A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau

by Carolyn Morrow Long

Legendary for an unusual combination of spiritual power, beauty, charisma, showmanship, intimidation, and shrewd business sense, Marie Leveau also was known for her kindness and charity, nursing yellow fever victims and ministering to condemned prisoners, and her devotion to the Roman Catholic Church. In separating verifiable fact from semi-truths and complete fabrication, Carolyn Morrow Long explores the unique social, political, and legal setting in which the lives of Laveau’s African and European ancestors became intertwined in nineteenth-century New Orleans. 

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, Historical, Religion, Feminism

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2006

Reviews

[Lois · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is full of multiple assumptions that are light on fact and heavy on a narrative the author seems to want to 'prove'.
The author's facts on the start of the Transatlantic slave trade are 100% incorrect.
That trade was entirely started by Portugal who has a 'factory' for processing stolen West Africans and enslaving them by 1450. This is not started by West Africans offering domestic enslaved peoples to Europeans. That narrative is 100% false.
As is the narrative that Free Black Women in a 'placage' (a formal relationship that is as much rumor as fact) or concubinage situationship with white men had the same freedom white women did. No they did not and of course there was coercion under an enslaving white supremacist state which New Orleans has existed as for as long as that land had been called New Orleans.
Even today, Black Women aren't treated the same as white women so the idea that equity existed in any form during the Antebellum period is wildly preposterous and ahistorical.
Free and Enslaved Black women had situationships with white men for a variety of reasons we likely would be unable to even fathom today. Those situations were never equitable, even if those involved felt that they loved each other. Furthermore there's more evidence that these kinda situations with white men were informal, offering Black Women none of the rights or protection offered to white women in legal marriage, there's no evidence any contracts ever existed from a white man to a Black Woman under these 'placage' type circumstances so clearly *if* they existed they offered so little protection that the contract couldn't even be enforced, or there'd be court records🤷🏾‍♀️. Because no contracts exist in historical records this is innuendo and current top researchers pretty much agree that no octroon balls or formal contractual relationships existed. Something happened with these situationships clearly but its much more racist and considerably less romantic than modern movies, TV and novels have portrayed.
The author pretends that Free Black folks engaged in the chattel slave trade both excessively and for the same reasons as white folks, which that is categorically untrue. It is true that some Black folks profited off of the chattel slave trade. In depth study reveals that what often appears to be trade for profit in historical records was oftentimes trade to raise capital to purchase enslaved relatives. In some cases ownership would be transferred and the relatives not freed. This often had to do with rules regarding the ability to free enslaved peoples as well as expenses involved in doing so. In many situations formal ownership was transfered but in effect the person owned themselves. It was a measure of freedom. Again some Black folks were solely out for profit but it requires intense study to tell the difference not a cursory glance. Also it was a neglible part of the slave trade.
I say this because most of what this author bases her facts about Marie Laveau on are sourced using the LWP, Louisiana Writers Project, a division of the WPA. So these would be rumors from the area in which Marie Laveau lived, neighbors and such taken in interviews about 50 years after her death.
Making these facts only loosely but often this is all that can be studied of free or Enslaved Black folks.
These same rumors say Marie Laveau was a stop on the underground railroad.
Now I agree with the author in that I find it highly unlikely that Marie Laveau was an abolitionist to this extent. Yet this author uses the same records to 'prove' she owned Enslaved peoples so not sure why this 'evidence' is dismissed.
I mean either a source is a valid resource or it's not, right?
When the author thinks something but literally no evidence exists to support her theory she'll use the phrase, 'just because there's no evidence to support it doesn't mean it couldn't have occurred'.
Yet if she disagrees with something given the same level of evidence she'll just dismiss it as not in line with her theory and narrative without giving it any actual historical treatment.
The author's tone was smug and annoying, especially since the word fact couldn't really be applied to most of her 'evidence'.
She also takes the time to rib fiction author's portrayals of a fictional Marie Laveau. Its tiresome and silly.
Why would a biography waste time addressing fiction novels??????
I don't know much more about Marie Laveau than I knew before reading this and given how much the author gets incorrect about the beginnings of the Transatlantic slave trade and the rights of Free Black Women during the Antebellum period, I'm not sure there's anything of value here.
The author gives tons of genealogy on who she believes to be Marie Laveau but is unable to even marginally be sure these are the correct descendants of the historical Marie Laveau.
I also think the author doesn't understand that the way Black folks were labeled on the census or on formal government documents of this time period: Black, mixed, mulatto, octroon, quadroon, etc were subject to change and the same Black individual is often described in historical records using all of the terms I suggested. So that a Black person labeled with one of these labels can't be used to determine whether the individual had a white father vs a biracial father, etc. Black folks have always had shitty records kept of us in the Western world and without Marie Laveau's actual descendants involvement this book is really nothing but loosely based assumptions and not very well sourced for the period it seeks to cover.
Mostly this book is fiction and reflects the authors bias and preconceived narrative.
She's not guided by the evidence and her theory is based heavily on white supremacist misunderstandings of this time period.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best thing I can do to start out is quote this line from the conclusion:

