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Episode 28: Spooky New Orleans
699 Plays2 years ago
Welcome back Witches! Who's ready for another spooky episode? This week we're jumping on the New Orleans train. New Orleans is FILLED with so much history and much of it is super dark. Of course this area is rich in Voodoo and Hoodoo culture along with other witchy things, but there's also hauntings, cryptids, and so much more. So get in losers, and lets discuss Spooky New Orleans!!
We would be forever thankful if you left our podcast a 5-Star review. If you really loved the show and want more Get in Loser content, check out our Supercast & Buy Me a Coffee links below. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @GetinWitches, on TikTok @weredoingwitchcraft or email us at weredoingwitchcraft@gmail.com. You can support our show through our
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Music by Darren Curtis- My Dark Passenger
- Serena, Katie. How Madame LaLaurie Turned Her New Orleans Mansion into a House of Horrors. (2021). https://allthatsinteresting.com/madame-lalaurie
- History of New Orleans: From Then to Now. https://www.neworleans.com/things-to-do/history/history-of-new-orleans-by-period/
- Scandalous Women: Marie Laveau. https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/07/marie-laveau.html
- Yesterday’s America Editorial Team. The Forgotten History of Two New orleans Vampires. https://yesterdaysamerica.com/the-forgotten-history-of-two-new-orleans-vampires/
- Exploring St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. https://www.frenchquarter.com/st-louis-cemetery-no-1/
- History.com Editors. (2021). New Orleans. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/new-orleans
- New Orleans Voodoo (n.d.). New Orleans Voodoo- The Voodoo that New Orleans Can Do. https://www.neworleans.com/things-to-do/multicultural/traditions/voodoo/
- Reckdahl, Katy (n.d.). The True History and Faith Behind Voodoo. The French Quarter. https://www.frenchquarter.com/true-history-faith-behind-voodoo/
- Kennon, Alexandra (2021). A Conversation with a High Priest of Vodou. Country Roads Magazine.https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/people-places/the-truth-about-louisiana-voodoo-vodou/
- Benson, Jyl. (n.d.). The Dark Side of the French Quarter. The French Quarter.com. https://www.frenchquarter.com/the-dark-side-of-the-quarter/
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Transcript
Introduction to Witchcraft Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult, but feel lost in where to start? Then welcome to Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we have learned about the craft. So get in witches and let's learn about spooky New Orleans.
Listener Engagement and Feedback
00:00:47
Speaker
So starting out before we dive into this episode, we got our first, I mean, we've had five-star reviews, but first written five-star review on iTunes. And so thank you. We appreciate like getting to hear something versus just, I mean, we obviously appreciate the five stars too, but like getting a little feedback is always nice.
00:01:07
Speaker
It really is. We're so, so happy. It was such a wonderful review. Thank you so much. Ridiculous Patronus one. We love you. Um, so we love your name. We're definitely Harry Potter fans. So, um, we're here for all of that. Um, but just as a, just a disclaimer for anyone who say they would love to support our podcast, but they just don't have the money to be a supercast subscriber.
00:01:33
Speaker
iTunes reviews are a great way to support the podcast. So we would love it. Any of our friends, family, or anybody who listens to the show that enjoys it, please rate us on iTunes. We really love it.
00:01:48
Speaker
Yeah. And I think you can rate us on Spotify too, but I know iTunes is kind of that gold standard for podcasts. So if you're going to rate on any one platform, please do it on iTunes. But if you want to do it on all, go for it. We appreciate all of it. All of it. But I think too with like Spotify and stuff, I don't even know if we get to see
00:02:11
Speaker
the, cause there's not a place to leave like an actual review, right? Or is it just stars or something? Um, I know maybe it's on Google podcasts. Like I think Google, maybe it might be Google podcasts I'm thinking of because on Google podcasts, obviously the star system, but I don't know if there's actual written
00:02:29
Speaker
I'm not sure if there is, but I know like, yeah, on Google podcasts, it doesn't really, since I switched to Google like a few years ago, like I really miss the Apple set up for some things. And the podcast one is definitely one of the things I miss because on Google, you can't leave, like you can leave, like you can recommend the podcast and rate it, but you can't leave like any sort of feedback, any feedback. Yeah. So yeah.
00:02:56
Speaker
But it looks like on Spotify, it's just the star system. There's not a section to actually write a review. But either way, either place that you leave us a review, we appreciate it. We really do. All right. So what are we talking about today?
Exploring New Orleans
00:03:15
Speaker
Spooky stuff. Spooky stuff.
00:03:18
Speaker
We are taking you on a trip through spooky New Orleans. And my chair is being extra squeaky right now. I don't know if maybe I just twisted into a squeaky spot or what, but every movement is like, wait, wait, wait. So I guess just be incredibly still the whole time. Just don't move at all. Hold your breath. Yeah.
00:03:43
Speaker
But yeah, we are going on a journey through all the spookiness of New Orleans, which I'm excited for. Me too. Yeah. I feel like with New Orleans, I mean, out of everywhere in the States, I mean, I know there's a lot of amazing places in the States, but this was like the one place that I was just like, I have to go here. And there's just so much history. If you've never been, it's
00:04:09
Speaker
Definitely. You have to go. It is so wonderful. It's like walking, especially walking into, well, not even just the French Quarter, but like even the, like the garden district and stuff, like it feels like you're walking in a different time. It's so beautiful and I just love it.
00:04:24
Speaker
I have been to New Orleans once and we apparently went on the one weekend that you don't go out of the year, which is Thanksgiving weekend because there's a huge like rivalry football game that happens that weekend in particular. And there's a lot of like crime and there was like multiple shootings on Bourbon Street. Like you would just be walking and enjoying the night and then someone would pull out a gun and the entire street would just be stampeding.
00:04:54
Speaker
It was the least amount of fun I have ever had in a city and it made me so sad. We even were like, let's go to the Absinthe bar because I absolutely love Absinthe.
