marie laveau ghost

Marie Laveau: The Voodoo Queen

If you’ve read all our other entries and articles about The Big Easy then you are no doubt aware of the horror show the town is capable of devolving into. New Orleans is a phantasmagorical, ethereal, supernatural juggernaut that has a way of simply ramming its otherworldly presence on innocent bystanders and gobsmacked tourists. You fly in for the jazz bands and the gumbo, only to race out with your hair standing on its ends because something crawled out from under your bed and decided it was time for an indecent midnight snuggle. It is a town full of ghosts, tragedies, and stories of sinister ax-wielding serial killers. The question remains, why is this? Why has NOLA become demon Mardi Gras for the damned?  

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

New Orleans was one of the first port cities within reach of the Gulf Stream. Its markets and sailor infested alleys, meters from a heavy traffic shipping route, were a smorgasbord of collectivities and cultures. You had French merchants trading perfumes with sugar barons from the Indies. You had smugglers and pirates, brigands and highwaymen supplying big wig politicians – with fingers in the Capitol coffers – all manner of illegal wears. You had slaves sold for pennies on the pound in the town square. And, moreover, where there was trade, there was PROFIT. New Orleans was a happening town mainly because it was a highly influential town, and it was a highly influential town because it moved money; heaping loads of it.

And from New Orleans, you could easily trade with the northern parts of the US. A ship from Cuba could haul its stock of rum onto a barge and easily slip it up the Mississippi River. New Orleans was a geographical treasure trove.  

This influx of so many cultures – European, African, Spanish, Chinese, Turkish, and dozens more – started paving the town with their traditions, myths, and… after a while, NOLA became a hodgepodge of traditions and folklore beliefs.  

This is the place that inspired Anne Rice’s “Interview With The Vampire” , the place where jazz was partly born, the place where voodoo made its USA landfall. NOLA is a place so steeped in magic and weird stuff that the locals simply label anything out of the ordinary as Hoodoo, and they don’t even bat an eye. The place where people danced the night away to prevent a madman from killing local girls. A place where a politician – the notoriously corrupt Edwin Edwards – ran against former KKKGrand Wizard David Duke on the slogan: “Vote for the Crook: it’s important.”

“The only way I’m going to lose this race is if I’m found in bed with a dead woman or a live boy.”

• Edwin Edwards

The Voodoo Queen

With that intro in place, we might as well start the pageantry of strange and often folkloric NOLA denizens that make the Big Easy’s magical tapestry … We have a few to get through.

The first on our list is the world-famous Marie Catherine Laveau (September 10, 1801 – June 15, 1881). Laveau was a Louisiana Creole voodoo practitioner and a polarizing historical figure. Marie has become overtime famous and iconic folklore like character, portrayed in movies, TV series, books, and songs. A character drenched in mystery, charm, and gothic undertones.

Marie Laveau was born a free African American in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the biological daughter of Charles Trudeau – a rather influential surveyor and politician – and Marguerite Henry a free woman of color.  

When Marie turned 18, she was wed to Jacques Paris, a French immigrant who had fled from the Haitian Revolution. They had two daughters, one out of wedlock. A year after they finally tied the knot, Jacques went and bit the dust; he died in 1820.

For all intents and purposes, Marie was the chimera of the American dream come to life. She was a striking woman, highly charismatic go-getter with a genetic background of 1/3 African, 1/3 Native American, and 1/3 European. Many men were smitten by Marie’s exotic allure.  

Following her husband’s decent down the River Styx – not just a really cool band – Marie went and entered a domestic partnership with Christophe Dominick Dummy de Glapion, a French nobleman. They stayed together until his death in 1855 and had – although not entirely confirmed, birth certificates were incredibly unreliable back them – had 15 children.

The Witch Priestess

Marie was a dedicated practitioner of Voodoo and a world revered authority in herbal healing. People all the way from Washington and as far as the Indies constantly called on her for advice.  

“Laveau traveled the streets of New Orleans like she owned them.”

What really made Marie stand-out, aside from the fact that folks were deathly afraid of being cursed by her, was her uncanny ability to unearth secrets. If a politician needed blackmail material on their opponent then there was a really good chance Marie had the skeleton in the closet they were after. She could find the smoking gun at the drop of a hat.  

Presidents, lawyers, Congressmen, bankers, and wealthy socialites actually had slush funds tagged as LAVEAU EXPENSES. And Marie knew how to market her brand. She started publicizing through the grapevine her magical career. She began spreading rumors, some unsubstantiated, of the power of her pet snake, Zombi; “the reincarnation of the African god.” Her daughter, Marie Laveau II, already a cog in the family business started having grand theatrical public events; huge firework-like displays for the attendees to St. John’s Eve rituals.  Marie knew the power of pomp and circumstance. 

Marie’s Little Birds.

Whether there was any truth to Marie’s occult powers – a mix of Roman Catholic practices and saints with African spirits and folklore- is up for debate. What is nonetheless known is that Marie was, in fact, a rather ingenious spymaster. Over the years she developed a network of informants; most servants of prominent white households throughout the region.  

Marie catered and pumped this well-spring of inside information into a database she could later work for opportunities. Wealthy patrons, the big kahunas of NOLA life, had   a bad habit of talking off the cuff – exposing private details – in front of the help.  

Marie’s little birds – her spies – were paid in money, favors, or through tonics.  

She knew everyone’s secrets mainly because the vaults they were kept had a security glitch; they were blind to the help.

Marie Laveau died on June 15, 1881, at age 79. She died peacefully in her home and had a lavish, heavily attended funeral, everyone, from the lowliest servant to outstanding members of the social elite were present.

The day of her death, the first rumors started making the rounds. People had seen Marie’s ghost prancing around town. Her figure and phantom – indicative of her of legend – slowly becoming a fixture in the NOLA zeitgeist.

Surrounded by lore, legend, and half-truths, Marie is an often disputed historical figure in American history. Was she a saintly patron of the arts and Voodoo practices ? Was she a cold-hearted beast, similar to a gang boss? Was she simply a product of an oppressed society?

Up until March 1st, 2015, Marie’s grave was a dark tourism hot spot. Her final resting spot, located in plot 347 of the Glapion family crypt in Saint Louis Cemetery No.1 in New Orleans, was a required pilgrimage site for fans of the otherworldly.

Tourists would visit the grave, draw and X mark with chalk on the tomb, yell out a wish, turn around 3 times and kick on the granite walls. If the wish was granted, they were required to come back, circle their X, and leave Marie an offering. For years, thaw a step common practice… Until the gravesite was vandalized and the Archdiocese of New Orleans had no choice but to restrict access to Marie’s tomb. Now, if you want to visit the bizarre attraction,   you have to book a tour guide and file the necessary paperwork.  

Marie, like the Axman of New Orleans and other bizarre tales, is one of the reasons why NOLA – the Big Easy – is by far the spookiest place in the United States. In the streets of New Orleans, you won’t just have to deal with ghosts, but other creepy crawlers far nastier than those ectoplasmic brats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Laveau

http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/07/marie-laveau.html 

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• Haunted Places
• Marie Laveau,Voodoo Queen of New Orleans – Marie Catherine Laveau
• Posted on February 22, 2020
• By belablack
• In Haunted Places , Louisiana , Southern Ghost Stories

Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen of New Orleans– Marie Catherine Laveau (September 10, 1801 – June 15, 1881) was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo, who was renowned in New Orleans. Her daughter, Marie Laveau II, (1827 — c. 1862) also practiced rootwork, conjure, Native American and African spiritualism and Catholicism as well as Louisiana or what is known today as New Orleans Voodoo.Historical records surmise that Marie Laveau was born free in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, Thursday September 10, 1801. She was the biological daughter of Marguerite Henry (also known as Marguerite D’Arcantel), a free woman of colour who was of Native American, African and French descent, and Charles Laveau Trudeau, surveyor & politician. On August 4, 1819, she married Jacques Paris (also known as Jacques Santiago, in other records), a French immigrant who had fled as a white refugee from the black Haitian Revolution in the former French territory Saint-Domingue.Their marriage certificate is preserved in the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. The wedding mass was performed by Father Antonio de Sedella, the Capuchin priest known as Pere Antoine.

The death of Jacques Paris was recorded in 1820.He was part of a large French immigration of refugees to New Orleans in 1809, after the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804.They had two daughters, Felicite in 1817 and Angele in 1820. Both disappear from the records in the 1820s.Little is known with certainty about the life of Marie Catherine Laveau. Marie Catherine (1801-1881) was approximately 1/3 each African, Native American and white.Laveau’s only two children to survive into adulthood were daughters. The elder named Marie Euchariste Eloise Laveau (1827-1860-2), the second daughter was named Marie Philomene Glapion (1836-1897). It is not known which of these daughters went on to become Marie II.

Following the reported death of her husband, she entered a domestic partnership with Christophe Dominick Duminy de Glapion, (a white man of French descent) with whom she lived until his death in 1855. They were reported to have had 15 children (or, perhaps fifteen children and grandchildren).They had 7 children according to birth and baptismal records.While it is difficult to determine the histories of the two Maries in tradition, it is believed that the elder Marie was a dedicated practitioner of Voodoo. The younger displayed more theatrical rubrics by holding public events (including inviting attendees to St. John’s Eve rituals on Bayou St. John). “Laveau was said to have traveled the streets like she owned them” said one New Orleans boy who attended an event at St. John’s.It is not known which (if either) had done more to establish the voodoo queen reputation.

