No. 645
Crime, Eccentricity, and the Sporting Life in 19th Century America.
March 19, 2024

Voodoo Queen Marie

For over forty years, beginning around 1830, Marie Laveau was the most powerful and most feared woman in New Orleans.
March 21, 2011
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Dr. John W. Hughes. Dr. John W. Hughes was a restless, intemperate man whose life never ran smoothly. When his home life turned sour, he found love with a woman half his age. Then, he lost her through an act of deception, and in a fit of drunken rage, Dr. Hughes killed his one true love.Date:  August 9, 1865Location:   Bedford, OhioVictim:  Tamzen ParsonsCause of Death:&
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Murder By Gaslight - 3/16/2024
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Going to the theater has always been a beloved New York City pastime. But theater became even more thrilling with the advent of open-air rooftop gardens—which hit the scene in the late 1880s with the opening of the rooftop theater at the Casino on Broadway and 39th Street. It wasn’t just the cool breezes that […]
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Ephemeral New York - 3/18/2024
HE DUEL IN ELLEN'S HONOR. Soapy Smith’s grandmotherOn Wednesday, August 9, 1820, an argument between 17-year-old, James Bowe Boisseau (1802-1820) and Robert C. Adams (unknown-1820) vying for the attention of 18-year-old Ellen Stimpson Peniston (1802-1860), took a terrible turn. The happy party in her honor took a tragic turn when the competition for Ellen’s affections ended in a deadly duel,
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Soapy Smith's Soap Box - 1/10/2024
Encountering a ghost may be a strange, possibly terrifying experience, but fortunately they are rarely harmful.  However, every now and then there is an account of a spirit that is not just malevolent, but physically dangerous.  One such story was told by folklorist Mary L. Lewes in the December 1912 issue of “Occult Review.”  It concerns a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Caxton. 
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Strange Company - 3/18/2024
Going to the theater has always been a beloved New York City pastime. But theater became even more thrilling with the advent of open-air rooftop gardens—which hit the scene in the late 1880s with the opening of the rooftop theater at the Casino on Broadway and 39th Street. It wasn’t just the cool breezes that […]
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Ephemeral New York - 3/18/2024
Included in yesterday’s trip to Fall River was a stop at Miss Lizzie’s Coffee shop and a visit to the cellar to see the scene of the tragic demise of the second Mrs. Lawdwick Borden and two of the three little children in 1848. I have been writing about this sad tale since 2010 and had made a previous trip to the cellar some years ago but was unable to get to the spot where the incident occured to get a clear photograph.  The tale of Eliza Borden is a very sad, but not uncommon story of post partum depression with a heartrending end. You feel this as you stand in the dark space behind the chimney where Eliza ended her life with a straight razor after dropping 6 month old Holder and his 3 year old sister Eliza Ann into the cellar cistern. Over the years I have found other similar cases, often involving wells and cisterns, and drownings of children followed by suicides of the mothers. These photos show the chimney, cistern pipe, back wall, dirt and brick floor, original floorboards forming the cellar ceiling and what appears to be an original door. To be in the place where this happened is a sobering experience. My thanks to Joe Pereira for allowing us to see and record the place where this sad occurrence unfolded in 1848. R.I.P. Holder, Eliza and Eliza Ann Borden. Visit our Articles section above for more on this story. The coffee shop has won its suit to retain its name and has plans to expand into the shop next door and extend its menu in the near future.
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 2/12/2024
Dr. John W. Hughes. Dr. John W. Hughes was a restless, intemperate man whose life never ran smoothly. When his home life turned sour, he found love with a woman half his age. Then, he lost her through an act of deception, and in a fit of drunken rage, Dr. Hughes killed his one true love.Date:  August 9, 1865Location:   Bedford, OhioVictim:  Tamzen ParsonsCause of Death:&
More...
Murder By Gaslight - 3/16/2024
Encountering a ghost may be a strange, possibly terrifying experience, but fortunately they are rarely harmful.  However, every now and then there is an account of a spirit that is not just malevolent, but physically dangerous.  One such story was told by folklorist Mary L. Lewes in the December 1912 issue of “Occult Review.”  It concerns a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Caxton. 
More...
Strange Company - 3/18/2024
Included in yesterday’s trip to Fall River was a stop at Miss Lizzie’s Coffee shop and a visit to the cellar to see the scene of the tragic demise of the second Mrs. Lawdwick Borden and two of the three little children in 1848. I have been writing about this sad tale since 2010 and had made a previous trip to the cellar some years ago but was unable to get to the spot where the incident occured to get a clear photograph.  The tale of Eliza Borden is a very sad, but not uncommon story of post partum depression with a heartrending end. You feel this as you stand in the dark space behind the chimney where Eliza ended her life with a straight razor after dropping 6 month old Holder and his 3 year old sister Eliza Ann into the cellar cistern. Over the years I have found other similar cases, often involving wells and cisterns, and drownings of children followed by suicides of the mothers. These photos show the chimney, cistern pipe, back wall, dirt and brick floor, original floorboards forming the cellar ceiling and what appears to be an original door. To be in the place where this happened is a sobering experience. My thanks to Joe Pereira for allowing us to see and record the place where this sad occurrence unfolded in 1848. R.I.P. Holder, Eliza and Eliza Ann Borden. Visit our Articles section above for more on this story. The coffee shop has won its suit to retain its name and has plans to expand into the shop next door and extend its menu in the near future.
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Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts - 2/12/2024
Did the Naughty Midway Dance | Chorus Girls in a Panic.

