Visiting the Voodoo Queen and Nick Cage in the Big Easy

Ah, New Orleans: The great melting pot of the South. Years ahead of the rest of the country, people from all different backgrounds came together to make one community. Nowhere is that more apparent than the day we went visiting the Voodoo Queen and Nick Cage in the Big Easy! If you’re a taphophile, like me, or someone who just likes to share an adventure, get comfy, grab a beverage and join us for some fun stories while walk among the tombstones.

First thing you should know…you have to go with a tour

Thanks to the abuse the cemeteries have endured over the years, the arch-diocese of New Orleans no longer allows people to go into the cemeteries unsupervised.

While this may seem like a bit of a buzz kill at first, it actually allowed us to spend some time with our great tour guide, Ray, who had the inside scoop on some of the fascinating folks in St. Louis Cemetery #1.

First stop – The Oven Vaults

Our tour began with the wall tombs or “oven vaults” that line either side of the cemetery entrance. As you may know, burials in N.O. are done above ground. This is due to two important factors:

• the high water table
• and the great desire to not watch a flotilla of coffins on Bourbon Street.

The oven vaults are so named because they resemble bread ovens. But both these wall vaults and the mausoleums next door do some cooking. (To spare those not as fascinated by funerary practices, check out this article if you’d like to learn more.)

The feline welcoming committee

Before the tour started, we were advised that we may get to meet a local influencer. As luck would have it, Esmeralda decided to welcome us to the cemetery. (And when I say that she “welcomed” us, please keep in mind that she is a cat. This means she briefly tolerated our tour group before nonchalantly walking off and disappearing into thin air.)

A Visit with the Voodoo Queen

Marie Leveau became famous in New Orleans for her in-depth knowledge of secret things, her ability to heal and her great compassion. As a devout Catholic, she attended mass daily, visited the sick and offered comfort to people on death row. As a voodoo priestess, she presided over rituals, sold amulets and mixed potions to help with healing, or to bring luck and love to the requestor. To this day, people leave gifts for her or mark the tomb with 3 “x’s” to request her favor.

Chess prodigy – Paul Morphy

If you’re anything like me, you watched the “Queen’s Gambit” in about 3 days. There was something so delicious about that little red-headed orphan winning again and again at this complicated game of strategy. What I didn’t know is that there was a real life person who could play JUST as well.

Known as “the Pride and Sorrow of Chess”, Paul Morphy began his career at 9 years old, beat players in simultaneous games, was able to beat opponents while playing blind-folded, and retired at the ripe age of 23. To this day, chess pieces are left on his grave to remember his accomplishments. (I, however, can barely beat a 12 year old with both eyes open.)

The future home of Nick Cage

The eccentric actor has purchased some very interesting things over the years including:

• a haunted mansion
• two castles in Europe
• a private island
• shrunken pygmy heads
• and a pet octopus

Though most of those things were sold to appease a hefty tax bill, Nick’s future home is still intact. The inscription reads “Omnia Ab Uno” – Everything from One. Although it’s widely held that this phrase is found in his movie, “National Treasure”, I cannot get corroboration – except from Reddit. So take that for what it’s worth. Next time I see Nick, I’ll be sure to ask him and report back.

Before Rosa Parks, there was Homer Plessy

Born a free person of color in a family of French-speaking Louisiana Creole people, Homer grew up during the “Reconstruction” era after the civil war. Though black children attended integrated schools, black men could vote and inter-racial marriage was legal, once the Federal troops withdrew from the region in late 1870’s, things began to change.

To force the issue of civil rights, Plessy bought a first class ticket on a “White’s Only ” train car and was arrested. The result was the Supreme Court case “Plessy v Ferguson”, where Plessy lost and the doctrine of “separate but equal” was created and stood until the 1960’s.

Segregation in the Cemetery

Though the cemetery is very integrated, there was a section that was separate…that of (dum, dum, dummmmmm(dramatic music))…the Protestants.

Interestingly enough, when the English buried their dead, they insisted on the standard below ground grave. As mentioned above, these types of burials are a bit fraught due to NO’s high water table. Rather than move the dead to a mausoleum or an oven vault, the Brits solved the problem by pouring cement over the entire grave site. Problem solved.

A few other interesting things

Bodies aren’t the only thing that decompose here

Because of the hot, humid weather the graves also decompose. Families have to pay to have mausoleums redone every so many years. If no family remains to take care of the tomb, the fees paid for the tour are used for the needed repairs.

Her hands were broken off during filming

This lady, who adorns the Italian crypt, had her hands broken off during the filming of “Easy Rider”. Hence the reason unsupervised tours and filming are no longer allowed. As a former teenager and mischief maker, I can’t help but feel this was an incredibly dumb way to tell on yourself.

There is a “faux Leveau” tomb

Interestingly enough, there is another, older tomb in the St. Louis Cemetery that is covered in “X’s”. Apparently dubbed the “real” grave of Marie Laveau, it was invented by tour guides as an “insider secret”. Though there is no evidence that the Marie Laveau was interred here, and there are clear records that she is in the Glampion mausoleum, I guess people just really like to have secret knowledge – even if it’s totally fabricated.

As the mummy said, “That’s a Wrap!”

We hope you enjoyed our walk among the tombs and the day we went visiting the Voodoo Queen and Nick Cage. Please join us for our future excursions by subscribing for free or by following us on Instagram at The__Travel__Oracle.