Marie Laveau

Bringing flowers to the tomb of a dead ancestor is a common practice in New Orleans. But the 125th anniversary of voodoo priestess Marie Laveau is just in time for Halloween. Madam Laveau was so well known that her obituary was published in 1881 not only in her home New Orleans but also and in The New York Times. Only the grave of Elvis Presley draws more visitors to an individual American burial site. Madam Laveau is buried in historic and supposedly the haunted St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans.

A hairdresser by trade, Laveau was a devout Catholic freed slave with incredible healing powers. Marie and her daughter (also named Marie Laveau) taught and used the Voodoo religion's magical powers to control ones lovers, acquaintances, enemies, and sex. Voodoo had been secretly practiced by blacks around New Orleans since the first boat load of slaves. New Orleans was more French-Spanish than English-American, and the slaves had came from the same parts of Africa that had sent blacks to work the French and Spanish plantations in the Caribbean.

If one visits various cemeteries in New Orleans today he or she may see the remains of a Voodoo ritual that was performed at one or more of the tombs the night before. Voodoo is still actively practiced here. Marie Laveau was always a devoted Catholic and added influences of Catholicism such as holy water, incense, statues of the saints, and Christian prayers to the already sensational ceremonies of voodooism. All of those practices and rituals are still used in Voodoo today.

At any rate, Marie promoted her skills and even had Voodoo performances. People began to buy her spells because..well...they seemed to always work. She became the most powerful woman in New Orleans and today is the most powerful dead woman! In the St. Louis Cemetery there is another vault bearing the name of Marie Laveau. This vault has red crosses on it and is called the "wishing vault." Young women often still come to it to petition when seeking husbands. Stories also say that Marie rests in various cemeteries in the city. Legend tells she frequently visits the cemeteries, as well as the French Quarter, and her voodoo haunts.

We have real Halloween ghosts in New Orleans. It's no wonder we are called America's most haunted city.