Devil at the Crossroads

This is a statue (or "saint") of the Devil at the Cross Roads.  As a Christmas gift from New Orleans, "Dr. Zombies House of Voodoo" to be specific, it's a rather touching memento.

Cross roads outside of towns did not belong to anyone and were therefore a no-man's land.  Great place for spells, right?  Many cultures have significance tied to crossroads, even gods protecting them.  An interesting cover of the can be found at: http://www.luckymojo.com/crossroads.html

Another interesting read is: http://mmstudio.gannon.edu/~gabriel/parker.html

This suggests that selling one's soul to the devil at the crossroads begets musical talents.

My own thoughts on how stories of meeting a devil at the crossroads stem from everyday happenings.  Perhaps stories leading to precarious circumstances at the crossroads is simply where robbers used to hide to rob people.  Also, if there were no signs giving direction, a traveler might choose the incorrect direction to take.  After traveling the wrong way until figuring out that it was not the way they had wanted to go, they had to turn around and go all the way back.  This could be blamed on bad luck, or a devil leading the person astray.  As for the music side of the issue, religious groups who thought/think that music is evil, and therefore from the devil,  would also stand to reason that any person with musical talents must be associated with the devil in some manner.  Well, if this is true, maybe my saint will assist my learning to play the ukulele.