Few names are as deeply woven into the history and folklore of New Orleans as Marie Laveau.

She was a real woman who became something much larger: a Voudou leader, healer, devout Catholic, confidante, and eventually the legendary Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Nearly 150 years after her death, stories still surround her—secret ceremonies, gris-gris, Grand Zombi, courtroom magic, mysterious disappearances, ghostly encounters, and a tomb where generations of people have gone to ask Marie for help.

But where does the real Marie Laveau end and the legend begin?

In this Spooky Season episode of The Southern Blueprint Podcast, we go back to nineteenth-century New Orleans to follow Marie’s life, the rise of New Orleans Voudou, the strange stories that followed her while she was alive, and the even stranger ones that began after she died.

And maybe the biggest question of all: What if at least some of the stories about Marie Laveau were true?

🎃 Spooky Season has officially begun at The Southern Blueprint.

If you enjoy Southern history, folklore, strange stories, books, travel, bourbon, the outdoors and everything else we explore here, come join us inside The Hidden Pine Lodge, the private club of The Southern Blueprint. Membership is just $4/month and includes exclusive Patreon content plus access to our private Discord and the community we’re building around all of this.

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Subscribe to The Southern Blueprint Podcast, share this episode with someone who loves strange Southern stories, and come spend Spooky Season with us.