00:05:05
Speaker
So we go, we get our drinks, and then they had to lock down the bar because someone pulled a gun out outside and everybody had to hide in the bathroom. Like it was the least enjoyable time I've had in the city. And I'm so sad because I want to go back and enjoy all the spookiness and all the witchiness. And we just haven't had time yet. So we should plan it and go together. We should. And then
00:05:31
Speaker
Maybe if we have any listeners that live in New Orleans or when I head down there with us, we can even meet up with them, which would be kind of cool.
00:05:39
Speaker
have a coffee or drinks, all the drinks. I will be having coffee and drinks because I love me a good busy coffee. So we'll just combine it coffee. I love New Orleans. I hope that even, I mean, outside of just us going, like you have to go just anyways, like I, my hope is when we move back to the States that we live somewhere where we can, um,
00:06:08
Speaker
be like, there's a couple of bases that aren't too far from New Orleans. And so I hope that we get one of those because I want to live around there. That's, well, I just love it. But the food was amazing. And I will say, we did go to Cafe Du Monde the next day and I got my delightful beignets and a delightful little coffee. I did enjoy that part, but the first night was awful. Oh no. Yeah, it was just so bad.
00:06:37
Speaker
That place is just, it has my heart. My weight in beignets that day. And I had beignets outside of New Orleans and they are never the same. No, they're not. And you can even buy the cafe du monde like beignet mix. And it's not, it's not the same. We make them at home with that mix and it's delightful, but it is not the same. Yeah, it really is. It's, you have to have it there. And then that best coffee thing we do. Oh my God.
00:07:06
Speaker
It's just so good. Yeah, it really is. When we went, we didn't have any like crime things really happen. Like, so I think obviously just be self-aware to like listeners. If you go and you've never been before, the only thing that was kind of scary, like crime wise that happened to us while we were there is
00:07:23
Speaker
I remember we were walking to the cemetery that we're going to talk about. And as we were walking, we took like the long way around because we went from our hotel, which was in the Garden District, to the cemetery. And as we're walking, I just see
00:07:42
Speaker
this man walking he's coming towards us and he is carrying a knife like in his in his hand like down and it was bloody and I was like oh my god oh my god oh my god I thought that we were going to be like shanked to ride on the sidewalk I was so scared my heart was like beating out of my chest but I didn't want to like
00:08:01
Speaker
freak out or like stop, stop, stop, stop. And like run like just in case, because then what if he's just like, Oh, I wasn't going to stab you, but now I know. So I was like, Kelly cow. So I don't know. I don't know. But then like a few, like maybe a block later there was like on the sidewalk, there was a puddle of blood. So he must've just gotten stabbed in somebody and they ran away weird. I mean, obviously there's crime everywhere. And the night that we went,
00:08:31
Speaker
It was actually in the absent bar, the bartenders asked, they were like, why did you come this weekend? And we were like, oh, we just, you know, it's a holiday weekend, we're military, we get extra time off. So we were like, let's spend it in New Orleans. And she was like, never do that again.
00:08:46
Speaker
She basically said like, the only time that it's that bad is basically this Thanksgiving weekend football game ordeal. And she was like, half the time, most of the bars don't even open because they don't want to deal with the bullshit. And I was like, Oh, okay. Like I will never go on Thanksgiving weekend. So if you're like, Timmy, let's go to New Orleans on Thanksgiving weekend. I'm gonna be like, no, Samantha. We're not doing that. No, we're not doing that. I don't want you to die.
Historical Overview of New Orleans
00:09:13
Speaker
I think only we kept watching the news because we were in the middle of all this shit. There was only like one person that actually died, but there were multiple shootings and multiple times that people just pulled guns out on each other. So a bouncer got shot and killed because he accidentally stepped on a guy's shoe.
00:09:33
Speaker
This is the kind of shit we were dealing with. I was like, what the fuck? I thought New Orleans was amazing. Nobody ever talks about this. And then it just happened to be that particular weekend. You don't go. Right. Yeah. But any other time, we're fine. We went during Memorial Day weekend.
00:09:51
Speaker
And so there's a lot of people there. It was super crowded, but it was awesome. The vibe was awesome. Everything except for, and that, this was when we saw the guy with the knife, it was during the day. It was like, I'm not sure it was like a, like a, a tough, um, what am I trying to say?
00:10:10
Speaker
A tough battle, a turf battle. I'm not sure if it was a turf battle or what it was, but he, and this wasn't even near the French quarter. Like, like I said, we took like a long way to get to the cemetery. It was kind of like away from the touristy areas. We were probably in a really shitty part of town and we didn't realize it. So just go, um, any other time that's not Thanksgiving. And always you should just be aware anywhere you are because crime is rampant everywhere.
00:10:38
Speaker
You know, exactly. It really is. Just always be aware of your surroundings and stay safe.
00:10:44
Speaker
So in talking about New Orleans, it's a, basically it's just this history rich city. No other city in America keeps its history as vital and accessible as New Orleans. And when you're talking about like the history, like obviously the United States is a new country if you're looking at all countries on a broad spectrum. And so most of our
00:11:10
Speaker
you know, older historical buildings are still newer than most other countries. And for some reason here in America, we don't like to keep that. So when it's like a building starts to get old, half the time they just tear them down and build new over top of it and put in strip malls and all kinds of crap that nobody cares about. So this is one aspect of New Orleans that I just absolutely love. Everything is just old and beautiful and just like
00:11:34
Speaker
rich with history. New Orleans is a port city in Louisiana, if you didn't know, which I'm assuming most of you probably do, unless you're American, because Americans seem to not know anything. Ever. Just kidding. But I keep seeing all those TikToks where people are like, name the two countries that order America.
00:11:56
Speaker
They'll say like, uh, Japan. And you're like, that's not even close. Right. Someone said the other day, China. And I was like, are you kidding me? How do you not know that it's Canada and Mexico?
00:12:08
Speaker
Ridiculous. But it's along the Gulf of Mexico. And the city itself is notorious for many reasons, for its amazing food, vibrant culture, extravagant celebrations, and because of its rich history, like Tiffany said. There's so much we can discuss in this episode. However, today we're going to spend our time going over some of the spooky history of the city, as well as its ties to witchcraft and the occult.
