Bokara Legendre: Mummy Was a Wild Game Hunter

Summary

Summary of "Bokara Legendre: Mummy Was a Wild Game Hunter"

Introduction

In this captivating episode of The Moth, Bakara Legendre shares an enthralling and personal narrative that intertwines her family's legacy with themes of heritage, transformation, and the supernatural. Recorded live at The Moth in 2001, her story delves deep into the complex relationship between mother and daughter, set against the backdrop of a South Carolina plantation filled with the remnants of a bygone era.

Mother’s Legacy as a Big Game Hunter

Bakara begins by painting a vivid picture of her mother, affectionately referred to as "Mummy," who was an avid big game hunter during a time when such pursuits were culturally celebrated. She recounts,

“My mother was a big white hunter at the time when a lot of people thought that the world was full of animals who basically hung out until somebody white in a topee shot them” ([00:02]).

Her mother's passion for hunting took her and her father on expeditions to places like Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) in 1928, where they amassed a significant collection of animal trophies housed in local museums.

Inheriting the Plantation

Fast forward 35 years, Bakara inherits her mother's plantation in South Carolina upon her passing. The plantation is a repository of her mother's life's work, featuring a grand lodge adorned with numerous animal trophies. Bakara reflects on her mother's adventurous spirit:

“Mummy was a real let's get cracking, let's get the show on the road and have a really great time kind of girl” ([04:45]).

Determined to honor her mother's legacy while forging her own path, Bakara decides to transform the plantation from a symbol of hunting and power into a sanctuary for peace and spiritual growth.

Attempts to Transform the Plantation

Bakara's vision involves removing the animal trophies and replacing them with elements that promote harmony and divinity. She explains her initial attempts to part with the trophies:

“I called Anne Aristoff... if you'd like to have 150 heads?” ([07:15]).

However, she encounters bureaucratic hurdles, such as legal restrictions on transporting endangered species, which prevent her from easily disposing of the collection.

Supernatural Challenges

As Bakara undertakes the transformation, she faces a series of unexplained and unsettling events that seem to resist her efforts. From spontaneous fires to collapsing Christmas trees, these occurrences intensify her struggle:

“There was a huge fire in the fireplace and it erupted in masses of black smoke” ([08:13]).

Despite her manager’s skepticism and opposition, Bakara remains resolute in her mission to rid the plantation of its dark past.

Resolution and Spiritual Awakening

After multiple failed attempts, Bakara resorts to a spiritual solution by organizing a Beltane festival. Her plan involves a ceremonial bonfire to cleanse the plantation of its haunting legacy. Unfortunately, her manager dismisses the idea due to concerns over formaldehyde toxicity, reflecting the ingrained resistance to change:

“He said that there's formaldehyde in the animals heads and that we would all be poisoned” ([13:30]).

Ultimately, Bakara sends the animal heads to her nephew, symbolizing her relinquishment of her mother's legacy. This act marks a turning point, allowing her to reclaim the plantation and infuse it with new life centered around spirituality and peace.

“Now I have my paintings of animals to call in the space spirits so that the animal spirits will help me. And I realized I'm free” ([14:50]).

Conclusion

Bakara Legendre's story is a profound exploration of personal identity, familial expectations, and the struggle to redefine one's heritage. Through her eloquent narrative, she invites listeners to reflect on the power of legacy and the courage it takes to forge a new path. By transforming the plantation from a monument of hunting to a space of spiritual convergence, Bakara embodies the resilience and adaptability required to honor the past while embracing the future.

Notable Quotes

• Bakara Legendre: “My mother was a big white hunter at the time when a lot of people thought that the world was full of animals who basically hung out until somebody white in a topee shot them.” ([00:02])

• Bakara Legendre: “Mummy was a real let's get cracking, let's get the show on the road and have a really great time kind of girl.” ([04:45])

• Bakara Legendre: “I called Anne Aristoff... if you'd like to have 150 heads?” ([07:15])

• Bakara Legendre: “There was a huge fire in the fireplace and it erupted in masses of black smoke.” ([08:13])

• Bakara Legendre: “Now I have my paintings of animals to call in the space spirits so that the animal spirits will help me. And I realized I'm free.” ([14:50])

Final Thoughts

Bakara Legendre's story is a testament to the enduring impact of family legacy and the transformative power of personal agency. Her journey from inheriting a plantation steeped in hunting trophies to creating a space dedicated to peace and spirituality serves as an inspiring narrative for anyone grappling with reconciling the past with their own values and aspirations.

