choose to stay in the Vieux Carre, also known as the French Quarter.
As your travel guide to the other side, I’d like to offer a few tips when visiting St. Louis Cemetery #1, along with any of the other cemeteries in the area.
Safety first. It’s best to visit the cemetery with a tour group during the day. While I find the cemetery itself very peaceful and enjoyable, there are reports of people being attacked and robbed by the living. It’s easy for a person to hide among the tombs and catch someone who is there alone off guard. You don’t want to end up being the newest resident of the cemetery, so be safe and travel with a tour group, as there is safety in numbers. It’s also easier to get turned around and feel lost in the city of the dead. In addition, the tour groups provide an enormous amount of historical and entertaining information about the tombs. The cemetery is only open during the day, but some paranormal researchers try to hang out around the area during the evening to see what they can pick up for EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon) and via their cameras. This is not a good idea, as it leaves you open as a target with some heavy and expensive equipment on display.
Besides visiting Marie Laveau’s tomb, make sure to visit one of the most distinctive tombs here, a tomb shaped like a pyramid built by actor Nicholas Cage.
All Saints Day, a Catholic celebration held November 1, is a day where some people visit the tombs to give their respects to their ancestors. This day is also known as the ancient Celtic New Year. If visiting on this day, have respect for the locals who are here to visit family members who are near and dear to them. No matter what day you are visiting, also remember to be respectful for the people who are buried here and laid to rest. I’ve seen some people who visit and treat the cemetery like it was a tourist site, leaving trash behind and making crude and vulgar jokes. This is a cemetery that is open to the public, and the people buried here all have family who would want them to be treated respectfully and reverently at all times. Consider, as you walk through each path, how you would feel if someone was walking by the gravesites of your loved ones.
Save Our Cemeteries is a nonprofit group in New Orleans who works to preserve these cities of the dead, which are national treasures in both historic and architectural value. If you feel so inspired after visiting the cemetery, consider making a donation to its cause to continue the preservation work. One of the projects it is working on, which I find very exciting, is to restore the tombs to their original Creole colors, rather than the whitewashed versions you see today. Can you imagine how colorful this would look to see the tombs in their traditional shades of lavender, green, and beige in the city of the dead?
Bring your camera. The architecture is so stunning that you’ll find yourself wanting to take photos at every turn.
Make sure to leave before the cemetery closes, typically at 3 p.m. Otherwise, you could be locked inside. While the ghosts appear to be polite, legends abound regarding disturbed tombs in the area, which some claim to be frequented by vampires.
The greater New Orleans area has more than 40 cemeteries, most of which are worth a visit. For the sake of this book, I was only able to briefly cover some of the cemeteries in order to write about all the other activities in the city. To truly do them the justice, the cemeteries would require an entire book dedicated to covering them all.
Redbrick dust was gathered from bricks in the cemetery that had crumbled over time. The crumbling bricks were rubbed and the resulting dust was gathered in bags. Voodoo practitioners spread this dust in a straight line in front of a home that needed protection.
Visiting cemeteries can deplete your auric energy, especially if you are an intuitive, medium, or empathic in nature, as you will be sensitive to the grieving energy stored in these locations. When you visit, whether to enjoy the architecture or to see if the spirits are willing to communicate, remember afterward to “shake off” the energy. This is best done by stamping your feet outside the entrance to shake off any of the dirt that may have stuck to your shoes. Next have something sweet to eat to ground your body; chocolate or fruit works best. When you return back to your hotel, take a shower and visualize the water washing away the energy of the day and removing any residual energy that may have attached to you. Then surround your body with pure white light and see your body refreshed and energized. This should restore your energy and prepare you for a night out in NOLA.
CHAPTER 2
Who’s Haunting the Garden District?
“In the spring of 1988, I returned to New Orleans, and as soon as I smelled the air, I knew I was home. It was rich, almost sweet, like the scent of jasmine and roses around our old courtyard. I walked the streets, savoring that long-lost perfume.”
—Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire
IF YOU ASK A LOCAL IN NEW ORLEANS for directions, be prepared to hear the descriptive terms uptown and downtown, rather than east and west. The dividing line is Canal Street, with the French Quarter being downtown. On the other side of Canal Street is the area called uptown, along with the historically beautiful Garden District. Living up to its name, the area is filled with lush fragrant gardens linked with ancient oak trees and the heavenly scents of jasmine, magnolias, day lilies, oleander, honeysuckle, wisteria, crepe myrtles, roses, mimosas, and hundreds of other flora and fauna so luscious that I lost count of them all as I wandered from street to street.
The historic Garden District was established for the American settlers and German, Irish, and other European groups to build beautiful antebellum homes and mansions and to create an area where they would feel welcome. These groups were looked down upon by the French Creoles who lived in the French Quarter and were not welcome to integrate into the Creole society, so the European groups decided to snub the Creoles right back and build elaborate homes and gardens showcasing their wealth and prestige to the French. Next to the Garden District is uptown, where beautiful plantations were built close to the Mississippi River to take advantage of the breezes blowing in from the moving water.
Out of every dark cloud comes a silver lining, as the old saying goes, and this war between the European cultures and classes led to the creation of one of the most beautiful areas in New Orleans, with stunning architectural details both inside and outside the homes. The district was designed by New Orleans architect Barthelemy Lafon, who centered the homes on expansive gardens, giving the area its name. The lush gardens also warded off an occasional problem from the nearby riverfront area, where cattle pens and slaughterhouses in the summer created certain quality of life issues. The gardens worked double duty as they offset these highly unpleasant odors, filling the air with the most pleasant fragrances possible.
Like most homes in New Orleans, many of the Garden District residences report a ghost or two haunting the abodes. In a town this rich in mayhem and zest for life, it’s not surprising that some residents remain in spirit to enjoy the home of their dreams after a lifetime of hard work.
The city is magical and stirs the creative juices, as if muses were calling them forth to be reborn. It’s no wonder that so many artists, musicians, and authors visit as often as possible and long to call this area home. Hearing the call of my own inner muse suggesting that I make New Orleans my home, I strolled through the streets of the Garden District. Lost in thought, I found myself standing on First Street in front of the former home of Anne Rice, where she wrote The Witching Hour. Anne’s vivid descriptions of location and surroundings pull the reader into the story, and they are transported here in New Orleans. Strolling past the street is as close as most will come to investigating any of the haunted reports in these homes, though I half expected to see the ghost of Deirdre from Anne’s book, sitting on the porch in a rocking chair.