"Some elements of the Laveau Legend can be debunked as pure fantasy, some cannot be verified or refuted, and some are true."

That pretty much sums up this book in its entirety. It's clear that Morrow intends to present a historical accounting and she does an admirable job. For the most part this book is dry as a bone - there are no juicy secrets here, no lascivious stories, no outrageous claims. As far as I'm aware this is the first and only work that actually tries to demystify who Marie Laveau actually was.

Unfortunately there's very little there to work with. Parish and municipal records are thin at best, family trees are a mess of knots and missing information, and this tentative arrangements of facts is assaulted on all sides by sensationalist storytellers and unreliable narrators. As a book on a thin slice of New Orleans history during the mid-to-late 1800s, though, it's fascinating. Morrow does a great job detailing how she's pieced together all these snatches of history and manages to attach little informational tidbits. She takes great pains to explain the striations of society in antebellum New Orleans, differentiating between whites, free people of color, Creoles, slaves, etc., all of which is necessary to better understand Laveau's heritage and her own place in this society. Small asides about the Catholic churches being almost completely integrated before bigotry flourished during and after Reconstruction made it more clear why there's now such a divide in houses of worship here, the separation between the predominantly black Baptist and Methodist churches and the mostly-white Catholics. Every few pages turned showed off another facet of the city at that time and how it factors into where we are today.

One of the most fascinating for me personally was Morrow's detailed breakdown of the different types of religions: vodu from Africa, Haitian vodou, and New Orleanian voudou. I had not previously realized what a distinct and separate system this city generated in the mid-1800s and it was enlightening to read how it all came about.

This book is no page-turner, though. There are large sections of "who begat who" and "let me carefully and politely detail why Previous Writer's research was flawed, wrong, sensationalist, fully fictional, or any combination of the above." I recognize that these are necessary in terms of being the support structure upon which her conclusions are built but I had no compunctions about glossing over them.

If you're looking for a sweltering and shocking biography full of scenes of snake blood and chicken feathers and naked writhing, well, this isn't for you. If you love the city of New Orleans and want to understand some of its history better as it's wrapped around the story (both real and fictional) of one of its most famous inhabitants ... well, get to readin'.

[Anna Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I did find this book interesting, it doesn't quite live up to its promise. I picked it up expecting to learn some cool and scandalous Voodoo stories about the Queen of Voodoo, and learned instead that the many salacious rumors about Marie Laveau were just that - unfounded rumors, or else complete fabrication. While it's definitely more than okay that Carolyn Morrow Long is separating fact from fiction here, what's disappointing is that not a lot is actually known about Marie Laveau's life.

The book spent a lot of time describing the city of New Orleans at this period in history, and the society that would have been familiar to Marie Laveau. Slavery is discussed, as is the religion of Voudou [sic] and certain other famous figures in Voudou's annals. Most of the information about Marie Laveau was tables and charts of her descendants, information about debts and house sales, etc. Without the inaccurate elaborate stories, there isn't much there worth learning about.

