You're going to Welcome to the new episode of American Hauntings, the podcast dedicated to the history, hauntings, legends, and lore of America's past. Show is hosted and produced by Cody Beck and written and performed by Troy Taylor.

That's me. And we are now in our fourth season, Haunted New Orleans.

If you're tuning into the podcast

for the first time, we suggest you start listening

to the Haunted New Orleans season with episode 53,

which is where this season begins and where we set the stage for the many dark tales ahead.

In each episode of the season will be revealing the history, mystery,

spirits, scandals, and sins of New Orleans, a city we believe is the most haunted in America.

So light some candles, grab the chicken's foot, pack up the Grigree bag, and prepare yourself

for the next episode of Haunted horror story and they can tell you that Marie Laveau is the undisputed Queen of Voodoo in New Orleans.

Voodoo was as big a part in New Orleans as Jazz, Gumbo, and Mardi Gras.

Most tourists, even after seeing the Voodoo shops in the French Quarter,

assume that Voodoo is a thing of the past, but they couldn't be more wrong.

The religious faith is very much alive today and it's taken just as

seriously now as it was in the days of Marie Laveau.

Voodoo came to New Orleans from Africa, mostly by way of the Caribbean islands.

Sla in Louisiana began arriving in 1719.

The majority of enslaved Africans that found their way to New Orleans came directly from West Africa,

bringing with them their language and religious beliefs which were rooted in spirit and ancestor worship.

In the Fawn language of West Africa, Vudan means spirit, an invisible and mysterious force that can intervene in human affairs.

One reason that Voodoo developed in New Orleans more than in other parts of America is largely

because the French, then the Spanish, then the French again, colonized Louisiana.

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