It's one thing to 'practice' it in Haiti...and quite another to bring that mess with you to another country! Here aresomenews reports about this story....

:::Voodoo head found in air luggage:::

Human head found
US immigration officials have arrested a Haitian woman after baggage screeners found a human head in her luggage at a Florida airport.

Myrlene Severe, 30, has been charged with failing to declare the head on a customs form and transporting "hazardous material".

She arrived at Florida's Fort Lauderdale airport on Thursday on a flight from Cap Haitien in north Haiti.

Ms Severe said that the head was to ward off evil spirits, officials said.

"Severe stated that she had obtained the package, which contained a human head, from a male in Haiti for use as part of her voodoo beliefs," the US Attorney's Office said in a statement.

'Hair and skin'

A spokesman for Miami's immigration and customs agency told the AFP news agency that the head was not simply a skull.

"It had teeth, hair and skin, and quite a lot of dirt," she said.

Ms Severe, a US resident, appeared in court on Friday in Fort Lauderdale. She could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.Voodoo head found in air luggage

Myrlene Severe and a US official getting into a car

::::Human head found::::
US immigration officials have arrested a Haitian woman after baggage screeners found a human head in her luggage at a Florida airport.

Myrlene Severe, 30, has been charged with failing to declare the head on a customs form and transporting "hazardous material".

She arrived at Florida's Fort Lauderdale airport on Thursday on a flight from Cap Haitien in north Haiti.

Ms Severe said that the head was to ward off evil spirits, officials said.

"Severe stated that she had obtained the package, which contained a human head, from a male in Haiti for use as part of her voodoo beliefs," the US Attorney's Office said in a statement.

'Hair and skin'

A spokesman for Miami's immigration and customs agency told the AFP news agency that the head was not simply a skull.

"It had teeth, hair and skin, and quite a lot of dirt," she said.

Ms Severe, a US resident, appeared in court on Friday in Fort Lauderdale. She could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

The practice of voodoo, an Afro-Caribbean religion whose roots go back thousands of years, is still widespread in Haiti.

The Haitian government officially recognised voodoo as a religion in 2003.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4703328.stm

&
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11270335/

Outcome of case:

:::No Prison For Woman With Human Head In Luggage:::
Myrlene Severe Sentenced to 2 Years Probation
She Must Also Pay a $1,000 Fine
FT. LAUDERDALE A Miramar woman, who brought a human skull into the United States through Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport will not go to prison. Instead, 30-year old Myrlene Severe was sentenced in federal court Friday to two years probation and charged a $1,000 fine.

Kenneth Hassett, Severe’s attorney, said his client did not know she was committing a crime when she brought the skull from Haiti on February 9 because she truly believes in Vodoo. Hassett said she was exercising her religious beliefs when she brought the skull on the plane because she believed it would protect her.

Federal agents found the skull, with strands of black curly hair, in Severe's luggage after her Lynx Airline flight arrived from Haiti. It was nestled in a cotton rice bag along with a banana leaf, dirt, small stones and a rusty iron nail.

Severe originally was charged with three federal felonies: intentionally smuggling a human head into the United States; not having the proper paperwork; and bringing hazardous material onto an airplane. The charges were later downgraded to a misdemeanor for illegally storing human remains.

Severe did not speak at Friday's hearing and declined to talk to reporters afterward.

It is against the law to bring human body parts into the United States without paperwork indicating a proper scientific use such as medical research or transplant.

Severe is a permanent legal U.S. resident. ''She's happy with the result and she'd like to move on with her life,'' Hassett said. "She would like to become a U.S. citizen. She will continue her belief.'' http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_202104816.html

All I know is..I'd hate to eat anything this woman cooked!confused3

TheUnited States needs to close it's borders. It has enough nuts here already!