I think this book would have been better focused had it been a book centered on Voudou itself. The New Orleans history, slavery history, and rites and festivals would have fit right in. The chapter about Dr. John wouldn't have seemed so random. And there could have been a chapter or two detailing the Marie Laveau facts vs. fictions, because while she seems to be an important figure in the religion, there isn't enough interesting factual information out there for an entire book about her. When it was all said and done, that's basically what this book was - 2/3 history of a place and time, and 1/3 debunking Marie Laveau myths and explaining her genealogy. The title is somewhat misleading in that way.

This book is worth a read for those interested in New Orleans history and the roots of Voodoo, but I would sooner recommend Carolyn Morrow Long's biography of another notorious New Orleanian, Delphine LaLaurie: "Madame LaLaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House". More is known about her life, the scandalous stories are bigger and scarier, and the book is ultimately more factual and still more entertaining than this offering.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Back before Christmas, I told enquiring minds that I was after books on interesting or infamous women. This book made up part of that haul.

I have to admit that I didn’t personally know a huge amount about Marie Laveau before she was depicted by the glorious Angela Bassett on American Horror Story. After-show googling netted a huge amount of legends swirling around her – this book basically demolishes those legends although, thanks to the lack of real information available on her, it doesn’t do too well at painting a picture of the real woman.

During her lifetime, Marie Laveau was referenced a couple of times in newspaper articles as Priestess of the Voudous of New Orleans, but it was until quite some time after her death that most of the now established legends around her first started to raise their heads. Powered by writers whose imagination was more important to them than possession of facts, it was here that we start to find talk of her giant snake, relationship with Dr John, talk of procuring girls for wealthy white men and depictions of wild, sexually frenzied ceremonies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these depictions were very obviously coloured by the racial attitudes of the time and the average white man’s need to tell himself that he was somehow superior to the ‘savages’ around him. With those stories then repeated ad infinitum in the newspaper stories and books that followed, what was obviously bollocks soon became established ‘truth’.

Carolyn Morrow Long, in her efforts to uncover the ‘real’ Marie Laveau, has clearly done an astonishing amount of archival research to write this book. Sadly, due to the fact that these records are simply registers of births, deaths, marriages and property transfers, not much more than the bare bones of Marie’s life have been uncovered. Interviews with people who had been alive in Marie’s lifetime only shed a tiny bit more light – most of these people were children when Marie was old, and besides, thanks to the proliferation of Marie’s just within her own household (a number of her children were also named Marie) it’s not always entirely clear that we’re all referring to the same woman.

A good, if slightly dry effort at untangling the life of Marie Laveau, come for the myth-busting but look elsewhere for substance.

**Also posted at Cannonball Read 10**

[Steve Cran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her aura is surrounded in mystery. Legends circulate about her well after he demise. She herself left now written record but the stories about her are numerous. While many of the real facts are hidden the stories told about her conform not to reality but to our own imagination, desires and fears. It takes a lot of research to get the real picture. In fact there may not have been just one but three in fact. Legend and fact are mixed. Who was this famous Voodoo priestess everyone is gabbing about?

Her name is Marie Laveaux the famous voodoo queen. As mentioned earlier fact and legend are mixed and it is hard to tell the difference between the two. The authoress of this book set to work on doing just that to give us the real picture of Marie Laveaux. Legends have it that she is descended from a line of Voodoo queens or was indoctrinated in secret from a family member In fact her Father was Henry Laveaux a mixed race freeman. Her great grandmother all thee way to her mother were born in slavery. Only her mother was man united. Legend further states that she owned a hair salon which had a back room which she did her working. This cannot be verified. What can be verified is that she cared for prisoners and consoled those about to be put to death. She also used herbs to heal others. Her first husband was named Pari and it is believed that he was a freed mulatto. They had two children together and then he exits the scene. Her second husband was Christophe Glaca or something like that. . While not legally married they were together and had 4 children together. He was a white French man with aristocratic blood. Back in those times Caucasian and African could not legally be married. Laveau reigned as voodoo queen until her early eighties and when she passed rumor and fact begin to blend yet again.

