodoo and Juju Bae, and modern interpretations of storytelling such as Black horror. 

Black horror is an ever-growing genre that has garnered a new wave of attention through Black filmmakers such as Jordan Peele, but has long existed as a means of Black storytelling. “Horror Noire” as it is referred to by the 2019 documentary of the same name, is a genre that distinguishes itself from the larger category of scares and slashers due to the nuanced way it uses fear to unpack societal inequities and racism. As Black people’s realities are plagued by the very horrors drafted up by these stories, the fear, honesty, and spiritual components are intimately authentic and, in turn, all the more bone chilling.

The influence of Black spiritual beliefs and folklore is woven into countless narratives, as evident in Black horror titles and fantasy stories alike. Take for example, the Blaxploitation horror film Sugar Hill (1974). The protagonist, Sugar, summons the Haitian Vodou spirit of death, Baron Samedi, to avenge her late boyfriend. Baron Samedi is the same spirit that Dr. Facilier, the villain from Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, draws inspiration from. A harrowing figure of death, Baron Samedi occupies a significant role in the tradition of Vodou, informing how the spiritual community examines and understands the concept of mortality and the afterlife.

Macabre and fantastical elements are embedded into both fiction and nonfiction stories that connect and contextualize the global Black experience. Whether you are looking to understand how Afro Diasporic practices can be so similar, continents away, or curious of the origins of beloved children’s tales, one only needs to look inward to discover the deep legacy of African folklore. Outside of October, much can be learned about the stories and beliefs that enrich Black culture today, here, and beyond the physical realm.