00:12:33
Speaker
Originally, New Orleans was the home of the indigenous tribes of the Woodland and Mississippian cultures before it was settled by the French in the 1700s.
00:12:42
Speaker
The indigenous people referred to New Orleans as Balbanca or the land of many tongues. They inhabited the land between the two great rivers that were overflowing with an abundance of ecological resources and they connected New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico. So this is what drew Europeans in because it was easy to navigate the river system for trade and exports.
00:13:06
Speaker
So La Nouvelle Orleans was founded by Jean-Baptiste Lemoine de Bienville, which if I butchered that, look, I did my best in 1718. And for the majority of the 1700s, New Orleans functioned as an important trading and cultural partner
00:13:27
Speaker
with Cuba, Mexico, and even beyond that, which I thought it was weird, but most places only listed Cuba, Mexico, et cetera. So I'm sure that it was like the rest of the world, but I don't know for sure, so.
00:13:42
Speaker
There were two destructive fires that happened in 1788 and 1794, both of which destroyed over a thousand year old French buildings that sparked new architectural codes and brought in much of the Spanish colonial style that can be seen today. And this would be things like wrought iron balconies, patios and courtyards, above ground cemeteries and more. And the above ground cemeteries are actually tied into
00:14:10
Speaker
flooding because most of New Orleans is subject to flooding. And so all of these cemeteries have to be tombs above ground essentially to keep the bodies from popping out dirt and floating on down the river. Literally, yeah, because I think the whole city is
00:14:27
Speaker
below the sea level or something like that. So like they have to be built that way. Yeah. I was reading this whole thing about how the city is coded, which interesting, but also slightly boring. I was like, I read like half of it. And I'm like, what am I doing?
00:14:45
Speaker
I was down a rabbit hole like learning all sorts of things. But yeah, so essentially it's coded so that they have to have above ground cemeteries. You can't just bury someone in your backyard or underground. And I say backyard because this is going to come up later in this psycho woman that we're going to talk about.
00:15:05
Speaker
But in 1800, the Spanish retroceded Louisiana back to France where Napoleon then sold the entire Louisiana colony, which included New Orleans to the United States as part of the $15 million Louisiana purchase. And I guess it was important to say that it included New Orleans because essentially like the lines for New Orleans weren't included in Louisiana's colony.
00:15:32
Speaker
But when Napoleon took it on, he made it all one essentially, I guess. Oh, I didn't know that. That was kind of interesting. Yeah, I didn't know that either. And then this deal was finalized in December of 1803. However, even though that it was finalized in 1803, even over 200 years later, the indigenous, French, Spanish, and African roots are well dispersed within that fabulous city. And these different cultures can be seen ingrained in the food, architecture, and in the spiritual beliefs of the New Orleans people today.
00:16:01
Speaker
Even in the way they speak to like the language in New Orleans is totally different. Yeah, it's so interesting. We Anthony worked with
00:16:11
Speaker
a guy that was originally from New Orleans and sometimes he would say things and I'm like, Bob, what are you saying? Like everybody would be like, they called him a babble in Bob because he would get like talking really, really fast. And then nobody knew what he was saying because he had like a very Creole like speech. It was wild.
00:16:33
Speaker
Something that I found really interesting is that pirates played a pivotal role in aiding Major General Andrew Jackson and the Americans in their victory over the British during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.
00:16:47
Speaker
So there's a famous blacksmith shop that's located at 941 Bourbon Street that served as the pirate's base and it's said to be the oldest structure housing a bar in the United States. It's still standing and it's still popular today like it's a popular saloon that you can go and visit.
00:17:06
Speaker
It is believed to be haunted and apparitions in period clothing are often like caught within there like you'll just be hanging out and just see something in period clothing go by. And it's also believed to house the spirit of a young woman who committed suicide on the top floor.
00:17:23
Speaker
So spooky. It is. I went to that bar. I did, but it was pretty crowded, but it is so like just cool looking. Like it just looks so old. Want to know that it was like a secret meeting place for pirates during the war is hilarious to me.
00:17:44
Speaker
Much of the wealth made in New Orleans in the 1800s was dependent on slave labor and the sugar cane plantations. So while not spooky in itself, this is a very dark history that can often tie into dark things that happen within an area.
00:18:01
Speaker
Yeah.
Understanding Voodoo Practices
00:18:02
Speaker
And before I talk about our next topic, which is voodoo, I just want to throw out a disclaimer that the information that I'm going to talk about is purely research because I don't have any experience with voodoo, nor do I know anyone who practices voodoo. I've heard, yeah, I mean, it's just, this is all research information that we've gathered.
00:18:25
Speaker
I've heard both that voodoo is a closed and a non-closed practice. So because I'm not part of that culture, I will not be speaking to whether it is or isn't because that's not my place. But with that being said, I would love to meet people who practice voodoo and get to know more about their practice. So if you do practice voodoo or you know somebody who does and you're interested in talking with me and Tiffany, definitely hit us up because we would love to talk to you and learn about your culture.
00:18:52
Speaker
Because it is one of those things to like you're saying like in research when you look at voodoo some sources will say this is a closed practice others will say oh it's not a closed practice. And so it's one of those things that like we don't know how much of the information that's out there on it that we might share.
00:19:11
Speaker
might be, you know, real or actually practicing voodoo versus what's just being put out there. So exactly. Yeah. But I thought this was, I mean, obviously it's important to talk about in this episode and to give people, I guess just a background on what it is and what it isn't.
00:19:28
Speaker
especially for people that are traveling to New Orleans to visit it because of its witchy roots, you're going to run into a lot of voodoo shops, hoodoo shops, and tours, and I came across so many things that were specifically voodoo or hoodoo.
00:19:45
Speaker
in doing my research. So just know that make sure you're doing your research, make sure you're talking to reputable people and don't just like jump in and decide to practice voodoo or hoodoo without being sure that it is something you can practice.
00:20:01
Speaker
Yes, exactly. And then just know that what we discussed too in regards to voodoo is not like the end all be all there's still so much and there's even just like because I didn't really touch on who to at all really on my research just because I already had so much.
