The Voodoo Museum

Much credit for the sinister reputation Voodoo (shall we say) enjoys can be attributed to the 1932 Bela Lugosi film White Zombie, which recast the colorful religion as a Hollywood genre. As with most things, the truth is more nuanced. The origins of Voodoo trace back to the Fon people of West Africa, in what is now Republic of Benin. The name comes from the Fon word for spirits, "Vodoun." The 18th century slave trade brought this spiritual practice and folklore (reluctantly) to the New World where it mingled with Creole customs and Catholic rituals, ultimately resulting in something altogether unique.

An important element of the Voodoo practice is gris-gris, which refers to magic objects (dolls, candles, charms, amulets) as well as the incantation of them. The purpose of objects is primarily for attracting love, power, and fortune, and for undoing hexes. Despite their menacing image in our culture, Voodoo dolls are usually used to bless, rather than curse. Pins are stuck into the doll not to cause pain, Temple of Doom-style, but to attach a photo of the person who is to be blessed (or cursed). Gris-gris bags contain ingredients which represent spirits and bring good luck to the bearer.

Women's dominant role in Voodoo stems from gratitude to a female spirit named Aida Quido for helping the enslaved survive the horrific ocean voyages to the New World. Priestess are called queens, while priests are known as doctors. Voodoo queens typically preside over ceremonies and ritual dances. Voodoo is sometimes known as a "dancing religion" due to the fundamental role physical communion plays in the ceremonies. The dances and rituals of Voodoo were a strong influence on what would eventually evolve into American jazz.

The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum was opened on Dumaine Street in 1972 by a local artist named Charles Massicot Gandolfo, or as he was popularly known, "Voodoo Charlie." The mission statement of the museum is to preserve the legacy of New Orleans’ Voodoo history and culture. The jam-packed museum consists of two shoebox-sized rooms and a hallway, plus a shop in front selling gris-gris bags, dolls, and potions. Near the entrance hangs a striking portrait of New Orleans' premier Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, the legendary oracle who specialized in love potions and healings. Beyond this are shelves of skulls bathed in a crimson glow, cabinets full of curios, and altars littered with coins, photos, beads, and lipsticks left by visitors as tributes. The centerpiece of the far room is a wishing stump, where wishes written on slips of paper can be dropped into its hollow body. A sign posted beside the stump recommends wrapping your paper around an offering of money, which presumably will expedite your wish's coming true.










A three-headed ju-ju, which mocks evil spirits with its protruding tongue. This one was carved by voodooist Herbert "Coon" Singleton. Ju-ju is a type of gris-gris partly constructed from hair or bone, something which was once alive.




An assortment of voodoo dolls.










Rougarou, a Cajun hybrid of zombie, vampire, and werewolf who prowls the swamps outside of New Orleans, sucking blood and stealing souls.

The Garden District

A stroll through New Orleans' Garden District.


A streetcar named Charles.






This mansion once belonged to Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, now owned by actor John Goodman.


The Brevard House, built for a wealthy merchant in 1857. Novelist Anne Rice lived here from 1989 to 2004.








Peace frog.




This house is certified "OK."

The Old Apothecary Shoppe

Louis Dufilho Jr, whose name you'll likely recognize as America's first licensed pharmacist, opened an apothecary shop on New Orleans' Chartres Street in 1823. For nearly thirty years he led a solid and reputable business, if somewhat frighteningly primitive by today's perspective, as we shall soon see. Eventually the brick and stucco townhouse with wrought iron balconies was sold to Dr Joseph Dupas and under his watch developed a somewhat sinister reputation. It was rumored that people went in and were never seen to come out again. After Dupas died of syphilis, a wall of the shop collapsed and behind it were discovered the bones of numerous women. It turned out that, among other unsavory practices, Dupas had been conducting medical experiments on pregnant slaves, ones which his subjects often did not survive. As for the good doctor's sanity, he had been treating his syphilis with large doses of mercury, which could not have had beneficial results. His spirit is said to still haunt the premises, a stocky mustachioed figure in a brown suit and lab coat. Sensitive visitors report feeling nauseated and inexplicably sad. The building changed hands several times in his wake and was badly damaged by a 1915 hurricane. Finally, after being donated to the city by a philanthropist, it was opened in 1950 as the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.

So what sorts of medical artifacts can the inquisitive visitor expect to find the shelves stocked with? Countless old bottles with faded labels indicating such contents as castor oil, chloroform, sarsaparilla, cod liver oil, and various tonics and mysterious elixirs. There are love potions, voodoo powders, a white ceramic leech jar, unsettling gynecological equipment, bonesaws, trephination drills, bullet extractors, urethral dialators, and a grisly-looking device called a tonsil guillotine. Opium was available over the counter until someone began paying attention to its addictive properties and the 1914 Harrison Tax Act was passed, curtailing the legal sale of narcotics.

Beside the entrance rests an old marble countered soda fountain. Medicine tended to taste so abysmal, especially back then, that apothecarists began mixing sodas and syrups as a chaser to disguise the unpleasant taste of their prescriptions. These sodas caught on with the public and soon perfectly healthy people began drifting in for a drink. In the display window is a showglobe, a multi-tiered bottle of colored water which was an early symbol of a pharmacy, much like a striped pole is to a barber shop. (Incidentally, if you're still thirsty for gruesome reading after this, might I suggest looking up what the red and white of the barber pole originally represented.)






Love potions were a legitimate medical commodity.




A 1855 soda fountain imported from Philadelphia.






A trephination drill to release evil spirits trapped within the skull.


Leeches were used to siphon off a patient's blood to keep the "humors" in balance.


Toothaches were a very popular ailment.


A tonsil guillotine.


A urethral dialator, no doubt a favorite among patients.


Cod liver oil, a 19th century child's worst nightmare.
















Optical prosthetics.