The Ju-Ju House

This African art emporium is in Harlem, at 1 Ransom Court, a cluttered alley off West 137th Street, east of Lenox Avenue. This short alley opens into a 20 foot (6 m) square court. The only doors from the court are those of Ju-Ju House and the back door of an abandoned pawnshop that fronts onto 138th Street. On meeting nights, three cultists sprawl in the court up until the ritual begins, posing as winos and acting as guards. Crowded tenements surround Ransom Court and many windows overlook it. Once a month, strange people and foreigners go into the shop very late at night; odd noises are also heard at those times. Sometimes, there is more than one meeting a month, but fewer people attend those and there doesn’t seem to be a regular pattern to when they happen.

Purpose / Function

Although it may appear that Ju-Ju House consists purely on one level, there is an entrance to a lower one—a trapdoor beneath the rug behind the shop counter. Beneath the rug is the inset steel handle of the trap door. Lifting the trap door and laying it back on its hinges reveals a set of stairs barely wide enough for one person. The steep stairs lead downward nearly 20 feet and end in a corridor 10 feet long that, in turn, stops at a stout door. The walls, ceiling, and floor of this corridor are stone. The ceiling is 8 feet above the floor. Cut into the stone slabs are arcane tribal symbols symbolizing evil. A kerosene lantern hanging from the center of the corridor is lit if this is a meeting night but otherwise the corridor is pitch black.
The door at the end of the corridor leading down from the shop above is oak reinforced with iron strips. Cut into the wood are more symbols. Beyond the door was the sacrificial chamber, with a 15 foot high ceiling. All surfaces were of dressed stone. Torches in wall niches lit the ceremonial chamber. Large African drums, accompaniment for the rituals, lined the walls.
At one end of the room was a pit, some 8 feet diameter, covered by a thick stone block. A large winch lifted the block.

RUINED STRUCTURE
1925

Parent Location

New York, New York

Owner

Silas N'Kwane

Owning Organization

The Cult of the Bloody Tongue