00:20:21
Speaker
I think we want this to be like a four hour long episode. I think I only have it like once in some of my research and it was just prominent to what it was in that aspect. So the religion of Voodoo has been synonymous with New Orleans since the 1700s. And so this is why it's very important and appropriate to talk about whenever we're discussing New Orleans just because of the history. According to NewOrleans.com, Voodoo in New Orleans
00:20:48
Speaker
also known as voodoo Catholicism. It first came to Louisiana with enslaved West Africans who merged the rituals and practices with the local Catholic population. Voodoo itself has been around for over 6,000 years and more than 60 million people practice the religion today.
00:21:08
Speaker
As we discussed in how witchcraft is portrayed in the media in one of our previous episodes, Voodoo has been heavily depicted as evil in movies and TV, and there are a ton of misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding Voodoo.
00:21:23
Speaker
Just as an FY, if you do go to New Orleans, you don't know anything about voodoo, don't buy into the stereotypes that it's evil because it's not. According to a voodoo high priest, voodoo is just about worshiping God, honoring spirits, and helping the poor.
00:21:40
Speaker
So I've also seen Voodoo referred to as the black sister of the Catholic Church, which I really like that. A lot of this is because enslaved individuals who traditionally practice African and African Caribbean religions were punished and forced to convert to Christianity, which was typically in this area Catholicism.
00:22:02
Speaker
and therefore they had to be really sneaky with who they were praying to and making offerings to so they would use Christian placeholders and then over time it's like you see this melding of the two religions. A lot of my frustration comes from
00:22:19
Speaker
Christianity itself being so pushy and that their way is the only way when most of them don't even understand that they're not practicing the way the Bible originally was written. They're practicing an iteration of it. So you see so much culture and beliefs being lost because of these things. At least here they were able to meld it and like include their practices as well.
00:22:46
Speaker
Yeah, and you see like there's some today there's still a lot of people that practice like the what's traditionally been taught for the last couple hundred years. But then there's also this push now in New Orleans where people are practicing with the, you know, the ancient names of their deities that they
00:23:05
Speaker
practice back when it originally came here, which is amazing. But you see this like Christian, like placeholder situation. You see this a lot. Um, and an example of this is Legba, which is the voodoo deity that controls the gates to the spirit world in New Orleans. That's often referred to as St. Peter who holds the keys to the gate of heaven within New Orleans.
00:23:30
Speaker
You also see this with a Bridget. There's like a Saint Bridget that they basically, I think they call our Saint Bridget. I think so. But it's like all the same things. Because they can't be original. They steal all.
00:23:45
Speaker
this stuff. Right. And also I read that you can still see many people in New Orleans today that they practice voodoo, but they still attend Catholic church services, which I thought was pretty interesting. It reminds me of people who practice witchcraft, but they are Christian. The only difference is, I mean, I know witchcraft is a practice
00:24:10
Speaker
paganism is more of a religion. And so I wonder if it's just that melding of voodoo, which is a religion and Catholicism.
00:24:21
Speaker
So voodoo at its base is a religion connected to nature, spirits, and ancestors, much like paganism and many other earth-based religions. And it's a combination of both animism and spiritism. The core belief here is that there is not one God who interferes with a person's daily life, but all spirits can. And there's also the belief that our ancestors are just as alive as a living person. So calling forth ancestors for guidance is common in voodoo.
00:24:50
Speaker
The theme here is that you have to have reverence for your ancestors by giving them the proper respect. You ensure that they are there to guide you. And the connection with spirits is often done through ritual work, dance, music, chanting, and by using snakes. And a native of New Orleans, Jerry Gandalfo, I might be pronouncing that wrong, but I'm not sure, his family runs the Voodoo Museum
00:25:18
Speaker
in the French Quarter. And he says, basically, if done right, the music should take possession of you. You won't be able to stand still. And if that happens, you are doing voodoo, which I thought was pretty cool. Yeah, I like that.
Marie Laveau's Influence
00:25:32
Speaker
Over time, the voodoo religion grew in popularity, as many free people of color began practicing this religion and making it an important part of their culture. And one of the most famous practitioners is Madame Marie Laveau. Yes.
00:25:48
Speaker
And so I just want to say this before I go into her story, but when you were talking about how a lot of voodoo practitioners still attend Catholic services, she was one of those. So she was a voodoo queen in New Orleans, but even till the day that she died, she was attending Catholic services regularly.
00:26:12
Speaker
Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. I read this whole thing about how people didn't understand, like you were saying, there was like this melding. And when I was reading, they didn't talk about a whole lot of the blending of the two, but they talked about the fact that, you know, they were brought into Catholicism and forced to practice it or
00:26:31
Speaker
be punished, which we see a lot throughout history with Christianity and other beliefs, but many of them would practice in private or like you said find ways to blend the two so that people didn't realize what they were doing was what they were doing.
00:26:47
Speaker
So Madame Marie Laveau, like I said, she was one of the voodoo queens in New Orleans. After working as both a hairdresser and a nurse, and after the death of her husband at the time, Madame Marie Laveau entered a common law marriage with a man and she bore 15 children by him, which that sounds awful. Look, I don't even want one. Could you imagine going through 15 childbirths?
00:27:16
Speaker
Never. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely not.
00:27:19
Speaker
So with 15 children, obviously working would be impossible. So she quits working in order to stay home and raise her children. But she continued to take clients on like from her hair dresser days or her nursing days as the legendary Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Voodoo was commonly practiced in New Orleans and had a sinister connotation. Because of its reputation, it had been banned numerous times throughout Louisiana's history.
00:27:48
Speaker
Dr. John, and he's also known as John Bayou or as the voodoo doctor, taught Marie Laveau her craft and raised her to one of the several voodoo queens at the time. She combined voodoo and Catholic traditions through the use of holy water and sensed statues of saints and Christian prayers, making voodoo and hoodoo more acceptable to the upper class of New Orleans society.
00:28:15
Speaker
Some oral traditions suggest that the occult part of her magic mixed Roman Catholic beliefs, including saints, with African spirits and religious concepts. She made a decent income selling an African amulet known as a Grease Grease.
