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So Supernatural
MYSTICAL: Marie Laveau
00:41:24
Around the 1820s, New Orleans residents whispered of a mesmerizing hairdresser turned Voodoo Queen named Marie Laveau. Legends claim she bewitched judges to halt convictions, performed love spells from her candlelit altar, and healed the sick with her mystical powers. And some say Marie never truly died, as she still haunts the French Quarter today.
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- [00:01]
Racha Pecorero
Since he got out, bad things keep happening.
- [00:06]
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- [00:11]
Yvette Gentile
Why would I want to hurt you?
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- [00:18]
Yvette Gentile
Why?
- [00:19]
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- [00:21]
Racha Pecorero
He is coming after my family.
- [00:23]
Yvette Gentile
Why
- [00:26]
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- [00:30]
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Repeat.
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- [01:33]
Yvette Gentile
Every city has one thing that it's known for. If you want a bit of romance in your life, you can go to Paris for dinner at Mon Paris and then take a taxi at midnight to the Eiffel Tower for one last Parisian kiss under the glimmer of Paris. If you're looking to let loose for a weekend, you can book a trip to Las Vegas, maybe see Bruno Mars or J. Lo. Or if you're itching for some ancient history and the most delicious cuisine in the world, hop on a flight to Rome and head straight to the Pantheon. And then take a stroll to Piazza Navona for a refreshing aperol spritz and a carbonara pasta. But if you're seeking a bit of spookiness and magic in your life, along with the best beignets on the planet, there's one place that beats the rest. New Orleans, Louisiana. For centuries, it's been known as a city of mystery, a place where legends lurk around every corner, where the line between reality and the supernatural feels particularly thin. A city where at the heart of it all is the music, the beats, the drums, the culture, the spells, the spirits and unseen forces which have been lingering for generations and above all else, there is one form of magic that's become synonymous with New Orleans. Voodoo.
- [03:09]
Racha Pecorero
Voodoo is a religious tradition that uses spells, magic, charms, and the summoning of spirits to help with everyday problems, from curing illnesses to making money to getting your crush to fall in love with you. But it didn't become a major part of New Orleans culture until the early 1800s. That's when a voodoo queen named Marie Laveau rose to power. She was so good at it that she gained tons of followers. And she helped make voodoo a permanent part of the city's heritage because, according to some historical records, she could supernaturally heal the sick, learn people's deepest secrets, and control her enemies. I'm Racha Pecorero.
- [03:58]
Yvette Gentile
And I'm Yvette Gentile. This is so supernatural.
- [04:34]
Racha Pecorero
If you're like me and have visited New Orleans recently, you probably took a trip to the historic French Quarter, a neighborhood that got its name after a wave of French immigrants settled there in the early 1800s. Maybe you were lucky enough to sample the city's most famous sandwich, A po'. Boy. And my favorite is actually the shrimp po boy. Or maybe you had their famous jambalaya. And no offense to our beautiful mama's version of jambalaya that we ate growing up, which, of course, was delish. But nothing compares to the jambalaya in New Orleans.
- [05:14]
Yvette Gentile
Racha, can I just tell you something? So mom actually learned how to make jambalaya and seafood gumbo from my babysitter, Mrs. Borkins, that used to take care of me back in the day. And she actually was from Louisiana, so that's where it started. So mom knew how to throw down.
- [05:32]
Racha Pecorero
She did. Just be clear. But every day I was in New Orleans, I ate jambalaya. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Or maybe you were in town for Mardi Gras. I hope you got to see one of the world famous parades. And I know it's a little scandalous, but I hope you even caught a string of beads or two. But let's imagine you had access to a time machine and you wanted to visit New Orleans not as it is today, but as it was back around the mid-1850s.
