Voodoo Queen

by Calvin Windless Jr.

If you haven’t heard of her, she is known as the “Voodoo Queen of New Orleans”, according to many eyewitness accounts. Her title as Marie Laveau was earned due to the hard work she did while she was alive but, the thing about it is that she still holds on to that name to this day because of how powerful she was as a mortal. 2 Still to this day the crypt where she's buried, which is St. Louis Cemetery #1 is said to be the most haunted cemetery in America. If you ask some of the visitors, they claim to have seen the ghost of the Voodoo Queen herself. According to road trippers they have said to see the voodoo queen inside the cemetery, walking around tombs, in her trademark turban, while whispering a Santeria Voodoo curse to disrespectful gawkers. If you visit her grave, you'll notice that people still leave offerings, candles, flowers, Voodoo dolls, all in the hopes that Laveau will bestow her supernatural blessings. When people make a wish at her tomb, they return if their wish comes true and leave three X marks as a sign of their gratitude.

Some background information about this amazing and mysterious woman is that she was introduced to multiple religions and was well acquainted with all of the leaders in the “French Quarter” and so they taught this older teenager at the time what they knew. She had multiple tutors, some taught her religion like Catholicism, which was Pere Antoine who was the high priest of her time. On the other hand, the voodoo side of her teaching came from a man by the name of Bayou John, he taught her things like how to prepare spells and charm bags which were called a “Gris-Gris” which was used for prosperity and protection if used right. She was a person who didn’t just do things out the goodness of her heart, which is something most people do. For instance, she used her influence on her client to get a brand new house equipped with anything she would ever need and want. She used the man to get her a house, in exchange for an acquittal for their son in court. Her legacy followed her mostly by word of mouth. It was told by her having abilities to sway a justice system an determine a verdict amongst many other things that she was infamous about.

Works cited 
“St. Louis Cemetery.” Road trippers, https://maps.roadtrippers.com/trips/19417349. Accessed 29 October 2018.

Hehe, Joshua. The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Medium.com. 3 February

Links for Further Research
www.womemhistoryblog.com.
http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/07/marie-laveau.html.
This article entails information on her story and how she became known as the “Voodoo Queen.”

www.allthatsinteresting.com.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/marie-laveau.
This is to explain how she worked up to be the leader and advice giver from when she was young.

www.atlasobscura.com.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/marie-laveaus-tomb.
Tells about the story of her tomb and its history.