Televangelist Pat Robertson knows the source of Haiti’s momentous 7.0 earthquake that left the island in peril: Revenge for the island’s founding fathers forming a pact with the devil to gain independence.

The controversial remarks were made today on Christian Broadcasting Network, and his words have the interwebs in a tizzy.

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it, they were under the heel of the French, uh, you know, Napoleon the third and whatever, and they got together and swore a pact to the devil, they said, we will serve you, if you get us free from the Prince, true story,” he told viewers. “And so the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ And they kicked the French out, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free, and ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor. . . the Island of Hispaniola is one island cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is, is, prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty, same Islands, uh, they need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I’m optimistic something good may come, but right now we’re helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable.”

And while the backlash that has ensued stems from Robertson’s egregious and insensitive banter, the fact of the matter is, the story of the satanic pact that took place simply isn’t true.

It’s an urban legend at best, and as the fable goes, the satanic pact took place at Bois-Caïman near Cap-Haïtien on August 14, 1791–where slave leaders gathered to launch Haiti’s 13-year long fight for independence. A pig was slaughtered, and an iron statue to commemorate the pact with the devil was erected in Port-au-Prince. But no such statue exists, and scholars have no historical evidence of the event. It’s speculated that foreign missionaries invented the tale, and passed that on to local Haitian church leaders–and the people have never been able to shake the tale since.

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