Most prevalent is that her daughter also with the first name of Marie took over giving the impression that she reigned longer than she really did. This seems most likely. Voodoo ceremonies were held out in the woods away from society. Sometimes they were held discreetly in some building. It was attended equally by both white people and those of African descent. She was highly influential. Unconfirmed legend also has it that she was a procures . Arranging for rich white men to hook up with mullatoes or women of pure African descent. Sometime this lead to Placage where In the man maintained another house for his mistress and many times they shared children.

The authoress goes deep into the New Orleans culture and history with this book to give the reader a good backdrop to the story of Marie Laveaux. Finding the Voodoo queen was a challenge. She left behind no writings, so court records, church records and funeral records to find the real Marie Laveaux

[Morgan M. Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Famed New Orleans Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau has long held the fascination of just about anyone who has ever heard of her - so many more now in the post-American Horror Story: Coven world. But just how much of what we think we know about her is real?

Carolyn Morrow Long provides the most thorough to date study of Marie Laveau - using all available archival records, newspaper accounts, Louisiana Writers' Project oral histories, books, plays, and films to sort through her legend and separate fact from fiction. The Marie Laveau we're left with is, of course, less flamboyant than that of legend, but also infinitely more complicated. While we can say with some certainty that, in addition to her activities as a Voodoo Queen, she ministered to prisoners - including those on death row, and posting bail for multiple women accused of minor crimes - she was not the slavery abolitionist she became in 20th Century legend. In fact, Marie Laveau - like many free people of colour in New Orleans at the time - both bought and sold slaves, never freeing any of them.

The book also gives us the most thorough depiction of the short-lived 19th Century New Orleans Voodoo religion we're likely to get. While many authors (and botanica owners) have embellished tales of New Orleans Voodoo, both by extending its existence unbroken into the present day and by fleshing it out with accounts of Haitian Vodou, it's clear that what little we know of New Orleans Voodoo in the 19th Century was an Afro-Diasporic religion all of its own. It appears to have had some Haitian influences, but to not have had many of the hallmarks of Haitian Vodou - including the lwa themselves.

This book was a great archival detective story, made only slightly confusing by the 19th Century French obsession with naming every woman Marie, and I loved every sentence of it. Highly recommended.

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Long is the greatest kind of historian. She does not approach her work with an ideology or a theory to prove. She comes neither to praise Caesar nor to bury him. Instead, she reads the facts and the records and explains what she found, with restraint and humility. Long is not the kind to beat her fist and declare she knows the truth, which can make for dry reading but her fairness is so compelling I find it downright sexy. For example, just read her chapter on the greatest mystery of all: who in the hell was Maire Laveau II? The chapter is the epitome of fair analysis, great research, and a willingness to say "I do not know, but it is possible." Anyway, the Laveau that leaps off this page is more mysterious and odd than the one of legend, but also far less powerful (but just as respected). She is also complicated, in that she is a colored woman succeeding in the South of the Civil War. That alone would make her a hero in our Social Justice Warrior times, yet she was an active slave-master and there is some evidence (although thin) that she supported the Confederacy.

In conclusion, bravo! Now Ms. Long, please write about that other great mythologized New Orleanian: Jean-Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville.

[Fred Loucks-Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid overview of the documented and verifiable facts regarding the life of Marie Laveau. Yes, it's a little dry - that's why the legends and lore get so juicy, and why this book is so desperately needed. This is how academic history is supposed to work - you stick to the documented and verifiable, reign in the speculation, point out which questions simply don't have answers, and debunk the tales which are not supported by evidence.