Marie Laveau started a beauty parlor where she was a hair-dresser for the wealthier families of New Orleans.Of Laveau’s magical career, there is little that can be substantiated, including whether or not she had a snake she named Zombi after an African god, whether the occult part of her magic mixed Roman Catholic saints with African spirits, or whether her divinations were supported by a network of informants she developed while working as a hairdresser in prominent white households. She appeared to excel at obtaining inside information on her wealthy patrons by instilling fear in their servants whom she either paid or cured of mysterious ailments.On June 17, 1881, it was announced in the Daily Picayune that Marie Laveau had died peacefully in her home. However, oral tradition states that she was seen by some people in town after her supposed demise.One of her daughters, also named Marie (a French Catholic tradition to have the first names of daughters be Marie, and boys Joseph, then each use middle name as common name) possibly assumed her position, with her name, and carried on her magical practice, taking over as the queen soon before or after the first Marie’s death.

Marie Catherine Laveau Paris Glapion died on June 15, 1881, aged 79.The different spellings of her surname result from many different women with the same name in New Orleans at the time, and her age at death from conflicting accounts of her birth date.Laveau’s name and her history have been surrounded by legend and lore. In 1982, New Jersey-based punk rock group The Misfits were arrested and accused of attempting to exhume Laveau from her grave after a local concert. The arrest took place in nearby Cemetery No. 2 and there are conflicting accounts of the incident.

Marie Laveau is generally believed to have been buried in plot 347, the Glapion family crypt in Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans,but this has been disputed by Robert Tallant, a journalist who used her as a character in historical novels.Tourists continue to visit and some draw X marks in accordance with a decades-old tradition that if people wanted Laveau to grant them a wish, they had to draw an X on the tomb, turn around three times, knock on the tomb, yell out their wish, and if it was granted, come back, circle their X, and leave Laveau an offering.

The tomb in Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 was vandalized by an unknown person on December 17, 2013, by being painted over with pink latex paint. The paint was removed because the structure is made of old plaster and the latex paint would seal in moisture that would destroy the plaster. Some historical preservation experts criticized the decision by officials of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, who maintain the cemetery, for their decision to use pressure washing rather than paint stripper to remove it.

As of March 1, 2015, there is no longer public access to St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. Entry with a tour guide is required because of continued vandalism and destruction of tombs. This change was made by the Archdiocese of New Orleans to protect the tombs of the Laveau family as well as those of the many other dead interred there.

Although some references to Marie Laveau in popular culture refer to her as a “witch,” she is properly described as a ‘Voodoo queen’.Because of her prominence within the history of Voodoo in New Orleans, Laveau has inspired a number of artistic renditions.

In visual art, the African American artist Renee Stout often uses Laveau as a visual motif.

Numerous songs about Marie Laveau have been recorded, including “Marie La Veau” by Papa Celestin, “Marie Laveau” written by Shel Silverstein and Baxter Taylor and recorded by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (1972), and Bobby Bare (1974), “The Witch Queen of New Orleans” (1971) by Redbone, “Dixie Drug Store” by Grant Lee Buffalo, “X Marks the Spot (Marie Laveau)” by Joe Sample, “Marie Laveau” by Dr. John, “Marie Laveau” (2013) by Tao Of Sound, “Voodoo Queen Marie” to the minstrel tune “Colored Aristocracy” by The Holy Modal Rounders, “The Witch Queen of New Orleans” by Total Toly, and “The Widow Paris” by The Get Up Kids. Most recently the Danish metal band Volbeat released an album with a song entitled “Marie Laveau” (Seal The Deal & Let’s Boogie, 2016). Marie Laveau is mentioned in the song “I Will Play for Gumbo” (1999) by Jimmy Buffett and “Clare” by The Fairground Attraction. Two of Laveau’s nephews, banjoist Raymond Glapion and bassist Alcide “Slow Drag” Pavageau, became prominent New Orleans jazz musicians.

Laveau has offered inspiration for a number of fictional characters as well.

She is the protagonist of such novels as Robert Tallant’s The Voodoo Queen (1956), Francine Prose’s eponymous Marie Laveau (1977), and Jewell Parker Rhodes’ Voodoo Dreams: A Novel of Marie Laveau (1993). Laveau appears as a supporting character in the Night Huntress novels by Jeaniene Frost, as a powerful ghoul still living in New Orleans in the 21st century. She also appears as a background character in Barbara Hambly’s Benjamin January mystery series, set in New Orleans. Marie Laveau appears in Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods, under her married name, Marie Paris. Marie Laveau’s tomb is the site of a secret, fictional underground Voodoo workshop in the Caster Chronicles novel Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Laveau’s grave site is the setting of a pivotal scene in Robert J. Randisi’s short story, “Cold As The Gun,”,\ from Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero. The mother of Hazel Levesque, one of the characters from Rick Riordan’s The Heroes of Olympus book series, was known as “Queen Marie,” a famous fortune teller who lived in New Orleans. In Charlaine Harris’ True Blood (Sookie Stackhouse novels) book series, the character Hadley is lured to her death at the site of Marie Laveau’s tomb.

A character named Marie Laveau, based loosely on the real Marie Laveau, appears in Marvel Comics. She first appeared in Dracula Lives #2 in 1973.She is depicted as a powerful sorceress and Voodoo priestess with great magical powers and knowledge of arcane lore, including the creation of a potion made from vampire’s blood that keeps her eternally youthful and beautiful.A character named Marie Laveau also appears in the Italian comic book Zagor.

In television, a heavily fictionalized Marie Laveau (portrayed by Angela Bassett) appears as a character in American Horror Story: Coven and American Horror Story: Apocalypse.She also appears in the Canadian television series Lost Girl (portrayed by Marci T. House) in episode 11 of season 4, Young Sheldon (portrayed by Sharon Ferguson) in episode 7 of season 1, and Legends of Tomorrow (portrayed by Joyce Guy) in episode 7 of season 4.LOUISIANA VOODOO( Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, describes a set of spiritual folkways developed from the traditions of the African diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Afro-American religions developed by West and Central Africans populations of the U.S. state of Louisiana, though its practitioners are not exclusively of African-American descent. Voodoo is one of many incarnations of African-based spiritual folkways rooted in West African Dahomeyan Vodun. Its liturgical language is Louisiana Creole French, the language of the Louisiana Creole people.

Voodoo became syncretized with the Catholic and Francophone culture of New Orleans as a result of the African cultural oppression in the region resulting from the Atlantic slave trade. Louisiana Voodoo is often confused with—but is not completely separable from—Haitian Vodou and Deep Southern Hoodoo. It differs from Haitian Vodou in its emphasis upon gris-gris, Voodoo queens, use of Hoodoo paraphernalia, and Li Grand Zombi. It was through Louisiana Voodoo that such terms as gris-gris (a Wolof term) and “Voodoo dolls”‘ were introduced into the American lexicon.)( THE GHOST OF MARIE LAVEAU ,QUEEN OF VOODOO,NEW ORLEANS USA .,The St. Louis Cemetery #1 in New Orleans, Louisiana, is considered the most haunted cemetery in all of the United States.

This graveyard is said to be haunted by the ghost of the infamous Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. Her ghost has been reported inside the cemetery, walking between the tombs wearing a turban and mumbling a Santería Voodoo curse to trespassers. Some people swear they have seen her disappear into thin air when approached.

Her grave is visited by the faithful, curious and desperate year round. Many come to her tomb and place small offerings there, like candles, flowers, Mardi Gras beads, Voodoo dolls, trinkets and food in hopes of being blessed by her supernatural powers from beyond the grave. Many have been known to make a wish at her tomb. If that wish is fulfilled, they return and mark her tomb with three X’s to show their appreciation. Others say that her ghost appears as a sleek Voodoo cat with red, glowing eyes. They say the cat walks right through Laveau’s sealed tomb door and disappears inside, as if the door wasn’t even there.

Marie Laveau, one thing is absolutely certain–no one in New Orleans was ever more renowned, influential, respected, powerful and feared than the Queen of Voodoo, Marie Laveau. And, as evidenced by the many X’s scribbled on her tomb, to this day, she is still casting spells and granting wishes from beyond the grave! ADDRESS Saint Louis Cemetery Number 1 New Orleans Orleans Parish Louisiana, USA GPS (lat/lon): 29.95371, -90.06502

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I visited New Orleans once several yrs ago. Would love to go back.

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Dam can we just get the shirt story

Nikki DeLoach

It’s amazing to see such power this woman had considering the time she lived in. She did so much for the slaves of New Orleans. Also, there’s no evidence that she is buried there, that could be anyone’s tomb.

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Secrets of the Voodoo Tomb

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Among the sites associated with New Orleans voodoo is the tomb of its greatest figure, Marie Laveau. For several decades this “voodoo queen” held New Orleans spellbound-figuratively, of course, but some would say literally, as legends of her occult powers continue to captivate. She staged ceremonies in which participants became possessed by loas (voodoo spirits) and danced naked around bonfires; she dispensed charms and potions called gris-gris, even saving several condemned men from the gallows; and she told fortunes, healed the sick, and herself remained perpetually youthful while living for more than a century-or so it is said (Hauck 1996; Tallant 1946).

Marie Laveau

A “free person of color,” Marie Laveau was the illegitimate daughter of a rich Creole plantation owner, Charles Laveaux, and his mistress Marguerite (who was reportedly half black, half Indian). Marie was probably born about 1794. At the age of twenty-five she married a carpenter named Jacques Paris, also a free person of color, who soon went missing and was presumed dead. Following the custom of the time, she began calling herself the “Widow Paris.” Soon, she entered a common-law marriage with one Christophe de Glapion with whom she would have fifteen children, but as late as 1850 a newspaper still referred to her as “Marie Laveaux, otherwise Widow Paris” (Tallant 1946, 67).

