This is a global player original podcast.
Filthy ritual is a global original podcast produced by global and novel.
This episode contains strong language which may not be appropriate for listeners of all ages.
The story we're about to tell you is about a scam.
But not just any scam.
It's a fraud so strange and so nearly impossible to believe that we've definitely both lost sleep trying to figure out how on earth it could actually have happened.
It's a story about a woman who claimed that she could perform miracles.
And sometimes she seemed to be able to.
Her name was Juliette de Souza.
She.
She was perhaps the most prolific con woman in British history.
And she became filthy rich to the tune of millions of pounds.
She is a thoroughly evil woman.
One of her neighbors described Juliet to us as being sort of like a knife inside a velvet glove.
Extraordinary empathy and no compassion whatsoever.
The story we're about to tell you has a little bit of everything.
There's shamanism.
There's a tree of life hidden deep in the jungles of Suriname.
There's an iron, rich, dark, rusty red lake.
Ritual bathing, voodoo dolls and magic.