Voodoo Doll - Wikipedia

Jump to content

Contents

move to sidebar hide

• (Top)
• 1 Depictions in culture Toggle Depictions in culture subsection
  • 1.1 20th-century link with Voodoo
• 2 See also
• 3 References Toggle References subsection
  • 3.1 Footnotes
  • 3.2 Sources

• Article
• Talk

English

• Read
• Edit
• View history

Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions

• Read
• Edit
• View history

General

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Permanent link
• Page information
• Cite this page
• Get shortened URL
• Download QR code

Print/export

• Download as PDF
• Printable version

In other projects

• Wikimedia Commons
• Wikidata item

Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Effigy into which pins are inserted For other uses, see Voodoo doll (disambiguation).

A voodoo doll is an effigy that is typically used for the insertion of pins.[1] Such practices are found in various forms in the magical traditions of many cultures around the world.[1]

Despite its name, the voodoo doll is not prominent in the African diaspora religions of Haitian Vodou nor Louisiana Voodoo.[1][2]

Depictions in culture

[edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Voodoo doll" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

20th-century link with Voodoo

[edit]

The association of the voodoo doll and the religion of Voodoo was established through the presentation of the latter in Western popular culture during the first half of the 20th century[1] as part of the broader negative depictions of Black and Afro-Caribbean religious practices in the United States.[3] In John Houston Craige's 1933 book Black Bagdad: The Arabian Nights Adventures of a Marine Captain in Haiti, a Haitian prisoner is described sticking pins into an effigy to induce illness.[1] In film, representations of Haitian Vodou in works such as Victor Halperin's 1932 White Zombie and Jacques Tourneur’s 1943 I Walked with a Zombie also involves the use of the dolls.[1] Voodoo dolls are also featured in one episode of The Woody Woodpecker Show (1961),[4] as well as in the British musical Lisztomania (1975) and the films Creepshow (1982), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Child's Play (1988) and Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998).

By the early 21st century, the image of the voodoo doll had become particularly pervasive.[1] It had become a novelty item available for purchase, with examples being provided in vending machines in British shopping centres,[1] and an article on "How to Make a Voodoo Doll" being included on WikiHow.[5][1] Voodoo dolls were also featured in the 2009 animated Disney movie The Princess and the Frog,[1] as well as the 2011 live-action Disney movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

See also

[edit]

• Clay-body
• Haitian Vodou
• Haunted doll
• Hopi Kachina figure
• Nkondi
• Poppet
• Shikigami
• Totem
• Ushabti
• Ushi no toki mairi

References

[edit]

Footnotes

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Armitage 2015, p. 85.
2. ^ QI: Quite Interesting, Series D, Episode 10: Divination, BBC, BBC Two
3. ^ Armitage 2015, p. 86.
4. ^ Hannah, Jack (1961-08-14), Voo-Doo Boo-Boo (Animation, Family, Short), Walter Lantz Productions, retrieved 2022-04-22
5. ^ "How to Make a Voodoo Doll".

Sources

[edit]

• Armitage, Natalie (2015). "European and African Figural Ritual Magic: The Beginnings of the Voodoo Doll Myth". In Ceri Houlbrook; Natalie Armitage (eds.). The Materiality of Magic: An Artifactual Investigation into Ritual Practices and Popular Beliefs. Oxford: Oxbow. pp. 85–101.

• Faraone, Christopher A. (1991). "Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of "Voodoo Dolls" in Ancient Greece". Classical Antiquity. 10 (2): 165–202. doi:10.2307/25010949. JSTOR 25010949.

• Hutton, Ronald (1999). The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-820744-1.

v t e African diaspora religions
African traditional religion-derived systems	Brazil Batuque Candomblé Bantu Jejé Ketu Encantaria Jarê Macumba Quimbanda Tambor de Mina Umbanda Elsewhere Abakuá Arará Birongo Comfa Convince Dominican Vudú Haitian Vodou in Cuba Hoodoo Kumina Louisiana Voodoo New Orleans Voodoo Revival María Lionza Maroon Obeah Orisha-Voodoo Palo Santería Spiritual Baptist Trinidadian Vodunu Winti
Abrahamic and other new religions	Atheism Black church Invisible churches Spiritual church movement Black Hebrew Israelites Catholicism Five-Percent Nation Islam Judaism Rastafari Moorish Science Temple of America Nation of Islam Nuwaubian Nation
Practices and concepts	Animal sacrifice Bedwardism Fetish priest Birongo Bokor Houngan Mambo Hot foot powder Jazz funeral Kromanti dance Akan Macumba Mojo bag Myal Nine nights Spirituals Veve Voodoo doll Zombie
Diverse roots	Alusi Igbo Caribbean folklore Ifá Kongo Nkisi Bantu Loa Fon and Ewe Orisha Yoruba Akan Fon and Ewe Zemi Native American religions

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Voodoo_doll&oldid=1328332377" Categories:

• American witchcraft
• Cunning folk
• Dolls
• English folklore
• European witchcraft
• Magic items
• Voodoo

Hidden categories:

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from December 2025
• All articles needing additional references

Search Search Toggle the table of contents Voodoo doll 18 languages Add topic