The Widow Paris learned her craft from a “voodoo doctor” known variously as Doctor John, John Bayou, and other appellations, and by 1830 she was one of several New Orleans voodoo queens. She soon came to dominance, taking charge of the rituals held at Congo Square and selling gris-gris throughout the social strata. Marie worked as a hairdresser, which took her into the homes of the affluent, and she reportedly developed a network of informants. According to Tallant (1946, 64), “No event in any household in New Orleans was a secret from Marie Laveau.” She parlayed her knowledge into a position of considerable influence, as she told fortunes, gave advice on love, and prepared custom gris-gris for anyone needing to effect a cure, charm, or hex.

If she did not actually save anyone from a sentence of death, she allowed such stories to flourish. “The Widow Paris thrived on publicity,” observes Tallant (1946, 58). “Legend after legend spread about her and she seems to have enjoyed them all.”

The legend of her perpetual youth is easily explained: She had a look-alike daughter, Marie Laveau II, who followed in her footsteps. About 1875 the original Marie, bereft of her youth and memory, became confined to her home on Rue St. Ann and did not leave until claimed by death some six years later. “It was then,” reports Tallant (1946, 73), “that the strangest part of the entire Laveau mystery became most noticeable. For Marie Laveau still walked the streets of New Orleans, a new Marie Laveau, who also lived in the St. Ann Street Cottage.”

(For more biographical and critical information on Marie Laveau, see ” Voodoo in New Orleans ” in an earlier Skeptical Inquirer [Nickell 2001].)

The Wishing Tomb

Controversy persists over where Marie Laveau and her namesake daughter are buried. Some say the latter reposes in the cemetery called St. Louis No. 2 (Hauck 1996) in a “Marie Laveau Tomb” there. However, that crypt most likely contains the remains of another voodoo queen named Marie, Marie Comtesse. Numerous sites in as many cemeteries are said to be the final resting place of one or the other Marie Laveau (Tallant 1946, 129), but the prima facie evidence favors the Laveau-Glapion tomb in St. Louis No. 1 (figure 1). It comprises three stacked crypts with a “receiving vault” below (that is, a repository of the remains of those displaced by a new burial).

A contemporary of Marie II told Tallant (1946, 126) that he had been present when she died of a heart attack at a ball in 1897, and insisted: “All them other stories ain’t true. She was buried in the Basin Street graveyard they call St. Louis No. I, and she was put in the same tomb with her mother and the rest of her family.”

That tomb’s carved inscription records the name, date of death, and age (62) of Marie II: “Marie Philome Glapion, décédé le 11 Juin 1897, ágée de Soixante-deux ans.” A bronze tablet affixed to the tomb announces, under the heading “Marie Laveau,” that “This Greek Revival Tomb Is Reputed Burial Place of This Notorious ‘Voodoo Queen’ . . . ,” presumably a reference to the original Marie (see figure 2). Corroborative evidence that she was interred here is found in her obituary (“Death” 1881) which notes that “Marie Laveau was buried in her family tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.” Guiley (2000) asserts that, while Marie Laveau I is reportedly buried here, “The vault does not bear her name.” However, I was struck by the fact that the initial two lines of the inscription on the Laveau-Glapion tomb read, “Famille Vve. Paris / née Laveau.” Obviously, “Vve.” is an abbreviation for Veuve, “Widow”; therefore the phrase translates, “Family of the Widow Paris, born Laveau”-namely Marie Laveau I. I take this as evidence that here is indeed the “family tomb.” Robert Tallant (1946, 127) suggests: “Probably there was once an inscription marking the vault in which the first Marie was buried, but it has been changed for one marking a later burial. The bones of the Widow Paris must lie in the receiving vault below.”

The Laveau-Glapion tomb is a focal point for commercial voodoo tours. Some visitors leave small gifts at the site-coins, Mardi Gras beads, candles, etc.-in the tradition of voodoo offerings. Many follow a custom of making a wish at the tomb. The necessary ritual for this has been variously described. The earliest version I have found (Tallant 1946, 127) says that people would “knock three times on the slab and ask a favor,” noting: “There are always penciled crosses on the slab. The sexton washes the crosses away, but they always reappear.” A more recent source advises combining the ritual with an offering placed in the attached cup: “Draw the X, place your hand over it, rub your foot three times against the bottom, throw some silver coins into the cup, and make your wish” (Haskins 1990). Yet again we are told that petitioners are to “leave offerings of food, money and flowers, then ask for Marie’s help after turning around three times and marking a cross with red brick on the stone” (Guiley 2000, 216).

When I visited the tomb it was littered with markings, including single Xs; an occasional cross, heart, pentagram, etc.; and a few inscriptions or other graffiti, sometimes accompanied by initials (figure 3). One comment read: “Her eyes / lit up with Fire / For the dreams / she entertained . . . / Seems something in her / knew already / just how well / They’d burn. / A.R.P. / 11-19-00.” The predominant markings were sets of three Xs-suggesting that the folk practice is undergoing transition (the specified number of raps, turns, etc. apparently becoming transferred to the number of Xs).

Although some of the markings are done in black (as from charcoal), most are rendered in a rusty red from bits of crumbling brick. One New Orleans guidebook says of the wishing tomb: “The family who own it have asked that this bogus, destructive tradition should stop, not least because people are taking chunks of brick from other tombs to make the crosses. Voodoo practitioners-responsible for the candles, plastic flowers, beads, and rum bottles surrounding the plot-deplore the practice, too, regarding it as a desecration that chases Laveau’s spirit away” (Cook 1999). Echoing that view, another guidebook advises: “On the St. Louis tour, please don’t scratch Xs on the graves; no matter what you’ve heard, it is not a real voodoo practice and is destroying fragile tombs” (Herczog 2000).

The scuttlebutt, according to the professional guide I commissioned (Krohn 2000), is that the practice may have evolved from ordinary graffiti which was then transformed by an early cemetery guide into a pseudo-voodoo custom that brought him tips. One writer wryly observes of the wishing practice that there is “no word on success rates” (Dickinson 1997).

Perturbed Spirit

Given the belief that Marie Laveau’s spirit can be invoked to grant wishes, it was inevitable that there would be alleged sightings. According to the author of Haunted City (Dickinson 1997, 131): “Tour guides tell of a Depression-era vagrant who fell asleep atop a tomb in the cemetery and was awakened to the sound of drums and chanting. Stumbling upon the tomb of Marie Laveau, he encountered the ghosts of dancing, naked men and women, led by a tall woman wrapped in the coils of a huge snake.” Or so tour guides tell. But did the “vagrant” perhaps pass out from drink and have a vivid dream or hallucination? How much has the story been embellished in the intervening two-thirds century or so? Do we know that the alleged event even occurred? These are among the problems with such anecdotal evidence.

The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits asserts: “One popular legend holds that Marie I never died, but changed herself into a huge black crow which still flies over the cemetery.” Indeed, “Both Maries are said to haunt New Orleans in various human and animal forms” (Guiley 2000). Note the anonymity inherent in such phrases as “popular legend” and the passive-voice construction “are said to.” In addition to her tomb, Marie also allegedly haunts other sites. For example, according to Hauck (1996), “Laveau has also been seen walking down St. Ann Street wearing a long white dress.” Providing a touch of what literary critics call verisimilitude (an appearance of truth), Hauck adds, “The phantom is that of the original Marie, because it wears her unique tignon, a seven-knotted handkerchief, around her neck.” But Hauck has erred: Marie in fact “wore a large white headwrap called a tignon tied around her head,” says her biographer Gandolfo (1992, 19), which had “seven points folded into it to represent a crown.” Gandolfo, who is also an artist, has painted a striking portrait of Marie Laveau wearing her tignon, which is displayed in the gift shop of his New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum (and reproduced in Gandolfo 1992, 1).

With a bit of literary detective work we can track the legend-making process in one instance of Laveau ghostlore. In his Haunted Places: The National Directory, Hauck (1996) writes of Marie: “Her ghost and those of her followers are said to practice wild voodoo rituals in her old house. . . .” But are said to by whom? His list of sources for the entry on Marie Laveau includes Susy Smith’s Prominent American Ghosts (1967), his earliest-dated citation. Smith merely says of Marie, “Her home at 1020 St. Ann Street was the scene of weird secret rites involving various primitive groups,” and she asks, “May not the wild dancing and pagan practices still continue, invisible, but frantic as ever?” Apparently this purely rhetorical question about imaginary ghosts has been transformed into an “are-said-to”-sourced assertion about supposedly real ones. In fact, the house at 1020 St. Ann Street was never even occupied by Marie Laveau; it only marks the approximate site of the home she lived in until her death (then numbered 152 Rue St. Ann, as shown by her death certificate). That cottage, which bore a red-tile roof and was flanked by banana trees and an herb garden, was demolished in 1903 (Gandolfo 1992, 14-15, 34).

Many of the tales of Marie Laveau’s ghost, if not actually invented by tour guides, may be uncritically promulgated by them. According to Frommer’s New Orleans 2001, “We enjoy a good nighttime ghost tour of the Quarter as much as anyone, but we also have to admit that what’s available is really hit-or-miss in presentation (it depends on who conducts your particular tour) and more miss than hit with regard to facts” (Herczog 2000). Even the author of New Orleans Ghosts II-hardly a knee-jerk debunker-speaks of the “hyperbolic balderdash” which sometimes “spews forth from the black garbed tour guides who are more interested in money and sensationalism than accurate historical research” (Klein 1999).