00:28:31
Speaker
which if I pronounce that wrong, I'm sorry. And this amulet protects the wearer from evil and brings good luck. But she also sold charms, magical powders guaranteed to cure elements, granting desires and confounding or destroying one's enemies. And she also told fortunes, gave love advice and prepared custom grease grease to affect a cure charm or a hex.
00:28:57
Speaker
Once her notoriety spread, she was able to overthrow the other voodoo queens and then acted as an oracle, conducted private rituals behind her cottage in the French Quarter, and performed exorcisms and offered services to spirits.
00:29:11
Speaker
At one point she was referred to by a local newspaper as the notorious hag who reigns over the ignorant and superstitious as the queen of voodoo. But even though like whoever, I don't know who wrote it, but she was at this time still very feared because of most of her powers. But somebody was like, oh, stupid hag or whatever they said, you know, like,
00:29:36
Speaker
I don't know, maybe they didn't get what they wanted from her. Like maybe they hired her for a service and didn't like the outcome. Both the rich and the poor sought Madame Laveau out for her dark magic to control lovers, to gain fame and fortune, to become pregnant, and to also exact revenge on others.
00:29:55
Speaker
Madam Laveau announced her retirement in 1875, though she continued to give readings in her home and visit the poor and the imprisoned. She died on June 5, 1881, peacefully at the age of 86, and was buried in the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. Her tomb attracts the most visitors at the cemetery each year.
00:30:15
Speaker
Yeah, even after her death, people still seek her out for guidance and help. Parking back to what I discussed earlier, that the ancestors are just as much alive as living persons. So now you just go to her new home, which is in the cemetery. Her daughter also went on to practice voodoo and her descendants also run a voodoo store in the French Quarter still today, which I think is really cool. So obviously not all of the history from New Orleans is like
00:30:44
Speaker
happy and witchy and rainbows. There's a lot of dark history and a lot of tragic events that happened in New Orleans or Louisiana in general. One of the biggest is slavery. New Orleans was the largest slave market in the United States, ultimately serving as the site for both purchase and sell of more than 135,000 people, which is terrible. I remember reading too that there was a time too when they would give
00:31:14
Speaker
like enslaved people Sundays off and I'm just like, okay, you are okay with giving them Sundays off, but like you take away all of their human rights, they mean nothing so. Yeah. And then there was some, some of the research that I came across was talking about how
00:31:31
Speaker
Even though they were slaves, they were still, they were just treated as normal humans, but they had to work and their payment was being able to, you know, live and eat from their masters. So essentially they're saying like that was their pay.
00:31:48
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? Which doesn't make it better. It doesn't make it any better. Not at all. They're like, oh, well, but we treated them like a human. Oh, so you did the bare minimum. Right. Exactly. But really, you didn't treat them like a human because you enslaved them. You owned them. You purchased them. You separated them from their children. Yeah. American history itself was just very dark, very depressing. It is. And it is.
00:32:14
Speaker
disgusting.
The Dark Tale of Delphine LaLaurie
00:32:15
Speaker
So to piggyback on the whole disgusting things that happened during slavery in New Orleans, we have Delphine Lalary. Lalary? I don't know how ever you say her name. Yeah, Lalary. So she was known as the savage mistress of New Orleans and she is a fucking terrible person.
00:32:36
Speaker
At one point, she was known as a respected socialite, but her social status started to slip because she was seen mistreating slaves. During this time, as we just kind of mentioned, mistreatment of enslaved individuals was illegal, which is insane that the mistreatment of enslaved individuals was illegal, but actually
00:32:58
Speaker
having them was not. Right. It's so weird. Backwards. It doesn't make sense. Her like her big downfall basically came when a fire broke out at the Lalari mansion. And when firefighters and neighbors came to help,
00:33:16
Speaker
They found slaves within the attic that had been brutally tortured as well as bodies of slaves that were in various stages of decomposition who were also clearly tortured. It was said that present were at least seven living slaves that had been beaten, bruised, and bloodied within an inch of their life.
00:33:36
Speaker
Their eyes, some of their eyes had been gouged out, some of them had their skin flailed, some were with their mouths filled with excrement, and then sewn shut, which is disgusting and terrible. Oh my god, that's so gross. Yeah, and after all of the slaves were rescued from the burning building, it said that a mob of 4,000 angry townspeople ransacked Lawlery's home.
00:34:03
Speaker
to the point that only like the outer walls remain of the mansion, which I don't, again, I don't know, you said you've been there or you just have a picture of it. I've been there, like we walked past it, but like, I'm not sure what all was like reconstructed or, you know, but I mean, it says that's where it was. So yeah.
00:34:24
Speaker
Um, one woman that was found on the property had had her bones broken and reset to resemble a crab. Oh my God. Yeah. I reading this was terrible. Let me tell, I'm like reading all of this. I was just like, how could somebody be this awful?
00:34:45
Speaker
Another woman was found wrapped in human intestines like a mummy. Some of the slaves that were found had holes cut in their skulls, and it was said that lollery was using a wooden spoon to stir their brains. This is gross. She was terrible. She was fucking terrible.
00:35:04
Speaker
The already dead bodies were all mutilated beyond recognition, and many of their organs were outside of their bodies or just completely missing from the area, like never found. So who knows what she did with those. It's believed that prior to the fire, LaLaurie had brutalized over 100 victims, and she is known as one of the most brutal women in history. She also kept her 70-year-old cook chained to the stove and often starving.
00:35:33
Speaker
What the fuck? Two records reported that were found to be true were first, a man who like was a slave. He was so scared of punishment that he literally threw himself out of a third story window, choosing to die rather than to be subjected to Lawlery's torture.
00:35:53
Speaker
And the other one is of a 12 year old slave girl named Leah. So basically one night Leah is brushing Wallery's hair and the brush catches and she pulled a little too hard for a Wallery's liking that put her into a fit of rage and she whipped the young girl like horribly. And to get away from her, Leah too also climbed out of a window onto a roof and let to her death to escape her.
00:36:21
Speaker
Um, neighbors saw Lawlery burying Leah in her backyard and reported her, but her punishment was a $300 fine and the forced sell of nine of her slaves, though she was able to purchase them all back. Oh my God. Yeah.