- [06:07]
Yvette Gentile
Well, there you'd find New Orleans as a thriving port city, the fourth busiest in the world at the time. Sailors and traders from all across the globe regularly visited those docks, seen as the city was part of several major trade routes. Visiting sailors shopped in the local stores. They ate and drank in the restaurants and let their cultures mix freely. It was a true melting Pot for locals and visitors alike, which meant many New Orleans residents had progressive attitudes about race and nationality. It's hard to stay biased against someone when you're sharing a pint with them at a local pub or worshiping next to them in the same church. But to be clear, there were many racist laws in the books, and slavery was still still legal in the United States. People of color certainly dealt with bias and discrimination, but New Orleans was known for being a fairly liberal city. Many black people lived there, including those who had been born free or escaped from slavery. Interracial relationships were also common. This was the world Marie Laveau was born into.
- [07:25]
Racha Pecorero
It was also a time when record keeping wasn't so great, meaning we don't know many confirmed details about Marie's life. She was born sometime in the late 1700s or early 1800s. Most historic sources agree that her birthday was September 10, but no one is entirely sure of the year. Records also say Marie was multiracial. Her father was a businessman with both white and black ancestry, and her mother was part black and part Choctaw, a local indigenous tribal nation. Marie was born free and remained so for her whole life. She was also a devout Catholic who went to church every single day. We don't know much about Marie's childhood or early adulthood until about August 4, 1819. She was in her late teens or her early twenties. On that day, she married a free black man named Jacques Paris. Very little has been reported about their marriage, but we know about five years after their wedding, Jacques disappeared. Rumors said Jacques just up and left Marie. But anytime someone asked, Marie insisted he was dead. She even gave herself a nickname, the Widow Paris. Needless to say, Marie needed a fresh start after this and a way to support herself now that she was single again. Many historical accounts say she became a hairdresser around this time. Other rumors claim this is when she began practicing voodoo.
- [09:05]
Yvette Gentile
Voodoo was an underground religion in the early 1800s in New Orleans. It combined elements of African folk traditions, Haitian beliefs, and Catholicism. And because of that, it was seen as very dangerous in some circles. Many white enslavers were afraid of enslaved black people congregating and sharing their cultures with one another, and they worried that they would team up and then revolt or riot against them. So the enslavers spread a lot of nasty rumors about voodoo and those who believed in it. Officials claim Vodou was an evil religion and that practitioners were worshipping demons or putting curses on their enemies. But in reality, Vodou teaches that there are a ton of spirits that can help People, if you perform the right rituals or make the right offerings to them. These spirits aren't necessarily good or bad. Instead, they may do good or bad things depending on what the believer actually asked them to do.
- [10:10]
Racha Pecorero
Marie was not discouraged by what the white enslavers were saying about voodoo. Instead, she sought out the most respected and established priests, begging them to teach her everything they knew. And with their help, she became an expert at voodoo. Her mentors taught her secret rituals she could use to summon spirits, or, as they're called in voodoo, loa. Each loa is in charge of something different, and you'd call on different spirits depending on what you're asking for. Take Papa Legba, for example. He's a loa who controls keys and locks, so you'd summon him if you wanted to open a door or get rid of a roadblock, Literally or figuratively. He was also associated with social justice because many people thought Papa Legba could symbolically break the chains of slavery and finally set black people free.
- [11:08]
Yvette Gentile
When Marie learned about Papa Legba, he may have reminded her of St. Peter. In Catholic tradition, St. Peter also controls doors, removes obstacles, and brings justice to his people. And in Marie's mind, there was no conflict or contradiction between being a devout Catholic and being and a voodoo priestess. Papa Legba and St Peter were just two different names for the same spirit. So she became very comfortable performing voodoo rituals while still going to church each day. And at some point in the 1820s, she also began booking clients, people who would come to her looking for help with their problems. Sometimes she'd summon loas on their behalf, and other times she'd create magic potions or she'd sell gris gris, which are basically these little good luck charms powered by voodoo magic. Mostly, though, people went to Marie for advice. She seemed unusually wise and often knew things she shouldn't have.