A Haunting Tale

One alleged Laveau ghost sighting stands out. Tallant (1946, 130-131) relates the story of an African-American named Elmore Lee Banks, who had an experience near St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. As Banks recalled, one day in the mid-1930s “an old woman” came into the drugstore where he was a customer. For some reason she frightened the proprietor, who “ran like a fool into the back of the store.” Laughing, the woman asked, “Don’t you know me?” She became angry when Banks replied, “No, ma’am,” and slapped him. Banks continued: “Then she jump[ed] up in the air and went whizzing out the door and over the top of the telephone wires. She passed right over the graveyard wall and disappeared. Then I passed out cold.” He awakened to whiskey being poured down his throat by the proprietor who told him, “That was Marie Laveau.”

What are we to make of this case? (Perhaps the reader will want to pause here and reflect on the possibilities. . . .) Let us assume, provisionally, that such an event did transpire, although the narrative has possibly been affected by the well-known influences of misperception, memory distortions, the unconscious temptation to embellish, and other factors. We can begin our analysis by noting a few clues. First, it seems significant that Banks was a customer in a drugstore; this suggests he may have been ill and/or on medication. Second, it seems curious that he “passed out cold” from a mere slap, perhaps especially a ghostly one. (It seems contradictory that ghosts-which are reputedly non-physical, often being reported to pass through walls-are able to perform physical acts.) A third clue, I think, comes from the contrast between the first part of the story, wherein the woman appears quite unghostlike and acts in concert with the real world, and the second part, in which her behavior (flying through the air) seems consistent with an hallucinatory experience. Putting the clues together gives us the following possible scenario: Banks visits the drugstore because he is unwell, possibly seeking to get a prescription filled or refilled. An elderly woman comes in, recognizes him (perhaps from some years before), and is bemused that he fails to recognize her. Suddenly, from the effects of his illness or medication or even alcohol, Banks passes out, but in the process of swooning and falling to the floor he hallucinates. This may have involved his brain perceiving the lowering of his body in relationship to hers as the converse action-as her rising above him-and so triggering a dream-like fantasy of her flying. (Hallucinations can occur in normal individuals with various medical conditions, including high fevers and reduced respiration rates, as well as alcoholic states and many other conditions. And hallucinations “share much in common with dreams” [Baker 1992].)

The various elements in the story may have become confused-misconstrued and misordered as to sequence-as Banks teetered on the brink of consciousness. For example, although the woman may have slapped him in anger, another possibility is that she did so slightly later in an attempt to revive him. Similarly, the proprietor may have run to the rear of the store not because he recognized the “ghost” but in order to fetch the whiskey with which to revive Banks. Subsequently, while seeming to have “witnessed” the entire event (Hauck 1996) and to have identified Marie Laveau, the store owner may in fact only have been commenting on the perceived events that Banks related. Over time, as Banks repeated and rehearsed his tale, it became a dramatic, supernatural narrative about Marie Laveau. States psychologist Robert A. Baker, “The work of Elizabeth Loftus and others over the past decade has demonstrated that the human memory works not like a tape recorder but more like the village storyteller, i.e., it is both creative and recreative” (Baker and Nickell 1992).

Such impulses may be especially strong in a climate of magical thinking. They have helped foster the many tales and claims about Marie Laveau. In addition, according to the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (Salzman 1996), “the legend of Marie Laveau was kept alive by twentieth-century conjurers who claimed to use Laveau techniques and it is kept alive through the continuing practice of commercialized voodoo in New Orleans” (figure 4).

• Baker, Robert A. 1992. Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions from Within. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 274-276.
• Baker, Robert A., and Joe Nickell, 1992. Missing Pieces: How to Investigate Ghosts, UFOs, Psychics, and Other Mysteries. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 217.
• Cook, Samantha. 1999. New Orleans: The Mini Rough Guide. London: Rough Guides Ltd., 110, 112.
• “Death of Marie Laveau.” 1881. Obituary, Daily Picayune (New Orleans, La.), n.d. (after June 15), reprinted in Gandolfo 1992, 38-39. Dickinson, Joy. 1997. Haunted City: An Unauthorized Guide to the Magical, Magnificent New Orleans of Anne Rice. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press.
• Gandolfo, Charles. 1992. Marie Laveau of New Orleans. New Orleans, La.: New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum.
• Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. 2000. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, second ed. New York: Checkmark Books, 213-216.
• Haskins, Jim. 1990. Voodoo & Hoodoo. New York: Scarborough House, 59-61.
• Hauck, Dennis William. 1996. Haunted Places: The National Directory. New York: Penguin Books, 192, 193.
• Herczog, Mary. 2000. Frommer’s 2001 New Orleans. New York: IDG Books Worldwide, 158, 186.
• Krohn, Diane C. 2000. Personal communication, December 3.
• Klein, Victor. 1999. New Orleans Ghosts II. Metairie, La.: Lycanthrope Press, 64.
• Nickell, Joe. 2001. Voodoo in New Orleans, Skeptical Inquirer January/February: 26(1).
• Salzman, Jack, et al., eds. 1996. Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, vol. 3. London: Simon & Schuster and Prentice Hall International, 1581.
• Smith, Susy. 1967. Prominent American Ghosts. Cleveland, Ohio: The World Publishing Co., 139-140.
• Tallant, Robert. 1946. Voodoo in New Orleans, reprinted Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing Co., 1990. (Except as otherwise noted, information about Marie Laveau and her daughter is taken from this source.)

Joe Nickell

Joe Nickell, PhD, is senior research fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and “Investigative Files” columnist for Skeptical Inquirer . A former stage magician, private investigator, and teacher, he is author of numerous books, including Inquest on the Shroud of Turin (1983), Pen, Ink and Evidence (1990), Unsolved History (1992) and Adventures in Paranormal Investigation (2007). He has appeared in many television documentaries and has been profiled in The New Yorker and on NBC’s Today Show . His personal website is at joenickell.com.

Marie Laveau

• View history

Marie Laveau [1] is a famous and revered practitioner of Voodoo in New Orleans .

• 3 Appearances
• 4 References

History [ ]

For most of the 19th century, Marie Laveau practiced Voodoo and cared for the sick. For her works, Marie won the love and adoration of the people in New Orleans. When she became too old to continue, Marie Laveau II , her daughter, took over her public responsibilities which inadvertently fueled speculation she was immortal. However, Marie II led by fear rather than love. When things got out of control, Marie used a locket of Marie II's hair to turn off her heart. Before she died, Marie II swore revenge. As a result, Marie remained on the physical plane as a ghost and awaited her daughter's return.

Over a 100 years later, Marie II's ghost finally manifested. Marie couldn't bring herself to destroying her daughter. A friend, Mr. Thibodeaux , suggested she hire the Ghostbusters. A few weeks later, the Ghostbusters arrived in New Orleans and accepted the case. Marie was interested in Egon Spengler , in particular, and his use of the P.K.E. Meter . She imparted advice to Egon that love was important in life and gave him powerful Gris-Gris for when he was ready to live. The next morning, the Ghostbusters presented the Trap holding Marie II to Marie. She felt peace at being near her daughter one last time and blessed the guys for their success.

• Egon asserts Marie Laveau would be well over 200 years old, in reality her age has been in contention. Some posit her birth year as 1794 others, 1801.

Appearances [ ]

• Ghostbusters Issue #10

References [ ]

• ↑ Mr. Thibodeaux (2012). IDW Comics - " Ghostbusters Issue #10 " (2012) (Comic p.5). Mr. Thibodeaux says: "Your true client... Madame Marie Laveau, the greatest Voodoo queen."

Gallery [ ]

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Marie Laveau

• View history
• 1 Background
• 2 Personality and Appearance
• 3.2 Apocalypse
• 8 References

At the height of her power, Marie fell pregnant by her lover Bastien and could not accept the idea of death. Papa Legba appeared to her one night, offering her immortality in exchange for her soul and performing a service for him once a year. Believing their agreement to be of a sexual nature, Marie agreed to the terms and became immortal. Only after giving birth to her daughter did she learn that the service required her to sacrifice the soul of an innocent to Papa, who appears to collect the newborn infant as part of their agreement. After pleading with Papa to take her immortality away, Marie is forced to hand over the child and cries as she watches Papa depart with her daughter. [2]

In 1834, Marie arrived at the LaLaurie house to exact her revenge on Madame Delphine LaLaurie for torturing Bastien. She tricks Delphine into drinking a "love potion" that will supposedly ensure her husband 's fidelity, but it is, in fact, a vial of her tears [2] that causes the Madame to pass out from pain. Marie discovers Bastien's corpse in the attic and tearfully embraces her deceased lover, disfigured from having a bull's head attached to his face. [3]

After Delphine regains consciousness that night, Marie and an angry, black mob are gathered outside waiting for her. When she demands the return of her family, Delphine is shown the strung up corpses of her husband and three daughters, who were tortured and killed by Marie as retribution. The latter reveals that the potion Delphine drank cursed her with immortality, and her fate is to be buried in an unmarked grave for all eternity. At Marie's command, the mob gags and chains Delphine, sealing her in a coffin that would lie undisturbed for centuries to follow. [4]

By 1961, Marie is managing a hair salon known as Cornrow City . Cora , one of her employees, reveals that her son Henry is attending an integrated school. Marie expresses doubts about the white citizens being happy about this, and her words are proven to be true when Henry is lynched by three white men. In retaliation, Marie performs a ritual to raise an army of the undead, sending them after Henry's murderers and brutally killing them. [5]

Around this time, conflict arose between the voodooists and a local witch coven . The feud lasted for about ten years, until Marie and Supreme Anna Leigh Leighton sign a truce in 1971, detailing that neither side is allowed to cross into the other's territory. [5]

Personality and Appearance

Marie is a Voodoo Queen and revered by those who practice the religion and craft. While living in the 19th century, her attire was that of long and elegant dresses; in postmodern New Orleans, her style is more modern, wearing dresses of varied colors with antiquated hairstyles. When she performs rituals, she wears white clothes and a tignon .

