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On February 9. 2006, Myrlene Severe was charged with smuggling after federal security screeners found a skull in her luggage at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Ms. Severe, a Haitian-born permanent U.S. resident, said that the male skull that she had brought from Haiti would be used in rites that were an important aspect in her Voodoo beliefs.

While members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement grimaced in disgust, Ms Severe explained how the skull, complete with teeth and hair, would enable her to ward off evil spirits. Attempting to employ their strict discipline as federal security officers, a number of the screeners found themselves recoiling from the skull that still contained organic matter within its shell and was spotted with bits of skin and lots of dirt on its exterior.

Although she was guilty of smuggling because she had not declared a human skull in her luggage, 30-year-old Myrlene Severe was practicing her freedom of religious belief. It is not against the law to practice Voodoo, Witchcraft, or Wicca in the United States—in fact, there are an estimated 800,000 individuals practicing Witchcraft/Wicca/Neo-Paganism in the U.S. Those practicing some form of Voodoo, Voudun, Candomoblé, Macumba, Yoruba, or Santeria number as many as 80 million worldwide.