00:36:41
Speaker
Uh, yeah, this, all of this shit was so, it was like difficult to read because how can one human be so fucking terrible? I read a lot. I read and listened to a lot of true crime. And this one was a lot, um, madam lollery disappeared. And to this day, her body's never been found. There were reports that said she made it back to Paris. Some say she fled to Paris, but then came back under a different name.
00:37:09
Speaker
into New Orleans and then there was a story about a plate was found in the cemetery that had her name on it and an inscription that said something like basically like this is where she lies essentially but nobody has
00:37:24
Speaker
any idea if it actually is her. I just don't understand why, like, she wasn't arrested. Right. It just, you know, I guess what I was reading was that basically when this mob broke out and ransacked her house,
00:37:42
Speaker
it was more of a distraction essentially for her. Like they were so focused on what was going on and what was found and the fire and now this mob that she, and there was another person that escaped with her. And I didn't put any of this in the notes, so I don't remember who it was, but her and someone else basically escaped and they were believed to have gone back to Paris, but there were no records. So there was no record of her
00:38:09
Speaker
leaving the Americas, re-entering France or Paris, and there's no record of her coming back. So they're assuming she was operating under a different name at that point. Just terrible. It just makes me wonder, what happens to people to make them that evil?
00:38:30
Speaker
Yeah, well, and I guess like, so at this point, I think she was on her third husband, like when this whole thing with the fire happened. So her first husband died, her second husband died, and then her third husband was like a really prominent and busy doctor. And so she often was just left her own devices for like weeks or months at a time. And it's believed that this is when she picked up
00:39:00
Speaker
her habit of torture essentially. It still doesn't make any sense. I've been bored. Yeah. I've been bored so many times in my life and I've never wanted to torture somebody. No, God, no. People are gross. This woman is disgusting. No excuses. Hopefully she had a very slow, painful, torturous death or
00:39:24
Speaker
Something like, I don't know, like just fucking crazy. Yeah. She has like a torturous afterlife stuff. Yeah. Purgatory or something. So through the years, there've been many reports that the house that Madam Laluri lived at is haunted. People have seen apparitions of enslaved individuals who lost their life within the house. Other people have reported screams of agony from the property.
00:39:49
Speaker
And there have been reports of people being attacked by the ghost of an enslaved man in chains, which is equal parts terrifying, but also really sad. Because especially too, when you're thinking about like ghosts and what we assume about ghosts and how some, they might be stuck in their last moments and might not know that they're dead. Could you imagine like living that constantly for hundreds of years?
00:40:16
Speaker
Just being in perpetual fear that this person who owns you is coming back to harm you or torture you or stir your brains up. Just gross.
00:40:34
Speaker
So another legend in New Orleans that also stems from some tragedy are vampires.
Vampire Legends and Mysteries
00:40:42
Speaker
So the locals believe that the city of New Orleans is the home of real vampires because of this story that comes out of the 1930s. So in the 1930s, brothers John and Wayne Carter were executed for committing multiple murders. After they were caught, they didn't really know what to try them for and you'll see why
00:41:04
Speaker
but they ended up trying them as serial killers. So after escaping the Carter Brothers apartment, a young woman tells police that she was held with at least four other victims and they were being drained of their blood by the Carter Brothers who were consuming it. When police arrived, they found the other four victims half dead and tied to chairs in a room. They each had bandages on their wrist that were wet with blood and tumor bodies were found wrapped in blankets and tucked into another room of the house.
00:41:31
Speaker
and they stated that the house like when they walked in it was just this unmistakable suffocating odor of death. Police learned that the Carter brothers would leave early each morning before daybreak and they would return every evening just after dark. They would remove the bandages off the captives wrists and cut them back open catching their blood in a cup and drinking until they felt they were sated. So once full
00:41:59
Speaker
they would redress the wounds with new bandages. They spoke very little and they treated their victims as simply a food source and nothing more. It was just like they were cattle in their eyes essentially.
00:42:12
Speaker
Once caught, the brothers begged the police to murder them, confessing that they were in fact vampires and would continue killing if released as they needed blood to survive. They were tried as serial killers, convicted, and then eventually executed. To this day, rumors of vampires hunting the streets of New Orleans continue and tourists can purchase custom fangs from fangsmiths. And New Orleans is one of the only places in the United States where fangsmiths exist.
00:42:42
Speaker
I remember seeing that as we were walking around. It's super interesting, but also have these men like never tasted wine before. Right? Chocolate. Come on. Cheese? Really? You need to go after blood? Like there's so many better. Bread? Come on. So that is essentially why people believe that New Orleans is the original home to actual real vampires is because, hello, who would want to drink blood when you could have cheese and wine and bread and pasta? Right.
00:43:11
Speaker
crawfish or crayfish or crawdads or whatever you say. Yeah. Like we called it crawdads in Oklahoma, but everybody else calls them like crayfish or crawfish. They're crawdads in Texas too. I mean, you can have that. Those are tasty little morsels, but instead you want to drink some blood? Gross. You're nasty. Who knows? Maybe they really were vampires. Who knows? Yeah.
00:43:37
Speaker
Uh, the next tragedy is the legend of the casket girls, which I had never heard of this one. Like I knew about the vampires, um, but, and obviously like the voodoo queens and all of that, I had not heard this one before. So basically young French women would be sent to the city for marriage arrangements and they would be sent with a coffin shaped chest.
00:44:05
Speaker
that had all of their belongings in it. They stayed at the Ursaline convent until they would basically be wed to a colonist. So there were 300 of these casket shaped chests that were kept in the attic, but the belongings within the chest disappeared overnight one night, and it was believed to be a demonic like act that, so basically they thought this demon came in and took all of their belongings and just left the coffins.
00:44:35
Speaker
which I don't know why you would think that, but okay. Yeah, like why would you not just think like- A thief? They went straight to, a demon stole our belongings. So the caskets were nailed shut, the attic was locked, and the nuns brought a pope in to bless it.