When crossed Marie is quick to take revenge and her force is one to be reckoned with. Marie Laveau and her voodoo following hold much animosity toward witches, specifically the descendants of the Salem Witch Trials, her stance towards them changed however when she developed a deep respect, and friendship with Fiona Goode , after seeking refuge with the witches after the loss of her Voodoo followers.

Figuring out Marie gave LaLaurie eternal life, Fiona Goode goes to the hair parlor that Marie (not having aged a day) has set up. The two banter insults to one another until Fiona reveals she has leverage on her and asks for the secret to immortality. Marie laughs and refuses to give her the secret. Fiona leaves, but not before setting fire to Marie's hair displays. Having figured out LaLaurie has been freed by Fiona, Marie sends the Minotaur after the former socialite. [4]

A few days later, Marie is visited by Cordelia Foxx who asks the priestess for the fertility ritual to be performed after hearing from the doctor that it was not possible for her to become pregnant. Marie describes the ritual in detail to Cordelia, and that she charges a large payment, yet guarantees success. Cordelia is unfazed by the price, but due to Fiona's actions earlier, Marie refuses to do the ritual for the daughter of her sworn enemy. [6]

On Halloween, while working at the hair salon, Marie's employee Chantal received a package from Fiona containing the head of the Minotaur. Distraught, Marie proclaimed the truce was finished and used her voodoo ritual to awaken the dead to attack Miss Robichaux's Academy . The dead remain still until Marie orders them to attack everyone, including innocent civilians. After Zoe destroys the majority of the dead with a chainsaw, one remains, going after her. With the chainsaw out of power, Zoe lifts her hand at the dead man, saying "Be In Your Nature", breaking Marie's spell. Marie collapses with the spell broken, stating that the witches have some real power now at the Academy. [5]

Marie meets with Hank, revealing that he has been working with her for years to destroy every Salem witch. She accuses Hank of falling for Cordelia, and becomes angry thinking how Fiona killed her lover again. She orders Hank to kill every witch at the academy or she will kill him. [7]

Later, Marie is visited by Queenie when cooking gumbo outside. Marie offers Queenie a proper family and home in exchange for Delphine LaLaurie , to whom she wants to get back at. Queenie leaves Cornrow City but thinks about the bargain.

Queenie manages to trick Delphine to entering Cornrow City by promising her a beauty makeover. Once inside, Delphine is surprised by getting captured, locked inside a cage, and cutting parts of her body and using the blood for a makeover, to which Marie describes as "beautiful".

Marie then catches Queenie speaking to Delphine and sends her off. Marie secretly takes a knife from a cupboard and slashes Delphine's hand when she becomes rude and angry at the Voodoo Queen who would later decapitate Delphine and send her head to the witches' coven in a box; exactly the same way that the witches sent Bastien to her.

The next day, Fiona approaches Marie at the hair salon, bringing Delphine's head with her. Fiona informs her of the attack by a witch hunter, with a silver bullet as proof. Fiona suggests an alliance between the Voodoo tribe and the witch coven. Marie outright rejects the offer, believing the hunters will only be a threat to the Salem witches.

Marie torments Hank using a Voodoo doll to force him to kill the Salem witches. The next morning, Hank goes to Cornrow City with a full arsenal and begins killing everyone in the salon. He reaches Marie and wounds her arm. Queenie, who was already mortally wounded, grabs a gun on the ground, puts it in her mouth and pulls the trigger, using her power to kill Hank before he could kill Marie. Realizing the threat she faces, and the loss she suffered, Marie goes to Robichaux's Academy to seek refuge, agreeing to the alliance Fiona offered before.

She and Fiona have a sit down with the Witch Hunters and everyone in the room is hacked to death because of the Axeman. She and Fiona also team up to sacrifice Nan to Papa Legba . Delphine is tricked by Spalding's ghost to give Marie Laveau saying that it will render her mortal but fails and in a blind rage she chases Delphine which results in her being knocked out. She is tortured and hacked apart by Delphine before being scattered. Because of Queenie's logic that due to her being dismembered she can no longer carry out her side of the bargain, Papa Legba takes her soul.

Upon arriving in Hell , she begins torturing Delphine's daughter, Borquita. She then comes to her senses and states that does not want to torture her, but Papa Legba forces her to do so because he owns her soul. Realising that she is dead, she questions as to why she has been sent to Hell, as she believes that she has done far more good than bad. However, Papa Legba insists that the newborn sacrifices she made in his name maintains her stay in Hell. [8]

When Cordelia Goode visits Dinah Stevens to arrange a meeting with Papa Legba , the Voodoo priestess firstly refuses to help her, believing the witches were involved in Marie Laveau's demise. Later during the meeting with Cordelia, Papa Legba remembers the last time in which a Mambo and a Witch Queen gathered together to conspire. [9]

During the apocalyptic events , Marie was freed from Hell due to the efforts of Cordelia to create a deal with Papa Legba . In exchange for Marie's freedom, they have to deliver the soul of Dinah Stevens, the most dark and corrupt Voodoo practitioner. After confronting Dinah, who said that Marie will do the same thing she did (betray the other witches for power and life), Marie vehemently denounces her by saying no, using transmutation to transport at the back of Dinah instantly and stabbing Dinah in the side of her throat with a machete, causing severe haemorrhaging which kills Dinah. After the latter falls to the ground, she says that Dinah should give Papa Legba her regards. After the commotion, and when Mead was exploded into pieces by Cordelia, Marie and the other witches fled leaving a volunteering Madison to watch over an apparently dead Michael as they go on to help Mallory perform Tempus Infinituum . After, Madison failed, Marie sacrificed herself by staying behind saying that whatever happens, the situation she is in is a lot better than her situation in Hell. She then scattered some unknown herbs from a pouch on the floor while reciting a spell in Creole that created an invisible barrier to hold off Michael. Michael is momentarily impeded, though he later forces his hand through the barrier and into Marie's chest. As Michael is preoccupied with Marie, Coco stabs Michael in the back with a dagger. Unphased, Michael proceeds to rip Marie's heart out and takes a bite out of it. As Marie falls to the groud, Michael proceeds to kill Coco. [10]

However, after Mallory reverses time and defeats Michael, Marie remains in Hell, since she was never ressurected by Cordelia without the threat of the Anti-Christ .

Marie was a shockingly powerful Voodoo practitioner who held the status of Voodoo Queen among the Voodooists in New Orleans for centuries. It is implied by Fiona that Marie's magic could be more powerful than hers or Cordelia 's.