[Evian James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am at our guide in New Orleans and I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is an exhaustive look into a truly confusing historical record. At times difficult to get through, but deeply rewarding in its attempt to draw a sliver of fact out of the chaos of more than a century of folklore.

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for an interesting, engaging look at the life of Marie Laveau, but this book is more like a text book.

It was dry, dull and heavily academic in tone and style. Aside from this, there was more about the founding and early history of Lousiana, the city of New Orleans and Marie Laveau's ancestors than there was about Marie herself. In fact the first several chapters have almost nothing about Marie in them.

If I had picked up a book looking for an all around history of New Orleans and the ancestry of Marie Laveau, this bigger picture focus might have been okay, but I didn't. All I really wanted to read about was Marie Laveau herself, so for me, this book was a miss

[Beaird Glover · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great and insightful view of Marie Laveau and Voudou. This is one of the more serious and well-written of the books on this subject of many contradictions.

[Lisa M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this on one of my trips to NOLA. I love NOLA, and part of my fascination lies with the significant historical/cultural differences between Louisiana and the rest of America in the 1700s/1800s. This book does a great job of portraying NOLA during that time period, and explaining why Louisiana was different than other parts of the country. I have also always been fascinated by the paranormal, so combine this with my love of NOLA, and Marie Laveau has always been an interesting figure to me. Long relies on primary sources instead of racialized, stigmatized interpretations that were generated during the Civil War in reaction to a fear of slave revolt and dramatized ever since. Long develops Laveau as much as she can given the historical record, provides the context of the city/culture she lived in so we can make some educated guesses, and explains where many of the legends came from. She is clearly fascinated by the figure of Laveau but respects the truth enough not to glamorize it. Long is thorough so the book does become slow at times, but I really enjoyed and appreciated this well researched, honest book.

[Raine Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a GREAT HISTORY LESSON, but that’s it. I love and respect history, but everything has it place. This book is more of an obsession with Louisiana history than the actual story of Marie Laveau. It was a bit all over the place. I had to put it down for days and come back to it. If I bought it because I wanted the history of Louisiana....than I would have been great, but I bought it because I was interested in learning about Marie Laveau. You really end up learning more about Louisiana and the author because of how she wrote this history/biography than anything else. The busyness of the book is prove of that. Great history lesson, she put a lot of heart into the history. No heart or real passion when it came to Marie Laveau. Maybe she thought adding her name would help with selling her history book......I don’t know, but it’s a bait and sell type of thing. Bait you with the name and sell you what they want you to have. A headache.

[Kristy Oman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first part, which was more about the development of New Orleans as a city and a brief history of slavery in Louisiana in particular, although that wasn't why I chose to read this book. I can save you some trouble if you're wanting history on Marie Laveau
1. Voudou/voodoo is derived from a blend of African culture and Catholicism.
2. Marie Laveau (the elder) might have just been a flim flam artist and somewhat of a madam.
3. Most all stories you might hear on haunted tours/voodoo tours and such are based on rumor.
4. Marie Laveau (the younger) might actually be the person more of the folklore is based upon.

There. I saved you about 200 pages of reading through the Laveau family tree and financial entanglements.

[Sirena Dudgeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book is very misleading as I didn't learn much about Marie Laveau other than what was recorded in birth/death records, a series of descendants information and the sales records of houses and land. To be honest there just isn't much true information anyone knows about her other than the made up stories by newspaper journalists looking to exaggerate VooDoo and hype up untrue stories for their own articles. The author did a great job debunking these crazy stories and allowed her to seem human who cared for her family and her spiritual life. Interesting history of New Orleans which I had no idea about and I thoroughly enjoyed that and would like to know more. I'm sad Marie Laveau may never rest in peace because her name is every where in NOLA and used as a marketing ploy.

[Christianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author worked long and hard to try to find reliable information to bolster the many legends about Marie Laveau. Ultimately, while she could draw on many documents, from the New Orleans Catholic church community and some late 19th century interviews, there just isn't much to confirm the more dramatic stories told about Laveau's life on city "ghost" tours and television shows like American Horror Story.