00:44:54
Speaker
In 1978, two reporters broke into the attic and their bodies were found on the staircase of the convent, decapitated and drained of blood the next morning. Yeah. Damn. Yeah. I'd never heard about this either. Yeah. Apparently they never had any leads. They don't know like who they, they have no idea like what happened to them. They just found them drained of blood and decapitated on the stairs the next morning.
00:45:22
Speaker
And you know, vampires, demons, no one knows. No one knows. It's just a mystery person. No one knows. Yeah, probably. More than likely, that's the option. But and then of course, obviously, I feel like if you're
00:45:40
Speaker
old enough to listen to this podcast, you're old enough to know what Hurricane Katrina is, but basically 2005, tens of thousands of people were trapped for days on end and over 1500 people eventually died losing their lives to this god-awful hurricane that ripped through New Orleans and much of Louisiana, I believe too, right?
00:46:01
Speaker
Yeah, like the whole Gulf area was it really hard, but I know New Orleans was, especially because of the levees and the fact that the city is under the sea level. And when I know like much of the ninth ward still shows the damage. Yeah. Like much of it hasn't been rebuilt. So even when, so when we went there, it was 2014. And so what that was 13 year, wait,
00:46:29
Speaker
I don't know how to, I don't know how to do math. That's not 13, 11, nine, nine years later. I have no clue how to count. Wait, it's nine. Well, no, no, I'm saying like nine 2014 from 2005. That's like, Oh, okay. Isn't it? I thought you meant talk today and I was saying that.
00:46:54
Speaker
I don't know what I'm doing. But I don't know what you're doing. Yeah, that was nine years, nine years after Hurricane Katrina and you could still like see just signs of it or like, yeah, places that used to be something else or now this and just sad. It's really sad. So outside of like tragic things that happened that are often tied to like hauntings and just creepy stuff in general, like vampires.
00:47:24
Speaker
There's other areas that are just kind of spooky in New Orleans because of what they are. So St. Louis Cemetery, number one, there's multiple cemeteries in New Orleans, but this one in particular has a notoriety. It attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year and is the final resting place for Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, which Sam talked about earlier.
New Orleans Cemeteries and Legends
00:47:48
Speaker
But I think this is the only cemetery in the city that you can't just walk into. You have to actually pay to go into this cemetery. Oh, maybe. I don't remember. I think actually you're right. I remember we had to pay for one of them. And honestly, I don't remember which one off the top of my head, because we went to a couple where we were there. We might have had to pay for this one, but I don't remember.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah, who knows? Who knows? The faithful leave behind beans, bones, flowers, and coins from Marie Laveau. So if you are visiting and you want to leave an offering for her to invoke her goodwill, those are common ones. And it's also said that Marie Laveau's ghost is seen annually on St. John's Eve, which is the 23rd of June.
00:48:37
Speaker
And like I said earlier, due to the risk of flooding, the cemetery contains above ground tombs for the dead. To be buried within the cemetery today, it'll cost you about $40,000 for a plot. And outside of Madame Laveau, the cemetery also hosts Homer Plessy. He challenged segregation laws when he refused to get off of a whites only train car.
00:49:03
Speaker
and was convicted for breaking the law. His actions planted the seeds that started civil rights movements, which I thought was pretty cool. And eventually it will also be the home of Nicholas Cage's corpse when he dies.
00:49:19
Speaker
So apparently he purchased a plot that included a white nine foot pyramid that is inscribed with a Latin phrase, omnia av uno, or all from one. Conspiracy theorists have run with Nicolas Cage and this plot and this pyramid. So they have several theories that include that.
00:49:43
Speaker
Cage is said to be a closet voodoo practitioner, that he has Illuminati ties, that he's an immortal who will eventually just entomb himself for a century before re-emerging, and that he has stored all of his wealth within this tomb, which is hilarious. All of them could be true. Yeah, you never know. Is he from Louisiana or does he just really like New Orleans? I honestly, I don't know.
00:50:12
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't think to look that up. But, but you know, if I had the 40,000, I would go to $40,000 for a plot. Yeah. And that's without the tomb. Right. I just the plot. That's just the plot. That's not he has a nine foot pyramid on Jesus. Oh,
00:50:34
Speaker
But yeah, if you are planning on taking a trip to New Orleans, I think this is an absolute must see. It's like a half a mile from the French Quarter and it's equal parts, spooky and amazing. And I just remember when we went, so I had just gotten like a DSLR camera and I was like, I'm going to take all the pictures.
00:50:53
Speaker
And so we were in the, we were in the cemetery. I'm taking all these pictures. And like on some of the graves, they had like, I thought it was like poetry books at first or something, but it was really weathered. And like, you couldn't tell like the, the outside, what is it? The cover of the book was like gone. It was just like pages and it looked so spooky and like really cool.
00:51:19
Speaker
And so I start taking these pictures and I'm like zooming in. I'm taking like all these artsy photographs. It was fucking Twilight. I was dead. Someone had gone through and taken like pages of Twilight and put them all over the cemetery.
00:51:35
Speaker
It was insane, but you know what? That's so weird. Why? I don't know. Like, I wonder if it has something to do with the whole vampire, like Misty. I mean, maybe. New Orleans. But when I realized it was Twilight, I was like, what the fuck? I hold these like artsy pictures and it's like. The Twilight in the symphony. Twilight. Yeah. I bet that whoever's like buried in these plots are probably like, what the fuck? Twilight again. Sparkly vampires.
00:52:03
Speaker
A couple that I also included because I absolutely love lore around cryptids. So the first one is the Grunch. So he's basically this humanoid creature that lurks in the woodlands outside of New Orleans.
00:52:18
Speaker
They're nocturnal and they're said to look like an albino chupacabra, though some claim that they appear as a goat-headed human with razor-sharp teeth and claws. They lure their victims from their cars, basically pretending to be a stray goat that looks injured and then eat them. Gross. Yeah. I just love that they're called a grunge. A grunge. And then I feel like this one's a little more common,
00:52:48
Speaker
Or it could just be because I watched Supernatural.
Rougarou Folklore
00:52:50
Speaker
So I've heard of this one, but a Rugaro.
