House Of The Dead: St. Louis Cemetery Number One

      When people think of New Orleans, they usually picture jazz laden bars or the elegant french quarter or incredible Cajun cuisine.  What about cemeteries?  New Orleans possess some of the most amazing and iconic cemeteries in the country, and it's darling is St. Louis No. 1.  This legendary house of the dead is a collection of crumbling tombs and beautiful statues of cherubs and morning widows.  It is a labyrinth of twisting paths covered in Spanish moss, that snake through family owned crypts that date back to the 1800's. 

      One might wonder why are all of the bodies buried above ground?  Well, when a hurricane or heavy rain strikes "The Big easy", coffin's have a tendency to float up out of the ground, and people would find corpses scattered throughout the city.  Nothing better than to find grandma's body laying face down in a gutter on Bourbon Street!  Thus, all of the bodies in New Orleans are placed in above ground tombs and for wealthy individuals, family owned mausoleums.  One other benefit of using a mausoleum instead of a burial in the ground, is that you can conserve space.  When you place a corpse in a cement box in the hot Louisiana sun, it will turn to ash within a year.  Thus, these tombs essentially work like a crematorium and allow for future relatives to be placed within.  In fact, after a year or so, the reminents of the deceased family member are pushed to the back of the crypt. This is done so the newest family member that has pasted on has a place to rest.  This system has been used for hundreds of years. 

     Besides the macabre beauty of this place, why is St. Louis Cemetery one of the most visited attractions in New Orleans?  Simply it is where the who's who of New Orleans call home.  Almost every well to do french family in the city has a crypt here (wealthy English families are buried in the Garden District at Lafayette No. 1) as well as many local celebrities.  You can see the the pyramid shaped tomb that actor Nicholas Cage has built for himself.  In spite of the many plantation owners, wealthy business men, and mayors, the most visited grave in the entire cemetery belongs to Marie Laveau.  She was the most famous and powerful voodoo priestess New Orleans has ever known.  Even though she pasted in 1891, her tomb is typically covered with offerings of candles, flowers, pennies and other voodoo related items.  These are left for The Voodoo Priestess in order to gain favor with her spirit.  Most locals will warn that messing with evil spirits and the dead is not the best of ideas, and they are probably right.  So leave the voodoo rituals to the experts and enjoy the simple beauty of this crumbling necropolis.  After a visit to St. Louis No. 1, you will quickly discover why this is just another reason to visit this charming city.

http://www.graveaddiction.com/1stlouis.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePqA-vtsP74

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaJP8w-jW2k