Voodoo Queen Marie

Marie Laveau

New Orleans, Lousiana - For over forty years, beginning around 1830, Marie Laveau was the most powerful and most feared woman in New Orleans. She was the Voodoo Queen, believed to have great knowledge of magic and the supernatural and power over life and death. Under her reign, thousands of followers, both black and white met in private rituals and public ceremonies. Marie Laveau opened the door to the secret world of Voodoo and for a time almost made it respectable.

Voodoo came to the new world with slaves from the Guinea coast of Africa and settled in the French-owned islands in the West Indies. It was slower to take hold in Louisiana but as early as 1782 Governor Bernardo de Galvez prohibited importation of slaves from Martinique, “as they are too much given to Voudouism and make the lives of the citizens unsafe."  The word Vodu - later corrupted to Voodoo, Voudou, Voudaux, etc.- was all-encompassing, referring to the god, the sect, the rites, and the followers of the religion. Shrouded in secrecy, the practice of Voodoo involved animal sacrifice and sexual ritual and was noted for spells and charms that could bring good fortune or destroy an enemy.

The male priests of Voodoo were known as doctors; all were black or mixed race, some free and some slaves. Dr. John, Dr. Yah Yah, Dr. Jack, and Dr. Beauregard were famous New Orleans doctors in the 19th century. The Voodoo queens, with absolute authority over rituals and ceremonies, were the equal of the doctors. In the early 1800s the Voodoo Queen was Sanite Dede. She was followed by Marie Laveau who, with her daughter - also named Marie - would control Voodoo in New Orleans for the rest of the century.

It was a time and place where racial heredity was considered very important and was closely tracked. Marie Laveau was allegedly the daughter of a wealthy white planter and a mulatto woman with a trace of Indian blood. She was described as tall and statuesque, with curling black hair, dark skin with a distinctly reddish cast, and fierce black eyes. In 1819 she married Jacques Paris, a quadroon (three-fourths white) from Santo Domingo. They were both free people of color and were probably practicing Voodoos.

gris-grisModern Gris-gris bags
(from MysticVoodoo.com)

After Jacque left her, Marie called herself the “Widow Paris.” She lived in a shack on Lake Pontchartrain that was sometimes used as a meeting place for Voodoo rituals. Working as a hairdresser, Marie entered the homes of white women and become privy to their secrets. This information would be useful in her rise to power. She also maintained a network of servants in wealthy households who supplied her with information.  To recruit them she would curse their houses by putting gris-gris - a magical mixture that included powdered brick, yellow ochre, cayenne pepper, and sometimes hair, nail parings and reptile skin, in a cotton or leather bag - on their doorstep. In exchange for lifting the spell, the women agreed to spy for Marie.

St Louis Cathedral

Marie Laveau gained prestige among both blacks and whites with a single miraculous event. The son of a wealthy merchant had been arrested in connection with a crime of which he was innocent. In desperation, the father came to Marie Laveau for help.  At dawn on the day of the trial, she put three Guinea peppers in her mouth, went to the St. Louis Cathedral and knelt at the altar for several hours. Then she went to the courthouse and placed the peppers under the judge’s bench. When the trial was held, in spite of overwhelming evidence against him, the boy was found not guilty. The father was so happy that he gave Marie a cottage on Rue St. Ann where she would live for the rest of her life.

Including a Catholic Cathedral in her ritual was indicative of Marie Laveau’s approach to Voodoo.  She was raised Catholic and as queen, she incorporated worship of the Virgin Mary and Catholic saints with traditional Voodoo ritual. She also opened up previously private ceremonies such as St. John’s Eve, inviting policemen, politicians, and reporters. It was reported that sometimes white onlookers outnumbered Voodoos at these events. Of course, the real Voodoo rituals, involving animal sacrifice and orgiastic dancing, were still held in private.

Queen Marie presided over dances at Congo Square, which had always been a meeting place for slaves in New Orleans. She would dance with a live snake - some said it was twenty feet long - which she kept in her yard. People in New Orleans, both black and white, lived in fear of her powers and would avoid passing her house. Stories of her sacrificing young children -“the goat without horns” - though false, were used to frighten children into obedience.

In June of 1869, when Marie Laveau was in her seventies, she was dethroned as Voodoo Queen and replaced by Malvina Latour.  Although she longer presided over the ceremonies Marie Laveau, and later her daughter, still commanded the real power of Voodoo. The assumption of power by her daughter, sometimes referred to as Marie Laveau II, was virtually seamless and often in the old stories, it is hard to determine which Marie Laveau is being referred to. It may have been a conscious attempt on their part to give the illusion of immortality.

Marie Laveau's Tomb

In her last years, the first Marie Laveau returned to Catholicism and became spiritual advisor to condemned prisoners at the Parish Prison.  She died in 1881 and is allegedly buried in a crypt in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, though some dispute this claim. Visitors to the cemetery draw three X’s on her tomb so that her spirit will grant them a wish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Sources:

  • Asbury, Herbert. The French Quarter: an informal history of the New Orleans underworld. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press :, 2003.
  • Tallant, Robert. Voodoo in New Orleans . Pelican pbk. ed. Gretna, La.: Pelican Pub. Co., 19831946.

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