• Immortality - As a result of annual human sacrifices to Papa Legba, Marie was not susceptible to human weaknesses, thus being immune to all aging, and disease as well as death. However, this power was revoked by Papa Legba when he deemed (with some persuasion from Queenie ) that Marie was unable to continue to fulfill the terms of their contract.
• Levitation - The magical ability to propel oneself or objects in the air. [7]
• Pyrokinesis - The magical ability to create, control and manipulate fire. Marie was seen using this power during a ritual that would reanimate the dead, where she lit the snake's blood on fire in order to inhale the fumes. [5]
• Evil Sensing - The magical ability to sense evil. She sensed evil living among the witches in the Miss Robichaux's Academy , referring to Delphine LaLaurie . [11] She also sensed evil after Fiona collapsed. [2]
• Magic Sensing - The magical ability to sense magic in others. Marie stated that she could smell the "stink" of witchcraft on Fiona. [4]
• Transmutation - The magical ability to move instantaneously from one location to another. Marie fled from Hank after he killed all the other Voodooists and attempted to kill her by trasmuting out of the way of an incoming bullet [12] . Marie also used this to attack Dinah Stevens from behind in order to deliver the latter's soul to Papa Legba. [10]
• Illusion Manipulation - The magical ability to create, shape and manipulate illusions, causing others to see, hear, touch, smell, and/or taste things which do not actually exist, or cause them to perceive things differently from what they truly are. Marie possibly used this power on Cordelia when she wanted to know how the Voodoo Fertility Ritual worked. [5]
• War Cry - The magical ability to emit an eerie scream that causes all that hear it to turn on one another, thereby causing one's enemies to fight their own allies. Marie is the only known user of this power. [2]
• Pochaut Medecine - A sacrificial ceremony performed by Marie and her followers to impregnate a woman regardless of her fertility. The ritual typically requires two ounces of the intended father's semen inside a mason jar, a guinea pepper and a live white goat. The ritual will be performed in a tribal-like celebration, with women dancing with herbs and leaves on their hands, while the men will use instruments to add up to the spell's execution. Marie will then lightly throw the mason jar beside the fire, after that, she will get a hold of an iron rod with the pepper at the opposite end of it, Marie will then eat the pepper as a sign of her willingness to suffer and to call on upon the gods to pay attention. She will then dance together with her people while her other followers will bring the goat to her. After the semen boiled inside the mason jar, it will explode signalling Marie to slash the throat of the goat and let the blood spill right above the woman's body, enveloping her waist, stomach and genitals. After the successful execution, Marie will sleep for four days and four nights, likely as a final sacrifice (a piece of her own life to introduce a new life). According to Marie, the ritual has a 100% success rate.
• Reanimation Ritual - Through this ritual, Marie is able to revive and control the corpses in the form of zombies so as to incite them against her enemies. Performing this ritual takes preparation, as it was seen with Marie drawing the veve of Maman Brigitte and using a snake as a conduit for the magic. She uses the belongings of the dead she wants to reanimate as a sympathetic link between the magic and the corpses. When everything is ready, she will begin the trance, her eyes will turn white and, if animating quite a few zombies, will float as a result of the ongoing effect of the reanimation ritual. If this ritual is negated or dispelled, Marie will immediately go back to her consciousness and will fall down from the air.
• Injury Ritual - The most commonly known voodoo spell. The voodoo doll must contain a personal item from the target. This ritual also requires a cauldron full of an unknown steaming liquid as well as the veve of Damballa . With this, Marie was able to severely damage Hank Foxx .
• Summoning Ritual - Through an offer to Papa Legba , Marie is able to contact him and consequently summon him to communicate with him.
• Voodoo Boundary Spell - During her brief confrontation with the Antichrist , Michael Langdon , Marie created an invisible barrier that hindered Michael from passing through. It was powerful enough to hold off the Antichrist, but only for a brief moment. However it should still be noted that although the antichrist was able to force his hand through the magical barrier enough to kill Marie, he was also shown taking an alternative route to the other side. Implying he may not be able to pass through completely.
• Sound Nullification Enchantment - After stealing the baby from the hospital for Papa Legba, Marie places the child in a closet that seems to have been enchanted by her to nullify sound. The spell appears to have created a boundary around the closet, as when Nan opened the closet door, the baby's cries were still muffled until it was brought out entirely from within its boundaries.
• Eternal Life - Marie created this from her tears and bestow Immortality to Delphine LaLaurie .
• Power Granting Potion - Queenie mentioned that Marie was making a potion to give Queenie more powers.
• Mind Control Dust - Marie used this to control minds, which allowed her to gain access in the maternity ward, so that she could fulfill a deal made by Papa Legba.
• To Cordelia Foxx: "Too late for tears; damage is done."
• To Cordelia Foxx (about Fiona Goode) : "Waltzing in here like she the Queen of England, talkin' 'bout hammer and nails, lookin' to start a war.. She done messed with the wrong witch and she knows it. Now, you know it."
• Marie Laveau: "We got some business to attend to."
• To Queenie: " Their power is built on the sweat of our backs. The only reason you and I are in this country is because our great-great-grandpas couldn't run fast enough. We'll never be welcome here. And those witches are the worst."
• To Queenie: "Voodoo doll belong in the House of Voodoo."
• To Queenie: "You mix your witch with our Voodoo... And even the Supreme won't be able to touch you."
• Marie Laveau: "The truce is over."
• To Fiona Goode: "I'm over three hundred years old. Everyone I done ever met done followed after the Grim Reaper. Some willingly, others kicking and scratching. I taught myself long ago not to waste tears for the dead. It's your kindness that has touched my soul. I feel like I've been alone for so long, it's a relief to have found an equal. Even if that person comes in the guise of an enemy. We have so much to talk about."
• To Fiona Goode: "I thought I was the shit back then! I had just come into my prime and my magic was strong... Shockingly strong. I was pregnant, and I did not accept the idea of death. I was invincible. Papa must've heard me. Showed up one night. Said you can have eternal life, Marie, I come to you once a year, you give me what I want. I thought he meant some kind of sexual favors. Seemed it was simple enough at the time. I wished for it. It came true. Unknowingly, I made a deal forged in hell."
• To Hank Foxx: "You think I did that? Do I look like the Taliban to you? If I wanted to blind your little wife, I wouldn't have to leave my room."
• To Hank Foxx: "When I plant a fat-ass cracker bitch , I expect her to stay planted, not come back up like damn ragweed!"
• To Hank: "No more nonsense! You go back there, and you bring me their heads. All of them! Fiona, her daughter and every witch bitch in that house. You bring me their heads, all of them. Then you burn that place to the ground! You do it, and you do it quick. And I let you live."
• Cutting off Delphine's hand: "You know you're right, Delphine? This gave me no satisfaction, but we've only just begun!"
• To Delphine and her family: "Because we can. Behold the kingdom of the family LaLaurie!"
• To Papa Legba: "Be a sport!"
• Haunting Delphine: "That damn buttermilk biscuit! Thinks she can take me down? Hell, no! I'm the queen! I will rise again. Mark my words. My people gonna come for you! Rip you apart!"

To Dinah Stevens She needed the help of a powerful Voodoo Queen. But that ain't you, sis! To release me from hell, Cordelia promised Papa Legba the darkest and most corrupt voodoo queen's soul for mine. You'll serve him well in my place.

• After killing Dinah Stevens: "Out with the trash! Give Papa my regards."
• She is the first character portrayed by Angela Bassett . For a complete list of her characters, see Cast . Basset's portrayal earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie .
• The character of Marie Laveau is inspired by an actual historical figure known for her affiliation with voodoo during the mid- to late 19th century.
• She is the third immortal character to be introduced in accordance of each season; The first and second were Shachath and The Devil . The fourth was Delphine LaLaurie . The fifth was Bastien. The sixth was her giver, Papa Legba . The "seventh" were a handful of vampires . The eighth was The Addiction Demon . The ninth was Scáthach .
• It is unknown why Marie was afraid of Hank during his attack considering that she was immortal; it might suggest that a blessed silver bullet can either kill immortals or severely harm them.
• Marie also seems to have some proficiency with resurrection magic as she claimed to have brought Bastien back to life. It is not clear whether she did so through a spell or if she might have access to either Vitalum Vitalis or Resurgence . However, considering that she did not resurrect her employees/followers that were gunned down by Hank, it is likely that Marie can resurrect only through ritual magic, which takes time and preparation. Furthermore, her resurrection of Bastien seems to have fused him with the bull's head, similar to how the resurrection spell used by Zoe and Madison fused Kyle's head to body parts that did not belong to him.
• Out of the three, she is the only one to be brought back to life in Apocalypse . However, Papa Legba released her from Hell but did not give her immortality the second time; she was easily killed by Michael Langdon as a result.
• Although Marie Laveau and her Voodoo Queen successor Dinah Stevens were enemies by the end of Apocalypse , with Marie ultimately killing her as a sacrifice to Papa Legba , Dinah made clear to Cordelia Goode that she blamed her and the rest of the Salem witches for Marie's death, indicating that at the very least Dinah could appreciate Marie's unchallenged magical abilities and recognized that without her, the Voodoo community steadily depleted. [9]

• ↑ In Traitor she makes no appearance, but is mentioned by Dinah Stevens .
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Episode: The Magical Delights of Stevie Nicks
• ↑ Episode: Bitchcraft
• ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Episode: Boy Parts
• ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Episode: Fearful Pranks Ensue
• ↑ Episode: The Replacements
• ↑ 7.0 7.1 Episode: Burn, Witch. Burn!
• ↑ Episode: Go to Hell
• ↑ 9.0 9.1 Episode: Traitor
• ↑ 10.0 10.1 Episode: Apocalypse Then
• ↑ Episode: The Dead
• ↑ Episode: Head
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7 Infamous Spirits Haunting New Orleans’ St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

The dead just can't seem to rest in this famously haunted cemetery.

• Photo Credit: Kristen Wheeler

What do a Voodoo Queen, the first governor of Louisiana, and an infamous slave torturer all have in common? They’re all buried in the same cemetery–where their spirits roam free and reportedly frighten unsuspecting visitors.

Established by Spanish royal decree on August 14th, 1789, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 remains New Orleans' oldest existing burial ground. This site is considered one of the United States’ most haunted cemeteries and remains active with funeral processions still occurring today. In one square block, these hallowed grounds house over 700 tombs and over 100,000 dearly departed souls within its disorienting and cluttered alleyways.

Of these countless corpses lying in the ground, the spirits of seven deceased figures are reportedly having anything but a peaceful rest. Take a look at the cemetery’s most famous eternal residents: souls who, according to some present-day visitors, continue to provoke the living from the afterlife. 

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1. Marie Laveau

Marie Lavaeu's Grave.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1's most infamous ghost–and grave–is that of the esteemed Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. During her lifetime, Marie Laveau dominated in fortune telling, the occult, and herbal remedies. In addition to sightings in the cemetery, Marie Laveau’s spirit is also said to still haunt her home on St. Ann Street in the French Quarter of the city. 

Related: 11 Creepiest and Best New Orleans Cemetery Tours  

Her brightly colored clothing and red and white turban are hard to miss as she suddenly appears and then vanishes from plain sight. Reports of scratching, pinching, shoving, touching, sudden illness, and voices have all contributed to her not-so-friendly reputation. The practice of marking her tomb with three x’s led to severe vandalism over the years. The Archdiocese of New Orleans has since refurbished her final resting place and restricted cemetery visitors to those on registered tours or those with family residing within.

2. Henry Vignes

The horribly distressing tale of Henry Vignes will leave a hole in anyone’s heart. Henry was a nomad and sailor from the early 19th century who had no true home to speak of, but created one for himself in grand ol’ New Orleans at a local boarding house. Henry always worried about his important paperwork, including his cemetery plot title at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

He asked the proprietor of the boarding house to keep his precious papers safe while he was at sea in case of sickness or death. The proprietor promised to look after Henry’s belongings properly. Unfortunately for poor Henry, the sole person he trusted betrayed him and sold his tomb at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 to the highest bidder. 