- [12:15]
Racha Pecorero
For instance, people might have gone to Marie to ask about a certain business arrangement in their life, only for Marie to tell them no, they shouldn't commit because a colleague was pocketing more than their fair share. Or maybe they were lying about how many investors they had. And sure enough, weeks or months later, the dishonest business person would be exposed for fraud. Sometimes women would go to Marie to ask if they should accept a marriage proposal, and Marie would either bless the union or reveal their partner was cheating. No matter what they asked, Marie always seemed to know exactly what to say, and she knew details that weren't public knowledge, which is why so many people believed she consulted with Lois to learn their secrets.
- [13:06]
Yvette Gentile
Aside from giving advice, Marie sometimes got very involved in solving her clients problems. Like this one incident that happened early on in her career. So, as the story goes, there was a rich man who went to visit Marie one day. We'll call him Pierre, since his real name was never recorded. Well, Pierre had a son who we'll call Bernard. And Bernard had fallen in with a bad crowd. While he was generally well behaved and law abiding, his friends often committed crimes and got into trouble. Well, recently the police had caught and arrested Bernard. And now they were charging him with all the crimes his friends had committed. Unfortunately, there's no record of what those crimes were or what kind of sentence Bernard was facing. All we know is that Pierre felt that his son was innocent, even though there was a lot of evidence against him. Pierre was terrified Bernard would go to prison. So guess who he went to for help? He went to Marie. Very early on the day of Bernard's trial, Marie put three chili peppers in her mouth and then walked to a nearby church to pray for him. For hours she sat in the sanctuary without chewing or swallowing the peppers. Instead, she kept them tucked in her cheek the entire time. Now, this church happened to be right next door to to the courthouse where Bernard's trial was being held. So Marie watched and waited. And at one point that day, when the courthouse was empty, Marie slipped into the building and down to the courtroom. There she hid the three chili peppers under the judge's chair. And then she slipped out again before anyone spotted her. Later that day, Bernard's trial began. The judge walked into the courtroom and sat right on the chili peppers. And it was like this change instantly came over him. He seemed a lot less stern and was actually friendly toward Bernard. Even though the prosecutors had a ton of evidence against him and the defense's arguments were weak, the judge found him not guilty. He ordered Bernard be released immediately. There was no logical explanation for it, except that Marie had controlled or influenced his decision with those enchanted chili peppers, suggesting her power went far beyond the potion brewing and charm making that she advertised. And as the word of her success spread, it was only a matter of time before she'd come to be known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.
- [16:08]
Racha Pecorero
It's impossible to say how many clients Marie Laveau had, in part because records of her life are few and far between, and also because voodoo was considered very taboo and controversial during Marie's time. So she had to be very, let's just say, discreet about her business. Which was probably why Marie worked from the privacy of her own Home most of the time. But she was also said to throw huge voodoo events in public places, like on the shores of a nearby lake or a big central park called Congo Square. It was there that she'd host worship services, like the voodoo equivalent of Sunday morning church. People would get together to pray, sing and dance, and talk about their beliefs. Everyone was welcome at these events, whether they were rich, poor, black, white, or multiracial. And we know the services were very popular. No other voodoo priest or priestess had as many followers as Marie did at the time, which was why the locals called Marie the Voodoo queen of New Orleans. Or is it the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans?
- [17:25]
Yvette Gentile
Well, you know what? We had to phone a friend because we needed to know the right pronunciation. We've heard it in many ways. We've heard New Orleans, we've heard New Orleans, and we've heard Na linds. So y' all can chime in, let us know how you pronounce it. But regardless of Marie's maybe rhyming nickname, she didn't only earn that title by being good at spellcasting. She was also good at keeping her rivals in check. And she didn't mind that other priests and priestesses existed. There were too many practitioners for any one leader to help them all. And it was normal at the time for multiple voodoo leaders to work alongside each other. The problem was, Marie wanted to be the top priestess, the most powerful one in town. So whenever someone else started to gain notoriety or attention, Marie could be, let's just say, vicious about shutting them down.
