BEAUFORT, SC (AP) -- The woman who was the basis for the mysterious voodoo priestess in the novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" has died in a South Carolina hospital.
The Savannah (Ga.) Morning News reports Valerie Fennel Aiken Boles died Friday morning at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. A cause of death was not given, and her age was not known.
Author John Berendt renamed the priestess "Minerva" in his book.
Berendt says Boles did not like people to take her picture or touch her because she thought it put her at risk of being hexed.
Berendt says Boles was photographed just twice. The first time was in 1997 shortly after the release of the movie based on Berendt's book, and she was photographed again in 2004 for Life Magazine.
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