In 1794, Haiti was controlled by the French. There were half a million slaves shipped there to help harvest the sugar cane and coffee. The slaves did not like their work and rebelled. In 1804, their independence was proclaimed. One of the leaders of this rebellion was Henry Christophe who used to be a dishwasher in a public bar. He became a general and then after the war was over, he proclaimed himself king. He wanted the people to respect him so he made everybody work really hard. He built a huge fort for himself called "Christophe's Citadel".
In one story, Henry suspected a group of guards' loyalty. So he lined them up on the highest wall of the citadel and ordered them to march off the wall. They were so afraid of him that they marched off the wall to their deaths below.
One day, Henry saw the ghost of a priest that he had executed and he became paralyzed on one side of his body. When the people heard about this, they rebelled and came up to the fort.The king knowing that he would be killed shot himself in the heart. The people were trying to break into the King's house but the queen and her son and daughter managed to sneak out the back door with the King's body. When they were going down the path, they saw a vat of liquid lime which they threw the King's body into. It eventually turned hard as stone.
Overall, King Henry was a tyrant and is called, The Black King of Haiti.
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