Henry was never able to remedy the issue either privately or legally and soon fell ill and perished. With no money left to build another eternal home, his unmarked grave goes unnoticed in the paupers section of the cemetery—but his spirit still lingers. While visiting the graveyard, guests have experienced encounters with a lost blue-eyed man wandering the site asking where the Vignes tomb is located. Poor Henry.

3. Alphonse

The lost ghost of Alphonse roams the pathways of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in search of a final resting place. He’s been known to take guests’ hands and pull them to a stop, smile widely, and ask to bring him home. He also has a knack for gathering flowers off of freshly spruced up graves and placing them on his own forgotten tomb. 

Thought to have been murdered, every time someone gets near the Pinead family tomb, they are told to stay away. Does this eerie activity reveal something about Alphonse's mysterious life story? Or perhaps Alphonse is just one of the hundreds, if not, thousands of ghostly Civil War soldiers or yellow fever victims wandering the cemetery.

4. William Claiborne

William Claiborne portrait.

A native of Virginia and a great success as Louisiana’s first American Governor, Claiborne was a well-known politician in the South. While he was governor, William dealt with the nefarious actions of the infamous French pirate, Jean Lafitte, and his band of grunts.

William was well-known for his utter disgust for the dirty privateer, even going so far as to offer a $500 reward for Lafitte’s capture. In a hilarious response to the listing, Lafitte posted a $5,000 bounty for the Governor’s capture. That probably didn’t go over too well. 

RELATED: 7 Forest Lawn Cemetery Graves That Are Downright Haunting  

During his lifetime, the Governor was known to be a hit with the ladies. More often than not, William could always be seen walking down the street with a fancy cane, tall hat, devilish grin, and confident swagger. He continued to serve his term until 1816 when he was elected to the US Senate. Less than a year later he passed from a liver infection, and was later interred in the Protestant Section of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

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5. Homer Plessy

Bronze plaque on Homer Plessy's tomb.

Homer Plessy of the 1896 “separate but equal” Plessy v. Ferguson U.S. Supreme court case was a New Orleans native. Born of two white passing parents, his great-grandmother had been brought to the south from Africa, making him 1/8th African. 

At the time, he would have been called a gen de couleur libre or a “free person of color”. He was involved in many social activist groups as a courageous leader, and his court case played a primary role in the formation of the NAACP and the Civil Rights Movement.

6. Paul Morphy

Paul Morphy's grave.

Recognized by many as the unofficial world champion of chess, Paul Morphy had a natural talent that was unheard of in the 19th century. His aptitude for the game swept the country, especially after he completed and won a ten hour match facing away from his opponent while attendants moved the pieces for him.

Although he continued to play chess after this iconic match, his heart wasn’t in it any more. In an attempt to change careers, he decided to open a law office, but his potential clients were only interested in a game of chess . Frustrated, he eventually closed up his practice. 

Related: 9 Most Haunted Places in New Orleans  

Later in life, Morphy experienced a break with reality, fearing being poisoned and watched. He exhibited strange behaviors like following women for hours just to be a voyeur, and only eating food prepared by his mother or sister. 

In the late 1870s, he allegedly ran through the streets of the French Quarter stark naked and wielding an axe, threatening to kill the first person who crossed him. He succumbed to madness and had a stroke in the bathtub in 1884.

7. Madame LaLaurie

• Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

On April 10th, 1834, a fire broke out in the kitchen of Madame LaLaurie’s grand mansion . In its aftermath, rescuers found several slaves who had been starved, tortured, and chained in the attic. News of the abuse quickly spread through the town, and a crowd ransacked and nearly destroyed the mansion. Newspapers nationwide reported on the details of this dreadful occurrence. In the midst of this chaos, Madame LaLaurie and her family escaped, reportedly fleeing to France. 

In the late 1930s, a cracked copper plate was exposed in Alley 4 of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 with the inscription "Madame LaLaurie, née Marie Delphine Macarty, décédée à Paris, le 7 Décembre, 1842, à l'âge de 6--.” The English translation reads: “Madame LaLaurie, born Marie Delphine Mccarthy, died in Paris, December 7, 1842, at the age of 6.” Although records indicate she died in France on December 7th, 1849, according to some, she is actually buried in the Blanque tomb at St. Louis No. 1.

Featured photo courtesy of Kristen Wheeler

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The Mystery of Marie Laveau: Louisiana’s Voodoo Queen

Just a few blocks from the banks of the mighty Mississippi River and on the outskirts of the historic French Quarter, there lies one of the oldest and most well-known landmarks in New Orleans.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 opened in 1789 and, through guided tours, presents an opportunity for sightseers to marvel at the graveyard’s captivating architecture. Because much of New Orleans is below sea level and often faces the threat of flooding, a city ordinance mandated that the cemetery adopt an aboveground style for its memorials shortly after it opened. The cemetery’s design concepts were heavily influenced by Spanish architecture, as the aboveground, crypt-like tombs are extremely common in Spain.

Just how haunted is St. Louis Cemetery No. 1?

What some may not know about the cemetery, though, is that it is home to a tomb that whispers lay claim to contain much more than a simple epitaph.

This brick and mortar memorial I’m referring to is the final resting place of none other than Marie Laveau, Louisiana’s Voodoo Queen.

If you look closely, you can see markings and scratches on the outside of the structure that appear to be the letter “X” in groups of three. It’s said that the visitors who left these markings hoped to have their wishes granted by Laveau, as each “X” represents a wish. Yes, the mysterious powers Laveau allegedly possessed are even thought to continue in afterlife.

Every tomb tells a story, but tales of old say that Marie Laveau’s gravesite doesn’t just tell a story of the past; this story is still being written.

The Life of Marie Laveau

Many of Laveau’s life events such as when she was born have remained unclear, but most records have deduced that she was born in September of 1801. She was the daughter of Charles Laveau and Marguerite D’Arcantel and grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she would live her entire life.

In 1819 and inside St. Louis Cathedral , young Marie Laveau married a man from Sainte-Domingue (present-day Haiti) named Jacques Paris. Shortly after their marriage, though, Paris curiously disappeared and was later reported deceased. There is still no documentation or clear reasoning, however, as to how or why he initially went missing.

Laveau eventually found love again in Christophe Glapion, with whom she had several kids. When Laveau’s grandmother, Catherine Henry, passed away in 1831, the couple purchased her New Orleans cottage on St. Ann Street. Coincidentally, this was the same home in which Laveau was born.

Many of Glapion and Laveau’s kids fell victim to yellow fever, which plagued New Orleans in the 1830s. From then on, Marie Laveau dedicated her life to caretaking and healing the sick, paving the way for the uncommon abilities she’d later develop.

A Voodoo Queen is Born

As time went on, Laveau’s reputation elevated. She became a leader of religious rituals and ceremonies, continued to nurse the sick back to health, and frequently fed the hungry. Local politicians and lawmakers would even go to her seeking consultation for business decisions.  

It wasn’t just the profound respect so many had for her, or even her wealth of knowledge about medicine and healing remedies; there was much more to it than that. In addition to being a devout Catholic, Laveau took on another religious practice that many say was the source of her otherworldly talents.

This religious practice is what we know of today as “Voodoo.” Voodoo is an ancient spiritual belief system that originated in Africa in the 1700s before arriving to New Orleans. It began to merge with the beliefs of many of the city’s Catholic practitioners and eventually became synonymous with several Catholic ideals. Those who practiced both Voodoo and Catholicism simultaneously were referred to as “hybrids.”

The hybrid that perhaps was not solely responsible for bridging the gap between the two practices, but the undisputed most famous, is the subject of our mystery. Laveau’s extraordinary ascension in her craft to a level most could not comprehend led to her most fitting title— Louisiana’s Voodoo Queen.

The Mystery Lives On

The queen of New Orleans Voodoo wore her crown proudly as her reign persisted into the mid-1800s and several decades to follow. Her work never saw any serious roadblocks even though some viewed her profession of choice as deceptive and even blasphemous. She would regularly host visitor after visitor during all hours of the day and night, suggesting that whatever questions people had, she had the answers to.

This chapter in Marie Laveau’s story came to an end in 1881 when she peacefully passed away in her St. Ann cottage, but the mark she made on the Crescent City hasn’t easily been forgotten. She is now woven in the history of New Orleans pop-culture and has been the subject of numerous books, movies, television shows, and songs. Many conclusions point to Laveau as being the reason Voodoo became so mainstream in New Orleans in the first place.

So, this begs the question. Why and how is her story still being written? The reason her passing was merely an ending to a chapter and not an ending to her story as a whole re-introduces a large part of this mystery.

One of the many elements within the New Orleans Voodoo belief system is that the end of one’s physical presence is just the beginning of their spiritual one. With this information, is it unreasonable to believe that there’s even just a chance that the one they called “The Voodoo Queen” still lives on today? Ghost tour guides would back up that sentiment and say that on dark, desolate French Quarter nights, her spirit has been spotted roaming her tomb in St. Louis Cemetery.

It’s even said that each “X” on her tomb that has a circle around it represents a wish that has come to fruition. Did the visitors return to the tomb to let others know their wishes came true? Or did the queen herself make the marks in celebration or personal accomplishment?

While there’s no question her legacy has cultivated New Orleans even more than 100 years after her death, clouds loom over the nature of her abilities and whether she continues to utilize her powers to this day.

What stories have you heard about Marie Laveau? Let us know in the comments below!

Louisiana State University alumnus (Geaux Tigers), fanatic of all things sports, pugs, and Star Wars, and teller of the occasional dad joke. Retired Avenger, current NFL free agent.