00:52:53
Speaker
The story of the rigor was told to young children as a way to keep them from misbehaving and it has multiple iterations. It's said to be a human that transforms into a white colored animal. So sometimes it's a wolf, sometimes it's dogs, it's sometimes it's cattle or pigs. But the legend states that it causes havoc in the street until the individual kills it. But before it dies, it becomes a human again.
00:53:19
Speaker
And it warns the killer not to reveal anything about the incident for a full year. And failure to do so would turn the individual into the next Rougarou. So parents would tell children that if they acted up, it would cause the Rougarou to come out and wreak havoc. And whoever kills him might have to be the next Rougarou. So they would scare children into behaving that way. Love it. Love it. Love fear-based parenting. Oh, yeah.
00:53:49
Speaker
It's my favorite. And then, um, the myrtles plantation, which this was a new one for me. I hadn't heard of this one. Really? Oh my God. I mean, like when we went, it was on a whim. Yeah. Oh, I've never been there or anything. Like just, I know I was really obsessed with like,
00:54:11
Speaker
the South whenever I was younger. I don't know. So I would just like read all the ghost stories. Yeah. So this plantation is considered to be one of the most haunted landmarks in the US, which I don't know. Okay. How do we know if it's the most haunted? Because I feel like they say that about every haunted place. This is the most haunted place in America. And you're like, is it? Because they've said that about the prison that we went to. They said that about Eureka Springs, where I went to a couple of years ago.
00:54:40
Speaker
now it's this or the conjuring house or everywhere is the most haunted if it's haunted so I don't really know if it is the most haunted or not.
00:54:49
Speaker
But it is most known for a ghost of a young slave girl known as Chloe, and it currently operates as a bed and breakfast. So if you're brave enough to stay the night in somewhere that tells to be the most haunted place in America, check it out. And then obviously it wouldn't be right to do an episode on New Orleans without telling you some witchy things to do.
00:55:12
Speaker
And some of these might sound a little weird, but I'll explain why. So the Voodoo Authentica of New Orleans Cultural Center and Collection. This is a shop filled with handmade items like puppets or mojo bags that also doubles as a history and cultural display. You can even get your own customized grease grease to fit your personality and needs.
00:55:34
Speaker
I was reading about how they have some that you literally can just pick off the shelves, but if they see you even looking at them, most of the time they'll pull you aside and kind of feel out who you are as a person and start helping you customize your own, which I thought was kind of cool. I like that.
00:55:50
Speaker
Yeah. And then the Marie Laveau House of Voodoo Shop. So this is a shop that's ran by her family members and they offer a wide variety of items to help in both learning and practicing spiritual and religious ceremony. They have tribal masks and statues from around the world, talismans and charms and more.
00:56:13
Speaker
The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum is, it basically displays the history of voodoo and its African roots, but also shows the evolution of New Orleans itself through its history and how voodoo is rooted there.
00:56:29
Speaker
Of course, New Orleans cemeteries, we've like we were talking about earlier, there's tons of them that you can visit within the city, including the St. Louis cemetery number one. And then there's a pharmacy museum, which when I was looking up, which stuff I was like, why would this farm pharmacy museum be
Blend of Science and Folk Remedies
00:56:47
Speaker
there? But apparently it shows what it looked like to operate as an early apothecary and cities rich with like the magical essentially. So they share a blend of both science and traditional folk remedies.
00:56:59
Speaker
and it also displays embalming tools and equipment. So this is definitely going to go on my list for the next time I go because I want to see those traditional folk remedies and how much of them are full from actual herbalism and stuff. And then New Orleans City Park Botanical Gardens because hello, witches love plants. So just go and look at some beautiful plants. It's a 1300-acre spread that includes a grove of oak trees that are said to be 600 years old.
00:57:31
Speaker
Oh my God. That sounds beautiful. Just, just grounding there and just being one with nature there that surrounded by plants and these 600 year old trees. Yeah. Yes, please.
00:57:49
Speaker
And then also to the one that I just kind of threw on here, the boutique de vampir is the only vampire shop in the French Quarter. So I think it's a definite must see. I mean, it's not like super witchy, but it is super cool. So go check it out. I mean, if you want to get some vampire fangs, there's also, I believe it's two.
00:58:11
Speaker
The fact that it's like licensed or certified or something like that, Fang Masters is hilarious. But you can go to an actual, I believe it's certified Fang Master. And they're like, there's only like two of them in New Orleans that you can go to with this certification. So go get you some vampire teeth if you want to.
00:58:31
Speaker
And then some other things that you could do would be they have an annual witchcraft conference there. Did you know that? No. I forgot.
Witchcraft Tours and Events in New Orleans
00:58:40
Speaker
I was actually going to spend some time like looking it up and I got busy and just didn't get back to it. But yeah, apparently in New Orleans, they host an annual witchcraft conference.
00:58:50
Speaker
Oh, that would be so much fun to go to. Yeah. And then every August they have Hexfest, which again, I didn't really look up what exactly it is, but every August you can go to that. And there's also, of course, tons of local workshops, discussions, and classes that are on practices and rituals, and they're offered year round.
00:59:13
Speaker
And then of course, tours. If you look up tours in New Orleans, there's an abundance of tours that are tied to voodoo and hoodoo, haunted tours, cemetery tours, witch tours. And I even found a hunt, a haunted pub crawl. Oh my God. Yes, please. Ghosts and boos. Let's do this. We should do that.
00:59:35
Speaker
That's all the stooky, dark, tragic history of New Orleans. There's so much more that we couldn't include because we want this episode to be incredibly long. But this is just a little bit, just a little taste of New Orleans. Gives you a little idea. And now when you go plan your trip, you have some ideas to things to go look at or things to look into to see if it is something you're interested in.
Closing Remarks and Listener Incentives
01:00:00
Speaker
And definitely go check out that pirate saloon bar.
01:00:15
Speaker
That's it for this episode of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. You can find our source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you love this episode, we will be forever thankful if you leave us a five-star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get In Loser content, check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft.
01:00:29
Speaker
It is pretty cool.
01:00:38
Speaker
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