- [18:29]
Racha Pecorero
In 1850, when Marie was in her 50s or so, a younger, more powerful priestess was on the rise. She was known only as Rosalie. Evidently, Rosalie got her powers from a voodoo doll she'd imported straight from Africa. It was carved from a piece of wood which came from a tree that had grown somewhere on the continent. Rosalie told her customers that this made her magic more pure and stronger than Marie's, because through this doll, she had physical connection to the land her ancestors had come from. Which, of course, was an issue for Marie, because her clients started going to Rosalie instead. She was losing business and relevance. So one day, Marie decided she had to do something about Rosalie and her voodoo doll. She marched over to her house where Rosalie did her work, and Marie knocked on the door. And when no one answered, Marie saw an opportunity. Rosalie's voodoo doll was right there on display in her front yard. So Marie grabbed it and just walked off. She knew that if Rosalie's powers came from the doll, she wouldn't be able to do Much work without it. When Rosalie came home and saw her doll was missing, she asked her neighbors what had happened. And all of them said Marie Laveau had stolen it right in broad daylight. So with her own power stripped, Rosalie had no choice but to contact the authorities. She had Marie arrested and charged with theft. Marie later went on trial, where she pleaded not guilty to the charges. But several witnesses were called to testify, each one saying that Marie was indeed a thief.
- [20:25]
Yvette Gentile
Well, on top of that, Marie also openly admitted that she'd taken the doll and still had it. All to say. This case against her was rock solid. And yet the judge ruled in her favor. We don't know how Marie pulled this off, if she cast a spell over them, or if Marie was just that influential that the judge just didn't want to rule against her. But that wasn't all. The judge also agreed that the doll was rightfully hers because she was the voodoo queen. Not only did Marie not have to pay any fines or serve a single day in prison, she got to keep the doll. And according to Marie, this helped grow her power even stronger, because now she was the one with a physical connection to the motherland. And she also said she absorbed all of the power that it had once given Rosalie.
- [21:29]
Racha Pecorero
Now, you'd think accounts like this about theft, magic, and voodoo would make Christian leaders turn on Marie, but instead, many of them actually supported her. That's because Marie said Catholicism and voodoo fit each other like a glove. And she used a lot of Catholic practices in her voodoo spells. When she was summoning loas, she'd pray to Catholic saints As part of her ritual. She'd blend holy water with her other gris ingredients. And she had an altar in her home where magic charms sat right alongside church candles, incense, and a statue of St. Peter. And each time she performed a secret ritual or gave someone a magic potion, she'd tell them to go to the church regularly, remember the saints, and devote themselves to Jesus. Sometimes the local priests would even let Marie do voodoo rituals right on the front lawns of their churches. They figured as long as she was encouraging people to worship God, there was no harm in letting her do a little bit of magic, too. It probably helped that Marie practiced what she preached. She made a lot of money performing voodoo, but then she made generous donations to the poor. And she often visited prisons and talked to the incarcerated people about God and Jesus. She told them that they were worthy of forgiveness no matter how serious their crimes were. And then she encouraged them to dedicate themselves to the faith and pray every Single day.
- [23:07]
Yvette Gentile
But most importantly, Marie used her magic to heal the sick, especially during a massive wave of yellow fever, which is a life threatening illness that was spreading through mosquito bites at the time. And these days, like in the United States, it's very rare. But in 1796, around the time Marie was born, it began infecting people in New Orleans. And it took until 1905 for the city to get the disease under control. At that time, doctors, you know, they didn't understand germs or infections as well as they do now, so they didn't know how it was spreading or even how to treat the sick patients. Add in the fact that New Orleans is very swampy and marshy with lots of breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and it quickly became an epidemic. Marie never studied medicine or received any formal training as a nurse or a doctor. But throughout her lifetime, she regularly visited hospitals, offering to treat yellow fever patients for free. And in the hospitals, she'd move from bed to bed, chanting, offering prayers to different loas and slipping the patients the gris and charms under their bed or pillows. She also brewed teas and made healing potions, but refused to tell anyone what was in them. Whatever it was, it worked. Many of the people Marie treated supposedly got better, and it's hard to put an exact count on it, but many historians believe she cured hundreds of yellow fever patients, and her track record was better than many professional doctors. Lots of physicians came to Marie and asked how'd she done it? But of course, she refused to answer, claiming it was a, I'm sure, ancient old voodoo secret. And all of this is great for pr, because when the word got out that she knew something trained medics and doctors didn't, even more people came to her for healing. And as time went on, she became almost as famous for her charitable work as she did for her voodoo powers.
