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National Geographic Interview With Wade Davis

A voodoo scholar explains how Haiti's many believers may view the earthquake, why he thinks Pat Robertson's post-quake remarks were "cruel, ignorant, unforgivable"—and more.

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A field recording in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in January 2006 (just months before Nadathe was killed) of a marching band playing the funeral procession of a man who was shot and killed by MINUSTAH, the UN "peace-keeping" mission in Haiti.

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Into the Zombie Underworld is the true story of a writer who found himself in Haiti, trying to understand what happened to a young woman named Nadathe Joassaint. It is a real-life journey into Haiti's world of voodoo, sorcerers, and zombies. It is also a harrowing story about the human cost of ritual magic in one of the poorest places in the world. Mischa's story first appeared in Men's Journal four years ago. In addition to commissioning original non-fiction, we are creating a library of true story classics, re-mastered for a great, rich, visual read online.

Read it here.

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Haitian Zombie Illustration by Jean-Noel Lafargue

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Haitian Voodoo Scenes

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"Trop Pou Te" (Haitian Creole) Voodoo Banner

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zom·bie

/ˈzämbē/

noun: a corpse said to be revived by witchcraft, esp. in certain African and Caribbean religions.

synonyms: living dead, undead, walking dead, soulless corpse

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Read "The Mercenary" on Medium!

Read our first Epic story for free here.

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(above) Leonardo da Vinci's Profilio di capitcano antico, also known as Il Condottiero, 1480. "Leader of Mercenaries".

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At 13,000 feet, gold mining in the Andes is a dangerous business. Exposure and altitude are just the beginning of possible complications for anyone working at that elevation. Yanacocha in Peru is the world's most productive gold mine, the largest mine in the country, the highest elevation mine in the world and also the second largest mine on the entire planet. It has produced over $7 billion in gold in last decade for the Denver based Newmont Mining Corporation that owns and operates the mine.

The mine is essentially a massive open pit, covering 251 square kilometers of alpine land. According to the New York Times 500,000 tons of earth are moved every day and by the time the mine closes, the Newmont Mining Corporation will have moved 1 billion tons of earth.

The gold is lodged in soft earth which is moved onto trucks and then separated by using a mixture of sodium cyanide liquid in massive pools where the ore is dumped. Hoses and drip the cyanide liquid onto the piles of earth eliminating the ore and leaving behind gold. The pools of water are essentially lakes of gold and sodium cyanide. 

With that said the use of these chemicals is process that has been met with serious resistance from many in the local Peruvian population who claim the sodium cyanide mixture is polluting the land. Fish, livestock and even the locals themselves have been at risk for poisoning and disease. 

For more check out this link below for a New York Times collaboration with Frontline multimedia piece that both shows how the mine operates and the fight between the Newmont Corporation and locals who oppose it's ongoing operations.

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/international/20051025_PERU_FEATURE/blocker.html

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(above) Members of the U.S. Marines Corps 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company during the Vietnam War.

Force Recon or (FORECON) is an elite Special Operations Capable (SOC) unit of the United States Marines Corps founded in the 1950's.

Force Recon's legacy and traditions are rooted in its unique and dangerous mission during the Vietnam War, a mission that continues today when the unit is deployed to conflicts around the globe.

In Vietnam Force Recon companies would conduct deep reconnaissance and direct action on North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces behind enemy lines and with little or no back up.

Small teams of Recon Marines would infiltrate enemy territory, blend into the terrain and observe/report on enemy troop movements or actions.

Teams could spend days or even weeks in the field and often they'd be tasked with eliminating an enemy unit or asset. If they had to fight they were almost always out gunned, out numbered and far from any friendly forces. 

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A private mercenary in Mexico.

(image via)

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Two Nepalese Gurkhas in Hong Kong, 1989.

Today, "Young hopefuls have to run uphill for 40 minutes carrying a wicker basket on their back filled with rocks weighing 70lbs." - BBC News

(image via)

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mer·ce·nar·y

/ˈmərsəˌnerē/

noun: one that serves merely for wages; especially : a soldier hired into foreign service