Voodoo palace’s red walls finally explained – and it’s pretty gruesome

An African king’s palace has long been known for its distinctive red hue – which, it is now clear, didn’t come from paint. Or baguettes.

King Ghezo ruled the Kingdom of Dahomey in modern day Benin from 1818 to 1858. He was known for his military presence and brutal manner of defending the kingdom. 

His palace, near the southern city of Abomey, included such delightful details as an alley – allegedly – paved with the skulls and jawbones of defeated enemies. His throne was said to rest on the skulls of four defeated enemy leaders.

Like other kings before and after him, Ghezo was also a believer in voodoo, which remains the state religion of Benin today.

Legend has it that the palace’s red walls were created using using red oil, lustral water and the blood of 41 human sacrifice victims – the number 41 is sacred in Voodoo. 

Now, a study has confirmed that seems to be true, having found human proteins in its walls. And possibly baguettes, although they won’t have helped with the colour.

The buildings in question were funerary huts constructed in honour of King Ghezo’s father Adandozan, who reigned between 1797 and 1818.

Writing in the journal Proteomics, the researchers, from France and Benin, explained how in voodoo, death is only a change of state, not a total disappearance.

‘Importantly, a barrier between the human world and the place where the body is laid (or the spirit of the deceased) can be magically delineated,’ they wrote. ‘This separator is part of a supernatural border, since metaphysical elements are incorporated into the physical wall. These elements include prayers, earth from a sacred place, water from a divine spring, the blood of enemies.

‘Together, their mystical force is symbolically charged with protecting what remains of the subtle essence of the deceased king.’

This meant that, for 41 unfortunate victims, their blood was required to help build the walls.

To confirm this, the researchers used a special technique known as high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry, which allowed them to look at the proteins within the cladding. 

They found the presence of human and poultry haemoglobin and immunoglobulins, which is an indicator of the presence of red blood cells.

However, they also found another, more unexpected, substance. Wheat.

Wheat was not a common crop in West Africa at the time, but records suggest that King Ghezo was a great fan of Emperor Napoleon III. The two are said to have exchanged gifts, raising the tantalising possibility that French baguettes were also built into the palace – but cannot be confirmed. Unlike the blood.

It is not known where the 41 victims came from, although the team argues they were probably slaves or captives of enemy populations. However, it is also worth noting that when a Dahomey king died, the ‘Great Customs’ was carried out, which, alongside military parades and the collection of gifts, involved the sacrifice of hundreds of victims.