- [25:27]
Racha Pecorero
That's actually pretty amazing if you think about it.
- [25:29]
Yvette Gentile
It is. It is.
- [25:31]
Racha Pecorero
Which, as you can imagine, was a problem for the rich and powerful white people of New Orleans. They didn't like that a respected, accomplished black woman was becoming so prominent and beloved. So they began spreading nasty rumors about her to try and take her down. For example, sometimes Marie let her followers participate in voodoo rituals along with her. These were sacred, intimate, and private only for the truest of believers. Except they happened in public places like parks and lakeshores, so sometimes her haters would try to sneak in anyway. Or they'd climb onto rooftops or tall trees to watch the ritual from afar, Even if they never set eyes on the ceremony. Some people would spread vicious lies about whatever they thought they had seen there. Some even said she was hosting orgies or that they were summoning evil demons at the rituals. To this day, no one's certain what happened at these ceremonies. But it's safe to say the rumors weren't based in reality, because they were primarily spread by Marie's enemies. In fact, there was so much misinformation about Marie in general that it's hard to say what's true and what wasn't about her life, professional and personal.
- [26:59]
Yvette Gentile
Well, we do know that after her husband went missing, Marie became romantically involved with a white man. And since interracial marriages weren't legally recognized at the time, they never had a wedding. But they did have a lot of children together. And depending on the source, Marie gave birth to somewhere between seven and 15 kids. And that's. That's a lot of kids. That's a lot of kids. But I just have to say it's unclear if they were all by the same father or if some were conceived during her first marriage. We do know that she had two daughters who were also named Marie. And one of them bore a striking resemblance to her mother. And many gave her the nickname of Marie II to distinguish her from her mom. The Marie we've been discussing all episode was known as Marie the First. And it's said that as Marie the First aged, she often asked her daughter Marie ii to dress in her clothes and meet with her clients and just basically help run her business. When people saw a young woman handling Marie the First's business, they assumed she had a magical power to stay young forever. The truth was, they were just mistaking Marie II for her mother.
- [28:18]
Racha Pecorero
But eventually, time catches up to us all, even those of us who are said to be magic. Because in the summer of 1881, Marie I became ill. And she didn't get any better. By this point, the we believe she was in her late 70s or early 80s. She passed away peacefully in her home on June 15th. Then she was laid to rest in a local cemetery in a big above ground stone tomb.
- [28:48]
Yvette Gentile
It's said that Marie II then followed in her mother's footsteps, continuing to do voodoo in her place. And rumor has it, she wasn't as kind or compassionate as her mother. And she may have used her powers for evil. But there are also historical records saying both of the daughters named Marie died young. And neither one of them ever had much interest in Vodou. So it's possible the stories about Marie II were completely false.
- [29:19]
Racha Pecorero
We do know that Marie's legend only grew after her death. And while she was said to be gone and buried, the people still had encounters with the voodoo priestess and continue to to this day.
- [29:42]
Yvette Gentile
Some people think Marie Laveau is still at work today, haunting the city as a ghost. And people say you can recognize her spirit because she always wears a handkerchief on her head, one that's tied with seven knots. Travelers often say that late at night, especially in the many graveyards that are throughout New Orleans, they'll see an elderly woman walking around, and her hair is always tucked under a handkerchief that's been knotted seven times. She's also been spotted in the home she used to live and work in, but eyewitnesses have seen her all over the city.
