How to Get Cursed in New Orleans
A short Introduction to New Orleans
When I visited New Orleans, it was spur of the moment. I was simply a tag-along on my older sister’s work trip. I didn’t prepare and I knew little to nothing about the city. If it is within your budget, stay near the French Quarter, it puts just about everything you could think of doing within reach either by foot or street car. Museums, entertainment, restaurants, are all there, but one thing that will stand out to any visitor is just how many voodoo shops there are. I had an inkling of the occult and superstition that surrounded the port city, but I didn’t know that it was not merely seen as myth. You could have your pick of palm readings, good luck tokens and how to voodoo books. Each vendor had variations on stories, but they generally used the same historical figures in their tales. I wanted to know more about all these people that had been elevated to mythical standing. I managed to book a historic cemetery tour just before they sold out.
The Fool Gets Cursed
As we approached the Historic Cemetery it struck me how different it was. It was very unlike the tranquil field with tombstones sticking out of the dirt that decorate the landscape in my hometown in North Alabama. In New Orleans, everything is concrete. The ground is concrete, the tombs sitting above ground are concrete, and walls surrounding the cemetery are concrete. Although, it was late October the sun bore down on us. It was like stepping into an oven! It feels more claustrophobic and eerie than like a resting place for the dead.
Hauntings, curses, and voodoo are ingrained in the history and culture of New Orleans. Nowhere was this as obvious as it was in the cemetery. I felt sad looking upon the vandalized and crumbling tombs of perceived witches. The symbol “XXX” decorates various graves in the historic cemetery. Supposedly, this is a to cancel out the evil of looking upon the grave of a witch. Guards and cameras are posted at each cemetery ready to catch vandals in the act, but some individuals are still driven trespass and graffiti this symbol for protection on the marked graves. We were informed that if we felt the need to ward off evil, we could lightly knock on one of the graves three times and this should sufficiently protect us in place of marking the grave three times. Our tour guide assured us that this was just superstition and that we had nothing to worry about. I was inclined to agree with him and chose not knock on a grave. However, even he advised we walk out of the cemetery backwards so no spirits could hitch a ride on our backs. Being the hard-core skeptic that I am, I walked out face-forward leaving my back open to the cemetery behind me.
Note: Nicholas Cage’s future grave with lipstick marks.
Later that night I tripped and fell in a very strange area. My arm bruised and when I peeled the bandaid back… My bruise resembled 3X’s just like at the cemetery!