{
  "title": "“ZOMBIE” BROADCASTS",
  "category": "[FOLK-LEGENDS; RADIO-MISCELLANY]",
  "article": "Zombies first entered into American popular culture with the publication of Wiliam Seabrook’s\nnon-fiction account of his Haitian explorations, The Magic Island, published in 192? by\n[publisher?].\n[Sheboygan Press, March 23, 1928] “Into the Black Haunts of Voodoo”—“An unusual American\nrecently emerged from the jungles of Haiti where he was the first white man ever admitted by\nblood rite to the Lagba voodooists’ cult. He saw the ‘dead’ reawaken…lived for months with\nstrange jungle negros…observed weird mutilations of the dead…the horrifying mixture of witch\npotions.”\n[Ben Wasson, Delta Democrat-Times, February 15, 1976] “…when I first was in New York City it\nwas my privilege to know William Seabrook whose hair-raising study of Haiti disclosed, at least\naccording to his controversial account, that he had actually seen a group of these living dead\nworking on a farm field on the island. Following a dinner one night, Seabrook had a group of us\ngoggle-eyed as he told his stories—lurid, yes—of Haiti and the facts about Voodoo.”\n[“Voodoo Programs Can Be Expected From Clark’s Pen.” San Antonio Light (September 8,\n1929)] “Donald Clark, manager of the continuity department of the Columbia Broadcasting\nsystem, has just returned from the West Indies where he made exhaustive studies of Voodoo.\nWhat he learned there is to be incorporated into a dramatic series which will be heard over KTSA\nand stations of the Columbia network this fall.”\nSee also: WHITE ZOMBIE.\nCAPTAIN ADAMS (KFRC, SAN FRANCISCO)\n[Tuesday—9:30-10:00 PM]\nFebruary 11, 1930\n[“…South Sea Island magic, called Zombi, which, according to\nsuperstition, enables certain persons to raise the dead forms the basis of\nthe Captain Adams story… An interesting feature of this program will be\nthe authentic chants and drum rhythms which the author, John Eugene\nHasty, has obtained through much research work…”]\nTHE NORTHERN DRAMATIC CO. (WOL, WASHINGTON)\n[Friday—8:30-8:45 PM]\nJuly 29, 1932\n“White Zombie”\nJOHN HENRY—BLACK RIVER GIANT (WABC, NEW YORK)\n[Sunday—8:00-8:15 & 8:45-9:00 PM]\nJanuary 22, 1933\n[SAN ANTONIO LIGHT: “…John Henry, this evening, will wander into the\nhut of a conjure woman and demonstrate his remarkable powers...”\n[“…Tonight’s adventures of the amazing creature of Negro folklore will\ntake him to the hut of the ‘conjure woman,’ where he makes good his\nboast that he knows plenty about conjuring. The giant makes good to\nsuch an extent that he brings the cabin down in ruins upon all within…”\n[SYRACUSE HERALD (April 2, 1933): “…It is Juano Hernandez who takes\nthe part of ‘John Henry’ in the radio adaptation of Roark Bradford’s\nbook, heard every Sunday night… It’s quite mystifying and dramatic to\nwatch him at work. There was a scene in a past incident in which ‘John\nHenry’ was to call the ‘spirits.’ That Sunday everybody in the studio felt\neerie when his deep voice began Voodoo chants, and the drums began to\nbeat. The production man and the engineer expected to see ghosts of\ndead chieftains of the Congo tribes come trooping into the very\nstudio!...”]\nSCRIPT: Geraldine Garrick, Juano Hernandez (adapted from the book by Roark\nBradford).\nCAST: Juano Hernandez (John Henry), Rose McClendon, et al.\nSTRANGE ADVENTURES IN STRANGE LANDS (TRANSCO TRANSCRIPTION DISC,\nLOS ANGELES)\nCa. 1933\n“Dead Men Walking”\nEXTANT RECORDING\nUNSOLVED MYSTERIES (KHJ, LOS ANGELES)\n[Monday—7:45-8:00 PM]\nDecember 3, 1934\n“Mystery of the Zombie”\n[“…A story of the terrifying voodoo magic of the natives of Haiti…”]\nTHE THRILL HUNTER (MACGREGOR TRANSCRIPTION DISC, SAN FRANCISCO)\nCa. 1934\n“Dead Men Walk”\nTERROR BY NIGHT (WABC, NEW YORK—CBS)\n[Sunday—10:00-10:30 PM]\nMarch 8, 1936\n“The Restless Dead”\n[“…Chief characters are a group of Zombies, ghoulish persons brought\nback and impressed into earthly labor…”]\nTHE PHILIP MORRIS PROGRAM (WEAF, NEW YORK—NBC RED)\n[Tuesday—8:30-9:00 PM]\nAugust 25, 1936\n[“…William Seabrook, author, tells how modern ‘Magic’ saved him in\nAfrican