- [30:21]
Racha Pecorero
Take this fascinating story from sometime in the 1930s. By this point, Marie had been dead for at least 50 years. One evening, a man named Elmore went to the drugstore to pick up some necessities. He was chatting with the cashier when he saw an older black woman walk into the store. She was wearing a white dress and a blue headscarf tied in 7 knots. As soon as the cashier saw the woman, his face went pale. He was so nervous, and without any kind of warning, he turned and ran toward the back of the store, leaving the register unattended. Elmore had no idea why he was so uneasy and why he took off. But the old woman apparently found this all very funny because she just laughed. And then she asked Elmore if he knew who she was, and Elmore admitted that he didn't. The woman then asked Elmore where the store employee had gone. Once again, Elmore said he didn't know, which is when the woman shocked him by slapping him across the face completely unprovoked. Next, she turned and ran out of the store. Elmore watched, stunned, through the window as she sprinted across the street all the way to the historic graveyard on the other side of the road. She climbed the stone fence to get into the cemetery, and when she got to the top of the fence, she just vanished into thin air. Elmore was so startled by all of this that he reportedly fainted from the shock. When he woke up just a few minutes later, the cashier was pouring him whiskey. He gave some to Elmore, who was grateful for something to steady his nerves. Then Elmore explained what had happened to him. He said he still didn't know who the woman was or what she'd wanted. But the cashier replied, that was Marie Laveau. She'd been dead for years, and Years. But every once in a while, people around here see her. Son, you have been slapped by the Queen of Voodoo. End quote.
- [32:34]
Yvette Gentile
Oh, my goodness.
- [32:34]
Racha Pecorero
I know.
- [32:35]
Yvette Gentile
What a great story. Well, as creepy as that story is, there are certain times and places where Marie shows up more regularly. So if you want a ghostly encounter with her, it might help to make your way to New Orleans on St. John's Eve, which falls every year on June 23. And that's the night before St. John's Day, which in Catholic tradition is said to be the birth date of John the Baptist. It's also considered the holiest day of the year for voodoo practitioners and the best time to perform magical rituals. So every year on St. John's Eve, a bunch of voodoo priests and priestesses and believers all gather on the shores of a huge lake just outside of New Orleans called Lake Pontchartrain. Local legends say if you're among the faithful, the. At some point during the night, you'll see an elderly black woman walk out of the water. She always wears a headscarf with those seven knots in it, and she carries a lit candle that burns brightly even though she just came out of the water. The woman walks to shore, then looks at the crowd of voodoo practitioners gathered there. If she nods at you or pays you any special attention, it means you have a special purpose in life. Afterwards, she'll join everyone for their St. John's Eve rituals and a feast. And once they're done, she'll just disappear right back into the lake. I gotta say, we. We need to go to New Orleans to go to this, because I wanna see this.
- [34:17]
Racha Pecorero
I wanna see this. But I am not a practicing voodoo priestess.
- [34:23]
Yvette Gentile
But you still can go. You don't have to be a voodoo practitioner.
- [34:26]
Racha Pecorero
We just have to believe you can look from afar. I'll admit it. There are a lot of fascinating stories about Marie, both from her life and after her death. But there are a lot of rumors and misinformation, too. So it's hard to say what to believe. But if you know Yvette and me at all, and you have been with us from the beginning of so supernatural, you know what we believe. But I'll just play devil's advocate here and say many of the stories about Marie Laveau might actually have a logical explanation. Take, for example, the story about Bernard, the one where she hid magical chili peppers in a courtroom to get him off for his charges. It's possible the judge saw the chili peppers and decided to let Bernard go not because of loa or magic, but because of his own superstition. As the theory goes, voodoo rituals were starting to come into the mainstream around that time, and a high ranking judge might have been familiar with them. So maybe the official saw the peppers and realized someone was trying to magically influence his rulings. If he believed in voodoo, he might have been worried that whoever cast the spell could put a curse on him, Especially if he didn't do what they wanted. Rather than take that risk, maybe he gave the verdict he thought the voodoo practitioner wanted, just to keep himself safe.