To me the book shines as an early history of New Orleans and its unique culture (particularly around race relations) prior to the Louisiana Purchase. I loved reading this while I was visiting the city last week.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, scholarly account of the life and times of New Orleans' famous free woman of color, Marie Laveau. Ms. Long takes great care to place Marie into a historical overview of the city and freely quotes primary documents whenever possible. She also points out the ways Marie's legend came about and which traditional sources state more fiction than provable fact. Since Marie Laveau was illiterate, we have only bits of primary source material, but what is there is fascinating enough to keep me listening/reading to the very end.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first learned of Marie Laveau during a recent trip to New Orleans. I couldn’t wait to get home, get to the library, and learn more about this fascinating woman.

Despite the title of this book using Marie Laveau’s name, it is not exclusively about her. Instead, it is full of history with a few Laveau references sprinkled here and there.

While this novel would likely be enjoyed by someone interested in life in New Orleans in the 1800s, it is not for someone seeking information solely on Marie Laveau.

[Pearl O · Rating 3 out of 5]

After visiting New Orleans and St Louis Cemetery no 1 and the tomb of Widow Paris I was excited to get started on this book. I was somewhat disappointed in that I now feel I know even less about the Legendary Voudou Priestess. The author has done a great job of separating fact from fiction and overall this was still a great read. The writing style meant this book took me allot longer than I had hoped in order to digest all the historical information completely and with the respect deserved. If you’re looking for cool Voudou stories this is probably not the book for you.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though focused on the compelling subject of Marie Leveau, this book was utterly devoid of any magic. There are facts, contradicting theories, and jumps in time which lead to a confusing mess of information. When I want to learn about a legendary figure, I want the author to make some decisions on what they think is true. This feels like an extended thesis project without any soul. The historic setting around Marie Leveau's story was fascinating and horrifying in equal measures. For that insight, I'm glad I read this book. I cannot, however, recommend it.

[D.S. Quinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough,historical account of a Marie Laveau. I read this as research for a new novel I'm writing.

If you're looking for spooky Voudou, this isn't the book you want. There are long chapters of related people, where they lived, who owned property, who sold it, etc. The most surprising thing was to learn how closely Voudou is tied to the Catholic religion, but when you realize the circumstances under which the slaves came to this country, it all makes sense.

[Meik Mattke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and well researched study into the life behind a (deeply mystified) legend. You will not find a fantastical or exotic account of New Orleans’ past, rather you learn (rather well, I found) how the city and some of its residents were fetishized and exoticized over time.

The number of distinct topics the author researched to demonstrate this was impressive and seems to offer something for any reader to latch onto.

[Shannonigans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly what I had in mind when I wanted to read about Marie Laveau. The books did focus on her, but not as much as I would've liked. It seemed more like a historical account of New Orleans during the height of her popularity more than a biography about her. All the same, it was an interesting book.

[Cami Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s some good information here, but the author didn’t do anything to add interest to the story. Also, they seem to cherry pick what to believe and disbelieve to fit their own narrative. I was overall disappointed, but I do appreciate the inclusion of reference materials.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a few things but I did not like how the author repeated the same points multiple people made.

[Eva Pohler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and credible historical account

Many sources defended this impartial presentation of Marie Laveau. I found this to be a very interesting and enjoyable read.

[Brett Cordes · Rating 4 out of 5]

his book is as intense as it is fascinating. It’s a mix of alternative healing and culturally-infused folklore.

[Kelly Obernuefemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything you ever wanted to know. Great analysis of fact vs fiction.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Categorically not suitable for light reading, this delves into fact and myth of Marie Laveau, dispelling a lot of the latter and shedding light on the former.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Third read. I have issues with this but definitely the most researched book on her to date. Not an easy read. It's very academic, where the lore and stories of Marie could have been interwoven with more fluidity and magic that I think Marie deserves. I definitely recommend this in conjunction with Ward's book to see the huge differences two researched books on the same person can have.