Home of the Dead

When sitting around a camp fire, one tends to associate ghost stories with the story of choice. There’s something about darkness, a dancing flame, and a good storyteller that is enthralling. One does not tend to associate history with these ghost stories, but many of them are filled with history. Not the history found in the textbooks in a history class, but the history of the people's culture. Though much of these stories are questionable in their elements of truth, much can be learned from these stories that are filled with drama, intrigue, and mystery. For this reason, I’ve always been fascinated with good ghost stories told by a well-practiced storyteller.

This fascination has led to the creation of my mystery series character Raleigh Cheramie who connects to the dead in the middle of dying. Listening to these ghost stories over the years has inspired me as I write about this fictional world of ghost connections. Writers often are told to write about what you know, and I've sought inspiration from all these tales.

I’ve found New Orleans to offer many opportunities to listen to good ghost storytellers. I’ve joined several tours with guides who’ve been inspired storytellers. This Saturday between rain storms, I finally did the cemetery tour and visit to local voodoo legend Marie Laveau’s tomb. This tour has been on my list of things to do for years, but it had never been moved to the top. As I’m working on the next Muddy series mystery though, ghosts are at the forefront of my mind. So in the spirit of not putting off what you can do today and all… the tour became the scheduled activity for the weekend.

St. Louis Cemetery Number 1 dates back to August 1789.

An Unmarked Tomb: The marking of three X's on Marie Laveau's tomb began with a tour guide as a tourist gimmick. Now, unmarked graves have been marked on in the attempts for visitors to have their wish come true.

This is the future resting place of actor Nichols Cage. He purchased two abandoned tombs and had this pyramid shaped tomb built.

This is the tomb of Homer Plessy, famous as the defendent in the Plessy v. Ferguson trial that began the "Separate but equal" law.

This is the famous Marie Laveau tomb. It is said that if you make three x's on the tomb, leave an offering, and turn around three times, your wish will come true. Writing on tombs is actually forbidden in the cemetery.