Was It Just A Coincidence? You Be The Judge

Do You Do Voodoo?

I have always had a fascination for the dark and the macabre. Living in New Orleans, it's easy to find bizarre shops throughout the city to satiate your darkest desires. Going into these shops as a girl piqued my curiosity into the practices and rituals of voodoo and witchcraft, and I sought out to read and learn as much as I could on the subject.

I do not practice witchcraft or voodoo but an opportunity presented itself once and I decided to give voodoo a try. I thought it was harmless and the outcome can easily be debated as a coincidence. I will give you the details and let you be the judge.

You see the opportunity... you take it.

Every year, eight of us get together during the NFL preseason stretch to have our annual fantasy football draft party. We've had a few different people come and go but it's been a core group of five of us doing this now for over ten years. I am usually the one in last place but the sun shines on a dog's ass every now and then and in 2014 I actually closed out the season in 2nd place.

On the other side is our friend, Derrick who apparently has a horseshoe up his ass because he has been our champion five times now and is on his way to his sixth win if his luck continues the way it usually does. In football, when you've won three championships, your team is considered a 'dynasty'.

Derrick won three years in a row but a pattern seemed to emerge. We set our draft order by picking out of a deck of cards; Ace - 7. The person who drew the Ace had the first pick, and so on. Every year that Derrick won, he drew the Ace from the deck. After his third win, I decided to have a little fun and for the draft party we had a voodoo ritual in the hopes of casting a spell on his hands to not pick the Ace from the deck (see, pretty harmless right?) So, I made an altar of sorts...

---

It wasn't anything extremely fancy and there was really no rhyme or reason to it... I did just a little research for the symbols that I drew on the base. I went into one of the voodoo shops in the city to get some black candles, chicken's feet, feathers and black flowers. I found a little miniature voodoo doll and pinned Derrick's face on it. We had to retire the old deck of cards and start with a new one and the new deck had to be 'blessed'. I had to do it PG because I think animal sacrifice would be frowned upon.

---

Let the ritual begin!

With the lighting of the candles, the ritual begins. We each say our own person silent prayer or chant.

We take turns sticking pins in the hand of the voodoo doll.

And there you have it, ritual complete.

---

Did it work?

That year, Derrick did not draw the Ace from the deck and he did not win the season. Did it work? I don't know. One could argue that it could be a matter of odds. After winning three times in a row it would be time for him to lose. Odds would predict that his winning streak would cease. Could the ritual have pushed his fate in a certain direction? Who knows? Was it a coincidence? I'll let you be the judge.