CanOfSoup - Main Sandbox

PrezHallFanatic 03/12/2012 (Monday) 02:34:56 #94837564


If you've ever been to New Orleans, you would notice that everything is directly centered around Hurricane Katrina. The trauma is deep in the natives' heads. Most were alive during that time. The rest had stories regaled to them. Stories about the best and worst of humanity, and stories of things that aren't quite… human.

For context, let us talk cemeteries.

In most parts of the world, death is a topic not to be discussed. Cemeteries are spaces to not be infiltrated, and to not be visited save for funerals. In New Orleans, death is treated as a part of a cycle of life. This attitude is coupled with voodoo and black magic culture that often steers people away from New Orleans. Especially their burial practices.

Bodies are not buried beneath the ground, as is traditional. Nor are they cremated. Instead, they are buried in above-ground tombs. These are chiseled and decorated carefully. The soil beneath New Orleans is quite unstable and watery; coffins would get water-logged and the body wouldn't decompose properly.

Now, picture this:

Hurricane Katrina makes landfall. 140 mph winds batter the countryside. New Orleans is spared through sheer luck. But the storm carries water through, and the canals flood.

This was foreseen decades ago, but the Army Corps of Engineers built the levees and flood walls quite poorly. They were either too unstable or simply not high enough. The ground shifts under wind and water pressure, and at 6:30 AM on August 29th, 2005, the 17th Street Canal levee collapses.

Mid-City, Carrollton, Gentilly, and City Park are all flooded within hours. Soon, eighty percent of New Orleans is underwater. Crime runs rampant in those desperate days. People are killed and homes are robbed, all in the pretense of survival. But if you look closer, you'd notice something wrong.

About thirty percent of these crimes resulted in death or serious trauma to a person(s). But five percent of these crimes resulted in only death or trauma. Nothing was ever stolen. It happened in deserted places. No reason for murder or attack.

Let's go back to the cemeteries. Picture this:

You were buried above ground to avoid any water-related damage to you or the coffin. Then the levees collapse and water surrounds you. It seeps into your tomb, into your coffin, and your body is water-logged, bloated, crumbling into dust under the water pressure. It'll take weeks for them to drain New Orleans, and dead people aren't exactly their priority, right?

So why not leave your tomb? Why not take your anger out on the nearest person you saw?

After all, you were in that tomb for a horribly long time.