Way back in 2023, my husband and I joined some colleagues for an epic road trip to Louisiana. Our mission was to help film a project on the Rougarou, but we decided to go down a few days early and spend a few days exploring New Orleans, particularly the French Quarter.
Although the second leg of the trip was largely a bust, I had the best time of my life in New Orleans. My grandmother always said that going to New Orleans felt like she had finally come home and I felt the exact same way. I could spend a lifetime or longer exploring the rich history, fascinating culture, and of course, the many, many ghost stories that make up the atmosphere of the Crescent City. We saw a lot of cool stuff, but there was one location that I had my heart set on: The St. Louis Cemetery #1.
St. Louis Cemetery #1 is the final resting place of famed 'Voodoo Queen' Marie LaVeau. Generation after generation has visited her grave, leaving offerings and even conducting rituals to gain her favor. The most common way to interact with Marie for years was to leave three red X's on her tomb. However, largely due to this type of vandalism, the cemetery is now closed to the public. You may still visit the cemetery by either special permission from local diocese....or through a licensed tour company, which offers guided tours daily.
We were in New Orleans in late November/early December, which is probably the closest the city has to a slow season. In fact, a ghostly bus tour we had taken was rescheduled due to lack of ticket sales. Therefore, we thought we'd have no problems buying our tickets to tour St. Louis #1 day of. It was the last day we were to be in New Orleans before heading to Natchez and we were going to take the tour on our way out of town.
I was absolutely devastated when we get to the tour office and were told that all the tours for the entire day were already sold out. We had underestimated the popularity of St. Louis #1 and failed to buy tickets in advance, and since this was our last day in town, I was going to miss my opportunity. The disappointment must have been pretty evident on my face, because the wonderful lady working the sales counter pulled up her records on the computer. Tour groups, which left every 15 minutes, were limited to 20 in size. There were no tours with four slots open, BUT the next four tours leaving had exactly ONE open slot each!
We could take the tour....we just had to do it alone.
Well, not exactly alone. I went on the first available slot and the rest of my tour group was made up entirely of Detroit Lions fans who were in town for the game. My tour guy was Buddy, a sweet older man who was brought to New Orleans by his wife, who had recently passed. He was super knowledgeable and personable, and I had a blast learning about the legends and the lore associated with the cemetery, in addition to its verified history. We saw Nicolas Cage's future pyramid tomb, learned about the year and a day process of burial, and of course saw the Marie LaVeau tomb.
I had heard that although discouraged, some tour guides would look the other way if visitors wanted to leave a small offering at Marie's tomb, just as long as was respectful, could easily be removed, and didn't damage or impede anything. We saw a few coins and flowers and things of that nature, but I didn't personally bring anything to leave because I wasn't sure how lenient they actually were. Unfortunately, I did end up leaving an offering of sorts.
Throughout the tour, I had stayed near the back of the group so I could take plenty of photos, and at one point, I was still at the back of the group, but walking along the path beside a man whose wife had stayed behind to take some photographs of her own. I wasn't talking to this guy, looking at this guy, or in any way interacting with him; I was just beside him on the path. That was enough to spark something in this woman, though. She ran up and squeezed herself in between me and her husband with enough force that she actually hip-checked me. I had to briefly step off the path to keep my balance and make room for her to grab her man's arm protectively.
In doing so, I brushed up a spikey bush. I didn't think much of it until a few minutes later when I felt something wet drip down my arm. It was a hot day, but not so hot that'd I'd be dripping with sweat, so I looked down and was horrified to see that the bush was a little spikier than I had realized. I had two puncture wounds in my arm that were now dripping blood all over the cemetery, including right in front of Marie LaVeau's tomb.
So, although this was a completely unintentional act, it's kind of fun to joke with people and tell them that I traveled to New Orleans to leave a blood sacrifice at the grave of Marie LaVeau. I am not a voodoo practitioner, and many say that neither was Marie for that matter, so this is not something that I share out of disrespect and I certainly don't recommend you doing something similar. What I do recommend is buying your tickets EARLY if you wish to take the tour and enjoy the history of the cemetery. Read up on the real Marie LaVeau and the others whose earthly remains lie within the cemetery walls.
