Voodoo Queen | Marie Laveau II

Posted: 03.11.2025 | Updated: 03.11.2025

There was a time when the West African mysticism and religion of Hoodoo and Voodoo were woven through New Orleans like a snake’s tightening grip around its prey. No figures represent this time in all its controversial glory and disdain like Marie Laveau and her daughter Marie Laveau II. 

‘Sashay’ down Bourbon Street and Esplanade in the wondrous city of New Orleans while fumbling with the ‘Hurricane’ you’re sipping. The French and Spanish street names and architecture may strike you with wonder. The influence of present-day Benin and Togo might not strike you as strong a note as the flavorful sugary 100-proof drink in your hand.

Raise a glass to the legendary Voodoo Queens on a Haunted New Orleans Ghost Tour.

Who Was The Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau II?

Marie Laveau II was the daughter of the famous Marie Laveau, the original Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Like her mother, she was deeply involved in the practice of Voodoo, carrying on her legacy and influence in the 19th century. Her legacy still carries weight to this day. When many recall an image of Marie Laveau, they often conjure images of the second and younger of the two.

The First Voodoo Queen: Marie Laveau

Believed to have entered our world in 1801, this trailblazing figure was born into the melting pot of the French Quarter. Much like the opaque nature of her practices, the exact details of her arrival on earth are as much speculated upon as they are oft repeated. 

Her mother, Marguerite Darcantrel, was a freed slave and mistress to Marie’s father, wealthy businessman Charles Laveau. Marie’s maternal grandmother, Catherine Henry, would arguably be the most central influence on young Marie. She brought her West African heritage and the controversial Voodoo culture to the prodigious young girl. 

Marie would spend her formative years growing up in her grandmother’s Creole cottage on St Ann Street, cementing a strong bond between the pair.

Marie Laveau’s Husbands

The youthful and reportedly captivating Marie was often adorned in the style of a gypsy by all accounts. She began her relationship with mystery and whispers upon marrying cabinet maker Jacques Paris, a free man of color from Haiti, on August 4th, 1819. Baptismal records at St Louis Cathedral show the couple had two children; Marie Angelie Paris in 1923 and Felicite Paris in 1924.

It is here that the history of both children begins and ends. No further historical records exist. The fate of her husband, Jacque, mirrors the apparent disappearance of these offspring. No other record exists of his death. But, the baptism ledgers state Jacques Paris as deceased, creating an enduring mystery as to the fate of both the children and Jacques. 

Marie would find love once again with prominent French nobleman Louis Christophe Dumensnil de Glapion, a veteran of the Battle of New Orleans, in 1826. She is speculated to have had 15 children with her common-law husband, although records can be found for only 7. One of these children, in particular, would be key to furthering Marie Laveau’s legend and legacy. 

How Did Marie Laveau Die?

She was generally regarded as a positive, charitable person and an ardent practitioner of the Voodoo movement until her death at 79. She died at home in the cottage on Ann Street on June 15th, 1881. One report hints that she may have been killed by cholera in the sweltering summer heat.

Laveau was laid to rest in an above-ground tomb in St Louis Cemetery No.1, New Orleans. Until 2015, the cemetery was open to the public. Hopeful souls marked three Xs on her grave, wishing that Marie Laveau would use her mysterious powers to grant their wishes from the afterlife.

Her influence on Voodoo had waned with age, and the movement would lose momentum with her passing. The rising influx of East Coast Presbyterians saw the growing demonization of Voodoo and its practice. However, some say that Marie used these mystical skills to cheat death, being reincarnated in her daughter, Marie Laveau II, the second Voodoo Queen. 

Marie Laveau II: The Second Coming

Marie Laveau II took the mantle in the second half of the nineteenth century. She furthered the Voodoo Religion in New Orleans, continuing the legacy as a Laveau Voodoo Queen.

Marie Laveau II was born in 1827 in New Orleans. Like so much history from that age, her childhood is shrouded in fable and mystery. 

Marie II would have been exposed to great tragedy in her young life. Many of her siblings are believed to have been taken by Yellow Fever that regularly gripped the city. This grim reality at such a young age may have influenced the successor’s heart and head. 

Where her mother had a reputation for charity and is generally held in high regard, her daughter is often viewed through a more shadowy lens. The younger Marie strengthened this view by operating a bar and brothel within the city.

Marie Laveau’s House and Legacy

The family home on St Ann Street was one of three places where her mother conducted Voodoo rituals and ‘rootwork.’ These traditional religious practices were at the request of patrons who sought good fortune or health from the spiritualism of Voodoo. Young Marie would have been exposed to these practices and their impact on people’s lives, dreams, and desires. 

Marie Laveau II is said to have had an uncanny likeness to her mother. This fed perfectly into the idea that the withering Marie Laveau had been reincarnated into her daughter. 

However fanciful this idea may seem, Marie Laveau II is said to have practiced the darker side of Voodoo. Often wishing harm on others and fulfilling dark intent. 

With so little clarity on her life and deeds, it is mere speculation as to whether this is fact or an extension of the mid-19th century vilification of Voodoo and the growing racism of post-Reconstruction America. 

The Voodoo Queen Is Dead

If indeed Marie Laveau cheated death with the black magic she reputedly so deftly mastered, then reincarnation was not a gift that her daughter would inherit. Voodoo was enveloped by a wave of aggressive racism and changing social views, extricated to the shadows of life. 

Newspapers of the day darkly exaggerated and sensationalized the issue of Voodoo, raising it as the work of the devil. But, the tide of time could not be held back. Voodoo was being ushered towards the cult status that it occupies today with an aura of mystique. 

Marie Laveau II was both a recipient and a victim of that push. She stubbornly led a dying religion in defiance of all who opposed its very existence. However, that vehement stance was not enough to extend her time on earth. 

Leveau II cared for her mother in declining years. She was again forced to endure the cold and simple truth of mortal man. Neither her mother nor herself would be spared the reaper’s stroke.

The death of the first Marie Laveau spoke to her confused idolization. Noted obituaries circled the nation, while the New York Times reported favorably on her passing. Marie the second, however, died in the same manner as her neutered religion was forced to live in the second half of the nineteenth century: in mystery and confusion. 

In either 1862 or the 1890s, during a storm on Lake Pontchartrain, Marie Laveau II reportedly drowned while performing Voodoo rituals with her followers.

This striking image is matched only by the knowledge that her home burned to the ground after her death. Whispers followed that the black magic practiced within its walls erased the last traces of the second Voodoo Queen.

Haunted New Orleans

Marie Laveau II, much like her mother, had left an indelible mark by which people would measure the mysterious West African religion. Both figures are as celebrated as they are shrouded in mystery today. 

Hear the echo of those Voodoo Queens on a Haunted New Orleans Ghost Tour.

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Sources:

• https://louisiana-anthology.org/encyclopedia/l/whitaker–laveau.html
• https://youtu.be/VODp6ItxbwY?si=rlfzCGWBq0cz4sze
• https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/mhr/vol20/iss1/6
• https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/marie-laveau-s-husband-disappeared-200-years-ago-but-an-lsu-student-thinks-she-finally/article_1dfbca9c-ba4b-11eb-87a4-330e11b1b903.html
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-trial-that-gave-vodou-a-bad-name-83801276