How To Pronounce Yves Tumor

by William Albert Jones

Yves Tumor: A Legend and a Legacy

A young voodoo man named Yves Tumor (or Vaque and Tôvo “VVVD” Tumor) lived in the African subcontinent into the early 1800s. He is said to have appeared to Marie Antoinette (“Mon Dieu!”), the French queen, and Madame Tussaud, the Parisian dressmaker to George III. His appearance turned everyone’s hearts to ashes, and his tongue was twisted and cut out.

VVVD is best called the great voodoo sorcerer and magician of Yoruba, Côte d’Ivoire (formerly Côte d’Ivoire and Afrique noire), who flourished from the very beginning of the 1400s until 1618. In 1580, he moved south across the midland border to Nigeria (present-day Nigeria) and, at the time of his death, ruled about three-fourths of the rest of the country. Over the years, he propagated the voodoo rites and spirit traditions among many of the peoples of this faraway land. In one of his last rites, his spirit gained possession of a red house that was being restored to an English nobleman, who was responsible for the building. The family lived there for sixty years and used all their income to maintain and expand their property. The family practiced voodoo; it was described as “not his son or anyone else. He was not that sort of voodoo priest.”

During these years, VVVD went from village to village over the Guinea-Bissau (now Guinea and Bénin) bridge, and from one area to the other, with his “Nu”-related curses. He presided over a village called Nuvula in 1495, and would say the Devil would come to play on the village bridge every night. In another, which is supposed to be the birth-house of Yves, he carried a knife to cut off any one of the village lads who came within striking distance of him. In case of resistance, his knife might be stuck in the boy’s heart to permanently condemn him. In yet another, he wore a green garb.