Transcript

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[Dan Kennedy]

Welcome to the Moth Podcast. I'm Dan Kennedy. Exciting news for those of you in New York City. The Moth kicks off its 15th annual season with moth eaten stories about food on September 13th at at Cooper Union. Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi will host the evening with stories from Moth favorite Adam Gopnik, food writer and Top Chef judge Gail Simmons, and comedian Lisa lampanelli. Check out themoth.org for more information. Okay, now let's listen to this week's story. This week's story by Bakara Legendre was recorded live at the moth in 2001. The theme of the night was what lies Uncovering the Underworld.

[Bakara Legendre]

My mother was a big white hunter at the time when a lot of people thought that the world was full of animals who basically hung out until somebody white in a topee shot them. And my mother was one of those people in a topi. And right upstairs in this museum in the African wing, there's a collection of nyala that she collected with my father in 1928. Now, in 1928, mummy was 26, and she was not only getting ready to have a career as a big game hunter, she also was getting ready to get married. So she organized a trip to Abyssinia, which is what Ethiopia was called then, for the Natural History Museum. And she invited this very attractive pair of brothers who she'd met the summer before, Sidney and Morris Legendre, and they all set out for Abyssinia. And it wasn't exactly. It wouldn't be my way of seducing a man to invite him to shoot. But, you know, times have changed, and they arrived in Africa. It took a month on the boat to get to Africa, and then they spent another couple of months trying to get ready to go on the trip. And they had to get their tents together and their Sherpas and their this and their that to get organized. But months went by, and they still weren't allowed to go shooting. Well, when you arrive in a country like that, you have to list everything that's with you. Every Ted, every gun, everything. And they listed all their shotguns, and each shotgun has a serial number, and it can be as many as 10 numbers. And they discovered that actually the Abyssinians thought that the numbers were the number of guns and that Mummy had come to start a revolution. But when they cleared that up, they let them go. And. And they spent the next couple of months under canvas, as they say. And somewhere between the tent and the sultan's palace, Mummy chose Daddy. Now, there was some question about whether it was going to be Morris or Sydney, but Sidney was kind of tall, dark and handsome, and he was a very good listener, which Mummy liked. Well, at the end of the Abyssinian trip, Mummy and Daddy got married and. And they went back to America. And 35 years later, mummy and I decided to go around the world. Now, Mummy was a real let's get cracking, let's get the show on the road and have a really great time kind of girl. I mean, she liked to have costume parties. She invited everybody to go shooting with her, whether it was on an expedition or at her plantation in South Carolina. And she just wanted to taste everything and try everything and have a ton of fun. Now, for example, during the war, she was in the OSS in Paris, and she had a desk job and things got kind of tame. And so she was with a bunch of cronies one day at the Ritz Bar, and she said, why don't we just go out and see the war? So they rented a car and they drove to the front lines to look at the shooting. I mean, the German front. Well, they all got captured and spent the next six months in prison camp. Well, Mummy, when we went around the world, kind of remembered the world the way it had been. And she thought that everybody would entertain her. You see, the way it used to be in the 20s was that if it took a month to get somewhere, by the time you got there, I mean, the people at the embassies and in the government were so thrilled to see someone that they really got excited about it. And when Mummy traveled, why, the embassies gave balls for her and the local governments entertained her. And I mean, they had tribal dances and they had sacrifices of animals and candlelight dinners, and it was really exciting. And so when Mommy and I went around the world, we packed our ball gowns and our matching satin slippers and every single country we went to, we sent our cards in to the ambassador and the local government on little silver trays that were proffered by the butlers. And then we'd go back to the hotel and wait for the call. But we never got called because nowadays people just don't get excited when you travel. So I knew that Mummy wasn't really. I mean, the world wasn't measuring up the way Mummy wanted it to, and I wasn't measuring up the way Mummy wanted me to, in fact. And I'd gone on the trip because I wanted to see the world and Mummy wanted to check it out again. And I thought that somehow I would change my relationship with my mother and suddenly we would become really close and it would just be this wonderful trip, which sort of mother, daughter, we'd become really close and everything would be wonderful. But instead of being like that, the whole thing gave me a terrible pain in my tummy. And I was sick. The whole. In every country we got to, I was sick. And this made Mummy even more disappointed. So 35 years later, mummy dies and I inherit her plantation in South Carolina. And the plantation has this great big lodge where all the trophies of Mummy's whole life are hung on the walls.

[Dan Kennedy]

And.