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Marie Laveau Voodoo Queen of New Orleans

New Orleans is synonymous with Voodoo and when you think of Voodoo, you think of Marie Laveau.

The so-called Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau is arguably the most famous person to be associated with that religion and yet we know very little about her.

Related Post:

• New Orleans Voodoo Explained

Marie Laveau was born in September of 1801 to Marguerite Henry and Charles Laveau.

Her St. Louis Cathedral baptismal record states that she was born a free mulatto.

She is more legend than fact, shrouded in mystery and myth. Perhaps that is part of her appeal.

Despite the fact that subsequent accounts have portrayed her father as a white man, he was a well-to-do free man of color.

There was a large population of free people of color in New Orleans.

Madame Laveau most likely spent her childhood in a cottage, located at the present site of 1020 and 1022 St. Ann Street in the French Quarter and on the property that her maternal grandmother purchased in 1798.

From this location, she would have been within sight of what is now Armstrong Park, where enslaved Africans gathered every Sunday to sing, dance, drum, and engage in other African instrumentation.

One cannot help but assume that witnessing such events would have greatly impacted her formative years.

In August of 1819, Marie Laveau shows back up in the historic record when at the age of 18, she wed Jacques Paris. The wedding took place in St. Louis Cathedral.

The couple had two children that most likely died in infancy as they disappeared from the historic record.

Sometime between 1822 and 1824, Jacque Paris also disappeared from the record.

There is no official account of his death but the 1824 baptismal record of his second daughter list him as deceased.

Shortly thereafter, Marie Laveau started calling herself the widow Paris and constructed a tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

That gravesite has henceforth been known as the widow Paris’ tomb and it is where Marie Laveau is interred. We have the cemetery records confirming that she is indeed interred there.

Incidentally, her tomb is the second most visited gravesite in the United States. Only the grave of Elvis Presley gets more visitors each year.

It is believed by some in the Voodoo religion that Marie Laveau has become one of the "egun" or ancestors and can thus aid you in specific areas of your life.

Many visitors leave offerings at her tomb and the site of her former home.

Sometime in the late 1820s, Marie Laveau met and started a relationship with Christophe Glapion and would stay with him until his death in 1855.

Christophe Glapion was a white man and though it was illegal to marry outside of your race, it was not illegal to cohabitate with someone of another race.

Together, they had seven children but only one, Marie Philomene survived her mother.

We know Marie Laveau was a confirmed Catholic because you cannot be buried within a Catholic cemetery without that confirmation.

What we are uncertain of is what she thought about the Catholic faith or how she rectified it with her participation in Voodoo.

Unfortunately, Marie Laveau was illiterate and left no personal accounts behind. We also have no idea how she became involved with Voodoo.

We have nothing in the historical record to link her to Voodoo prior to 1850, even though numerous authors have referred to her as a Voodoo Queen form the 1820s to the 1870s.

In 1850, she shows up in a newspaper account where she is issuing a formal complaint against the third municipality police department, saying they were “harassing co-religionists and that they had seized a statue belonging to her.”

The newspaper called the statue the “virgin of the Voodoos.”

In 1859, she shows back up in the record when she is summoned before a judge to account for a neighbor’s complaint that she was having obscene dances on her property.

There will be nothing else in the record in regards to Voodoo until her death in 1881.

When Marie Laveau died, every single newspaper in the city wrote up her obituary.

The New York Times also wrote up her obituary, attesting to the fact that her reputation had exceeded the confines of New Orleans.

Half of the local papers demonized her for her association with the religion of Voodoo and referred to her as the “queen of the superstitions.”

The other half condescendingly attempted to “redeem” her by saying she was simply an herbal healer, strong in her Catholic faith, and a woman of charitable works.

I suspect that somewhere in between these two polar opposites, the real Marie Laveau is waiting.

As happens with people of mystery, numerous legends have arisen. Some say that she was clairvoyant, knowing your secrets before you divulged them.

Others speculate that perhaps this legend was born because she was a hairdresser, gleaning the gossip from her clients.

The problem with that theory is that there is nothing to link her to that profession. The city directories all listed her occupation as none, as did the 1850 census.

Another colorful myth is that there were two Marie Laveaus.

Most accounts of Marie Laveau stated that when she died, she was quite old and infirmed. Some said that looked like a “witch.”

Yet when the Works Progress Administration or the WPA came to New Orleans to write a history, they interviewed several people who remember Marie Laveau as being beautiful, vibrant, and youthful right up until her death.

This has led some to speculate that there was a Marie Laveau II and that it may have been her daughter.

Her daughter, Marie Philomene conducted numerous interviews upon the death of her mother and refuted that her mother was anything but a devout Catholic.

It is unlikely that she was the one pretending to be the original Marie while conducting clandestine Voodoo ceremonies.

If there was someone impersonating her, that person’s identity remains a mystery.

There is much we don’t know about Marie Laveau but honestly, dates and historical minutia do not make for a very good campfire story and one thing New Orleans loves is a good tall tale.

So, come visit and walk the streets she would have walked.

Touch the old brick of the architecture her fingers might have grazed.

Who knows, maybe you will catch a glimpse of her around the side of a building or meet her ghost in a dark corner.

Who knows, she might even grant you a wish. New Orleans is full of possibilities. 

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BASIC ASTROLOGY ANALYSIS ... World Event Astrology Analysis Of A New Orleans Mansion Guest House Ghost Sighting (and the mansion was built in 1793 near a site where Marie Laveau practiced open voodoo)

The above photo is a sketch of a ghost seen in a bedroom of a guest house behind a Creole mansion on Sep. 10, 2023, 7:45 am (in New Orleans, Louisiana). The ghost appears to be a woman of color with non-kinky straight hair, and thus a good speculation is that the ghost may have been of a French mulatto race since this was a common racial mixture in the early 1800's in the New Orleans French Quarter area. The mansion was built in 1793, and it faces the Bayou St. John waterway. The mansion is two blocks away from Cabrini High School, and this is a significant location. This is because legendary New Orleans voodoo queen Marie Laveau reportedly practiced open voodoo ceremonies with others near this bayou location (across the street from the Cabrini High School).  Enclosed is a history of Marie Laveau: 

Marie Laveau  (1794–1881) was a Louisiana Creole: descended from the colonial white settlers, black slaves and free people of color of southern Louisiana. For several decades this ‘Voodoo Queen’ held New Orleans spellbound. She staged ceremonies in which participants became possessed by loas (Voodoo spirits); she dispensed charms and potions (even saving several condemned men from the gallows); told fortunes, and healed the sick. Marie Laveau is believed to have been born in the French Quarter of New Orleans on September 10, 1794, the illegitimate daughter of wealthy Creole plantation owner Charles Laveau and his mistress Marguerite (who was reportedly black and Choctaw Indian). Marie grew up on her father’s plantation where she was educated and studied to be a hairdresser. She was a devout Catholic who went to mass every day of her life. On August 4, 1819, Marie Laveau married carpenter Jacques Paris, a free person of color from Haiti, and went to live in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Their marriage certificate is preserved in St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. This record also contains the names of Marie’s parents: Charles Laveau and Marguerite Darcantrel. Marie was described as tall, beautiful and statuesque, with curly black hair, golden skin and ‘good’ features (then meaning more white than Negro). Those with African ancestry helped revive Voodoo and other African-based cultural practices in the New Orleans community, and the Creole of color community increased markedly. Laveau learned her craft from a ‘Voodoo doctor’ known variously as Doctor John or John Bayou, and by 1830 she was one of several Voodoo Queens. Laveau combined Voodoo beliefs and Catholic traditions – holy water, incense, statues of the saints and Christian prayers – which helped make voodoo and hoodoo (the magical rituals associated with voodoo) more acceptable to upper-class New Orleans society. Her beliefs included the recognition of spiritual forces, which can be kind or mischievous, that preside over daily life and intercede in the lives of their followers. Connection with these spirits can be achieved through dance, music, singing and the use of snakes. Marie Laveau quickly came to dominance as  the  Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, taking charge of the public Voodoo rituals and ceremonies held at Congo Square, one of the few locations in rigidly segregated New Orleans where people of different races could mix freely. She ran other operations at the ‘Maison Blanche’ (the White House), which was built for secret voodoo meetings and liaisons between white men and black women. Laveau made a good income by selling gris-gris (an amulet originating in Africa which is believed to protect the wearer from evil or brings luck), charms, magical powders guaranteed to cure ailments, granting desires and confounding or destroying one’s enemies. She also told fortunes, gave advice on love and prepared custom gris-gris for anyone needing to effect a cure, charm or hex. About 1875 Marie Laveau gave her last performance, and announced she was retiring to her home on peaceful Saint Ann Street in the French Quarter. She passed in 1881.

Horoscope of Event

And below are my notes of the event:

It is highly unlikely the sketch of the ghost above is Marie Laveau; Laveau was strongly attached to her house on St. Ann Street in the French Quarter and not Bayou St. John (which was used for open voodoo ceremonies that were not secret). Because the original owners of the mansion were white French immigrants, the dark racial mixture description of the ghost may indicate the ghost to not be a resident of the mansion (or the guest house) at the time of Marie Laveau's existence. This ghost was probably a woman of color from the French Quarter (with money due to the necklaces). The strong role of Black Moon Lilith in the event horoscope may indicate the ghost to be a prostitute or sex worker, and Black Moon Lilith is seen strongly in the horoscopes of occultists and occult writers (which may indicate involvement with ceremonial magic practices such as voodoo). Also note that French men with money were known to have mistresses, and Black Moon Lilith rules " secret activities" that include sexual activity (as well as occult activitiy).

Thanks for reading.

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