MARIE LAVEAU'S HOUSE OF VOODOO

Not one, but two museums in New Orleans are keeping the area's voodoo legacy alive. Both have displays examining voodoo culture and practice, including exhibits that feature the great Voodoo Queen of New Orleans herself, Marie Laveau (played most recently in the AMERICAN HORROR STORY series by Angela Bassett).

New Orleans' Historic Voodoo Museum
A snapshot of the New Orleans Voodoo. 

New Orleans has a reputation for being mysterious and unusual. In a city of wide and eclectic tastes, the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum fits right in.

Founded in 1972 by Charles Massicot Gandolfo, a local artist with a passion for all things Voodoo, the small museum has been inviting its visitors to experience mysticism and the occult for almost half a century. His museum focuses on what’s commonly known as Louisiana, or New Orleans Voodoo. 

New Orleans Voodoo is an amalgamation of African and European influences that blended within the cultural melting pot of New Orleans. Originally brought to the city in the early 1700s through the African slave trade, Louisiana Voodoo can trace its roots through influences of multiple cultures, notably African, Caribbean, Creole, and American.

A plethora of interesting objects and artifacts including antique voodoo dolls, taxidermy, talismans, and even famed Voodoo priestess Maria Laveau’s kneeling bench line the museum’s walls. (Visitors can also depart here for a tour of the St. Louis Cemetery, where Ms. Laveau is entombed). As a Voodoo priestess, her magical powers were legendary. However, there may be another explanation of her fame: she was rumored to run one of the most popular brothels in New Orleans.

Beyond its collection, the museum also offers items for sale like chicken feet, snake skins, potions, books, and candles. Guests who want the full Voodoo experience can even have their fortune told by on-staff practitioners.

[SOURCE: Atlas Obscura.]

Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo
A museum and shop on Bourbon Street located in the former home of the second Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. 

Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau II — the daughter of the first Voodoo Queen of New Orleans — was known for her wild rituals in the swamps around New Orleans.

Born in 1827 in New Orleans, Marie Laveau died around 1895; some stories say she drowned in Lake Pontchartrain at the outskirts of New Orleans while performing one of her rituals. Today you can find a museum and shop located on the site where the Voodoo Queen lived with her children. Her ghost is said to haunt the house.

Both Marie Laveau II and her mother practiced Voodoo as well as Voudoun, and they had great influence on their multiracial followers. When on the night of June 23rd in 1874 Marie Laveau II performed one of her famous rituals at Lake Pontchartrain for St. John’s Eve, some 12,000 spectators came to be part of the event.

Marie Laveau’s House of Vodoo is a museum and store. Inside you can find many Voodoo-related items on display, as well as a Voodoo Altar, and spiritual items and books from around the world for sale. In a back room spiritual readings, spells and Tarot card readings are held.

Some believe the ghost of Marie Laveau is haunting this house. People who visit the place often report to feel her icy fingers on their shoulders. In the backroom her ghost was reported to be seen lingering around during spiritual readings.

[SOURCE: Atlas Obscura]