[Bakara Legendre]

And I've decided that the way to deal with this is I'm going to change the karma of the plantation. I'm going to bring in my spiritual friends and my new age friends, and we're going to have. We're going to stop war and stop shooting and have peace. And it's really going to be marvelous. But Mummy started fighting me right from the beginning. I mean, I painted the house and I redecorated. And right away, the first night I moved into her newly painted bedroom, there was a huge fire in the fireplace and it erupted in masses of black smoke. And I had to get people to come in and put out the fire. And one of them told me that they saw a mummy in the smoke. Then this Christmas tree fell over three times in the night and these wall sconces of lamps were falling off the walls. I mean, finally, my manager, who is a very un. Sort of crazy person said Mrs. La Jonde, that's enough. So anyway, despite all this, I had my first gathering and I got up to welcome all of the people and I talked about how we're all one and from stardust we come, and to stardust we'll go, and the rest world, and we're all going to get together and it's just going to be wonderful. And I noticed that everybody's faces were absolutely stony and that they were sort of looking around me. And I looked up and there was a big hippo over my head and all around me were the heads of lions and tigers and buffalo. And the floors were covered with animal skins with tigers and leopards and zebras, and the wood for the fire were in elephant feet, and people had hung their hats on elephant tusks, and even the sofas were covered with animal skins. And I thought, I've just got to get rid of this stuff. So I called Anne Aristoff. Now she's a very big deal person at the Natural History Museum. And I reminded her that over the years Mummy had killed all these animals and had been so helpful to the museum. And I said, gee, I wonder, Mrs. Aristof, if you'd like to have 150 heads? And she said, I'm sorry, we only take the whole animal. So then I called Ralph Lauren and I said, how would you like to have the collection of some authentic wasp polo playing family? And they said, well, we'd like it, but there seems to be that there's a law that you can't send endangered species, even the heads, over state lines. So then I found a collector and the collector said he would take the moose, the elephant, the tiger, but he wouldn't take the water buffalo. And I said, look, I want a full animal deal. So then I thought, I give up, I'm not going to be able to do it. I can't really step into Mummy's shoes because these animals represent her power. And in a way, if you think about it, the Africans, when they go shooting, not shooting, but bows and arrows, the young men have to kill a lion in order to prove their manhood. And in some funny way, these animals are Mummy's power. And I'm sort of stuck with them. And I can't really take over the plantation as long as they're there, and I can't get rid of them. And I thought, I give up. I mean, I've been beaten, I can't do it. And then I thought, I'm having a mano au mano fight with the Spirits here. What am I going to do? And I decided to have a Beltane festival and that I would build a huge bonfire and I would put all the animals heads in the bonfire fire. And I would invite all my shaman friends and my Native American friends and my California friends, and we'd all drum and sing and dance around the bonfire. And the spirits of the animals would go up with the smoke and we, well, we'd be absolved of the whole problem. I just thought it was the most perfect solution. And I thought, afterwards, I'll have an oyster roast and I'll hire a band. However, the manager of the plantation nixed that scheme because he said that there's formaldehyde in the animals heads and that we would all be poisoned. But I know that the real reason is that's not good South Carolina plantation behavior. And he hated it. And, you know, the whole plantation hated that I was trying to do this. The gall of me. Trying to throw away the fruits of mummy's life, the trophies of her entire career. So anyway, just as I thought, I have to really give up. I've had it. My nephew called up and he said he wanted the heads. And I said, how great. So I put them in two trucks and I sent two trucks of heads to my nephew. But I couldn't think what he wanted them for because he put them in storage. But at least they were off my hands. And I thought it's kind of amazing because here I am tonight in the Natural History Museum. And this was, in a way, the center of my mother's public power because she didn't only collect for this museum, she collected for lots of museums. And so here I am telling my story at the Moth. And this museum used to represent mainly stuffed animals and old bones. And now upstairs, there's an exhibition of Hindu spirituality. And at Medway, the plantation, where we used to have meetings before the hunt, now I've got scientists and Sufis and politicians talking about how we're going to end war. And on the walls where there used to be those stuffed animal heads. Now I have my paintings of animals to call in the space spirits so that the animal spirits will help me. And I realized I'm free.

[Dan Kennedy]

Bakara Legendre is an artist, writer, performer and television host. She's produced and hosted for television and been featured on radio programs across the country. Bacara's paintings have been exhibited in New York and San Francisco, and she's performed autobiographical monologues in theaters on both coasts. For more information, visit bacaralejendre.com and if you're looking for the latest news from the Moth, including information about our tour shows across the country, visit our recently redesigned website, themoth.org our podcast host, Dan.

[Rosetta Stone Advertiser]

Kennedy is the author of the book Rock An Office Power Ballad. Learn [e-mail] thanks to all of you.

[Dan Kennedy]

For listening and we hope you have a story worthy week. Podcast audio production by Paul Ruest at the Argo Studios in New York Podcast hosting by PRX Public Radio Exchange helping make public radio more [e-mail].