Читать книгу Real Zombies, the Living Dead, and Creatures of the Apocalypse - Brad Steiger - Страница 51

Mary Ellen Pleasant (died January 4, 1904) was a nineteenth-century female entrepreneur of partial African descent who used her fortune to further abolition. She worked on the Underground Railroad helping slaves escape across many states and eventually helped expand the escape route to California during the Gold Rush era. She was a friend and financial supporter of John Brown, the fierce anti-slavery crusader who attacked the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (then Virginia), on October 16, 1859, and she became well known in abolitionist circles.

After the Civil War, Mary Ellen took her battles to the courts and won several civil rights victories, one of which was cited and upheld in the 1980s and resulted in her being called, “The Mother of Human Rights in California.”

But only a few know the great dark secrets she kept and that she was one of Dr. John’s greatest pupils. According to researchers at Haunted America Tours (http://hauntedamericatours.com), Mary Ellen Pleasant pried more secrets from him than did any of her contemporaries. The old stories handed down often claim that she was Dr. John’s favorite lover, but in spite of their physical passion and admiration for one another, it is supposed that during their affair his zombification book was hidden in the LaLaurie Mansion.