MYSTERY WIRE — A strange doll with real human teeth was cast back into the ocean after it was found on a Florida beach.
Made of coconuts and what seemed to be snake skin, the primitive figure was immediately judged by beachgoers to be a voodoo doll. Bruce Robertson, who found it, took several pictures before he hurled it back into the surf, he said.
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The human teeth were disturbing, but now Robertson wishes he hadn’t done that.
After some research, Robertson believes the doll was actually a good luck totem — an African spider god known as Ansi. He told ClickOrlando.com:
It was the God of slaves that came from Ghana to the Caribbean and they used it for good luck and protection. We were quite relieved to find out it wasn’t a voodoo doll.
Bruce Robertson
Others disagreed. The prevalence of voodoo in Florida had a bookstore owner convinced the doll was part of a ritual.
“They do it here in Cocoa,” Michelle Davis said. “They do it all over in Florida, Louisiana, New Orleans. Voodoo is real.”
