Guest Author - Elizabeth Bissette
Marie Leveau (September 10, 1801 – June 16, 1881) and her daughter, Marie Laveau II, (1827-c.1895), were both famous, now legendary Voodoo Queens of New Orleans. Their lives are, appropriately, somewhat shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that Marie I was born a free Mulatto in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the daughter of a white planter and a free African-American Creole woman. Her first marriage ended in the unexplained death of her husband, Jaques (Santiago) Paris, on August 4, 1819. Jaques immigrated from Hati along with many others following the Hatian Revoloution of 1904. Along with other immigrants, he helped revive Voodoo and other African-based traditions in New Orleans. She appears to have been Roman-Catholic prior to her marriage.
Following the death of her husband, Marie was a hairdresser for many wealthy white families. In part through this job, she developed a network of spies among fellow servants, who helped her with her magic in various ways. She soon met Christophe (Louis Christophe Dumesnil de) Glapion, whom she lived with until his death in 1835. It is believed that they had fifteen children, including Marie Laveau II, who sometimes used the surname "Paris" after her mother's first husband. It is generally belived that the mother was a more powerful Voodoo Queen, while her daughter organized more popular and elaborate rituals. No one really knows which of the two, or if the two combined, firmly established the Leveau infamy.
Other than that she had and sometimes danced with a snake she named Zombi and that her magical powers were feared, little is known of Marie Leveau's practices. Many believe her power was most heavily based on her spy network. (Some say that she also owned a brothel, creating a network via that as well.) She seems to have been greatly feared by those who 'reported' to her and is said to have cured many of these people of often mysterious illnesses.
Following her death announcement, many people claimed to still see Leveau around New Orleans. Some said that it was her daughter that was spotted, taking over for her mother after her death. Others believed it was the mother. She was 98 when she died. (Her death certificate, however, spells her name differently and has the age wrong.) She was said to have been buried in St. Louis Cemetery #1 in New Orleans in the Glapion family crypt. This fact was, however, disputed by some. Visitors to this day draw three x's on the side of her tomb, believing she will grant them a wish.
Many believe that she comes back to life each year to lead a ceremony on St. John's Eve. Her ghost has been spotted in the cemetery as well, with one man claiming to have been slapped by her. She wears a "tignon", (seven-knotted handkerchief), around her neck. Other Leveau haunts are her former home at 1020 St. Ann Street, (where ghostly Voodoo ceremonies have been observed) and a house on Chartres Street where she is said to have also lived for a time.
