The Tonton Macoute were Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier’s secret voodoo police, a private army who terrorized Haiti using psycho-religious warfare and random violence. Duvalier built his army from the most violent and psychopathic of the population, giving them free reign to rape and pillage under his protection. Their denim uniforms, straw hats and dark shades worn even at night have become a Haitian archetype for evil.
Music and Audio Used in this Episode:
Yoshimasu Kamiya- Interlude Limbo
Schemawound- If You Can’t Be the Sun Be the Sun
Six Umbrellas- The And of the World
Monplaisir- Weird Serious Jingle of Death
Drake Stafford- Weirder
Apache Tomcat- By Request
Kevin Macleod-Ancient Rite
All music is Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
from freemusicarchive.org
Additional audio from Whicker’s World episode “Papa Doc- The Black Sheep”, hosted by
Alan Whicker, originally broadcast 17 June 1969 under Fair Use.
Additional incidental music by Skillpak
Past Dark is written and produced by Carmen Park
There is a legend in Haitian Creole mythology about a boogeyman.
The English translate his name as Uncle Gunnysack. He is a giant, a zombie, or a scarecrow covered in human skin. His legs are two floors high, and he stinks of the grave. He creeps by night into quiet villages, stealing into homes, snatching naughty children. All disappear into his heaving gunnysack, and are never seen again.
Its only a legend, of course. Unless you are Haitian. Then you’d know Uncle Gunnysack in his living embodiment- a gang of bullies, sadists and rapists , created, nurtured and officially sanctioned by the so-called “President for Life”, Francois Papa Doc Duvalier. Using random violence and psychoreligious warfare as their weapons of choice, they were the Voodoo police- the Tonton Macoute.
And its Past Dark.