jungle…”]\nSATAN HAS A GUEST (C??, TORONTO)\n[\nOct. 27, 1936\n“The Restless Dead”\n[“…Satan relates how a surgeon and his wife visit a doctor in Haiti and\nthe surgeon is killed by the ghost of the Haitian patient who had hexed\nhim prior to dying…”]\nTHE PHILIP MORRIS PROGRAM (WEAF, NEW YORK—NBC RED)\n[Tuesday—8:30-9:00 PM]\nNovember 2, 1937\n[“The Inside Story of Zombies”]\n[LIMA NEWS: “…The inside story of ‘zombies’—Haiti’s ‘Living-dead’ will\nbe dramatized as Charles Martin’s ‘Thrill of the Week’ on Johnny the Call\nBoy’s program… And the first ‘zombie’ ever to broadcast, Juano Hobez,\nwill be presented at the microphone. Robez’s claim is that he was a\n‘zombie’ for sixteen years, but finally ‘repossessed’ his soul…”]\n[PARIS NEWS: “…Zombie! And a guest star at that. When the Johnny\nPresents program…comes on Tuesday evening, the ‘thrill of the week’\nsection will be devoted to those hazy, Dracula-like creatures known to\nGulf stream islanders as zombies. For those of you who don’t know, a\nzombie is the same thing to a Haitian resident as a spiritualist’s assistant\nis to a New Orleans Negro—he’s a spook who’s come back to life. The\nstory goes that zombies are dead persons who’ve been brought back into\nthis sometimes boring world to stir up excitement for island natives who\nhaven’t had the opportunity of dying. Further, it’s in the story that\nzombies are re-created by native witch doctors and that they wander\nsoulless throughout the hemispheres of the world. But back to the\nTuesday evening program, we find that the guest star rage will bring\nJuano Hobez, reputedly a zombie for 16 years, to the airways to tell all\nabout how he zombied around. He’s repossessed his soul, he says, so he\nwon’t bite the microphone unless he suddenly gets rezombied…”]\n[OAKLAND TRIBUNE (Jack Burroughs): “… ‘Zombies,’ the ‘living dead’ of\nHaiti, will be the subject of Charles Martin’s ‘Thrill of the Week’…\nTonight Juano Hobez, who claims that he was a ‘Zombie’ for 16 years but\nfinally ‘regained possession of his soul,’ will be a guest on the program.\nThis is supposed to be the first time one of those living dead men has\never broadcast, but I wonder. I’ve been listening to radio programs for a\ngood many years, and I’ve heard a few that were not exactly overflowing\nwith vitality…”]\nHOBBY LOBBY (WJZ, NEW YORK—NBC BLUE)\n[Wednesday—8:30-9:00 PM]\nMarch 22, 1939\n[“…William Seabrook—author of\n‘Asylum,’ ‘Magic Island,’ and other\nbest sellers—heads the list of guests\non Dave Elman’s ‘Hobby Lobby,’\nexplaining his particular hobby: Black\nmagic and African voodooism…”]\nTHE INSIDE STORY (WJZ, NEW YORK)?\n[Tuesday—\nApril 18, 1939\n“The Living Dead”\n[“…William B. Seabrook, noted\nnovelist and adventurer, will discuss\nwhat he learned during a year of\ninvestigating voodooism in Haiti and\nAfrica…”]\nWE THE PEOPLE (WABC, NEW YORK—CBS)\n[Tuesday—8:00-8:30 PM]\nJune 4, 1940\n[“…Stories of the ‘zombies,’ the living\ndead of Haiti’s voodooland who\naccording to superstitious legend are\nsupposed to be actual persons\nresurrected from the grave, will be told\nby the noted author, William\nSeabrook on Gabriel Heatter’s ‘We the\nPeople’…”]\nBEHIND THE MIKE (\n[Sunday—\nApril 20, 1941\n[“…Juano Hernandez, Negro, spins a\ntale of voodooism…”]\n[YOUNGSTOWN VINDICATOR: “…A tale of vodooism so potent that it\nbroke a spell which controlled a radio listener, will be told during ‘Behind\nthe Mike.’ It was originally presented by Juano Hernandez, colored\nwriter and actor, on one of Rudy Vallee’s radio programs. He is to do only\npart of it this time…”]\nThis document was created with the Win2PDF “Print to PDF” printer available at\nhttps://www.win2pdf.com\nThis version of Win2PDF 10 is for evaluation and non-commercial use only.\nVisit https://www.win2pdf.com/trial/ for a 30 day trial license.\nThis page will not be added after purchasing Win2PDF.\nhttps://www.win2pdf.com/purchase/",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "",
  "personnel": "",
  "extant_recordings": "",
  "chronology": "",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}