- [36:03]
Yvette Gentile
Or he may have known Marie was the one who placed the peppers there, and he might have been damn scared she'd hurt him in other ways, say, by destroying his reputation and spilling his secrets. Because we know that she had dirt on everybody. Like we mentioned before, Marie was said to have worked as a hairdresser. And if you've spent any time in a salon, especially someone like me, who has spent hundreds and thousands of hours in a salon, I just got a shout out to Fritz, my amazing hairdresser. You know how clients love to gossip with the person who. Who is doing their hair? Well, I mean, some believe Marie paid extra close attention to everything her customers said, not just because she was a good listener, but because she wanted to gather every scrap of information that she could. And since some of her patrons were rich and powerful, or they were housekeepers, tutors, or laborers who worked for wealthy and connected people, Marie had dirt on just about everyone, especially the upper crust elites of New Orleans. So when people came to her and asked for advice, she could claim she was going to consult with the Lois or pray for guidance. But in reality, she may have been using her own understanding of what was going on in the city. City. And what people had said during their hair appointments against them. So she could have also used her bad reputation to her own advantage, Because a lot of her harshest critics were hypocritical. In public, they'd talk about how terrible voodoo was and how sinful Marie's work could be. But when those same people needed spiritual advice or healing or good luck, who do you think they turn to? They turn to Marie Laveau. So she may have told people, if you don't do what I say, I'll reveal to the world that you're one of my customers. And they'll all know you're not the kind of person you pretend to be.
- [38:20]
Racha Pecorero
I mean, that could be possible, but there's one thing you can't cure with a little bit of hairdresser blackmail, and that's yellow fever. Historians believe Marie saved hundreds of lives during the outbreak, and we cannot explain those cures away. It definitely wasn't the placebo effect, because while our minds are incredibly powerful, you can't just will yourself into recovering from a serious illness like yellow fever. Marie's treatments were. Whatever they were, worked all on their own. And sure, she could have been very good at using potions and home remedies, but still, you got to wonder, how did she know which herbs to give people when even the best doctors of the time didn't have a clue how to help them? Call it magic or divine intuition. But Marie definitely had abilities that other people didn't.
- [39:24]
Yvette Gentile
Right? And she came from a long lineage of voodoo practitioners. You know, when you do your research on her, you look at her grandmother, her great grandmother. So it started a long time ago. Well, even today, people from all over the world turn to Marie for help with their problems. For decades now, tourists have been visiting her grave in New Orleans. But when people come, they often scratch three X's into the stone walls of her tomb. And because local rumor says this will get her spirit to grant you a wish, for what it's worth, that idea has never been a major part of voodoo belief. In fact, many practitioners say it's bad form to vandalize someone's grave. I mean, just period. Do not vandalize anybody's grave, full stop. It's unclear where the legends of the three Xs came from, but many city officials and historians have begged people to stop writing on Marie's tomb. But that hasn't kept vandals from making their mark, quite literally.
- [40:30]
Racha Pecorero
Eventually, Marie's descendants got so sick of the disrespect, they moved her body to a different tomb in another cemetery. Or at least that's what some rumors say. But once again, it's. It's impossible to verify this story. Historically, New Orleans didn't keep very good records of who was buried where. So if her family did move her remains, there's no official paperwork to prove it. Today, there are two different tombs that are both considered to be Marie Laveau's final resting place. The original one and the alleged new one. And unfortunately, they're now both covered in X's and graffiti.
- [41:16]
Yvette Gentile
Regardless of where she may or may not be buried. Now, what I can say for sure is that Marie gained a lot of respect and social standing at a time when that was incredibly difficult for women of color to do. She rose to prominence in a city where the rich and the powerful were literally trying to keep her down. Some might call it supernatural, but I believe it's a mix of the supernatural and Marie's deep spiritual belief in Catholicism and magic that made her so powerful. Marie Laveau changed the character of her beloved city, transforming religious life in New Orleans for forevermore. And she showed the world that it's possible for anyone and everyone to be able to break barriers around race, gender and spirituality.
- [42:29]
Racha Pecorero
This is so supernatural. An Audio Chuck original produced by Crime House. You can connect with us on Instagram @sosupernaturalpod and visit our website at sosupernaturalpodcast.com Join Yvette and me next Friday for an all new episode. I think Chuck would approve.