City of Death: The St Louis Cemetery #1, New Orleans

For those of you keen to soak up the company of a decaying body or pile of bones from the other side of a cement wall, Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 is for you. It is the oldest cemetery in New Orléans, founded in 1789, and is located at the corners of St. Louis and Basin streets. (Just outside the French Quarter) If the dead bodies didn’t grab you attention, the cemetery was also featured in the 1969 film, Easy Rider.

The reason New Orléans bury their dead above ground is the predominantly below sea level city’s (French quarter is the highest point) climate. Bodies buried underground in New Orléans have a tendency to float to the surface when the city floods, releasing bacteria and causing disease to spread. Needless to say, the original French Settlers decided to bury their dead in an above-ground crypts to save little Johnny from stepping on something ambiguous on the way to school or from the dog dragging in something in slightly bigger than a bird.

Above ground crypts protect the body and coffin but also allows the vaults to be reused. Many of the crypts were and still are, large family tombs where coffins are stacked several levels high. When a family ran out of space, the oldest burial was moved under the vault – thus the joke, “the use of dead space” surrounding the vaults.

St Louis Cemetery #1 is supposedly haunted by the ghost of Marie Laveau, a famous Voodoo priestess, who was buried here in 1881. The legend continues that Marie rises from the dead on St. John’s Eve (June 23) and leads voodoo practitioners in a wild ceremony and orgy. (This weekend I’m going on a ritual voodoo ceremony presided over by a ghost of a black magic queen that will end in a supernatural occult orgy. What are you doing? Um, playing X Box)

The tallest monument in the cemetery is the The Italian Mutual Benevolent Society tomb.The tomb has space for more than a thousand remains.

Recommended Tour:

Save Our Cemeteries – Only non-profit, most ticket price goes into restoring the cemetery. 1 hour $20

You can go to the cemetery and visit for free but the knowledge of the guide is indispensible in explaining the vaults and history.

Other Tours:

Cajun Encounters City/Cemetery Tour  – all city tours with a “Cemetery option” are usually15 minutes guided tours only

Voodoo Cemetery Tour 

Gray Line Cemetary Walking Tour 

Bloody Mary’s Cemetery Tour 

Cajun Pride City/ Cemetery Tour 

Magic Tours NOLA St Louis Tour

Cemetery Voodoo Tour

Spirit Tour of New Orléans Cemetery Tour 

Haunted History Tour 

Have you been on a  tour here? What did you think?

*If you are interested in reading about my actual travels and looking for advice go to http://www.travellingassassin.com!

Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo, New Orleans

In the hope of finding a legit way of putting a hex on all due research papers while I am on this round the world trip, I headed to Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo on Bourbon Street for a meeting with a friend and to find out more about the cults in New Orleans.

After a 20 minute look around the tiny store and listening to other customers’ observations (This is freaky. Wtf is that. I have been looking for blessed chicken feet for years) I left the Gris Gris and blessed magic, voodoo dolls, potions, charms from New Orleans, Brazil and around the world, and had my personal thoughts invaded by a spiritualist reader named Irene.

An elderly lady who took me into a back room and like a guy who inhaled a few Tequilas, informed me that every beautiful woman she has admired has been a Scorpion (hmmm) and I should feel at home in New Orleans as it too is a Scorpio. I don’t believe in tarot readings or psychics so I am cynical by nature but Irene was sweet and asked no questions. She shuffled the cards, asked me to think of a wish or question I have and shuffle them myself which led to an abrupt flutter of observations about me – I’ll be practicing in the medical field and purchasing a beautiful french inspired home being among them. (She was more specific, sparring you boring details!) She was as specific as she could be given she asked no questions and was going off the cards and intuition. Funnily enough her entire reading was on par with one I had around 10 years ago.

Walking out of the incense infused voodoo haven and the alter to Marie Laveau, I headed down to St Peters where Marie Laveau’s partner shop is located – Rev Zombie’s House of Voodoo. Here, I saw Rose. After perusing the same merchandise as Marie Laveau’s but in the larger version of the store, I headed in to the back room again. Rose was not as charming as Irene, and while she made me wait forever, she was frugal with my time when I got in there. She said overall, the same things Irene had said except in a more specific and less charming way. The guy at the counter said everyone likes Rose, I didn’t so much after she told me I live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion – until I realised it was true. Rose went into detail, whether I wanted to hear it or not, but it was hard to ask a question as it felt as if I was being timed and I needed to leave. While more specific than Irene, she lacked intuitive abilities and relied entirely on the deck.

I was given a voodoo doll which I was not too thrilled about when I realised its crotch was sewn up. Worried I was never going to get laid again, I inquired only to find out it’s a voodoo to bring out emotions. My emotions generally don’t come out of my crotch but we will see if it works.

Have you been to either store? What did you think?